Legislators like to meet with their constituents to learn their views on issues of importance to them and the district/state. The BEST TIME to request a meeting is when they are in their district office, prior to or in between sessions.  During session, the meeting will generally be scheduled with their aide who handles the particular issue you will be discussing. Many states have legislative visits/days scheduled through the Catholic Conference where training is provided on specific bills/issues and legislator/aide meetings are scheduled during session.
Building a relationship with your legislator is the single most important ingredient for success. As Catholics, we have consistent principles that legislators know we will not compromise.

1) Make a list of bills or issues of interest to you or your group.  It is best to limit the list to no more than three or four. If it is a bill, refer to the bill number.
2) Prepare "talking points" to make your point.  Know what the opposite side of the issue is so you can explain why your position is preferred.
3) Have a list of facts to leave behind so the legislator has a reference point.   Be sure to include a contact name and phone number they can call if they want more information.
4) Call the legislator's District/Capitol Office for an appointment. They will ask what issues you wish to discuss with the legislator/aide. Tell them who will be attending the meeting.
5) Do not engage in a discussion of details on the phone as your purpose is to schedule a face-to-face visit.  Ask for a 30-minute meeting to allow time for adequate discussion.
6)  Confirm the meeting time at least 24 hours prior to the visit.

1)  Arrive on time, but preferably early, in case he/she is free to meet prior to the scheduled appointment time.
2) If more than one person is attending the meeting, agree ahead of time who will speak to each issue. Describe the issue/bill in detail if the legislator is not a sponsor or co-sponsor. Legislators deal with hundreds of bills and do not know all the facts on each one.
3) If you do not know the answer to a question, say so and tell him/her that you will find out the answer and call or write back with the information. Your  credibility is at stake so do not guess at the answer - get the facts.
4) Do not argue if they disagree with your position.  Listening respectfully will keep the door open to future communication. Leave behind the information which supports your position.
5) Ask the legislator how they intend to vote.  As a constituent, you have the right to know their position. Be polite, but firm.
6) Only stay for the amount of time scheduled unless the legislator/aide continues the conversation. They usually have back-to-back meetings scheduled so they will appreciate your thoughtfulness.
7) Write a thank-you note after the visit.  This gives you one more opportunity to summarize the reason for your visit. It also puts your name before them again so they will be more likely to remember you the next time you call or visit.


What is Satire?

Satire is a literary genre that uses irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity’s vices and foibles, giving impetus to change or reform through ridicule. Types of direct satire include Horatian satire and Juvenalian satire, named after the Roman writers Horace and Juvenal who made the genre famous. As you read satire, look for these characteristic techniques of satiric writing:

A mode of expression that uses words (verbal irony) or events (situational irony) to convey a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation. The surprise recognition by the audience often produces a comic effect. When a text intended to be ironic is not seen as such, the effect can be disastrous. To be an effective piece of sustained irony, there must be some sort of audience tip-off through style, tone, use of clear exaggeration, or other device.

Deliberate exaggeration to achieve an effect; overstatement

A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. Example: “The grave’s a fine and private place, / But none, I think, do there embrace.” (Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”)

An exaggeration or other distortion of an individual’s prominent features or characteristics to the point of making that individual appear ridiculous. The term is applied more often to graphic representations than to literary ones.

Most commonly understood as clever expression—whether aggressive or harmless, that is, with or without derogatory1 intent toward someone or something in particular. We also tend to think of wit as being characterized by a mocking or paradoxical quality, evoking laughter through apt phrasing.

Intentional derision,2 generally directed at another person and intended to hurt. The term comes from a Greek word meaning “to tear flesh like dogs” and signifies a cutting remark. Sarcasm usually involves obvious verbal irony, achieving its effect by jeeringly stating the opposite of what is meant so as to heighten the insult.

An imitation of a work or of an author with the idea of ridiculing the author, ideas, or work. The parodist exploits the peculiarities of an author’s expression—his or her propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, or other elements of the author’s style.

Speech or writing that abuses, denounces,3 or attacks. It can be directed against a person, cause, idea, or system. It employs a heavy use of negative emotive language. Example: “I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth. “ (Swift, Gulliver’s Travels)

(Definitions from pg. 226 of your Springboard)


Accommodation in Puglia

Masseria Bagnara Resort & Spa

An oasis of peace and tranquility where the warm sun gently caresses this ancient country house white walls. The renovation, made according to tradition, added features and details thus reinventing the fascinating personality and history of Masseria Bagnara. It beholds a presence that will let you feel pampered and relaxed right from your arrival.

This is Masseria Bagnara Resort & Spa.

Surrounded by a beautiful countryside and just a few steps away from the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea, here at Masseria Bagnara you will enjoy a stay focused around your wellness, experiencing the unforgettable Apulian typical cuisine and taking advantage of the location, right in the middle of Apulia.

Lecce and its famous baroque architecture, Taranto with its thousands-of-years long history and the small ancient towns of Salento are all reachable in a few minutes drive

Welcome to Masseria Bagnara. Welcome to the White.

luxury volunteering Italy Puglia

Puglia in Southern Italy hides a myriad of guarded sights, historical architecture and beaches untouched by tourism.

Puglia is a region that can satisfy any taste and interest, from its ancient history to the Medieval and Baroque epochs, from its castles that line the coast to the tiny, artistic villages where artisanal masterpieces come to life.

Local and international festivals add a little spice to life such as the Otranto Jazz Festival and La Notte della Taranta, where the area’s traditional dance, the Pizzica is celebrated.

Start planning your tailor-made trip to Italy by contacting one of our specialists


[[Acceptance|Acceptance]] [[Adaptation|Adaptation]] [[Progression|Progression]] [[Support|Support]]
[[5.1|5.1]] [[5.2|5.2]] [[5.3|5.3]] [[5.4|5.4]]

5 Acceptance

5.1 Role of digital competence in care work

Understanding the role of digital competence in care work; understanding how different kinds of digital technology can support care workers in their profession as well as care recipients in their daily lives; realising the benefits and challenges of implementing ICT in social care.

5.2 Inception and promotion

Bringing digital competence and technology into own work practices; clarifying the advantages of digital technology to care recipients; introducing various types and possibilities of digital activity to care recipients; inspiring interest in ICT.

5.3 Encouragement and confidence building

Overcoming psychological obstacles to the implementation of digital technology in care work such as the fear and mistrust of technology, low self-esteem and lack of interest; encouraging care recipients to gradually discover ICT-based activities; building confidence.

5.4 Sustainability

Ensuring user-friendliness and adequacy of digital technology used by the care recipient; avoiding over-complexity; observing sustainable user development; preventing discouragement and loss of interest.


Friday, 11 September 2015

Electricomics 102 : Anatomy Lesson

In the previous post, I suggested that "digitally-enhanced" Comics weren't so much an "enhancement" of existing comics, but the start of something different-but-related. Personally, I find it much more exciting to think of them like this, than as some "comics evolved for the 21st century" guff. Comics are doing fine (and adapting to the 21st Century fine, thanks to Comixology, Sequential and others). Electricomics and their predecessors are something different, able to borrow storytelling techniques from comics, movies, games. And, crucially, to invent their own idioms.

In this post, I want to do a quick tour of the anatomy of this new creature. Oh, and speculate about the near future ("near" as in next 12 months) in a way that'll make me cringe with embarrassment when I go back to read it :)

So, what's changed with this new creature, then? The sample Electricomics give us a number of hints that highlight different ways of interacting with the comics, such as "tilt", "swipe" and "soundscape", indicating that something different is going on. These are specific interactions, and I'm assuming that the software library will allow tech-savvy users and third-party developers to create additional new interaction modes. The current provisional standard for the structure of an electricomic contains a space for user-defined javascript libraries, so all looks good on that front.

Rather than trying to examine tilt, swipe & friends one by one, I'm going to propose a broader classification. Digital comics can be enhanced in one of three ways, which I'll present in increasing order of power. (By "power", I mean how much it can alter the storytelling experience, not how much it'll drain your batteries! I'm easily excited by techie stuff, and proposing grand classifications is an inherently techie thing to do, but I want to keep an eye on the storytelling as the ultimate goal here)

Here we go...

Type 1 : Special Effects

Using digital effects, we can introduce movement and sound in various ways, to dress up an individual panel or sequence of panels. The principle use of this is to establish mood, or sense of place. There are "obvious" uses - changing a character's facial expression or body language to convey a change in emotion, animating a bodaciously cool fight move, watching a building/planet/giant cosmic sandwich collapse in slo-mo, and so on. We can do somewhat more subtle stuff too - parallax scrolling on a long shot can give a sense of depth, changing colours can show the sun setting. Music or sound effects can be used to add to the narrative - something well established from movies.
(Here's a well-known example - warning, horror & sound effects!!)

Impact on Storytelling: pretty much mood/sense of place, unless my imagination's failing me. (Looking forward to being proven wrong here)

Type 2: Presentation & Layout

Physical comics are restricted to the size of the page. You can pick a size for a book (6x9", US letter, A4, etc., portrait or landscape), and then you're stuck with it. Syndicated strips are stuck with a fixed amount of real estate in a newspaper. It's possible to play with this a bit - double page spreads, switching between portrait & landscape (e.g. for several issues of Dave Sim's Cerebus "Church & State" run), mega-sized pull-out pages (e.g. recent issue of Fraction & Ward's Ody-C, Mick Inkpen's "Blue Balloon" childrens' book). There's an episode of Alan Moore & JH Williams' Prometheus, and a recent issue of Silver Surfer by Dan Slott & Mike Allred that both used Moebius strip structures - for example.

Early digital comics (i.e. everything that we've seen so far) tend to follow the fixed-page conventions of their paper ancestors, in the same way early movies stuck with a theatrical proscenium arch. In both cases, adhering to the restriction is a security blanket, that will be discarded as the new medium matures.

Scott McCloud coined the term "Infinite Canvas", to describe this new freedom. Drew Weing's "Pup Ponders the Heat Death of the Universe" is the go-to example of this technique, and is funny and deep with it! On an infinite canvas, the user can move around freely, up, down, sideways, to follow the story. One thing I haven't seen explored much yet is the ability to zoom in and out. There was a powerpoint-like tool called "Prezi" that did the rounds of a place I worked at a few years, that made great use of infinite zooming to jazz up business presentations - imagine a comic strip that can be read like these sample presentations. Computer UI guru Jef Raskin, one of the people responsible for the modern GUI, via his early work at Apple, proposed a similar zoomable interface for file management on desktop computers. Google Maps and it's ilk use a zoomable UI too, (and support a rich enough API to tell a story!!).

At the other extreme, it's possible to increase the control over the user's travel. The zooming panels in Scott McCloud's The Right Number, and the regular beats of Bryan Talbot's Metronome expanded edition, comixology's guided view, all walk the reader through the story, one panel at a time.

Impact on Storytelling: Allows the writer to grant more, or less, freedom to the reader. What effect does it have on the reader? Guiding the reader may help to establish a smooth flow. In the case of Metronome, it's done to enforce the rhythm of the story (and the story's very much focused on rhythm). There's a danger of disempowering the reader. On the other hand, giving too much freedom risks losing the thread, and pulling them out of the narrative (which may be intentional, if you're looking to instil a sense of disorientation or unease, but is generally bad news if you're loking to tell a conventional, immersive story).

Type 3: non-linear Narrative

Given an infinite canvas, there's an obvious temptation to "fork" the story, and head off in more than one direction - yep, it's Scott McCloud again. In algorithmic terms, our story is no longer a linear sequence, but a "graph", that is a series of "nodes" (panels) connected by "edges" (paths from one panel to another). Graphs of nodes can be represented visually as series of panels on a flat plane, although not all can do so without edges crossing over. McCloud's early experiments often make the edges explicit (e.g. this), as guidelines between the panels, rather than the standard convention of putting panels right next to one another.

A graph, though, is just a data structure, and can be used to drive other modes of presentation too. There are precedents here in Hypercard, an early software tool for creating non-linear presentations (used heavily in development of the early puzzler game Myst, apparently), and in the paperback adventure books of the 1980's. Two of the demo Electricomics (Sway, and Cabaret Amygdala) use non-linear storytelling, activated by different mechanisms. Sway "forks" the story by tilting the character into the past or future, whereas Cabaret Amygdala uses hyperlinked objects (phones, notebooks, TV screens) as gateways to different pages. Visually, both of these organise the story visually in conventional page-sized chunks - perhaps a wise move to help ground the fledgling electricomic reader in a bit of familiarity?

Remember, the reader, as well as the creators, are very much figuring out this new medium right now. Look at how film storytelling has continued to adapt to an increasingly sophisticated audience, with once-innovative techniques like Nic Roeg's cut-up rapid edits being absorbed into the mainstream storytelling repertoire.

Looking outside comics, we won't find non-linear narratives in movies, but they're a staple in games, of course. Some enhanced comics look/play/whatever?? very like games (e.g. Daniel Merl Goodbrey's "Duck has an Adventure"). Once I'd figured out how to read Sway and Cabaret Amygdala, I frequently felt a bit disoriented, and concerned that I wasn't going to find all the ways through the story. I don't play computer games - maybe if I did, I'd feel more at home here?

At the same time as these kinds of electricomics are currently moving closer to games, there is a growing sub-group of games that are moving closer to comics - typically independent, or small budget, with a greater emphasis on narrative, drama and suspense, and less on action (here are a couple of random examples that I've heard good things about). These games still tend to rely on more fluid animation than you'd find in comics, but are encountering similar issues in straddling the divide between puzzle and immersive narrative. As a storyteller, we want our audience to be immersed within the story. As a puzzle-maker, we need to awaken the critical thinking & logic centres that immersive storytelling needs to suppress. I certainly felt the tension while reading Cabaret Amygdala and Sway - with my attention on figuring out the underlying graph of the story, I don't think I really empathised with the key characters at any point. But, as I said, maybe I'm just showing my age there...

Impact on Storytelling: In short - Immense :)

Other Stuff

As with any good three-point summary, there's a lot that doesn't fit in the three categories. Here's a few more thoughts I'd like to get out of my head and onto the internet...

There's a mature discipline of User Experience testing (UX for short) in software development these days, the findings of which may be useful to Electricomics creators. One key term from UX is "Discoverability" - in the absence of instructions (either because there aren't any, or because the user didn't bother to read them), how easy is it to figure out how to use something? Rules for good discoverability differ greatly depending on how the user uses the tool. Complex, powerful tools of the trade will be expected to be difficult, require training, and time to learn. Apps designed for intermittent or occasional use, such as Dictionaries, calculators and notepads, ought to be intuitive, and require no training to master. Typically, an Electricomic falls into the second category, and it should be obvious how to read it. Again, that's going to depend on the creators' intent, and whether they want to immerse the reader in a story, or challenge them with a puzzle.

Responsive Design

Many ipad/android applications will adjust to either portrait or landscape mode as the tablet is rotated. Android apps in particular need to work on a variety of screen sizes and shapes (well, different kinds of rectangles - star-shaped touchscreens haven't caught on for some reason). The Electricomics demo has wisely side-stepped much of this for it's initial release, by limiting distribution to the iPad, and also by restricting each comic to either landscape or portrait viewing. Within these constraints, it's possible to position panels on the screen with pixel-perfect accuracy, giving the designer easy control over the look, proportions and layout of the story.

Early graphical user interface design tended to position buttons, text boxes etc. pixel-perfect, whereas most modern user interface systems position elements relative to one another, to accommodate a variety of form factors. With a typical user interface, utility is king. Electricomics are a utilitarian user interface and a Work Of Great Art all at once, so the hurdles to adapting to different form factors are significant, but I'd expect some capability to resize dynamically to become part of the toolkit at some point in the future. The hurdles are there, but not unsolvable.

With the rise of mobile devices, touch screens, etc. the practice of "Responsive Design" has been a hot topic in recent years. This goes further than simply shrinking or growing the elements to fit the layout, to actually switching between layouts to match the form factor. Hence an email app might show list and details side by side on a big screen (e.g. tablet), and one or the other as tabs on a smaller screen (e.g. phone).

Could an electricomic take advantage of responsive design? From a purely utilitarian viewpoint, a panel-by-panel guided view such as the digital version of Talbot's Metronome might be a good fit to the smaller form factors, whereas a grid layout would work better on a bigger screen. But could responsive design also be used artistically? Imagine a story that could be read portrait or landscape, in which tilting the screen to portrait mode revealed a wider viewpoint, and details/clues that altered the reader's perception as to characters' motives etc.

On The Fly

There's one final bit of crystal-ball gazing that I want to indulge in, based on the history of the web. Web site design, from one perspective, had three main stages:

  1. in the early days of the web, pages were composed of static words and images, which were authored, then uploaded to a web server.
  2. the content of a web site was held in a database, and assembled into a page of content on request. Most often, images were still retrieved wholesale from a file, but could be created on the fly by a computer program
  3. the web server would deliver a page containing text, images, and code (usually javascript), that could modify the page dynamically, and talk back to the server to fetch more information while staying on the same page

This third model seems to me to be the most interesting path for Electricomics to take. A non-linear narrative could contain a program that generates the story graph in response to a user's actions, rather than being limited to predetermined forks and "jumping off" points. (If this sounds very much like a weird way of describing a computer game, then it's because it is!)

Using modern web technologies, images can be composited and rendered on the fly. What are the storytelling possibilities here, while sticking within the panel-based constraints of a comic? We could:

  • change the tone, colouring of a panel based on some story-based criteria
  • make panels longer, taller or shorter, if the background can be generated dynamically
  • certain characters, props or other visual elements that only appear at certain times of day. How about a ghost story that injects extra scary elements to the plot only after it's got dark outside?! Or only on Christmas Day/Halloween/etc.
  • multi-player stories that change depending on how many other people are reading them, and what they've done
  • a chase scene with different outcomes depending how quickly you swipe from panel to panel

Computer-generated panel layout will be a challenge to artists. Some new freedoms appear, other restrictions will apply too. It is feasible, as proven by early experiments such as Grg Borenstein's "Generated Detective", which uses face detection on random images to work out where to place speech balloons.

It's going to be a wild and interesting ride. And hopefully not all like the one I've described above!

1 comment:

  1. Interesting read. It's certainly an exciting time for comics.


How can we help you today?

Knee Pain: Patellofemoral pain Syndrome

Patellofemoral pain syndrome usually involves pain in or around the knee cap. People tend to notice the pain particularly when going up or down stairs, squatting, kneeling or running. It may also be aggravated by long periods of sitting with the knees bent, and because of this it is also known as ‘movie-goers knee’. Swelling is not usually a major feature of this condition.

When the symptoms first develop they are best treated by icing the knee for 10-20 minutes after activity. Taking simple painkillers such as paracetamol and, sometimes, anti-inflammatory medications may help, Please seek advcie from your doctor before taking any medication. It is also advisable to avoid any activities that exacerbate the pain.

Taping the kneecap may also be of benefit in the early stages of recovery. As part of a consult we are able to show you how to tape the kneecap correctly to pull it back into alignment. Occasionally, biomechanical correction of lower limb alignment abnormalities through the use of arch supports or orthotics is recommended.

In the longer term, stretching and strengthening exercises for the leg muscles are important for full recovery.

Weak quadriceps (front thigh) muscles are a common cause of patellofemoral pain syndrome and quadriceps strengthening exercises are often a cornerstone of treatment. Similarly, tight hamstrings, iliotibial bands (the muscle down the outside of the thigh, sometimes called the ITB), calf or hip muscles can be a cause, and regular stretching of these muscle groups is important.


IAS provided the Liberty University-led expedition on the Qumran Plateau with consulting services, including representation in licensing matters with the Staff Officer of Archaeology of Judea Samaria and the National Parks Authority. In addition, IAS supplied all the digging and surveying equipment, erected a base camp, stored the finds at the end of each season, and arranged for finds processing, including illustration, photography, and restoration.


Jane HeadShot

Jane Canapini

“Ambidextrous-Brained” Creative Director

 With two decades of experience in the advertising world, Jane has put both sides of her brain to work solving marketing problems across multiple disciplines: by developing communication strategies to meet business objectives; and by overseeing the creative deliverables for all touchpoints of a campaign.

Jane’s work has won awards in Mass, Retail, Promotion, Direct Response and Sponsorship Marketing, but equally importantly, has built brands, changed behaviour, driven sales, produced leads and inspired change.

A natural leader, passionate and articulate presenter and an honest and trustworthy mentor, Jane brings energy and intelligence to every creative department she has worked in.

All with an unmistakable laugh and prerequisite sense of humour, just to keep it real.

Is there something that people may be surprised to know about you?
I dissected cadavers in university.

In your opinion, what’s the greatest thing about marketing?
The hours. Ha!

When things get crazy, what’s your de-stressing secret?
Say Yes to the Dress marathons.

Do you have a personal mantra?
Eat fat – food tastes better.

Name your favourite desk-top item.
Anne Taintor coffee mug.

If you had a chance to re-establish Spider’s office dress code, what would we be wearing?
A peacock headdress.

Fill in the blank: “A day without technology would be…”
Like a Snow Day when you were a kid.

Name the last book you read.
Mademoiselle Chanel.

The only thing missing from the Spider office is…
A poutine bar.

If you could teleport yourself anywhere in the world right this second, where would you go?
Villa Borghese, Rome.

What piece of advice would you share with someone thinking of breaking into the industry?
Persevere. It’s 90% timing, 50% of the time.

You’re writing a song about marketing. What’s the title?
It would be a country tune: I didn’t know how much I needed you (till you told me).


How fonts impact your mood

When we interact with other people we use our voice, facial expressions and gestures to convey a wide range of emotions. Typefaces are the facial expressions and gestures of Graphic Design.

“Type can be seen as mirroring the emotions we display in the real world through our facial expressions and gestures.”

In 1933 Poffenberger and Barrows explored how shapes and simple lines could communicate emotions.
Actually, their theory stated that when we look at a line, our eyes move along the shape. So they asked a group of people to match emotions form a line to each of the 18 curved and jagged lines sloping in different directions. A line going downwards was shown to make us feel “doleful,” while a “joyous” line takes our eyes upwards.

Psychologists Samuel Juni and Julie Gross asked 102 New York University students to read a satirical article from The New York Times. Each was given the reading randomly printed in either Arial or Times New Roman. Afterwards they were asked to rate their response to what they had read. They rated the article as being funnier and angrier, in other words more satirical, when it was read in Times New Roman.

If you think about it we can feel the same about our handwriting: When writing quickly our mood is italicised and when angry it becomes bold and deliberate.

A very good sample of how type can communicate is thanks to David Carson, an American graphic designer, art director and surfer, who is best known for his innovative magazine design (Ray-Gun), and use of experimental typography. His layouts featured distortions or mixes of ‘vernacular’ typefaces and fractured imagery, rendering them almost illegible.

Design writer Steven Heller said, “He significantly influenced a generation to embrace typography as an expressive medium”

If you got curious about it and you would like to discover more just read ‘Why Fonts Matter’, a Sarah Hyndman’s book.


Canadian Manufacturing

Toyota recalls 60,000 Avalons and Camrys for air bag defect

Recall involves vehicles from 2016 model-year sold in North America

TORRANCE, Calif.—Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 60,000 Avalon and Camry sedans in North America because their front passenger air bags may not deploy in a crash.

The recall involves Avalons and Camrys from the 2016 model year. Almost all were sold in the U.S.; about 1,500 were sold in Canada and Mexico.

Toyota says the cars have a system that activates or deactivates the front passenger air bags depending on the weight of the passenger. In some of the affected vehicles the system was improperly calibrated, so the front passenger air bags and knee air bags may not deploy.

The automaker says it’s unclear how many times the condition has occurred or whether it has been responsible for any injuries.

Owners will be notified. Toyota dealers will recalibrate the system for free.

Related Posts from the network


A probing portrait of Chris Burden, an artist who pushed the limits of creative expression and risked his life in the name of art.

Burden quit performance in the late 70s and had to artistically reinvent himself, going on to create a multitude of assemblages, installations, kinetic and static sculptures and scientific models. His work has influenced a generation of artists and been exhibited around the world, but the provocative nature of his art coupled with his sense of privacy mean that most people know the myth rather than the man. Now, having followed Burden creating new works in his studio and with access to his personal archive of images, video and audio recordings, CHRIS BURDEN: A LIFE IN ART will be the first feature documentary to fully explore the life and work of this seminal artist.

Coming Soon!


Horizons: Empire of Istaria Screenshots #10

We follow a young dragon as he explores to what seems like the top of Artifact Entertainment's world of Istaria.

Horizons: Empire of Istaria takes place within a vast fantasy-based realm encompassing thousands of square kilometers, with terrain ranging from dense jungle to frozen tundra, grassy plains, towering mountains and more. Many areas environments are uncharted and untamed, offering plenty of prospects for any souls seeking exploration and adventure. Many cities, towns, villages and castles lie scattered about, providing suitable venues to practice more urbane pursuits such as crafting and trade. And those who wish to help bridge this divide by bringing civilization to the wilderness can start their own communities and perhaps even build their own empires.

Familiar archetypes like humans, dwarves, fiends and dragons populate the land, along with a few others that are more unusual in nature. Some other notable features are a character customization system with innumerable options, a school-based skill system that allows switching focus at any time, a dynamic world that will change as significant event take place, and next-generation graphics including some truly attention-grabbing spell effects. With the title currently in late beta, we had the chance to see some of these visuals for ourselves. Now, thanks to developer Artifact Entertainment and distributor Atari, we have the opportunity to show you.

[For frequent news, information, community features et al related to the game, you can always visit our Horizons Vault.]


Peso appreciates vs. dollar on higher expectations for Fed rate delay

MANILA, Oct. 7 (PNA) — The Philippine peso surged against the greenback Wednesday on more negative economic data from the US.

It ended the day at PhP46.14, or PhP0.33 better than the PhP46.47 in the previous trading.

For the day, the local unit opened at PhP46.40, sideways from the PhP46.45 a day ago.

It traded between its closing level and PhP46.44 resulting to an average of PhP46.27.

For Thursday the currency pair is seen to trade between PhP46.10 and PhP46.30. (PNA)


• 07.22.16

Dissecting The Patent Gap

Like the wage and leadership gap, the patent gap highlights the lack of resources women have once they’re in the workplace.

Dissecting The Patent Gap

Another day, another sobering statistic about the gender gap in the workplace.

Although women have more than quintupled their representation among patent holders since 1977, only 7.7% of more than 520,000 patents were applied for by a female inventor in 2010 (the most recent year gender was tracked by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

After reviewing and analyzing multiple reports and data on women and patents, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) found that at the current rate of progress, gender equity in this area is more than 75 years away. That’s even longer than it will take women to achieve pay parity (estimated to close in 2059). But it may be somewhat quicker than achieving equality in the C-suite.

As the USPTO doesn’t collect demographic information on inventors as a part of the patent application, there could be more women than we know applying for patents. But IWPR’s study director, Jessica Milli, says that while it’s certainly possible, name-matching software is becoming increasingly more accurate and is now able to identify gender from names from a wide variety of countries.

She explains that they were able to identify the gender of about 94% of the names in the data set and the remaining 6% were assigned a gender based on the ratio of patents awarded to men and women each year. “There is probably some margin of error with these estimates,” Milli admits, “but it is unlikely that the share of women involved in patenting would be drastically different than current estimates if the USPTO collected data on gender.”

The reasons for the underrepresentation are numerous. The IWPR cites the “pipeline” problem, which points to fewer women in STEM fields overall. The incremental increase in patents applied for by women since 1977 is directly connected to the greater number of women who earned STEM degrees since that time. However, the study authors write, “Women continue to be grossly underrepresented in some patent-intensive STEM fields, such as engineering and computer science.”

They do note that the lack of women does play a role in the disparity, but breaking it down by segment shows a slightly different picture. They point out that only 19.1% of engineering degrees, 20.9% of computer science degrees, and 38.7% of degrees in the physical sciences were awarded to women. In the biological sciences, though, women earned the majority (58.3%) of degrees but those are less patent-intensive, notes Milli.

The study shows that not only are women rarely the inventors, but when they are their products are in traditionally female areas such as jewelry (26.7% of all patents) or apparel (25.3% of all patents). When they are part of a group of inventors, the patent classes are more diverse, and include chemicals (50.1%), organic compounds (43.3%), and drugs (41/1%).

Fast Company recently covered the latest research that indicates women get less credit when they work in teams. Could there be a correlation between those findings and the fact that women aren’t listed as the primary inventor in a team patent?

Milli says it could be a little of both, citing additional previous research on women’s reluctance to speak up in groups. “If we assume that these findings are still largely accurate, then even if a woman contributes to a team effort, her contributions may be marginalized and she may not be given (as much) credit,” she says.

Some of the research that Milli and her team reviewed also pointed to a lack of networks, or smaller networks, among women scientists that could pose a barrier to patenting their ideas. “Links to both academic and industry scientists are one way that inventor teams are formed and they are also an important way of accessing resources such as financial support, different skill sets, creative input, et cetera,” she explains. Having few or no network contacts could be preventing them from pursuing patenting in general, Milli says.

Venture capital, or lack of it, could also be a factor, according to the report. “Start-up managers report that 76% of venture capital investors consider patents in funding determinations. Patent applications signal quality for new projects and aid venture capital investors in their decision making process,” the report’s authors write.

The puzzling thing about this particular lack of parity is that the report revealed that gender-diverse teams of inventors are cited more often, which is considered a measure of its success. “Citations are the number of times a new patent cites the patent of interest,” Milli explains. “Generally, when a patent has high citation counts it is because current inventors view this technology as useful and are using it as a stepping-stone for their own innovations.”

She says that citation counts can vary depending on how long the patent has been around and what technological field the patent is classified in. All of the studies examined for this report were adjusted to factor that in, so all patents could be compared side by side.

Milli cites a study from the National Center for Women in Information Technology that suggests possible reasons why this is happening. Greater gender diversity on teams means a broader pool of knowledge and ideas to draw on, which generally leads to higher-quality research and innovation. Mixed-sex teams tend to be larger than male- and female-only teams, which again increases the pool of knowledge and ideas from which to draw on and may produce more complex patents.

But, she notes, “You can’t have gender diversity if women aren’t involved in patenting to begin with.”

As such, the IWPR suggests the following strategies to correct the inequality:

  1. Support efforts to improve gender diversity in STEM
  2. Develop systems and data tools to better track women’s progress in patenting
  3. Employers can offer women assistance with patenting costs
  4. Encourage women’s cultivation of industry contacts and higher-power networks

About the author


Welcome to the Math Department

Math Majors

We welcome any potential math majors to the department. If you haven't declared math yet but would like to get emails about our events, please email Kathy Sheldon (ksheldon@pomona.edu) with your full name and class year. If you are a potential math major and would like to be on our poster, please submit a high resolution photo to Kathy early in the fall semester.

2017-2018 Liaisons

Let’s meet your 2017-18 Math Liaisons!! The six students below will be planning the math retreat, T-shirts, and other exciting events; they welcome your input. They can be contacted to liaise with Math faculty if you have any questions or concerns about academic issues. Also, check out their Facebook page for announcements of events.

Kayla Cummings ‘18

Kayla Cummings

Hey y'all, I'm Kayla! I was born and raised in southeastern Virginia. I'm a fourth-year with interests in classical piano, journaling, and silly videos of parrots. This year I will be applying to graduate programs in operations research (OR) and computational math! Some math(ish) courses I've taken include Deterministic OR, Monte Carlo Methods, Statistical Theory, Algorithms, and Real Analysis. I've also participated in two REUs--one very pure, and one very applied! Please come to me with any and all concerns about your experience in the math department. I'm always excited to talk math--or life in general!

Amy Oden ’18

Amy Oden

Hi, y’all! I’m Amy and I’m a fourth year from Houston, Texas. As a mathie at Pomona, I’ve taken Calc II, Linear Algebra, Vector Calc, Combinatorics, Probability, Intro Stats, Operations Research, and Real Analysis. I’m double majoring in math and dance, so pay no mind when you see me rolling/leaping through Millikan’s halls (actually, please join me). I’m so excited to enter my third year of being a liaison and hope that I can help provide support and community to all mathies! Please feel free to talk to me about math at Pomona, or anything else!

Bradley Druzinsky ’19

Bradley Druzinski

My name is Bradley and I am a junior originally from Farmington, Connecticut. Thus far at Pomona some of my favorite classes have been Calc II H, Statistical Linear Models, and Combinatorics. This fall I'm excited to take Real Analysis I and Computational Statistics. When I'm not in Millikan, I can normally be found playing volleyball or reffing intramural sports in Rains. Feel free to say hi and ask me any questions!

Eric Gofen ’19

Eric Gofen

Eric is a Math and Politics double major at Pomona College. He specifically loves algebra and math education, and he wishes to be a teacher someday. He also mentors at the Quantitative Skills Center, runs track for the Pomona-Pitzer team, and is a tour guide for the college. He hopes to make math more accessible to everyone at the college.

Cristal Quinones ’20

Cristal Quinones

Hi! My name is Cristal, I'm a rising sophomore at Pomona college, and I'm from the suburbs of Chicago. My hobbies include cooking and watching vegan cooking videos on YouTube. When I'm not doing that, I'm having fun with math. Last year I took Calc II first semester and Linear Algebra and Calc III second semester. This upcoming semester I'll be in Combinatorics and Differential Equations. Along with that I'll be an RA in Blaisedell!

Jia Wu ‘20

Jia Wu

Hi everyone and welcome to Pomona's math department! My name is Jia Wu, I am a sophomore interested in studying math, computer science and environmental science. I have taken linear algebra and calculus III and am currently enrolled in combinatorics. Although I have zilch talent in terms of artistic ability, I greatly enjoy pretty much all forms and genres of art, music, and dance; in fact, I want to take a mime class spring semester and you should totally join! I am super excited to be a math liaison and if you want to discuss anything ranging from your personal to academic life I am always here to listen and talk. I will be part of a team of people that are going to be planning mathie community events such as hosting snack nights, so if you want to introduce yourself and send me a snack request please do so at jia.wu@pomona.edu. If you ever see me in Millikan, feel free to flag me down for a chat and to help me escape from another problem set!


Ethnically diverse people are donating DNA to science, and the wealth of genomic data emerging from the project already is shedding light on human evolution.

A decade ago it was a big deal to spell out the entire DNA sequence of a single human being. That event marked the success of the initial Human Genome Project. Now hundreds of human genomes have been decoded. Scientists who study human evolution are using the new data to make discoveries about how Homo Sapiens may have adapted to an ever-changing, ever-challenging environment.

New traits become established in human populations because they confer a survival and reproductive advantage. In Darwinian terms they are “positively selected.” Individuals who lacked the genetic variant responsible for an important trait often did not survive long enough to leave progeny.

Mutations in general may be harmful or of no consequence, but some mutations make for a better-adapted organism. Over time these new and advantageous genetic variants can usurp those that dominated previously.

1000 Genomes Project Provides Impetus

But a new analysis of genetic data from nearly 200 humans whose DNA has been sequenced as part of the 1000 Genomes Project challenges conventional thinking among those who study evolution. The study, published in the Feb. 18 issue of Science by UCSF computational biologist Ryan Hernandez, PhD, and colleagues, questions whether the assumed mode of human adaptation, called “selective sweeps,” has actually played a dominant role.

Scientists came up with the selective sweep model more than three decades ago. The model proposes that a new, advantageously mutated gene quickly spreads throughout a population in which the change appears -- becoming a “fixed” feature of that population. The speed of the transition, reflecting the strength of the selective adaptation, would eclipse the rate at which any inconsequential mutation might become fixed in the population by chance.

Not so selectively, the model swept population geneticists who study evolution. The selective sweep quickly became favored as a way to describe how advantageous traits – or “phenotypes,” as scientists say -- become fixed in a population or species.

Natural Selection – Different Ways to Get To the Way We Are

Hernandez, equipped with the new data and the latest computational techniques, searched the entire human genome for the genetic footprints of selective sweeps.

While there are some previously well-known examples of traits arising and quickly becoming common due to selective sweeps – the ability to digest milk during adulthood, for instance – this mode of adaptation actually appears to be somewhat rare, he found.

While adaptation is fairly common, modes other than selective sweeps may guide the route to dominance for newly arising traits within a population or species, Hernandez and co-authors of the Science study conclude.

One possibility is that multiple, less conspicuous DNA changes may be acting in concert to drive evolution. Patterns of changes in the relative abundances of several linked genetic variants operating together may drive an adaptation to become the norm within a population, Hernandez says. Scientists now will be paying more attention to different modes of natural selection.

“There are many ways in which humans can adapt to novel environments and novel food sources that aren’t characterized by this situation where you have a single mutation driving the entire phenotypic effect,” Hernandez says.

Hernandez says his findings are comparable to what many disease researchers are discovering in scouring the human genome for gene variants that are implicated in common diseases. Many risk genes have been identified in recent years, but individually each appears to account for only a small increase in risk.

Genetic Footprint for Selective Sweeps Is Unconvincing

Great swaths of DNA tend to be inherited together on the same chromosome. But like a shuffled deck of cards, DNA on each matched pair of chromosomes is spliced and recombined across the pair as part of a process leading to the formation of sperm and egg cells.

Some regions of the chromosome recombine more often than others, but in general, statistical chance dictates that two pieces of DNA sequence that are close together on a chromosome are less likely to be separated during one of these recombination events compared to DNA sequences that are far apart on the chromosome. Over many generations it becomes less and less likely that DNA sequences that were neighbors on a chromosome of a long-ago ancestor will still be linked together in a living descendent.

However, selective sweeps would be expected to cause an advantageous mutation to become fixed in a population so quickly that surrounding DNA sequences would be dragged into the gene pool in ever greater proportion as well -- sweeping out much of the genetic diversity in this neighborhood of the genome within the affected population. Hernandez says evidence for such a selective sweep should remain in human genomic data for about 10,000 generations, roughly 250,000 years.

Diversity Troughs

These “diversity troughs,” as scientists call them, are real. In this study Hernandez found that the average dip in diversity around human-specific mutations was about 30 percent compared to background levels. However, he also discovered that the diversity trough was just as large around DNA changes that were not expected to be driven by selective sweeps.

A change in a single nucleotide letter within a gene’s DNA often changes the encoded protein. But the genetic code is somewhat redundant. In some cases a single-letter change within a three-letter “codon’ of DNA within a gene can specify the same amino acid within the encoded protein. Changes in DNA sequence within a gene that do not change the encoded protein should not be a driving force for evolution. Yet Hernandez found that these inconsequential changes were just as likely to be surrounded by neighboring DNA that had a low level of diversity across the population studied.

Hernandez concludes that the diversity troughs do not constitute evidence for positive selection via selective sweeps. However, it is plausible that the troughs may be a signature of negative selection – a process whereby disadvantageous genetic variants are driven out of the gene pool. In any case there is more work to be done, Hernandez says, and resources such as those provided through the 1000 Genomes Project make it possible to explore new ideas about human evolution.

Hernandez, an assistant professor with the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences of UCSF, led the study with Molly Przeworski, PhD, a professor with the Departments of Human Genetics and Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. The two were joined in analyzing data from the 1000 Genomes Project by additional scientists from the University of Chicago, from Hebrew University, in Israel, and from the University of Oxford, in England.


Israeli soldiers from the paratroop brigade stand in a memorial area on the border with the Gaza Strip near Sderot, southern Israel, on Sept. 22. (Jim Hollander/EPA)

In the beginning of November, 106 former Israeli security officials published a letter as an advertisement in an Israeli newspaper calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take advantage of Israel’s success in the summer’s Gaza war and make a serious effort at peace on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative. The letter did not refer to a peace process with the Palestinians; in fact, it specifically noted these negotiations have consistently failed. Only a “political-regional approach and an arrangement with the moderate Arab states has a chance of bringing about an agreement with the Palestinians, stability, security and economic prosperity,” the officials argued.

The letter is important and must be understood in the context of Israel’s distinctive framework of civil-military relations, so different from other Western democracies. In most countries it is not considered normal for serving or former intelligence, defense and law enforcement officers to publicly criticize the head of government and provide unsolicited advice on matters of war and peace; and when they do, there are severe consequences for them. For instance, a clash between President Obama and Gen. Stanley McChrystal over policy in Afghanistan resulted in the latter’s dismissal.

But in Israel such critiques are considered normal. The consequence is that policymaking – civilian decision-making – is not just the purview of the government, but of a larger community of individuals and groups associated with military and security agencies. The letter’s importance, then, lies not in the public nature of its critique, but in its substance.

Certainly the letter highlights disagreements between Netanyahu and the security establishment that stretch back to his previous term, particularly over Iran. But the issue is much bigger than Netanyahu or Iran, and it gets to the critical issue of the balance of power between civilians and military or security officials in a democracy. In Israel’s case, the specific historical development of the country and the role of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and security agencies in the creation and development of the state have tipped the balance more toward the latter. Yet definitions of democracy, at least as promoted in the west, include far more civilian oversight than seems to exist in the Israeli case.

In addition to the security needs of Israel after its establishment in 1948, the military was used as an agent of nation-building (which excluded the haredim – ultra-Orthodox – and the Arab minority). The IDF founded agricultural settlements around the country, in isolated places and near the borders, to serve as first lines of defense against Israel’s enemies. The process of defending the country was tied to the Zionist enterprise – settling and working the land and redeeming the Jewish people through manual labor. The military absorbed tens of thousands of new immigrants and inculcated them with emerging Israeli values, norms and practices – including teaching them the new national language, Hebrew.

More broadly the IDF was held up as the embodiment of collectivism and self-sacrifice for the good of the nation, as well as the repository of centuries of Jewish collective memories. The early Zionist effort to create a “new Jew,” distinct from the old Jews of Europe who suffered persecution and murder, made the military a paragon of Jewish power, self-defense and strength in the face of the weakness that marked Jews everywhere else who let themselves be oppressed and, worst of all, be led “like lambs to the slaughter” in the Holocaust.

The expansion of state capacity led to the creation or building up of other security and intelligence agencies, and they, too, were incorporated into this process of development. As Israel aged, and the threat environment remained the same, these security agencies came to assume a prominent role in the foreign policy decision-making process. Their expertise was presumed to be almost all that was necessary for the government to decide on foreign and security policy, not just on decisions involving the use of force, but on diplomatic and political issues, as well.

And they came to play a prominent role in domestic policy, including in budget debates. The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza further facilitated their place at the decision-making table, as the IDF was used to administer the captured territories and, during the First Intifada from 1987 to 1993, to engage in riot control.

Finally, the ease with which defense officials moved from their security jobs into politics meant that they brought with them their expertise, connections, authority and emphasis on security frameworks for resolving problems. It is no coincidence that most defense ministers have been former high-ranking military officers, or that Israelis indicate they prefer as prime minister someone with experience in defense. Levi Eshkol was prime minister during the 1967 crisis leading to the war that year. He was widely criticized for appearing hesitant and bumbling at a time when many Israelis feared their country would be destroyed; many Israelis called for him to be replaced by one or more IDF commanders, including former chief of staff-turned-politician Moshe Dayan. Similarly, when Labor leader Amir Peretz became defense minister in 2006, he was widely mocked for not having the extensive military experience his three immediate predecessors – all high-ranking generals – had.

The prominent role of the defense establishment has led to the emergence of a security network within Israel – a loose set of associations of both current defense and intelligence officials and former officers now working in politics, business and academia. The network is not a sinister cabal controlling Israel’s politicians. It is a social-political network of individuals with shared ideas, common interests (though the network is by no means a monolith, as there are differences of opinion at both the tactical and the strategic level), and a similar framework for thinking about public policy problems. The network serves, in this way, as both an interest group pressing decision-makers to adopt certain positions and pursue specific policy options and as a major player in government.

The security officials’ letter should be understood in this context. A large portion of the network is comprised of what are sometimes called “doves” – those who believe Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank and a viable Palestinian state are necessary for Israeli security. This became a prominent argument among the network during the mid-1990s. The corollary is that the use of force is only of limited use, a stop-gap measure.

There are important implications of this seeming shift for negotiations with the Palestinians. For one thing, the letter may indicate a shift away from the peace process among security officials, who have seemingly moved closer to Netanyahu’s own preferences (and most of his government’s) for avoiding serious talks leading to a Palestinian state. Once the key foreign policy issue in Israeli political debates, it may now be moving to secondary or tertiary importance. The growing emphasis on regional solutions means Israel is more likely to refocus attention on Iran and other possible regional threats – such as Hezbollah and the Islamic State – that it can address in cooperation with Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

This is bad news for the Palestinians, who will be consigned to a secondary role in regional negotiations that affect them – a return to the way things were before the 1980s. Under these conditions Israel is more likely to seek to manage the conflict rather than resolve it, and to focus on economic development rather than political independence for Palestinians.

Civil-military relations in Israel, then, provide good examples of the impact that a security network can have on policymaking. In particular, it can help shape government policy depending on whether it is in agreement with the government in power or not, particularly compared to other western states, where security officials are not allowed to play that kind of role in policymaking.

The next question is how to understand the balance between ends and means. If the end goal is to achieve a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which requires an independent Palestinian state, then the means – the security network’s involvement in policymaking – seems to be a good thing, given its position. Critics of Netanyahu’s policies often, for example, point to the public declarations and exhortations of the security network to undermine his claims. But if the end goal is a democratic civilian oversight of the military/security establishment, then the security network’s involvement in politics is highly problematic, and removing it is necessary, despite the possible consequences for peacemaking. The security network’s changing priorities further complicate the question.

Brent E. Sasley (@besasley) is an associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington. A co-authored manuscript on Israeli politics will be coming out with Oxford University Press in 2015.


Strong opposition in the Parliament

Although the EPP cannot be described as the greatest opposer of the Commission's proposal, there is a number of MEPs that have tabled various amendments to delete the ancillary copyright also known as the link tax, e.g. Andrea Bocskor or Pavel Svoboda. The most prominent was Therese Comodini Cachia. She was not only Member of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) but also its elected rapporteur and thus responsible for the Parliament’s reaction to the Commission’s copyright reform proposal.

In her report, she recommended to eliminate the link tax and instead grant publishers

a presumption of representation of authors of literary works [...] and the legal capacity to sue in [the publisher's] own name when defending the rights of such authors for the digital use of their press publications.

This is a fair compromise between the users' need for a free internet and the publishers' demand to fight alleged online piracy (see also our suggestions for such a solution).

New rapporteur, old lies

The bad news is, the JURI has not yet voted on Cachia's report and sadly a few days ago, she announced to step down from all of her positions and to return to her home country Malta. The even worse news is that the German MEP Axel Voss took her position in the JURI. He alone has tabled 22 (!) amendments to the Commission's proposal in the past, each of them with the clear goal to further extend the publishers' right no matter how harmful it will be to the freedom of information.

During his first days, he already managed to convince his colleagues to adopt a shocking joint position:

[T]he EPP is in favour of a genuine right for press publishers as proposed by the Commission in Art. 11.

They not only just copy the position but also repeat the same nonsense:

The EPP Group has strong concerns that the growth of traditional media in the digital sphere is challenged by some news aggregators and online service providers that develop their activities by using right-holders' content without contributing to sustain the investment in its creation [...]

We have heard this accusation so many times but this does not make any bit more correct. All over Europe, an author's text is protected by copyright and legal actions can be taken against any infringement - if there is one. But news aggregators and other online service providers do not copy the texts. They only show the headline plus a few words (which, at least in the case of Google, could be prevented easily) which is not copyright relevant in the very most cases. Their contribution is to guide millions of users to publishers' websites. That is a pretty heavy one as visitors mean money through advertising.

But the joint position does not stop here:

The EPP is of the opinion that a specific right for publishers provides more legal certainty regarding licensing and enforcement of rights.

It is very unclear how the EPP came to this opinion without ignoring all facts. The link tax as proposed by the Commission is highly unclear in various points and thus does not provide any legal certainty at all. Also, the situation right now is pretty clear: aggregators either do not need a license because they only show a few words (snippets) or they do need one because they infringe on the authors'/publishers' copyright. What the link tax will do is giving the publishers the new possibility to charge online service providers for showing snippets. This is what they want but not dare to say. Instead, they try to cover up their real intention with a variety of lies and allegations.

German conservatives all the way

For some reason, there are several politicians who ignore all scientific evidence and academic advice when it comes to the link tax. Interestingly, it is always German conservative that try to make publishers a big, big present. First, it was Commissioner Günther Oettinger who proposed his ancillary copyright on steroids roughly a year ago. Now it is Axel Voss who takes the reins and tries to finish what was started. Even if this means pressing others to vote against their belief and to make a fatal decision.

This licence is not valid for external content which is referenced.


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Data: 26-feb-2014
Autori: Ravì, Daniele
Titolo: True scene understanding: classification, semantic segmentation and retriaval
Abstract: The huge volume of images shared in the web sites and on personal archives has provided us challenges on massive multimedia management. Due to the well-known semantic gap between human-understandable high-level semantics and machine generated low-level features, recent years have witnessed plenty of research effort on multimedia content understanding and indexing. Computer vision algorithms for individual tasks such as object recognition, detection and segmentation have reached impressive results. The next challenge is to integrate all these algorithms and address the problem of the complete scene understanding, which involves explaining the image by recognizing all the objects of interest and their spatial extent or shape. True semantic understanding of an image mainly involves the scene classification and the semantic segmentation. The former has the aim to determinate the categories to which an image belongs. The later instead, provide for each pixel a semantic label, which describes the category of object where it appears. Solutions for the semantic interpretation and understanding of images will enable and enhance large variety of computer vision applications. While a human can do these tasks easily, it is laborious and the sheer quantity of data involved can make it prohibitive for a computer. This thesis proposes novel approaches for semantic scene categorization, segmentation and retrieval that enable a device with a limited amount of resources to understand images automatically. The proposed computer vision solutions use machine-learning algorithms to build robust and reusable systems. Since learning is a key component of biological vision systems, the design of automatic artificial systems that are capable to learn, is one of the most important trends in modern computer vision research.
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If you are a serious athlete, you have undoubtedly heard the word “ketone” floating around here and there, probably from researching something about weight loss, or from gym small talk. Regardless of where you heard it, one thing is certain—it is a hot topic.

This is especially true if burning fat is your primary goal because the ketogenic diet is quite likely the best way to consistently lose weight, without adverse effects on your health. These “ketones” are actually produced via fat metabolism and serve as an alternative energy source when carbohydrates (glucose) are low or restricted.

Why The Ketogenic Diet?

Many people are afraid of change, simply put. However, change is the catalyst necessary for improvement, and this could not be truer when it comes to the ketogenic diet. To be clear, the ketogenic diet is not a “fly by night” fad that some guru in Hollywood came up with, but rather a dietary/lifestyle modification that has been in use for more than a century (at least as its proven, documented use shows).

The ketogenic diet was not originally used for weight loss but as a treatment for managing epilepsy. Back in the early 1900s, epilepsy was viewed as “brain diabetes” in the sense that it could not properly make use of glucose for powering the brain. This theory bears substance to this day because it was found that by removing sugars from the diet and substituting with fat, the episodes diminished in frequency significantly.

Which brings us back to ketones, also called ketone bodies. We now know that an increase in these ketone bodies places the body in a unique metabolic state to continue breaking down fats for energy, not to mention they have beneficial effects on cognition, energy levels and regulating emotional states.

Sounds quite promising, doesn’t it?

Which is exactly why, the advent of exogenous ketones, supplemental sources of these ketone bodies (normally only produced by the body), are picking up steam and making performance goals more attainable.

The Argument For Exogenous Ketones

Research on exogenous ketones is still in its infancy, so it would be unwise to definitively claim it as the end to all your troubles getting into ketosis, but they should not be underestimated either because they posses great potential as supplements.

Consider these upsides of using exogenous ketones to aid you in your decision:

Appetite Suppression

Ketone bodies produced via consumption of a high fat ketogenic diet have been documented to have an “anorexigenic” appetite suppressing effect on people via multiple mechanisms, including the body’s satiety and hunger hormones, leptin, and ghrelin.1 Though not to be considered the primary mechanism behind ketones weight loss effects, it is definitely helpful when you eat less.

Ease of Getting Into Ketosis

In order for these ketone bodies to be produced, your body needs to metabolize fat efficiently. This is extremely tough if you do not rigidly control your carbohydrate intake because insulin release will really mess this process up. Though no official studies have been published on this aspect of exogenous ketones, anecdotal reports have indicated that it is easier to achieve a state of ketosis by introducing supplemental ketones. This positively alters metabolism, allowing you a little more freedom to consume a few more carbs or practice a cyclic ketogenic diet (which prioritizes carbs around the workout or a weekly re-feed) while still reaching deep ketosis.

Exogenous Ketones Boost Performance

One of the most sought after effects of ketone body production and supplementation is its boost on performance, at least in respect to certain types of activity. These activities are most likely low-moderate in intensity and performed over a period of time (endurance-like). A study confirming the same was conducted on competitive cyclists.

It was found that cyclist performance improved 2%, which is significant considering total distance covered.2 Though competition level cycling is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, it does consist of sustained levels of energy for a prolonged period of time and could explain the utility of these ketone bodies for lower intensity workouts.

The ketogenic diet has gained lots of popularity among long distance endurance athletes and a relationship can clearly be seen for endurance time activity and ketosis.

Ketone bodies have demonstrated protective effects on the brain by acting as a potential treatment for many degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.3 It is also promising for the management of epilepsy, which was discovered in the early 1900s and was the first way that ketogenic diets were used clinically to treat different conditions.

Anti-Cancer Effects

Studies carried out on mice demonstrated improved survival rates of up to 69% in those suffering from metastatic cancers.4

The Argument Against Exogenous Ketones

Though exogenous ketones hold extreme promise, they are not without their drawbacks (regardless of how minor they are). Supplementation of exogenous ketones, in a similar fashion to ketone bodies produced during ketosis, may result in the following:

Electrolyte Imbalances

Carbohydrates normally hold quite a lot of water, which is why muscles appear fuller when loaded full with glycogen. As carbohydrate stores (glycogen) are reduced, water is eliminated in a similar fashion, normally from increased diuresis (urination). However, water is not the only thing eliminated, as essential electrolytes follow along with the water. This has been documented in a study carried out on children, but the same effect occurs in adults as well.5 Be sure to replace lost fluids and electrolytes with an enhanced water beverage if you are pursuing ketosis.

Keto Breath

Keto breath is not halitosis per se, but a kind of unique, off-smelling, overly ripe unpleasant fruit smell. Regardless, it can be quite unpleasant to both the dieting party and those around. This bad breath is the result of the byproducts of fat metabolism, and cannot be avoided if you wish to experience the true effect of ketone bodies. This smell is usually due to the acetone produced during metabolism of fat. It is completely harmless, however.6

Transient GI Upset

GI upsets may occur during the first week or two of getting fat adapted, as intestinal micro flora become accustomed to the new fuel source.

Ketones Support the Process

Exogenous ketone supplements could transform the way effective ketosis is achieved in the next few years. However, do not take this to mean that you can keep eating carbs, drink a ton of ketone supplements, and expect the fat to magically start flying off you. You still need to come extremely close to a true state of ketosis through diet for exogenous ketones to really work their magic. You also need to be in a caloric deficit to lose any weight. What exogenous ketones will do is make your progress a little faster and allow you a bit of breathing space.

  1. "Ketosis, ketogenic diet and food intake control: a complex relationship", Frontiers in Psychology, 2015 PMC-NCBI.
  2. "Ketone drink gives competitive cyclists a boost by altering their metabolism", Cell Metabolism, 2016.
  3. "Ketone body therapy: from the ketogenic diet to the oral administration of ketone ester", Journal Of Lipid Research, 2014 PubMed-NCBI.
  4. "Ketone supplementation decreases tumor cell viability and prolongs survival of mice with metastatic cancer", Int. Journal of Cancer, 2014 PubMed-NCBI.
  5. "Food for Thought: The Ketogenic Diet and Adverse Effects in Children", Epilepsy Currents, 2005 PubMed-NCBI.
  6. "Measuring breath acetone for monitoring fat loss: Review", Obesity Silver Spring, 2015 PubMed-NCBI.


Tag: heat

Youth Athlete Nutrition Guidelines

Youth Athlete Nutrition GuidelinesYouths in general have an increased need for calories due to periods of rapid growth. The nutrients contained within the foods they eat should provide the nourishment their bodies need to properly grow. Recent trends show that youths are eating more meals away from home, and that almost 40% of the total energy they consume is in the form of empty calories (1). Suboptimal nutrition can cause complications such as excess weight gain, and may also compromise growth and development. Youth athletes expend more nutrient rich energy than their sedentary counterparts and for this reason, should consume more calories to fuel their bodies for performance and recovery. Proper nutrition and hydration is essential, before, during and after activity.

Avoid Heat Illness: Stay Cool During Exercise

heat-illness-exercise-waterHere in Arizona it gets HOT; But, just because it gets dangerously hot, doesn’t mean people here lie inactive around the house during the summer months. In the midst of summer, it’s already 85F by 7AM, and by 10AM, temps are touching the 100s. To exercise in this 4 month oven, Arizonans make habit of a few simple, and easily adaptable practices. We can ALL learn something from how they deal with the heat.  Here are five tips for dealing with the heat, and avoiding heat illness regardless of where you live.


Further observations on the development and destruction of lamprey blood cells

Supravital preparations of blood and haemopoietic tissues have been studied by interference contrast, phase contrast and conventional light microscopy to help identify the different categories of the smaller blood cells of lampreys. These methods were also used in conjunction with an examination of sectioned material and fixed blood films, to investigate macrophage activity by the blood cells and the liver Kupffer cells. The diameter of the smallest living blood cells was 4–5 |mUm. When these produced extensive clotting fibres, particularly in the presence of foreign substances, they were obviously thrombocytes, whereas others, some of which contained prominent nucleoli, were considered to represent small lymphocytes and stem cells. Slightly larger cells (5–6 |mUm), in which the nuclearcytoplasmic ratio was slightly lower and granules were being formed, represented the first stage in the formation of neutrophilic and eosinophilic granulocytes. The early members of the erythrocyte lineage could be distinguished from these early progranulocytes by their greater thickness under interference contrast microscopy and by their much more rapid degeneration and lack of amoeboid movement in blood films. All blood cells, apart from erythrocytes and differentiating cells of the erythrocyte series, showed amoeboid movement and many were capable of phagocytosing small particles. There was no evidence that, except for macrophages derived from lymphocyte-like cells, any free blood cells were capable of engulfing whole erythrocytes. During metamorphosis, phagocytic activity was very conspicuous in both blood cells and Kupffer cells, the latter of which exhibited pronouncedn erythrophagocytosis.


The chemosensory behaviour of Lithobius forficatus (Myriapoda: Chilopoda). 2. Bioassay and chemistry of the coxal pheromone

The common brown centipede, Lithobius jorJcatus (L.), releases a sex-specific pheromone which emanates from distinctive cuticular openings on the coxae of the hind legs-the coxal pores (Littlewood & Blower, 1987). The pheromone can be isolated from tissue extracts of the coxal organs (surrounding the coxal pores) and from substrata which have been 'marked by male or female L. forjcatus and presented to centipedes in the form of a behavioural bio-assay.

In this paper, further evidence is presented for a centipede pheromone, the chemical components of male and female secretions are separated using Gas Layer Chromatography (GLC), a qualitative chemical analysis is described and the nature of the pheromone is discussed.


785.271.5801 | info@postpressmag.com

Kern-Data Develops MK-Series Inserting Machine

The Binding Edge

The MK-Series Inserting Machine, from Austrian engineering company Kern-Data GmbH, serves mailrooms faced with processing a large number of different format letters with its compact dimensions, short resetting times and intuitive operability based on a three-button system.

It processes different envelope sizes in formats B6 to B4 at high speeds. Up to 28,000 letters size B6 to C5 are filled, sealed and outputted within an hour. The processing rate for formats C4 to B4 is 12,000 envelopes an hour. Guided by codes, the feed modules also can assemble documents and transfer them at a corresponding speed to the inserting system.

For more information, call +43 (0)699 13262040 or email tobias.ackermann@kern-data.com.


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Oil spill off NW coast of Spain IKONOS image Oil reaching shore.

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Presentation on theme: "Oil spill off NW coast of Spain IKONOS image Oil reaching shore."— Presentation transcript:

1 Oil spill off NW coast of Spain IKONOS image Oil reaching shore

2 Radar image of oil spill off NW coast of Spain (Black areas = oil)

3 Active Remote Sensing Radio Detection and Ranging = Radar Light Detection and Ranging = Lidar

4 Passive vs. Active Remote Sensing Passive remote sensing uses the energy from the sun Active remote sensing sends out its own energy and records how much bounces back o Imaging Radar uses microwave wavelengths o Lidar uses visible wavelength (laser) or sometimes NIR

5 Side-looking Radar Most radar systems do look off to the side ( off-nadir ) o For military applications allows planes to fly over friendly territory and look into enemy territory o More importantly, gives us more info about surface characteristics Radar is sensitive to surface roughness

8 Radar Terminology Swath width = range Direction of flight = azimuth Backscatter = reflectance Angle of view = depression angle Etc.—unique terminology

9 Depression Angle Radar Geometry

11 Radar Advantages Can penetrate clouds Active, so can use day or night Less of a radiance vs. reflectance problem since you know exactly how much energy you send out and can measure what you get back—and atmosphere not a problem Can penetrate dry soil and get subsurface characteristics (e.g., archaeology)

12 Radar Disadvantages Developed by military, less civilian experience so far than passive remote sensing Difficult to interpret—complicated causes of reflectance Geometric distortions caused by side looking geometry

13 Radar bands were originally code names assigned by the military

14 Radar penetration increases with wavelength

15 Polarization Electromagnetic radiation can be polarized o the plane of the traveling electric fields can be all horizontal or all vertical Radar uses polarization information to record info about the surface o Rough surfaces tend to depolarize microwave radiation o Buried objects (subsurface inhomogeneity) can also depolarize microwaves From Wikipedia Commons

17 Polarization (cont) TransmitReceiveTogether V H VH H V HV V V VV H H HH

18 Polarization (cont.) By recording an HH image and an HV image you can measure the amount of cross-polarization (radiation that changes from horizontally to vertically polarized when it interacts with a surface) o Highlights areas on the ground that tend to depolarize radiation (e.g., rough surfaces, structurally complex materials like plants with leaves oriented various ways)

19 Interpretation of Radar Data Surface “smoothness” or “roughness” with respect to radar depends on wavelength and incident angle o A smooth surface reflects in one direction (specular) o A rough surface scatters radiation in all directions (Lambertian or diffuse) o Rough surfaces tend to depolarize radiation

20 Surface Roughness Shorter wavelength radar can resolve roughness more finely

21 Type of Backscatter (Reflection) Diffuse o Vegetation canopies o Cross polarization (use HH and HV) Specular o Microwaves reflected away (not scattered) (e.g., oil slick) Corner reflectors o Tree trunks and buildings o can make objects very “bright” or very “dark” depending on orientation

22 Surface roughness is described as a function of wavelength and the angle of incidence of the incoming radiation

23 Interpreting Radar Data Longer wavelength bands (P and L bands) o Penetrate canopy and reflects off of standing tree trunks o Can detect amount of wood in a forest o Estimate forest biomass Shorter wavelengths (C and X bands) o X band can detect leaves o C (and L) band can detect twigs

24 Resolving Objects with Radar Radar resolution determined by… o Size of area “illuminated” by microwaves at one time Depends on antenna length (longer antenna = better spatial resolution) o But…difficult physically for airplane or satellite to carry a very large antenna. Depends on length of radar pulse (longer pulse = lower spatial resolution)

25 Pulse length in part determines radar resolution

26 Real Aperture vs. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Real aperture radar actually uses a single antenna of a given length – resolution limited to what plane or satellite can carry. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can simulate a large antenna by taking advantage of the Doppler effect o Doppler shift allows sensor to identify electromagnetic waves from ahead and behind the platform and therefore track an object for longer than it otherwise could, as if the antenna were longer.

27 Synthetic Aperture Radar – Doppler Effect

28 Radar Sensors There are many imaging radar sensors available, both airborne and on satellites o Most aircraft use SAR o All satellites use SAR (to achieve reasonable spatial resolution)

30 Radar Applications Forest inventory Oceanography Archaeology Sea ice studies Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) Urban mapping Wildfire studies

31 Radar Image – Angkor, Cambodia. Purple spots are possible buried ruins

32 Radar image of oil slicks

33 Radar derived elevation with TM draped over it

34 Kamchatka Peninsula – Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) (Mission generated detailed topographic data for 80% of earth’s land surface)

35 Lidar Remote Sensing Like Radar but sends laser pulses instead of microwave/radio pulses Can collect extremely accurate elevation data quickly (vs. ground survey) Typically flown on aircraft

36 High-resolution LIDAR topography

37 Lidar vs. DEMs from topo sheets

38 landslides S outhern Bainbridge Island

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