University of Pennsylvania senior Christina Steele and 2018 graduate Erin Hartman have been named Marshall Scholars. Established by the British government, the Marshall Scholarship funds up to three years of study for a graduate degree in any field at an institution in the United Kingdom.

They are among 46 Marshall Scholars for 2020chosen from more than 1,000 applicants. The scholarship, meant to strengthen U.S.-U.K. relations, is offered to as many as 50 Americans each year.

Erin Hartman, from Medford, New Jersey, graduated magna cum laude from the School of Nursing in 2018. She is currently a registered nurse in the Emergency Department at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she also works as a certified sexual assault forensic examiner in the Victim Intervention Program. She plans to pursue a master of laws degree in international human rights and practice at the University of York, followed by an masters degree in gender, peace, and security at the London School of Economics. Her passion is in empowering women, and her ambition is to help eradicate violence against women around the world.

Hartman worked as a research assistant at Penns Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics for two years. She spent her summers and time outside of campus working on women's health issues, specifically sexual violence. She interned for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the health policy office and at the World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on the Violence Against Women team.

At Penn, she pursued an interdisciplinary course of study that included graduate courses on ethical issues in reproductive health, social science research methods, and global health. She focused on the ability of nurses to translate their experiences with individual patients into systemic change through policy. Hartman was an Ortner Center for Violence and Abuse Student Fellow, a Wharton Public Policy Research Scholar, and an International Human Rights Scholar through Penn Law. She also was involved with the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the pre-professional health care fraternity Alpha Iota Gamma.

Christina Steele, from Valley Stream, New York, is majoring in psychology with minors in religious studies andbiological basis of behavior in the School of Arts and Sciences. She will pursue a doctorate in social psychology at the University of Edinburgh with a goal of developing evidence-based interventions that target interpersonal conflict and foster positive relationships in society.

Steele is a 2019 Beinecke Scholar and a recipient of the George Weiss Challenge Scholarship and the Gillian Meltzer Miniter Scholarship. She has participated in National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates programs for two years: on the effects of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders on romantic relationships in 2019, and on adversity and sociopolitical violence among Ukrainian civilians and military personnel in 2018.

At Penn, Steele is a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and has been awarded the Hassenfeld Foundation Social Impact Research Grant and the College Alumni Society Research Grant through Penns Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships (CURF). She has been a research assistant in the Brannon Laboratory, the Jenkins Laboratory, and the Emotion, Development, Environment and Neurogenetics Laboratory. Her research has ranged from child numerical cognition to implicit biases to social decision making to callous-unemotional traits in children.

She is a CURF Research Peer Advisor, and a College of Arts and Sciences Peer Advisor in the Psychology Department. She tutors neuroscience, has helped develop a graduate statistics course, and has twice served as a teaching assistant in cognitive science. She also teaches introductory neuroscience to high school students in West Philadelphia.

Steele enjoys playing badminton and playing music. She has performed withthe Penn Band, as well as the Music Departments Penn Wind Ensemble, and Penn Flutes Ensemble.

Steele and Hartman applied for the Marshall Scholarship with assistance from the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. Penn has had 17 Marshall Scholars since the scholarships inception in 1953.

For a full list of the 2020 Marshall Scholars or for more information, go to marshallscholarship.org.

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Penn senior and a 2018 graduate receive Marshall Scholarship - Penn: Office of University Communications

Optogenetics Market size is projected to experience significant growth from 2019 to 2025.Optogenetics is the biological practice in neuroscience used for monitoring the cells with the help of light. It is majorly used to control and monitor the activities of neurons in living cells. Optogenetics market is estimated to witness considerable growth over the forecast timeframe owing to increasing adoption rate optogenetics technology in the field of behavioral and neuroscience. Moreover, increasing technological advancements in optogenetics coupled with growth in ultrafast laser tool technology will augment market growth.

Multimodal imaging such as, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a crucial role in precisely identifying the unhealthy tissues. Hence, increasing use of such technologies will propel market growth across the projected time period. Additionally, development in genetic engineering research and growth in number of research laboratories adopting optogenetics technology will further augment market growth.

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However, the excessive cost of optogenetics technology is a major growth hindering factor. Moreover, dearth of skilled professionals for optogenetic research along with lack of awareness about the optogenetics in various developing as well as developed economies of the world will act as major growth restraining factors.

Light instruments segment is expected to witness considerable growth over the forecast timeframe. Light instruments include, Light-emitting Diode (LEDs) and lasers. LEDs are found to surpass lasers in several aspects such as, they are more reliable, smaller in size, easier to control as well as, cost effective in nature. Effective LED therapies are used in treating neurological and cutaneous diseases. Hence, the aforementioned reasons will increase demand for lights instruments thus, augmenting market growth.

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Neuroscience segment is expected to hold major chunk of revenue over the projected years. High growth is attributed to the factors such as, various advancements in neuroscience and increasing prevalence of neurological diseases. Additionally, rising government initiatives supporting various research and development activities will further boost market growth. For instance, in 2014, a private-public funded project aimed at better understanding of the human brain called The BRAIN initiative have been proposed. Hence, such initiatives will assist the market to deliver positive growth.

U.S. is expected to witness substantial growth over the forecast period owing to increase in use of optogenetic devices primarily in research and academic labs. Also, rise in prevalence of neuronal disorders such as, epilepsy, brain tumors and Parkinsons disease will further boost regional growth. As per Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2015, 3.4 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with epilepsy, which is expected to drive the growth of optogenetic market. Additionally, it is rapidly being used in various research and academic labs across the U.S.

China is expected to witness significant growth in the optogenetics market during the analysis period. Technological advancements and increasing adoption of optogenetic technologies for the treatment of various neurological conditions will augment optogenetics market growth in China. Furthermore, increasing prevalence of neurological disorders is another major growth augmenting factor.

Some of the key industry players include Cobolt Inc., Addgene, Gensight Biologics, Coherent Inc., Laserglow Technologies, Scientifica, Shanghai Laser & Optics Century Co. Ltd, Noldus Information Technology, and Thorlabs Inc. Key strategies adopted by industry players include strategic collaborations, partnerships, mergers, and innovative product launches to expand their business product portfolio.

Optogenetics Market by Product, 2014-2025 (USD Million)

Optogenetics Market by Application, 2014-2025 (USD Million)

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Insights into Optogenetics Market and its growth outlook - Technology Magazine

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Contrary to accepted knowledge, blood can bring more oxygen to mice brains when they exercise because the increased respiration packs more oxygen into the hemoglobin, according to an international team of researchers who believe that this holds true for all mammals.

"Standard thought was that mammalian blood is always completely saturated with oxygen," said Patrick J. Drew, Huck Distinguished Associate Professor of Neural Engineering and Neurosurgery and associate director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute.

That would mean that the only way to get more oxygen to the brain would be to get more blood to the brain by increasing blood flow. The researchers were interested in seeing how brain oxygen levels were affected by natural behaviors, specifically exercise.

"We know that people change breathing patterns when doing cognitive tasks," said Drew. "In fact, respiration phase locks to the task at hand. In the brain, increases in neural activity usually are accompanied by increases in blood flow."

However, exactly what is happening in the body was unknown, so the researchers used mice who could chose to walk or run on a treadmill and monitored their respiration, neural activity, blood flow and brain oxygenation.

"We predicted that brain oxygenation would depend on neural activity and blood flow," said Qing Guang Zhang, postdoctoral fellow in engineering science and mechanics. "We expected the oxygenation would drop in the brain's frontal cortex if blood flow decreased.

"That was what we thought would happen, but then we realized it was the respiration that was keeping the oxygenation up."

The only way that could happen would be if exercise was causing the blood to carry more oxygen, he explained, which would mean that the blood was not normally completely saturated with oxygen.

The researchers looked at oxygenation in the somatosensory cortex and the frontal cortex which is an area involved in cognition and the olfactory bulb an area involved in the sense of smell because they are the most accessible areas of the brain.

They used a variety of methods to monitor respiration, blood flow and oxygenation. They also tested oxygenation levels while suppressing neural activity and blood vessel dilation.

The researchers report in today's (Dec. 4) issue of Nature Communications that "The oxygenation persisted when neural activity and functional hyperemia (blood flow increases) were blocked, occurred both in the tissue and in arteries feeding the brain, and were tightly correlated with respiration rate and the phase of respiration cycle."

They conclude that "respiration provides a dynamic pathway for modulating cerebral oxygenation."

Also working on this project at Penn State were Kyle W. Gheres, graduate student in molecular, cellular and integrative biosciences; Ravi Kedrasetti, doctoral student in engineering science and mechanics; and William D. Haselden, M.D./Ph.D. student in the Medical Scientist Training Program and Neuroscience Graduate Program.

Others on the project include Morgane Roche, graduate student; Emmanuelle Chaigneau, postdoctoral researcher; and Serge Charpak, professor of neuroscience, all at the Institut de la Sant et de la Recherche Mdicale, Paris, France.

The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience and the National Institutes of Health supported this research.

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Respiration key to increase oxygen in the brain - Penn State News

A study conducted by the Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behaviour (INHB) has concluded that motorcyclists are less stressed and more fulfilled than their four-wheeled counterparts.

The study originally set about trying to find out if bikers were constantly riding in fear of being involved in an accident, but inadvertently proved the opposite! The results centre around a certain hormone called cortisol that is released in the brain when we become anxious. Scientists found that bikers would produce 28% less cortisol during testing than drivers on the same course.

The study was conducted by INHB in a controlled manner, with 50 motorcyclists and 50 car drivers making their way around a closed course for 20-minutes. During this time, the team measured the users heart rate, cortisol, and adrenaline levels. The users brain activity and its here where the most interesting results came from.

The results found that when riding, the subjects experienced increased sensory focus and resilience to distraction. Riding also produced an increase in adrenaline levels and heart rate, and a decrease in cortisol levelsthe kind of results you often get after a light exercise session, which also is a stress reducer.

The news regarding the mental well-being of motorcyclists goes hand in hand with a study that found that riding a motorcycle can burn anywhere between 170-600 calories an hour. As much as some people can burn in an hour at the gym.

So, there we have it, motorcycles really are good for your body and mind!

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Motorcycles are better for brain and body health heres the proof! - Visordown.com

For most students, the idea of a STEM and fine arts double major seems foreign, especially with finals season now here. To many STEM and arts double majors, this means balancing traditional exam finals with turning in semester-long projects and portfolios.

The difference between junior computer science and music performance major Jordan Benders dual majors is apparent in his finals. For computer science, he is often presented with a traditional paper and pencil final, while his music classes often evaluate his skills through performances. For his Music Theory 3 course, Bender needed to apply the musical knowledge he gained throughout the semester through a final research paper.

Skills in music classes tend to compound upon one another, so its more of a cumulative sort of final, Bender said. Whereas computer science classes, in my experience, have been less cumulative and more what have you done since the last test.

Growing up, Bender played percussion as a member of the school band, yet his love of music never overshadowed his love of technology and video games. Hes interested in possibly coding for video games and working in game design, while he plans on using his music degree to work toward a performance career in musical theater.

Though hes following his passions, balancing two courses of study hasnt always been easy for Bender he didnt realize the extreme differences in his two majors would make his experience a lot tougher than others.

I dont think I realized how busy I would be going into having a double major because people have double majors in related areas quite often, he said.

Two majors can be difficult to balance, especially with a minor attached. Junior Alex Johnson is currently pursuing an environmental studies and communications double major as well as a studio arts minor. In contrast to Bender, Johnson said his interests do not conflict as much as other students may think.

Its honestly been super helpful to have different ways to approach the things I care about, he said. [Double majoring] offers an interesting perspective, and its never been entirely separate things that are hard to think about at the same time.

In preparing for finals, Johnson said that he spends five or six hours preparing for an environmental studies final. Meanwhile, a final project in studio arts can take 10 to 15 hours to complete because of the artistic detail that is often involved.

I think the studio arts classes are a lot more time consuming and require more commitment than studying for a written final for environmental science, Johnson said. You just have to be on top of it and be proactive about starting things well before theyre due.

Delaney Jenkins, chair of the studio arts department, said studio art finals are different from a traditional paper and pencil final because students have to show how theyve developed their skills over the course of the semester and are then critiqued by their professors and classmates.

A critique in studio arts is like a final exam. You show up with your accomplished piece and you present it, Jenkins said. Youre getting full feedback now. Youve been getting feedback on the parts, but now heres the final thing.

During a critique, students present their finalized piece to the class. Their peers provide feedback and explain its possible meanings. The artist then interprets their work in front of the class, where they are provided with additional comments from their classmates and professor.

Johnson originally planned to enter college as an art major, but said he found that he is more passionate about the environment. Johnson said he hopes to use his interest in the environment and his communications and studio arts background to promote a better understanding of scientific issues through artwork.

I think creating artwork that talks about environmental science, and in particular environmental issues, is just another way to get people interested and contribute new ideas in a nontraditional way to that discussion about environmentalism and science in general, he said.

While Johnson views his studio arts classes as more time-consuming than his STEM work, Ari Freedman, a sophomore who majors in neuroscience and music, sees his situation differently. He said his neuroscience major often presents a greater challenge than music due to the amount of material he must remember for finals.

My finals for my STEM major rely a lot more on my ability to memorize information, whereas my finals for the music major require more of a bodied understanding of what the music is, Freedman said. It seems that theres more weight in the classes that are science based. Maybe because I feel there is more of a challenge, more of a pressure in the world of professional sciences.

Biology professor Erica McGreevey said STEM finals often assess students ability to recall information from the beginning of the semester as well as the material they are currently learning, citing the Foundations of Biology exam, which consists of 40 multiple choice questions covering material from the entire semester.

Often times, it will have a section of new material as well, so students are learning something new in addition to having to demonstrate their understanding of the entire course content, she said.

While remembering material for his neuroscience exams adds to Freedmans stress around finals, its important for him to pursue in regards to what he wants to do. His goal is to analyze how music can affect mental and emotional states. He utilizes his music and neuroscience interests in his current research position at an occupational lab, where he conducts EEG studies of patients and examines what parts of the brain are affected when a musical stimulus is present.

I liked the fact that we could use an empirically based understanding of the world to change what we were doing, Freedman said, that we could realize certain things are flawed and that we could learn what is the best way to go about doing things using science.

Despite the differences between the arts and STEM, Johnson still finds that they can work together in harmony. He said he utilizes both of these fields and feels that others should do the same.

I would encourage people to pursue art, even if they are a science major, because you can always find a way to connect the two, Johnson said.

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Balancing finals as a STEM and art double major - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

Updated December 09, 2019 08:15:43

When it was announced in October that Netflix was trialling a new variable playback option that would allow viewers to watch their titles sped up (or slowed down), filmmakers reacted with dismay.

Judd Apatow, director and screenwriter of Knocked Up and Funny People, tweeted: "Leave them as they were intended to be seen."

Filmmakers Brad Bird (The Incredibles), Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Peyton Reed (Ant-Man) also piled on.

"Having worked a lot in large-scale TV, it's kind of like sitting in a theatre audience and yelling out to the directors and the actors to 'hurry up!' it feels that rude as a concept," says Thomas M Wright, an Australian actor (Top of The Lake) and filmmaker (Acute Misfortune).

In fact, browser plugins that allow viewers to adjust the speed that they watch Netflix (and other video content) already exist.

Melbourne university student Seraphya told Stop Everything! that he watches YouTube videos at triple speed and Netflix at double speed.

"If you watch faster, you get to watch more shows," he says.

And speeding through video content seems like a natural evolution in one sense; first there was speed reading, then came speed listening, after podcasts and audiobooks invaded our phones.

Seraphya, a bioinformatics student, jacks up his podcast listening to triple speed.

"I'm listening for both knowledge and entertainment, and it's just boring to listen at single speed," he says.

He's also not particularly fazed by the concerns of content creators, pointing out that "we now know from musical historians that Beethoven was meant to be much faster than we currently generally perform it at so there's no use getting stuck with what was intended, because what was intended doesn't last".

Seraphya has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but says that speed listening and watching actually calms him down, the stimulation allowing his brain to focus.

Emma, undertaking her teaching masters in Adelaide, ramps up her speed to dial down her FOMO: "I feel like there is so much to be seen and not enough time to see it in, so when I get the opportunity I do tend to ramp the speed up."

She recently watched historical action thriller Hotel Mumbai and Swedish fantasy Border "between x1.4 and x1.6 speed".

She's likely to use Netflix's faster playback option, but she believes "some things that are really stressful and distressing shouldn't be watched at speed", pointing to Netflix miniseries Unbelievable, based on a true story of rape and injustice, as an example.

"There will always be things I listen to at 1.0 speed, the things that I love," Emma says.

"It's irrational and personal, but isn't everybody's relationship to what they consume?"

Ian, a public servant in Queensland, listens to most podcasts on double speed and sometimes watches YouTube videos sped up, but says he won't be speeding through Netflix.

"I don't think I would do it for television shows I think they usually have particular production values that I don't think would be helped by watching them at a faster rate."

Director Thomas M Wright recognises that not all television is "carefully crafted" and some directors wouldn't be concerned by the idea of viewers speed-watching their work.

"But cinema takes years and people are actually orchestrating a completely false reality, and in order to do that it takes extraordinary investment and extraordinary care and the idea of that being trampled over for convenience is absurd," he says.

"Cinema for me is a machine of empathy and there's something that dies, the more people atomise it."

Joel Werner, host and producer of ABC podcast Sum of All Parts, understands why listeners speed up some podcast content but draws a line.

"I think watching a really good TV series or a really good movie, or listening to a really immersive audio documentary, it's an experience, right?"

"It's taking you to a different world, it's putting you in someone else's shoes, it's giving you a perspective on life that you didn't have before and I just don't think you can get any of that nuance when you listen at double the speed it was intended to be listened at," Werner says.

"So the theory on speed reading is it's more of a skim than a read," says Jared Cooney Horvath, an educational neuroscientist from The University of Melbourne.

Dr Horvath says that our ability to speed read is limited by the foveal spot at the back of the eye, "which essentially determines what you can focus on.

"If something isn't in that spot, then bad news, you're not going to be reading it and unfortunately, it's a very small spot."

When you combine our small foveal spots with the fact you need to move your eyes across a page to read, he says that even a speed reader would still take 10-20 seconds to read an average page of text.

While many seem to draw the line at narrative-based or fictional content, Dr Horvath says that "because of the way narratives are constructed, especially creative narratives, that's when you might be able to get away with it [skim reading]".

That's because fiction involves a degree of "redundancy" (repetition and references to characters, plot points and settings) which enables readers to make sense of a book while skimming through it.

But if you speed through nonfiction or anything you're planning to learn information from, "you get almost nothing out of it because you don't have these little points to use as kind of references," says Dr Horvath.

"Without that 'redundancy' you have nothing to hang your hat on. You get to the end and your comprehension is just trash."

The good news for speed-demons? Dr Horvath says that for speed listening and watching, anything up to x1.25 speed is "fine" in terms of recall and comprehension.

"As soon as you go above that, prepare to start just dropping key facts and that's just fact recall. Comprehension is [about] now how do you piece those facts together into a story."

As you recall fewer facts, Dr Horvath says your "comprehension tanks" compared to someone listening to or watching something on normal speed.

"When you're breastfeeding with your mother, you get a very certain chemical signature that spreads through your body which we think is a signature of bonding," Dr Horvath says.

"It turns out when you're lost in a narrative you get that same signature, so you're bonding. So when people say 'I love Dostoyevsky,' they're not being flippant, you're bonding with the author at that moment."

If you speed through a book, you risk losing the depth and engagement required to bond with the work.

Even so as long as the current glut of content exists, there are going to be people willing to sacrifice depth of engagement in favour of skimming as much of it as they can.

Dr Horvath traces the problem of "information overload" to the advent of the printing press, pinning this as the moment we were faced with a major decision between depth and breadth.

"The vast majority of people pick broad: 'I just want to listen to as many podcasts, watch as many shows, make sure I get everything'. And it's neither right nor wrong," he says.

But if you choose to speed through all three seasons of Stranger Things in one evening, don't expect it to make much of an impact.

"Deep learning is predicated on thinking," says Dr Horvath.

"You have to embed these memories and you have to give yourself time to think about them."

Rather than speed-watching, Dr Horvath suggests: "If you watch a show don't binge it, spend a day not watching the show, thinking about the episode you just watched, predicting what's going to come next."

"That's the deep thinking that makes the show resonate."

Topics:arts-and-entertainment,film-movies,film,television,popular-culture,books-literature,neuroscience,australia,united-states

First posted December 07, 2019 06:25:33

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Netflix's speed-watching trial joins a long history of content cramming, but may be bad for artists and viewers - ABC News