Fwd: just thinking

[Chimezie Thomas-Ogbuji]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alan Ruttenberg <alanrut...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Subject: just thinking
To: Chime Ogbuji <chimezie.th...@case.edu>, Sivaram Arabandi
<sivaram....@gmail.com>

There was a statement that there are some parts of running that are
not running. Could you give an example?

What is the relation between the stative: "sleep", and the processes
"rapid eye movement", and "REM sleep"?

-Alan

(it's processes all the way down?)

--
----------------------
Chime (chee-meh) Ogbuji (oh-bu-gee)
Heart and Vascular Institute (Clinical Investigations)
Architect / Informatician
Cleveland Clinic (ogb...@ccf.org)
Ph.D. Student Case Western Reserve University (chimezie.th...@case.edu)

[Chimezie Ogbuji]

On Nov 7, 10:01 pm, Chimezie Thomas-Ogbuji <c...@case.edu> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Alan Ruttenberg <alanruttenb...@gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 6:45 PM
> Subject: just thinking
> To: Chime Ogbuji <chimezie.thomas-ogb...@case.edu>, Sivaram Arabandi
> <sivaram.araba...@gmail.com>

> There was a statement that there are some parts of running that are
> not running. Could you give an example?

They don't give an example, but if you consider a morning jog, there
may be parts where the jogger stops at a light and is not running (in
the normal sense). Yet, the jogging unfolds over time (so it is an
occurrent), it is dependent on the jogger as a participant (so it is a
processual entity), and it is maximally connected, whole, and has a
bonifide beginning and end.

So, by the criteria of homeomericity, it wouldn't be a state. I
consider states and processes to be disjoint because processes are
primarily characterized temporally, whereas states are not. However,
I'm honestly not sure what an appropriate BFO ancestor would be for
'state'. BioTop considers it a quality. A state can coexist with a
process but the constellation of physical properties associated with
that state have nothing to do with the temporal extent of the process.

> What is the relation between the stative: "sleep", and the processes
> "rapid eye movement", and "REM sleep"?

So, from my layman understanding of these medical terms, there must be
some set of physical properties (neurological) that must be in effect
to be in a 'sleep state.' I'm not 100% certain if REM should be
considered a process or a state, but I would elicit this distinction
from a clinician by asking if REM is defined primarily by a set of
physical characteristics rather than temporal ones. Looking it up in
the medical dicitonary, I see:

"A period of sleep characterized by rapid periodic twitching movements
of the eye muscles and other physiological changes, such as
accelerated respiration and heart rate, increased brain activity, and
muscle relaxation. REM sleep is associated with activity in the pons
of the brainstem; when the pons is eliminated, REM sleep does not
occur."

These all sound like a definition based on physical characteristics
which suggests that it is a state and not a process. I don't know
enough about what the pons of the brainstem is to be able to tell if
this rules out the possibility that REM sleep is a state. It would be
interesting to find out, for instance, if the association with pons of
the brainstem is necessary and sufficient.

-- Chime