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User:Michiexile/MATH198/Lecture 6
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1 Useful limits and colimits
With the tools of limits and colimits at hand, we can start using these to introduce more category theoretical constructions - and some of these turn out to correspond to things we've seen in other areas.
Possibly among the most important are the equalizers and coequalizers (with kernel (nullspace) and images as special cases), and the pullbacks and pushouts (with which we can make explicit the idea of inverse images of functions).
One useful theorem to know about is:
Theorem The following are equivalent for a category C:
- C has all finite limits.
- C has all finite products and all equalizers.
- C has all pullbacks and a terminal object.
Also, the following dual statements are equivalent:
- C has all finite colimits.
- C has all finite coproducts and all coequalizers.
- C has all pushouts and an initial object.
For this theorem, we can replace finite with any other cardinality in every place it occurs, and we will still get a valid theorem.
====Equalizer, coequalizer==== Consider the equalizer diagram:
A limit over this diagram is an object C and arrows to all diagram objects. The commutativity conditions for the arrows defined force for us fpA = pB = gpA, and thus, keeping this enforced equation in mind, we can summarize the cone diagram as:
Now, the limit condition tells us that this is the least restrictive way we can map into A with some map p such that fp = gp, in that every other way we could map in that way will factor through this way.
As usual, it is helpful to consider the situation in Set to make sense of any categorical definition: and the situation there is helped by the generalized element viewpoint: the limit object C is one representative of a subobject of A that for the case of Set contains all .
Hence the word we use for this construction: the limit of the diagram above is the equalizer of f,g. It captures the idea of a maximal subset unable to distinguish two given functions, and it introduces a categorical way to define things by equations we require them to respect.
One important special case of the equalizer is the kernel: in a category with a null object, we have a distinguished, unique, member 0 of any homset given by the compositions of the unique arrows to and from the null object. We define the kernel Ker(f) of an arrow f to be the equalizer of f,0. Keeping in mind the arrow-centric view on categories, we tend to denote the arrow from Ker(f) to the source of f by ker(f).
In the category of vector spaces, and linear maps, the map 0 really is the constant map taking the value 0 everywhere. And the kernel of a linear map is the equalizer of f,0. Thus it is some vector space W with a map such that fi = 0i = 0, and any other map that fulfills this condition factors through W. Certainly the vector space fulfills the requisite condition, nothing larger will do, since then the map composition wouldn't be 0, and nothing smaller will do, since then the maps factoring this space through the smaller candidate would not be unique.
Hence, just like we might expect.
Dually, we get the coequalizer as the colimit of the equalizer diagram.
A coequalizer
has to fulfill that iBf = iA = iBg. Thus, writing q = iB, we get an object with an arrow (actually, an epimorphism out of B) that identifies f and g. Hence, we can think of as catching the notion of inducing equivalence classes from the functions.
This becomes clear if we pick out one specific example: let be an equivalence relation, and consider the diagram
where r1 and r2 are given by the projection of the inclusion of the relation into the product onto either factor. Then, the coequalizer of this setup is an object X / R such that whenever x˜Ry, then q(x) = q(y).
1.1 Pullbacks
The preimage f − 1(T) of a subset along a function is a maximal subset such that for every .
We recall that subsets are given by (equivalence classes of) monics, and thus we end up being able to frame this in purely categorical terms. Given a diagram like this:
where i is a monomorphism representing the subobject, we need to find an object V with a monomorphism injecting it into U such that the map factors through T. Thus we're looking for dotted maps making the diagram commute, in a universal manner.
The maximality of the subobject means that any other subobject of U that can be factored through T should factor through V.
Suppose U,V are subsets of some set W. Their intersection is a subset of U, a subset of V and a subset of W, maximal with this property.
Translating into categorical language, we can pick representatives for all subobjects in the definition, we get a diagram with all monomorphisms:
where we need the inclusion of into W over U is the same as the inclusion over V.
Definition A pullback of two maps is the limit of these two maps, thus:
By the definition of a limit, this means that the pullback is an object P with maps , and , such that any other such object factors through this.
For the diagram , with one representative monomorphism for the subobject, we get precisely the definition above for the inverse image.
For the diagram with both map monomorphisms representing their subobjects, the pullback is the intersection.
1.2 Pushouts
Often, especially in geometry and algebra, we construct new structures by gluing together old structures along substructures. Possibly the most popularly known example is the Möbius band: we take a strip of paper, twist it once and glue the ends together.
Similarily, in algebraic contexts, we can form amalgamated products that do roughly the same.
All these are instances of the dual to the pullback:
Definition A pushout of two maps is the co-limit of these two maps, thus:
Hence, the pushout is an object D such that C maps to the same place both ways, and so that, contingent on this, it behaves much like a coproduct.
2 Free and forgetful functors
Recall how we defined a free monoid as all strings of some alphabet, with concatenation of strings the monoidal operation. And recall how we defined the free category on a graph as the category of paths in the graph, with path concatenation as the operation.
The reason we chose the word free to denote both these cases is far from a coincidence: by this point nobody will be surprised to hear that we can unify the idea of generating the most general object of a particular algebraic structure into a single categorical idea.
The idea of the free constructions, classically, is to introduce as few additional relations as possible, while still generating a valid object of the appropriate type, given a set of generators we view as placeholders, as symbols. Having a minimal amount of relations allows us to introduce further relations later, by imposing new equalities by mapping with surjections to other structures.
One of the first observations in each of the cases we can do is that such a map ends up being completely determined by where the generators go - the symbols we use to generate. And since the free structure is made to fulfill the axioms of whatever structure we're working with, these generators combine, even after mapping to some other structure, in a way compatible with all structure.
To make solid categorical sense of this, however, we need to couple the construction of a free algebraic structure from a set (or a graph, or...) with another construction: we can define the forgetful functor from monoids to sets by just picking out the elements of the monoid as a set; and from categories to graph by just picking the underlying graph, and forgetting about the compositions of arrows.
Now we have what we need to pinpoint just what kind of a functor the free widget generated by-construction does. It's a functor , coupled with a forgetful functor such that any map in C induces one unique mapping in D.
For the case of monoids and sets, this means that if we take our generating set, and map it into the set of elements of another monoid, this generates a unique mapping of the corresponding monoids.
This is all captured by a similar kind of diagrams and uniquely existing maps argument as the previous object or morphism properties were defined with. We'll show the definition for the example of monoids.
Definition A free monoid on a generating set X is a monoid F(X) such that there is an inclusion and for every function for some other monoid M, there is a unique homomorphism such that f = U(g)iX, or in other words such that this diagram commutes:
We can construct a map by . The above definition says that this map is an isomorphism.
3 Adjunctions
Modeling on the way we construct free and forgetful functors, we can form a powerful categorical concept, which ends up generalizing much of what we've already seen - and also leads us on towards monads.
We draw on the definition above of free monoids to give a preliminary definition. This will be replaced later by an equivalent definition that gives more insight.
Definition A pair of functors,
is called an adjoint pair or an adjunction, with F called the left adjoint and U called the right adjoint if there is natural transformation , and for every , there is a unique such that the diagram below commutes.
The natural transformation η is called the unit of the adjunction.
This definition, however, has a significant amount of asymmetry: we can start with some and generate a , while there are no immediate guarantees for the other direction. However, there is a proposition we can prove leading us to a more symmetric statement:
Proposition For categories and functors
the following conditions are equivalent:
- F is left adjoint to U.
- For any , , there is an isomorphism , natural in both c and d.
moreover, the two conditions are related by the formulas
- ηc = φ(1Fc)
Proof sketch For (1 implies 2), the isomorphism is given by the end of the statement, and it is an isomorphism exactly because of the unit property - viz. that every generates a unique .
Naturality follows by building the naturality diagrams
and chasing through with a .
For (2 implies 1), we start out with a natural isomorphism φ. We find the necessary natural transformation ηc by considering .
By dualizing the proof, we get the following statement:
Proposition For categories and functors
the following conditions are equivalent:
- For any , , there is an isomorphism , natural in both c and d.
- There is a natural transformation with the property that for any there is a unique such that , as in the diagram
moreover, the two conditions are related by the formulas
- εd = ψ(1Ud)
where ψ = φ − 1.
Hence, we have an equivalent definition with higher generality, more symmetry and more horsepower, as it were:
Definition An adjunction consists of functors
and a natural isomorphism
The unit η and the counit ε of the adjunction are natural transformations given by:
- .
Some of the examples we have had difficulties fitting into the limits framework show up as adjunctions:
The free and forgetful functors are adjoints; and indeed, a more natural definition of what it means to be free is that it is a left adjoint to some forgetful functor.
Curry and uncurry, in the definition of an exponential object are an adjoint pair. The functor has right adjoint .
3.1 Notational aid
One way to write the adjoint is as a bidirectional rewrite rule:
where the statement is that the hom sets indicated by the upper and lower arrow, respectively, are transformed into each other by the unit and counit respectively. The left adjoint is the one that has the functor application on the left hand side of this diagram, and the right adjoint is the one with the functor application to the right.
4 Homework
Complete homework is 6 out of 11 exercises.
- Prove that an equalizer is a monomorphism.
- Prove that a coequalizer is an epimorphism.
- Prove that given any relation , its completion to an equivalence relation is the kernel of the coequalizer of the component maps of the relation. For the purpose of this, we define kernels in Set as the equalizer of . (A more general definition of a kernel, independent of zero objects, can be found using a definition of quotients by equivalence relations, and having the kernel be a universal object to factor the quotient through).
- Prove that if the right arrow in a pullback square is a mono, then so is the left arrow. Thus the intersection as a pullback really is a subobject.
- Prove that if both the arrows in the pullback 'corner' are mono, then the arrows of the pullback cone are all mono.
- What is the pullback in the category of posets?
- What is the pushout in the category of posets?
- Prove that the exponential and the product functors above are adjoints. What are the unit and counit?
- (worth 4pt) Consider the unique functor to the terminal category.
- Does it have a left adjoint? What is it?
- Does it have a right adjoint? What is it?
- * Prove the propositions in the text.
- (worth 4pt) Suppose


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Exhibits and more...
Across Time & Place: Treasures from the Permanent Collection
This rotating exhibition highlights a broad range of works by 19th and 20th century American and European artists from the Heckscher Museum's Permanent Collection. Of particular interest is Étienne Berne-Bellecour's monumental Embarkation Maneuver, 1882, which factually depicts the departure of a regiment of cuirassiers following the Franco-Prussian War. Heckscher Museum of Art, Main St. and Prime Ave., Huntington. (631) 351-3250 or www.heckscher.org.
Artists in America
A survey of 300 years of great American paintings. Artists from every era of American art are featured among the exhibit's 79 works, including John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, John Singer Sargent, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Robert Motherwell and Sol LeWitt. The works are selected from the permanent collections of the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut. Through Feb. 24. Nassau County Museum of Art, 1 Museum Dr., Roslyn Harbor. 484-9337 or www.nassaumuseum.org.
The Lyon, the Which and the Warhol
An exhibit of photographs by photojournalist Danny Lyon and visionary pop artist Andy Warhol, culled from the Hofstra University Museum's extensive photography collection. The exhibit connects their works to those in other media by Chuck Close, Jim Dine, and Lisbeth Firmin (the "Which"), emphasizing parallels between these artists. Through May 19. Hofstra University's David
Filderman Gallery, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus, Hempstead. 463-5672.
Using the Lessons of the Holocaust to Teach Tolerance
A contextualized history that explains the 1920s' increase of intolerance, reduction of human rights, and lack of intervention that enabled the persecution and mass murder of millions of Jews and others. Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, 100 Crescent Beach Rd., Glen Cove. 571-8040 ext. 100 or www.holocaust-nassau.org.
Village Art Club Meeting
The Village Art Club welcomes the new year with a demonstration by multi-media artist Donna Harlow Moraff, Thursday, Jan. 24, 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to non-members. Rockville Centre Public Library, downstairs meeting room, 221 N. Village Ave., Rockville Centre.For information, call Anne Bailey at 887-1770.
Afternoon Movie
See "Men in Black III," the action comedy with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, Friday, Jan. 25, 2:30 p.m.; also "Arbitrage," the drama about a trouble hedge fund magnate, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2 p.m. Elmont Memorial Library Theatre, 700 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont. 354-5280.
At the Movies
See the action thriller "The Bourne Legacy," Friday, Jan. 25, 1 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 28, 6:30 p.m. Baldwin Public Library, 2385 Grand Ave., Baldwin. 223-6228.
Feature Film
See "Arbitrage," the drama about a troubled hedge fund magnate, with Richard Gere, Friday, Jan. 25, 2 p.m. Rockville Centre Public Library, 221 N. Village Ave., Rockville Centre. 766-6257.
Monday Movie
Watch "Beasts of the Southern Wild," the indie film that takes place in a southern Louisana bayou community, Monday, Jan. 28, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Oceanside Library, 30 Davison Ave., Oceanside. 766-2360.
Film Screening
See "The Moderns," set in 1920s Paris about a struggling young artist and his involvement with the literary and artistic figures who reside there, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Peninsula Public Library, 280 Central Ave., Lawrence. 239-3262.
Movie Showing
See "Red Tails," a dramatization of the Tuskegee Airmen, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2 p.m. Franklin Square Public Library, 19 Lincoln Rd., Franklin Square. 488-3444.

subset: commoncrawl


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Exxon Mobil Corp. is part of a growing coalition backing a carbon tax as an alternative to costly regulation, giving newfound prominence to an idea once anathema in Washington.
Conservative economists and fossil-fuel lobbyists united in 2009 to fend off climate-change legislation that would have established a cap-and-trade mechanism. They are now locked in a backroom debate over a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions that could raise an estimated $100 billion in its first year.
A carbon tax would force electricity producers, refiners and manufacturers to pay a fee for the greenhouse gases they emit. It is gaining interest as lawmakers and President Barack Obama pledge to simplify the corporate tax code and raise revenue to narrow the deficit. The devastation from superstorm Sandy following the wildfires and drought of this summer have also increased concern about global warming.
"It does fit with the Republican idea of cleaning up the tax code, and to have a clean instrument for addressing this problem," John Reilly, co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, said in an interview. Given this year's weather disasters, "it's hard to stand up and say global warming is a hoax," he said.
The idea still faces long odds. Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said in Washington today that rounding up support for a carbon tax "is going to be a big lift politically." Asked about it yesterday, Obama said he doubted there was enough political agreement for the tax, though he warned against delay in combating climate change.
Storm Costs
"It's important because, you know, one of the things that we don't always factor in are the costs involved in these natural disasters," Obama said at a White House press conference. "We just put them off as something that's unconnected to our behavior."
The Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, which says it advocates libertarian and conservative values, held a full-day discussion Nov. 13 to examine how best to implement a carbon tax, which its economists say could enable a cut in corporate taxes and head off regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. The same day, an opponent of the idea, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department, seeking private e-mails it said would show the administration is secretly pushing for a carbon tax.
"They want new sources of revenues, and this is an enormous one," Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Washington- based CEI, said in an interview. "This thing is gaining steam. If successful, it would be disastrous."
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Washington, August 04, 2009 Pending home sales are up for the fifth consecutive month, the first time in six years for such a streak, according to the National Association of Realtors®. More... Read more
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Washington, July 23, 2009 Existing-home sales rose for the third consecutive month with inventory easing and home prices declining less sharply in June, according to the National Association of Realtors®. More...
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Sales of new one-family houses in June 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000. This is 11.0% above the revised May 2009 estimate of 346,000.
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Yes … You Need an Inspection
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Virgin Island Vacation Home Bargains
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© 2019 No government agency collects such information, so a definitive statistic is not available. The few studies I have seen indicate the divorce rate is lower for men who marry a foreign bride. However, such divorce statistics would be meaningless. Other people's success or failure with marriage to a foreign bride would have no relevance to your own likelihood of success; there are too many variations for divorce statistics to be a useful indicator.


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WHORNZ NOT HORNS and FAME
The band we're (0DFx, that is) playing with on Friday at Square Records in Akron is Whornz not Horns as I previously stated. In their flier they correctly state that we were punk rock when the lizard me ruled. Damn lizard men. Such a pain in the ass they were.
Yesterday I started writing two new articles. One for Suicide Girls was about porn (again, sigh). That'll go up on May 26th. The other one is about being famous. I'll probably try and place that in a magazine. If I'm successful, I'll let you know where it shows up.
I'll paraphrase the second one briefly. When 0DFx played Pat's in the Flats last weekend, this drunk guy came up to me in the toilet going, "You're Brad Warner aren't you? You're famous!" He seemed angry about this. "I should be famous!" I thought he might try to piss on me, but he didn't. "What's it like being famous?" he sneered. I was tempted to say, it's like having some drunk guy harass you in the toilet in a bar.
To the extent that I'm famous, which is not very much, it's generally a pain in the ass (like those lizard men). People you thought were your friends suddenly turn on you. I had one "dharma brother" tell me, "I wonder what you have been up to on your tour of TV shows and magazine articles as a minor celebrity over there in the US, sitting around in your bright golden robe and waving your stick around." Another one said he was going to, "go public with every resource I have privately and on the internet to make you a laughingstock, to tell folks what I think of you, to embarrass you. I will speak out, you embarrassment to yourself, our teacher, (and) all of us associated with this." Jealousy is fun stuff.
Yet jealousy never makes any sense. It's the idea that I ought to have what he's got. But that's never true. Whatever someone has achieved they've achieved, not through random chance or through the unfairness of life, but through their own efforts. Not only that, but they now have to deal with whatever it is they've achieved. And you probably couldn't deal with it.
This whole "I'm going to expose the truth about you" thing is a recurring theme. Considering that I've made a career out of exposing the very worst of my self to public scrutiny I really have to wonder. I mean, did my "dharma brother" (drama brother, more like) think he could do a better job of turning me into a laughing stock than I'm already doing? Go ahead and try.
So far I've gotten all of the downside of being famous without any of the perks. I'm not rich, I don't get offered good seats in restaurants, no one yet has thrown a pair of panties at me during a book signing or lecture. Yet all kinds of people expect me to live up to whatever image they've created in their minds about what I ought to be. That's what it's like being famous.
Buddha and Dogen both cautioned against pursuing fame and wealth. Some people think this attitude of caution was born of some profound and mystical insight into the hidden nature of reality. But actually both Buddha and Dogen were celebrities in their day and I'm certain they were speaking from personal experience. Fame and wealth are held up by society as some kind of panacea that will cure everything that's wrong with you. People pursue them thinking that once they achieve the proper degree of notoriety and money everything will be solved. Ain't gonna happen.
Anyway, that's the general thrust of the article. I'll let you know when it gets published.
Here's the remaining gigs:
On Friday May 9th Zero Defex will play an in-store show at Square Records in Akron's Highland Square with Whornz. Starts at 7:00.
Saturday May 10th at 7 PM I'll do a book signing and talk at Visible Voice Books in Cleveland, Ohio's Tremont neighborhood.
On May 17th and 18th I'll lead a 2-day retreat at the Milwaukee Zen Center.
I'll be one of the teachers at this year's Great Sky Zen Sesshin August 9-16. Check out their webpage for details.
The annual Dogen Sangha retreat in Shizuoka, Japan will be September 20-23.


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« Back to people
Richard TingFormer Adjunct, Alumni, Class of 2002
|Courses Taught:
|Design for Emerging Media Platforms
Designing the Future of Television
Richard Ting is VP & Executive Creative Director of R/GA's Mobile andEmerging Media/Applications (MEMA) Group. Richard's current focus is oncreating integrated interactive user experiences across the web, mobile,and physical space. In his nearly seven years with the Interpublic Groupagency, Richard has worked on key R/GA accounts such as Avaya, Nike,Nokia, Reuters, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. During his time at R/GA, Richard has received almost every majorindustry award including the Cannes Titanium Lion, Cannes Cyber LionGrand Prix, the Grand Clio, the International ANDY Awards GRANDY and theD&AD Black Pencil. Richard is currently serving as a juror for the 2008International Clio awards, 2008 Webby Awards, and the 2008 Global MobileMarketing Association Awards. Additionally, Richard has spoken atnumerous conferences for organizations and associations, includingAdvertising Week, the One Club, and the Mobile Marketing Association, aswell as Nokia World in Amsterdam. While Richard was a graduate fellow at NYU's InteractiveTelecommunications Program, his project work concentrated on systemsdesign and mobile human computer interaction. His undergraduate work wasdone at Carnegie Mellon University, where he specialized in informationdecision systems and economics. Richard comes from NYC, and you canlearn more about his interests on his blog www.flytip.com.


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Paul is an excellent writer. Although, I am slightly disappointed that Pornified is not as theory-heavy as I think the topic of porn demands. That is probably just the Philosophy major in me talking though.
With much enthusiasm, I started the chapter titled "Porn Stars, Lovers, and Wives: How Women See Pornography". I was disappointed, however, that Paul chose to focus more on how women thought of the men in their lives that used pornography rather than the effects of pornography on women that use it. I thought the chapter was too heteronormative and played up the "jealous girlfriend" routine to the point where the cliche began to wear thin. Some highlights of the chapter were:
A human sexuality professor at Stony Brook observes shifting norms:
"Twenty years ago, my female students would say, 'Ugh, that's disgusting,' when I brought up porn in class. The men would guiltily say, 'Yeah, I've used it.' Today, men are much more open about saying they use porn all the time and don't feel any guilt. The women now resemble the old male attitude: they'll sheepishly admit to using it themselves." ... He has mixed feelings about this change. On the positive side, he says, women's embrace of porn seems to reflect increased sexual agency on their part... yet the new attitude strikes him as disturbing. Female fantasies have changed over the years as a result of porn and what Kimmel calls the "masculinization of sex". Compared with ten years ago, women's fantasies are more likely today to include violence, rough sex, strangers, and descriptions of male physical attributes. "Personally, I think that for a woman to construct her sex life like that of a man is a rather impoverished view of liberation".
I wish the chapter also expanded upon the liberalization of porn. Paul claims that the adoption of porn as "hip" has blocked any serious critiques of it. The new version of "sex positivism" seems to view pornography as instrumentally positive and a vehicle of equal opportunity sexuality, even though real porn may be violent and produced by decreasing the agency of its performers. Also, framing the argument in such a way that pornography is equated with erotica makes it easier to pigeon-hole opponents as "anti-sex", although many pornography critics are careful to define erotica as something positive, and fundamentally different.
For instance, the classic feminist Gloria Steinem points out that erotica, based on the word eros (passionate love or yearning for someone else) is about "a mutually pleasurable, sexual expression between people who have enough power to be there by positive choice." The root word of pornography, however, refers to prostitution and is "violence, dominance, and conquest. It is sex being used to reinforce some inequality, or to create one, or to tell us that pain and humiliation are really the same as pleasure."
An oft discussed point in feminism is the ability to be the agent of your own objectification. Paul spends considerable time on the story of Valerie, a woman in her thirties that has used porn since she was twelve. She claims that she can easily tell if her sexual partners watch porn because they are obsessed with "fucking... bright lights on, staring at my body parts, going through the motions". One of her partners wanted sex at least once a day, but never showed an a speck of sensuality and romance. She hypothesizes that he was keeping her at an emotional distance, and using porn as an instrument to facilitate this behavior. What she first found sexy about him, his similarity to the porn stars in her movies, destroyed their relationship.
Paul is careful to never say that women who liken pornography to liberation are wrong. However, she does point out that although sex-positives may view their attitudes as empowering, "the kind of pornography their men are into is all about the men--about their needs and about what they want, not about their women, their relationships, or their families."
Women do internalize porn, according to the poll done for her book; 6 out of 10 women believe porn affects how men expect them to look and behave. Only 15% of women will assuredly say that pornography does not raise men's expectations of women.
Pornography is a "guy's thing". Men still hold the same double standard that sex-positivism was supposed to erase. 6 in 10 men, according to an MSNBC poll, would not like their partners to view pornography unless it was with them. This attitude was shown in one of the "Cosmo Confessions" featured monthly in Cosmopolitan magazine:
Once a month, my boyfriend has a guy's night out with his buddies. Normally, they shoot poll or go to a ball game. But last month, I overheard him making plans to go to a strip club. It really upset me that he didn't bother asking how I felt about his sticking dollar bills in other women's G-strings. Instead of confronting him, I did some investigating and found out that the night he was planning to go to the club happened to be amateur night, which meant that any girl could get on stage and dance. So I called a few girlfriends, and we headed to the club. After a few drinks, I surprised my guy as one of the novice strippers. He was so shocked that he just froze--until I started undressing. Then he jumped on the stage and begged me to come down, promising me he'd never go to a nudie bar again."
Although she never comes right out and states it plainly, pornography is the instrument of a woman's own objectification. The nature of porn is to arouse men with the objectification of women--to reduce the act of sex to an animalistic game of dominance void of emotion. If a piece pornography is not objectifying, chances are that it is erotica. I personally think that it is demonstrably important that we separate erotica from porn so as to tote the positive role of erotica, facilitating the agency of women and emotion in the sex act, and contrast it with the negativity of pornography.
Previous parts of this series: Part One, Part Two, Part Three


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Project FIRST - Financial Incentives to Reduce Substance Use and Improve Treatment (Project FIRST)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01376570
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : June 20, 2011
Last Update Posted : April 20, 2018
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|HIV Opiate Dependence
|Behavioral: Abstinence-reinforcing contingency management intervention Behavioral: Performance Feedback intervention
|Not Applicable
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|242 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Randomized Trial of an Abstinence-reinforcing Contingency Management Intervention to Suppress HIV Viral Load
|Study Start Date :
|June 2012
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|August 10, 2017
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|August 10, 2017
Experimental: Contingency Management arm
The Contingency Management arm will receive the abstinence-reinforcing contingency management intervention.
Behavioral: Abstinence-reinforcing contingency management intervention
The contingency management intervention consists of participants receiving vouchers exchangeable for goods and services contingent on achieving abstinence. When participants are abstinent (urine is free of cocaine, oxycodone and opiates), they will receive a voucher. If participants are not abstinent (cocaine or oxycodone or opiates are in the urine), they will not receive a voucher. The value of vouchers increases with continued evidence of abstinence. When participants have urines with opiates or cocaine, the value of the voucher is reset. The vouchers are part of the intervention, they are not participant compensation.
Active Comparator: Control arm
The Control arm will receive the performance feedback intervention.
Behavioral: Performance Feedback intervention
Participants will receive performance feedback about their drug use. The research team will provide informational slips of paper indicating results of urine tests and will congratulate participants when urines are drug-free or encourage participants to stop using cocaine and/or opiates when urines are not drug-free.
- HIV viral load [ Time Frame: Viral load will be measured every 4 weeks over the 28-week follow-up period. ]Every 4 weeks participants will undergo phlebotomy to measure HIV viral load. Viral load will be analyzed as a continuous measure (log10 copies/ml). In secondary analyses, viral load will be analyzed dichotomously, as undetectable (<45 copies/ml) or not.
- CD4 count [ Time Frame: CD4 count will be measured at weeks 0, 4, 20, and 28. ]At weeks 0, 4, 20, and 28, participants will undergo phlebotomy and CD4 count will be measured. CD4 count will be analyzed as a continuous measure and an increase of 50 cells/mm3 will be considered a clinically significant improvement.
- Abstinence from opiates, oxycodone, and cocaine [ Time Frame: Abstinence will be measured twice weekly during weeks 0-20, then every two weeks during weeks 21-28. ]Participants will provide urine samples twice weekly during weeks 0-20, and every two weeks during weeks 21-28. Abstinence will be defined as having drug-free urine (no cocaine, oxycodone and opiates). Abstinence will be examined two different ways—as the proportion of drug-free urines and the number of consecutive drug-free urines. Although urine toxicology tests will be our primary data source for measuring abstinence, we will also measure addiction severity using the Addiction Severity Index.
- Antiretroviral adherence [ Time Frame: Antiretroviral adherence will be measured every 4 weeks during the 28-week follow-up period ]Antiretroviral adherence will be measured using pill counts. Adherence will be analyzed as a continuous measure, defined as the proportion of pills taken (# pills taken / # pills prescribed). Mean adherence over each 4-week period will be examined. In addition, we will also analyze adherence as a dichotomous measure (e.g., perfect [100%] adherence or not during each 4-week period).
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- at least 18 years old
- English or Spanish fluency
- HIV-infected
- Currently taking highly active antiretroviral therapy
- a) opioid use disorder and receiving opioid agonist treatment with methadone or buprenorphine, or b) cocaine use disorder
- urine toxicology positive for cocaine, oxycodone, or opioids during the run-in period
- detectable viral load while prescribed highly active antiretroviral therapy in the prior 6 months
- self-reported adherence to HAART <100%
Exclusion Criteria:
- inability to give informed consent
- inability to follow the research protocol (e.g., visits twice weekly)
- frequent hospitalizations (>2) in the prior 6 months
- currently with a chronic pain condition in which the participant has been prescribed opioid analgesics for longer than the past month
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01376570
|United States, New York
|Montefiore's Community Clinics (Montefiore Medical Group)
|Bronx, New York, United States, 10451
|Albert Einstein College of Medicine Division of Substance Abuse clinics
|Bronx, New York, United States, 10461
|Montefiore Infectious Disease Clinic
|Bronx, New York, United States, 10467
|Principal Investigator:
|Chinazo Cunningham, MD,MS
|Albert Einstein College of Medicine
|Responsible Party:
|Chinazo Cunningham, Associate Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01376570 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
R01DA032110 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|June 20, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|April 20, 2018
|Last Verified:
|April 2018
Keywords provided by Chinazo Cunningham, Albert Einstein College of Medicine:
Opiate dependence
Opiate replacement therapy
Cocaine-related disorders
Risk Reduction Behavior
Medication Adherence
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Opioid-Related Disorders
Substance-Related Disorders
Chemically-Induced Disorders
Mental Disorders
Opiate Alkaloids
Anesthetics, Local
Central Nervous System Depressants
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Sensory System Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents
Vasoconstrictor Agents
Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors
Neurotransmitter Uptake Inhibitors
Membrane Transport Modulators
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Dopamine Agents
Neurotransmitter Agents
Analgesics, Opioid


text:
Broadoak Floors & Doors37 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Broadoak Floors & Doors offer a wide variety of quality products at very competitive prices to mainstream DIY stores. Products range from real wood(engineered & solid), laminate, to quality veneered hard woods, pine and moulded doors. We are very competitive and offer... read more
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Elite Flooring92 Feedback reviews, 98% positive
We are a friendly, family run flooring firm based in Burnham on sea, Somerset. We are a highly skilled team of floor layers and suppliers. If it goes onto the floor we can fit and supply it. That means expert fitting of everything from carpets to vinyl to wood to LVT and... read more
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Glenwood Flooring308 Feedback reviews, 95% positive
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Wooden Floor Solutions25 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
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A G Flooring131 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I am a carpet, vinyl, lvt, laminate and wood floor fitting specialist with over 20 years experience. I offer a supply and fit service where I can bring samples to the comfort of your home or just a fit service. You can be sure that all my work is carried out to the highest... read more
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Timberman32 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Timberman Flooring and Carpentry Services. Laminate and engineered flooring, Decking and Fencing, most aspects of carpentry, kitchen and tiling undertaken.No job too small or too big, guarantee for all jobs, supply and fit or fitting only. read more
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Flooring fitter15 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
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Lucas Kane Carpentry49 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
We offer carpentry & building work in Bath, Bristol and surrounding areas & specialize in all aspects of flooring, doors, skirting and tiling. With extensive experience in all areas: from repairs and renovations, to complete new builds, structural joist and subfloor timber... read more
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ALD Carpentry59 Feedback reviews, 98% positive
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Fix My House ltd69 Feedback reviews, 99% positive
Fix my house is a building maintenance limited company with young and experienced multi skilled tradesmen. We offer high quality services at a reasonable price. We undertake all building, maintenance and repair jobs in bristol and surrounding. We are always ready for... read more
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Andy Ford Carpets and Flooring15 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I have been fitting floors in homes and businesses for over 22 years. I fit LVT carpets,vinyl and laminate and wood floors. I can supply you with any flooring from my extensive samples I can bring to your home to choose from. I am fully insured and you can see photos of... read more
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MDS flooring20 Feedback reviews, 95% positive
MDS flooring is a local firm with 20 years experience in the flooring industry any flooring needs commercal or domestic read more
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Floors 'n' Doors11 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Hiya I'm Dan, I am a hard working, reliable guy who takes huge amounts of pride in my work. All my work is done to the highest quality, I always go the extra mile for my customers and respects their wishes. I have a wide range of skills to offer and will work with you to... read more
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Mario Maintenance Services Ltd71 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Mario operates from Bridgwater in Somerset. The business was established in UK in 2008 to offer a property maintenance service to the local community and surrounding areas, and has built up a good reputation for reliability, honesty and good quality workmanship. read more
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By jason95525 on 27th Oct, 2018
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text:
We all face new health challenges as we age. One important health concern among the elderly is the risk of injury from falls.
This risk results from many variables, including acute and chronic illness, medication side effects and changes in the body related to the aging process.
The inherent age-related risk factors for falls are many. Aging can lead to declines in balance, cardiovascular function, muscle tone and walking stability. Age-related problems with the vestibular system can produce dizziness and imbalance. Lower leg weakness resulting from reduced muscle tone affects stability.
Visual impairments common among older people increase the risk of falls. These include loss of depth perception, adaptation to dark, decreased sensitivity to contrast and frank vision loss. Further, the use of multifocal corrective lenses, common in the elderly, has been shown to increase the risk of falls.
Chronic illness among older people also contributes to fall risk. For instance, arthritis may decrease joint mobility. History of stroke can produce problems with neurologic function, affecting walking and balance. Cognitive impairment, including dementia, can increase the risk.
Some older people also may develop a condition known as orthostatic hypotension, which produces lightheadedness when arising too quickly.
The risk of falls has been shown to be higher among diabetics, presumably because of disease-related adverse effects on nerve function.
Acute illnesses such as infection, dehydration or arrhythmia have also been shown to increase the risk of falls among older people.
Not least among the risk factors for falls in the elderly are medication side effects. This risk logically increases with the number of medications used. Culprits include nonprescription medications (such as drugs for allergy) and prescription medications such as those used in the treatment of high blood pressure, sleep disorders, prostate disease and pain just to name a few.
Apart from disease and age-related conditions which increase fall risks, environmental variables play a role. Low lighting, stairs, icy sidewalks, uneven floor surfaces (such as throw rugs) and slippery bathroom surfaces have all been implicated as risk factors. Improper footwear can also play a role. In one study, shoes with thin firm soles improved balance.
The consequences of falls among the elderly range from minor injury to serious disability and even death. Among the most feared injuries are hip fracture and head injuries. Yet even less severe injuries can result in significant impairment among older people.
Prevention of falls focuses on reducing the impact of individual risk factors. This may include home-safety assessments and the use of assistive equipment (such as canes, walkers and improved home lighting) for those at highest risk.
For most elders, reducing risk of falls can be accomplished by maintaining an active lifestyle and recognizing individual limitations. Walking 15 to 30 minutes daily can help improve balance and muscle tone. It is also important to meet with your physician to optimize control of chronic health conditions and review potential medication side effects.
Dr. Matthew A. Clark is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and pediatrics practicing at the Ute Mountain Ute Health Center in Towaoc.


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Maritime piracy
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of attacks on vessels by pirates, in particular in the Gulf of Aden, Somali Basin and the Indian Ocean. Vast areas of waters are affected making it a challenge to prevent maritime piracy incidents.
Maritime piracy affects major shipping lanes, and puts at risk the lives of seafarers and merchant seamen from all over the world, of whom hundreds are taken captive each year.
Millions of dollars in ransom payments are paid to pirates. It is believed that these payments are divided between the pirates, their leaders and those who finance them. Intelligence indicates that part of the money is reinvested abroad through Somali emigrants.
Tracing the financial flows of ransom money is one of the main challenges faced by law enforcement agencies. Read more about Pirate Trails.
INTERPOL's response
The INTERPOL Maritime Piracy Task Force focuses on three main areas to counter maritime piracy, working closely with the international community:
Improving evidence collection
The maritime environment poses unique difficulties for collecting evidence. We provide advice, training and equipment to our member countries worldwide in order to improve the quality and quantity of data collected, and to make sure it is properly preserved and analysed.
With the creation of a Global Database on Maritime Piracy currently in progress, INTERPOL will be soon in the position to better analyse piracy networks. This will enable us to help our member countries identify and arrest high-value individuals involved in Somali maritime piracy – such as piracy leaders and financiers – and to identify their assets.
Facilitating data exchange
A single piracy case will often affect several different nations. Vessels may be flagged, owned and operated by different countries and manned by multinational crews. The pirates, the navy which captures them and the nation willing to investigate and prosecute the case are also likely to be diverse. This makes it crucial to share information between military, law enforcement and judicial bodies in multiple countries.
Our secure global police communications system, known as I-24/7, and our system of Notices are key to the sharing of data and the detention of suspected pirates.
Building regional capabilities
The majority of prosecutions for maritime piracy are conducted in African or Asian countries. We are working to develop the capabilities of police investigation units on a regional level. By providing specialized training and equipment prior to trial we can increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions in the future.
Working in partnership
Due to the extent and nature of maritime piracy, international and cross-sector partnerships are vital in order to prevent, investigate and prosecute these crimes. We work with the following international organizations.
- United Nations;
- International Maritime Organization;
- Baltic and International Maritime Council;
- European Union;
- Europol;
- Eurojust;
- African Union.
In addition, we work closely with various military organizations and companies in the private sector.
Patrick Mutua Ndunda, Criminal Identification Bureau - Kenya


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Brad Does Not Believe All Members of SZBA and AZTA Are Only In It For the Money, OK?
The last post I put on this blog got a lot of people talking. And that's what it was intended to do. So in that sense it was a success.
But if there's one thing I've learned from being a writer it's that it is absolutely impossible to write something that cannot be misinterpreted. I think certain writers attempt to do this by writing things so innocuous that nobody could ever disagree with them. But that kind of writing is useless.
Nevertheless, I was really sad, mad and upset when two Zen teachers who I highly respect sent me emails after having read what I wrote. Near as I can tell they believed my message in that piece was as follows: All Zen teachers belonging to AZTA and SZBA are only in it for the money while I, Brad Warner the magnificent, am much better than those guys because I care naught for the cash. Or something like that.
One of these emails said, "I feel you've done a great disservice to teachers in the United States with this entry. People actually take what you say seriously. I wonder how many will avoid a Zen teacher like the plague, thinking we are only interested in making money from the dharma." The other said, "it saddens me that not only are you not abstaining from praising the self and maligning others, but on the contrary have made it your modus operandi. It's how you make a buck." (Enough bucks that I had to crash in other people's houses for a year, thank you.)
I have not read all of the reactions to what I wrote (there have been a whole lot!). But so far these are the only two people I've come across who read the piece in that way. However, just in case there are others I want to be very clear.
1) I do not believe that all members of AZTA and SZBA are just in it for the money. In fact, as far as I can tell after a quick look at the rosters of these organizations, none of the members of these organizations are just in it for the money. (Though I don't know everyone, so I could be mistaken.)
2) When describing how I thought Zen teachers actually viewed what they (we) do, I was not trying to set myself apart from others as better than them. I was actually trying to express the view that I believe most of us take toward the idea of doing Zen teaching for the money. And that view is that we are not in it for the cash and therefore I feel we should not label ourselves as "professionals."
I had believed my feelings about this were adequately expressed in the following lines that appear in the piece. In paragraph one I said, "Some of those who belong to or even hold important positions in these organizations are friends of mine. I respect their views on most matters." And about 2/3 of the way through the piece I talk about how members of the "helping professions" charge for their services and conclude by stating, "No decent Zen teacher I know of views what he or she does in that way."
I do not feel that I have done any disservice to teachers in the United States by raising this matter. On the contrary, I feel it needed to be raised. And I am happy to have done it.
People have been throwing this word "professionalism" around very carelessly. I am well aware that among the connotations of the word "professionalism" is the idea that a "professional" has a commitment to certain ethical standards. But in its most basic form that is not what the word "professional" means. We need to be careful about these words.
Professionals uphold their ethical standards for a variety of reasons. But, as professionals, they have one very powerful motivating factor for upholding those standards that non-professionals do not. And that factor is money. Doctors, therapists and lawyers can lose their jobs if they don't follow their ethical standards. But this must never be a motivating factor for Zen teachers to uphold their (our) ethical standards.
This is why I view Zen teaching as a type of art rather than a part of the helping profession. If I didn't look upon it that way, I couldn't do it at all.
But let me get back to SZBA and AZTA. As they currently stand, both of these organizations are completely benign and harmless. They're just little groups of Zen teachers who come together and talk to each other. Right now, they're like peer support groups. It's impossible for anyone who has not tried to teach Zen to really grasp what it's actually like to do this. Even the nicest of those who haven't tried to teach this stuff have all kinds of weird fantasies about what is or what ought to be involved.
The problem is, I feel a lot of people (both members and outsiders) want these organizations to be much more than what they are now. And I feel that it is almost inevitable that these forces will win out in the end. People are already calling for these organizations to "have teeth" so they can deal with folks like Eido and Genpo and all the rest effectively. But the only way I can imagine for these organizations to ever grow any teeth would be for them to gain some kind of economic power over their membership. I believe this will happen eventually, the way it has with so many other religious organizations.
On the personal side, I want to point out where I come from on these matters. My first teacher was a student (for lack of a better word) of Kobun Chino Roshi. Kobun was quite famous for having quit the Soto-shu and being very anti-establishment. The teacher who ordained me, Gudo Nishijima Roshi, made no bones about his feelings regarding the Soto-shu, calling them "a guild of funeral directors."
Furthermore, I have my own personal reasons for being deeply suspicious of and prejudiced against all kinds of groups and organizations. So I am clearly not objective about these things. But then again, neither is anyone else.
That's not an apology or a way of back-pedaling. I meant and still mean every word I wrote. But I think it's good to be clear about this kind of stuff.
• April 14, 2011 (Thu) 7:00 pm Berry College 2277 Martha Berry Highway, Mount Berry, GA 30149-9707
• April 15, 2011 (Fri) 6:30pm Aurora Coffee Shop in Little 5 Points, 468 Moreland Ace., Atlanta, GA 30307
• April 17, 2011(Sun) 10:45 am Atlanta Soto Zen Center 1167 C/D Zonolite Place, Atlanta, GA
• April 18, 2011 (Mon) 7:00 pm Universalist Unitarian Church Atlanta, GA
• April 19, 2011 (Tue) 7:30pm Atlanta Soto Zen Center 1167 C/D Zonolite Place, Atlanta, GA
• April 20, 2011 (Wed) 7:00 PM Universalist Unitarian Church 1808 Woodmont Blvd, Nashville, TN 37215
• April 22-24, 2011 (Fri-Sun) 3-Day Zazen Retreat at Punel Ridge near Nashville, TN Contact Nashville Zen Center for info
More info (including links to all venues) on my tour page


text:
Wheat futures declined to the lowest since July in Chicago, extending a three-week decline after a storm brought snow cover in the U.S. Plains for next year's crop and as import demand slowed.
A winter storm in the U.S. this week dumped heavy snow across the Plains and the Midwest that will protect wheat plants against frost and provide moisture when the snow melts in spring. Most of Kansas, Oklahoma and northern Texas was covered in 0.4 inch to 10 inches (1-25 centimeters) of snow as of yesterday, National Weather Service data show.
"The hard and soft red winter wheat crops could not have had better weather conditions," economist Dennis Gartman wrote in his daily newsletter. "Many of the nation's wheat growers have gotten what they'd wanted and needed: snow cover."
Wheat for March delivery declined as much as 1 percent to $7.67 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the lowest since July 2, and was at $7.715 by 7:50 a.m. local time. Wheat and soybeans are the best performers on the S&P GSCI Commodity Index this year, both advancing 18 percent.
Milling wheat for delivery in March traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris slumped 2 percent to 249.50 euros ($331.31) a metric ton. Wheat has added 28 percent this year in the French capital.
"Transactions in the physical market logically remain limited due to a limited number of active operators and the closure of many elevators in this year-end period," Paris-based farm adviser Agritel wrote in a report.
Trading in wheat futures in Chicago was about 23 percent lower than the 30-day average for the time of day, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
U.S. shipments of wheat inspected for export fell 9.1 percent to 15.128 million bushels in the week to Dec. 20, the lowest for the period since 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported yesterday. Corn-export inspections dropped 18 percent from a week earlier to 13.475 million bushels in the week, the USDA said.
'Weak' Performance
"The operators continue to be disappointed by the weak performance of U.S. exports of wheat and corn," Bourges, France-based farm adviser Offre & Demande Agricole wrote in a market comment.
Corn for March delivery fell as much as 0.5 percent to $6.90 a bushel, and traded at $6.9225 recently, paring gains this year to 7.1 percent.
The amount of soybeans inspected for export jumped 8.3 percent to 44.5 million bushels in the week, according to the USDA. That was above expectations, Dan Cekander, director of grain market analysis at Newedge USA LLC, wrote in a report.
Soybeans for March delivery added as much as 0.8 percent to $14.295 a bushel before trading at $14.2625.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release its export sales report on Dec. 28 at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.
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