Events In Motion Research Articles

Fine-Grained Motion Recognition in At-Home Fitness Monitoring with Smartwatch: A Comparative Analysis of Explainable Deep Neural Networks.

The squat is a multi-joint exercise widely used for everyday at-home fitness. Focusing on the fine-grained classification of squat motions, we propose a smartwatch-based wearable system that can recognize subtle motion differences. For data collection, 52 participants were asked to perform one correct squat and five incorrect squats with three different arm postures (straight arm, crossed arm, and hands on waist). We utilized deep neural network-based models and adopted a conventional machine learning method (random forest) as a baseline. Experimental results revealed that the bidirectional GRU/LSTMs with an attention mechanism and the arm posture of hands on waist achieved the best test accuracy (F1-score) of 0.854 (0.856). High-dimensional embeddings in the latent space learned by attention-based models exhibit more clustered distributions than those by other DNN models, indicating that attention-based models learned features from the complex multivariate time-series motion signals more efficiently. To understand the underlying decision-making process of the machine-learning system, we analyzed the result of attention-based RNN models. The bidirectional GRU/LSTMs show a consistent pattern of attention for defined squat classes, but these models weigh the attention to the different kinematic events of the squat motion (e.g., descending and ascending). However, there was no significant difference found in classification performance.

Affects, emotions and interaction: the methodological promise of video data analysis in peace research

ABSTRACT Methodologically, Peace Research has long been dominated by words, numbers, and sometimes images. This article suggests also integrating Video Data Analysis (VDA) into the analytical toolbox of Peace Research so as to explore the potential of the millions of videos of relevance for the study of peace and conflict that can be found online and beyond. The article introduces VDA and shows how the method can be applied to analyse micro-dynamics of phenomena such as violence, conflict, mediation, and peacebuilding. Videos enable researchers to observe events that no or few researchers would otherwise have access to from their armchairs, integrating the attentiveness to interaction and atmosphere that only ethnographers would have. While losing the ethnographer’s benefit of ‘being there’, videos allow researchers to replay events in slow motion and thus capture subtle dynamics of timing, interaction, and affect. The article discusses the epistemological challenges, ethical dilemmas, and future promises of applying VDA in Peace Research and provides concrete examples of how the observation of affects reflected in body postures and facial expressions, as well as the social bonds reflected in the rhythm and content of interaction, can be of value in peace research.

Augmenting the Double-Gaussian Representation of Atmospheric Turbulence and Convection via a Coupled Stochastic Multi-Plume Mass-Flux Scheme

Abstract Modern general circulation models continue to require parameterizations of subgrid transport due to planetary boundary layer (PBL) turbulence and convection. Some schemes that unify these processes rely on assumed joint probability distributions of vertical velocity and moist conserved thermodynamic variables to predict the subgrid-scale contribution to the mean state of the atmosphere. The multivariate double-Gaussian mixture has been proposed as an appropriate model for PBL turbulence and shallow convection, but it is unable to reproduce important features of shallow cumulus convection. In this study, a novel unified PBL turbulence–convection–cloud macrophysics scheme is presented based on the eddy-diffusivity/mass-flux framework. The new scheme augments the double-Gaussian representation of subgrid variability with multiple stochastic mass-flux plumes at minimal added computational cost. Improved results for steady-state maritime and transient continental shallow convection from a single-column model implementation of the new scheme are shown with respect to reference large-eddy simulations. Improvements are seen in the cloud layer due to mass-flux plumes occupying the extreme moist, low liquid-water potential temperature tail of the joint temperature–moisture distribution. Significance Statement Computer models of the atmosphere used to predict future climate are unable to directly represent air motion at small spatial scales because it would take too long to run the model over the entire planet. Instead, models typically use coarse model grid spacing and a simplified statistical representation of the physical processes that cause small-scale motions. This paper improves a particular simplified representation by adding a mechanism to represent statistically rare events of strong small-scale air motion that coherently transport air from near the surface to higher in the atmosphere. This increased transport also improves the representation of clouds, a particularly difficult phenomenon to simulate in models.

Studying with Miss Bishop: Memoirs from a Young Writer’s Life

Studying with Miss Bishop: Memoirs from a Young Writer’s Life

The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution by Lila Corwin Berman

Reviewed by: The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution by Lila Corwin Berman Kathleen D. McCarthy (bio) The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution. By Lila Corwin Berman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. 280 pp. Lila Corwin Berman's excellent study of what she terms "the American Jewish philanthropic complex" asks a fundamentally important question in this era of billionaire donors and big gifts: How do you keep philanthropy intact without reinforcing inequality? Although she focuses specifically on the history of Jewish giving, the tale she tells has lessons for the field as a whole. Her stated goal is to move beyond earlier interpretations of Jewish giving as a form of "American Jewish civil religion" rooted in traditional values such as tzedakah (charity) and tikikun olam (repair of the world) and nurtured by American exceptionalism. Instead, Berman argues that Jewish philanthropy was, and is, firmly implanted "in the political economy of the American state," supporting "private forms of power over public goods and processes (7). Although her book begins in the nineteenth century, most of it deals with the years since World War II, with a particular focus on Jewish federations. Berman traces their evolution from "revolving door" charities that quickly moved donations to charities for immediate social welfare needs to richly endowed, politically influential institutions focusing on Jewish identity. In the early nineteenth century, both men and women actively participated in Jewish charities and associations. But as the charities grew and consolidated into federations at the threshold of the twentieth century, women were gradually marginalized, and by the late twentieth century those who remained found themselves in an extremely hostile environment, one infused with a toxic form of gendered politics. Berman's exploration of tax laws, political agendas, and an increasingly unbridled quest to stockpile money demonstrates that every aspect of the federations' growth lends itself to a tale of diminishing democracy and the consolidation of authority by men at the top. Initially, endowments were shunned. This began to change in 1920, when Jacob Schiff bequeathed $500,000 to New York's federation. It was a fairly unique event at that point, but when Schiff's son-in-law, Felix Warburg, added another $1 million endowment in his honor in 1922, it set a train of events in motion that drew the federations increasingly toward capital accumulation. Several factors converged to transform them from charities into quasi-community foundations with multi-million [End Page 81] and even billion dollar endowments. The horrors of the Second World War and the hope spurred by the creation of Israel convinced many federation leaders of the importance of setting aside funds for future emergencies and needs. Jewish communities were becoming richer and less in need of charity by the mid-twentieth century. Tax rates were also going up, making charitable deductions for big gifts more attractive. And as federations received more bequests, they became savvier about investments and tax laws, enhancing their appeal as financial advisors. Several individuals figure prominently in Berman's story, especially Norman Sugarman, an attorney who invented donor advised funds, and worked through public and private means to ensure that federation endowments received preferential treatment as public charities rather than private foundations, which saddled them with less onerous tax and administrative requirements and made them a preferred alternative for endowments and bequests. If all of this seems extremely technical, it is. But Berman skillfully weaves the minutiae of tax policy into a compelling story. As their resources grew, federation leaders such as Sugarman and Max Fisher, the millionaire president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds after 1969, used their institutional bases to pursue what Berman terms "depoliticized politics" (10). Not only did they lobby for favorable legislation, they also used their positions to shape United States policies toward Israel in the name of an American Jewish consensus that may or may not have existed. And a few leaders and major donors such as Sheldon Adelson used their positions and the influence accorded by their philanthropy to draw more wealthy Jews into the political camps of Richard Nixon, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. In effect, philanthropy paved...

The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price by Rae Linda Brown

Reviewed by: The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price by Rae Linda Brown Elizabeth Durrant The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. By Rae Linda Brown. Edited and with a foreword by Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr. Afterword by Carlene J. Brown. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2020. [ix, 295 p. ISBN 9780252043239 (hardcover), $125; ISBN 9780252085109 (paperback), $29. 95; ISBN 9780252052118 (e-book), price varies.] Music examples, photos, notes, selected bibliography, discography, further reading, index. The recent revival of interest in composer Florence Price would have been impossible without the late Rae Linda Brown, the scholar who dedicated her career to advocating for Price’s music. As a musicologist, Brown spent years uncovering Price’s manuscripts, publishing her music, researching her life and career, and interviewing her surviving friends and family. Consequently, nearly all contemporary scholarship on Price is built on the foundation of Brown’s efforts. The Heart of a Woman is the culmination of Brown’s work. As the first—and currently only—book about Price, it is an important milestone that centers African American people and culture in US music history. Brown contextualizes Price and her music within historical events of the nineteenth and twentieth century to argue that the composer—and by extension African American women—played a significant role in developing the cultural and artistic movements that shaped the United States. As a result, this book is a valuable resource that not only informs readers about Price and the events of her time but also challenges and expands the narratives of music history in the process. In part 1, Brown establishes the socio-political environment that influenced Price’s family life, education, and early career. She begins by describing Price’s parents, James H. Smith and Florence Irene Smith, including their family history, careers, marriage, and decision to settle in Little Rock, Arkansas. By the late nineteenth century, the city’s thriving Black middle class earned Little Rock the nickname “the Negro Paradise” (p. 23). As a newly wealthy, upper-class family, the Smiths were poised to take advantage of these opportunities for Black citizens, and they quickly established themselves as prominent members of Little Rock’s community (p. 3). Although Brown highlights the benefits of this social structure for [End Page 402] Price’s family, she also acknowledges how its problematic elements, including classism and colorism, often excluded others from these advantages (p. 4). She further explains how positions of economic privilege carried specific expectations in Black society. Many people in upper-and middle-class Black families adopted the ideology of racial uplift—a theory that Black people could earn humane and equitable treatment by mirroring upper-class White values and demonstrating Black excellence. As a result, children from affluent Black families were expected to fulfill racial uplift by earning an education, serving their communities, and facilitating success for younger generations. As Brown demonstrates, this mission played a crucial role in shaping Price’s upbringing. Her parents nurtured their daughter’s musical talent and sent her to the New England Conservatory of Music to study organ, piano, and music education. Price also had a passion for composing, but after graduation she returned to Little Rock to teach. Brown suggests that Price “felt a sense of responsibility” to facilitate racial uplift by educating her hometown community, which likely seemed more feasible than pursuing her composing dreams (p. 56). Price further fulfilled social expectations by marrying a lawyer and having two children while balancing her career and social obligations. She dedicated her talent and energy to serving her family and community. Still, Brown relates that rising racial tensions disrupted Price’s environment and set events in motion that would transform her life. The rise of Jim Crow laws in the 1890s severely limited the rights of Black citizens (p. 25). By the 1920s, there was a substantial increase in discriminatory policies and violence against Little Rock’s Black community, which posed a direct threat to Price and her family (pp. 76–77). As a result, in 1928 the Price household left Little Rock to begin a new life in Chicago (p. 77). Brown contextualizes...

Considering the Revolution

Considering the Revolution

Kamen Rider

Kamen Rider

Timing of the Luanshibao Giant Landslide in eastern Tibet: the evidence from paleoseismology

Giant paleo-landslides, generally regarded as evidence for strong events of seismic ground motion, can provide clues of paleoearthquakes on active faults. Paleo-landslide timing is commonly used to retrace the rupture history of an active fault. The Luanshibao(LSB) landslide is located in the eastern Tibetan Plateau on the Maoyaba fault, an important segment of the western Litang fault zone with a dominantly left-lateral strike-slip motion of about 4 mm/yr. The LSB giant landslide has been proposed to result from a large earthquake on the Maoyaba fault. However, the paleoearthquakes on the Maoyaba fault remain unknown. We excavated three large trenches across the Maoyaba fault and reconstruct the Maoyaba fault’s rupture history using the OxCal model of sequential radiocarbon dates. The ages of the faulting events in the three trenches are very similar. Our paleoseismological results demonstrate that at least five surface-rupturing events occurred at 620–485, 2540–1880, 3385–2905 cal BP, 5260–4415, and 12240–8895 cal BP. These data suggest that the major LSB landslide is probably related to a large earthquake (Mw∼7.2) of 3385–2905 cal BP. Also, the 10Be exposure ages of bounders on the LSB landslide surface are somewhat older than our trenching result, probably because of non-ignorable inherited components of nuclides on the landslide boulders.

Suppression of Unattended Features Is Independent of Task Relevance.

Feature-based attention serves the separation of relevant from irrelevant features. While global amplification of attended features is coherently described as a key mechanism for feature-based attention, nature and constituting factors of neural suppressive interactions are far less clear. One aspect of global amplification is its flexible modulation by the task relevance of the to-be-attended stimulus. We examined whether suppression is similarly modulated by their respective task relevance or is mandatory for all unattended features. For this purpose, participants saw a display of randomly moving dots with 3 distinct colors and were asked to report brief events of coherent motion for a cued color. Of the 2 unattended colored clouds, one contained distracting motion events while the other was irrelevant and without such motion events throughout the experiment. We used electroencephalography-derived steady-state visual-evoked potentials to investigate early visual processing of the attended, unattended, and irrelevant color under sustained feature-based attention. The analysis revealed a biphasic process with an early amplification of the to-be-attended color followed by suppression of the to-be-ignored color relative to a pre-cue baseline. Importantly, the neural dynamics for the unattended and always irrelevant color were comparable. Suppression is thus a mandatory mechanism affecting all unattended stimuli irrespective of their task relevance.

Austrian and Russian constitutionalism: comprehensive analysis

The article deals with some issues that characterize the Basic Laws of the Republic of Austria and the Russian Federation. When choosing the leading research method, the authors of this article were guided by the fundamental dialectical means of cognition, which is the ascent from the individual to the general. The comparison technique used in this case is based on a consistent understanding and analysis of similar conditions, rules and requirements for the Republic of Austria and the Russian Federation. The applied historical and legal method made it possible to consider various historical events in motion, development, and in connection with modernity. The methods of analysis and synthesis are widely used in the work. As the main results of the study, we note the generalization of the most significant distinctive features that are the foundation of the Basic Laws of both federal states.

Extreme-value statistics of stochastic transport processes

We derive exact expressions for the finite-time statistics of extrema (maximum and minimum) of the spatial displacement and the fluctuating entropy flow of biased random walks. Our approach captures key features of extreme events in molecular motor motion along linear filaments. For one-dimensional biased random walks, we derive exact results which tighten bounds for entropy production extrema obtained with martingale theory and reveal a symmetry between the distribution of the maxima and minima of entropy production. Furthermore, we show that the relaxation spectrum of the full generating function, and hence of any moment, of the finite-time extrema distributions can be written in terms of the Marčenko–Pastur distribution of random-matrix theory. Using this result, we obtain efficient estimates for the extreme-value statistics of stochastic transport processes from the eigenvalue distributions of suitable Wishart and Laguerre random matrices. We confirm our results with numerical simulations of stochastic models of molecular motors.

Dislocation Dynamics Simulations of Dislocation-Particle Bypass Mechanisms

Effect of precipitation strengthening on metal is generally attributed to the dislocation interaction with the precipitate which acts as the barrier to the dislocation motion on the slip plane. In order to achieve better understanding of critical events of dislocation motion and evolution of dislocation microstructure, we have developed numerical simulation method of dislocation-dislocation and dislocation-particle interactions by means of discrete dislocation dynamics at mesoscopic scale. In this work, Green’s function method is utilized for the computation of the stress fields of dislocation and misfitting particle, and the interaction forces acting on the dislocation. We also proposed the efficient algorithm of the connectivity vector for the dislocation line elements, linked-list data structure, to deal with the flexible interaction of dislocation line elements. The geometrical effect of dislocation slip planes on the dislocation bypassing behaviors is tested by changing the relative height of dislocation slip plane against the center plane of spherical particle, where cross slip event is also taken into account for the dislocation motion. Simulation results show a wide variety of topological changes of dislocation during motion on the slip planes around the particle, which results from the stress field of the particle varied with the relative height between the dislocation slip plane and center plane of particle. The full analysis of the mechanisms of dislocation line bypassing misfitting particle has been explained in this study.

Exploring functional consequences of GPCR oligomerization requires a different lens.

As the largest family of cell surface receptors, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent an important strategic class of therapeutic targets. Attaining a clearer perspective of how such signaling complexes set molecular events in motion could have significant impact on our understanding and treatment of human diseases. As such, many experimental approaches have set out to better understand signaling networks associated with individual receptors to understand signaling architectures and their relationship to signaling outcomes. However, designing in vitro assays aimed at addressing signaling events downstream of single GPCRs must also take into account their propensity to form homo- and heterooligomeric complexes. In the context of GPCR oligomers, physical interactions with a partner protein can have a number of potential consequences, which we will explore in this review. We will also discuss methods used to identify putative dimer partners as well as the various techniques used to study the functional consequences of such complex formation. Since the full functional significance and physiological relevance of GPCR oligomers remains incompletely understood, owing in part to technical limitations, new tools to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying allosteric co-regulation occurring between two GPCRs are required. Accordingly, using the example of the FP/AT1R heterodimer, we discuss the potential of the FlAsH-BRET approach as a simple tool to reveal how allosteric information is transmitted via conformational rearrangements within putative GPCR complexes and as a means to deorphanize receptors.

Incipient sediment motion based on turbulent fluctuations

The current study modifies the representation of the Shields parameter using turbulent strength, i.e. the root-mean-square (rms) fluid velocity. Experiments were done under a steady, uniform flow using eight sediment sizes with particle Reynolds numbers (Rep) ranging between 1.0 (fine sediment) and 183.4 (coarse sediment). Utilising the peak rms horizontal (uˆ) values, the critical Shields parameter, θc, was calculated and a trend similar to the well-established Shields curve was developed. The analysis was extended to the Shields curve obtained based on the critical shear velocity, Reynolds shear stress, and data extracted from the oscillating grid-turbulence experiments. Results show that turbulent fluctuations are crucial for the incipient sediment motion and are essentially better predictors than the commonly used critical shear velocity. A quadrant analysis to identify the role of turbulent bursting events in incipient sediment motion also was done where sweeps and ejections are dominant for finer and coarser sediment sizes, respectively.

Three-dimensional visualization of destruction events of turbulent momentum transfer in a plane jet

Destruction events of momentum transfer as represented by the Reynolds (shear) stress via the pressure–rate-of-strain interaction in a plane jet are investigated using direct numerical simulation data. To obtain three-dimensional pictures of the turbulent structures, pseudo-three-dimensional data are constructed on the basis of Taylor’s frozen hypothesis from time series of the relevant quantities. The coherent motion in the plane jet is extracted by means of conditional sampling analogous to variable-interval time averaging. We obtain a large-scale coherent structure consisting of horseshoelike vortices and a Kármán-vortex-like very large spanwise vortex street. Furthermore, we find that the active Reynolds stress destruction is localized around the large-scale coherent vortex structure. However, the coherent structure itself does not contribute to the Reynolds stress destruction, but the remaining incoherent motions do. For the significant pressure–rate-of-strain events in the incoherent motion, we display invariant maps of the velocity gradient tensor and the principal axes of strain to facilitate a discussion of the consistency of the numerical results with an illustration by Hinze [Turbulence, 2nd ed. (McGraw-Hill, 1975), pp. 325–328] and with our own experimental results [Takahashi et al., “Experimental investigation on destruction of Reynolds stress in a plane jet,” Exp. Fluids 60, 46 (2019)]. Consequently, the present results suggest that the illustration of the Reynolds stress destruction by Hinze is not completely applicable to a plane jet.

Gratifications of digital media: what motivates users to consume live blogs

ABSTRACT A live blog has become an increasingly popular journalistic genre for covering events in motion. Even though it has been embraced by digital media users, little is known about motivating factors that drive readers to consume this format for delivering news. Hence, this study makes a valuable contribution to the still developing research about the live blog by employing uses and gratifications approach and surveying 339 Internet users, the majority of whom were undergraduate students, to understand what motivates them to read live blogs. The study results suggest that contemporary gratifications – immediacy and convenience – along with information seeking, were the main motivating factors of live-blog consumption. Furthermore, frequency of reading online news and immediacy were identified as the key predictors of the live-blog use, signaling that digital media consumers have an increasing need to acquire live reports about major events.

Destabilizing the Global Monetary System

In 1871-73, newly unified Germany adopted the gold standard, replacing the silver-based currencies that had been prevalent in most German states until then. The reform sparked a series of steps in other countries that ultimately ended global bimetallism, i.e., a near-universal fixed exchange rate system in which (mostly) France stabilized the exchange value between gold and silver currencies. As a result, silver currencies depreciated sharply, and severe deflation ensued in the gold block. Why did Germany switch to gold and set the train of destructive events in motion? Both a review of the contemporaneous debate and statistical evidence suggest that it acted preemptively: the Australian and Californian gold discoveries of around 1850 had greatly increased the global supply of gold. By the mid-1860s, gold threatened to crowd out silver money in France, which would have severed the link between gold and silver currencies. Without reform, Germany would thus have risked exclusion from the fixed exchange rate system that tied together the major industrial economies. Reform required French accommodation, however. Victory in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71 allowed Germany to force accommodation, but only until France settled the war indemnity and regained sovereignty in late 1873. In this situation, switching to gold was superior to adopting bimetallism, as it prevented France from derailing Germany’s reform ex-post.

Destabilizing the Global Monetary System: Germany's Adoption of the Gold Standard in the Early 1870s

In 1871-73, newly unified Germany adopted the gold standard, replacing the silver-based currencies that had been prevalent in most German states until then. The reform sparked a series of steps in other countries that ultimately ended global bimetallism, i.e., a near-universal fixed exchange rate system in which (mostly) France stabilized the exchange value between gold and silver currencies. As a result, silver currencies depreciated sharply, and severe deflation ensued in the gold block. Why did Germany switch to gold and set the train of destructive events in motion? Both a review of the contemporaneous debate and statistical evidence suggest that it acted preemptively: the Australian and Californian gold discoveries of around 1850 had greatly increased the global supply of gold. By the mid-1860s, gold threatened to crowd out silver money in France, which would have severed the link between gold and silver currencies. Without reform, Germany would thus have risked exclusion from the fixed exchange rate system that tied together the major industrial economies. Reform required French accommodation, however. Victory in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71 allowed Germany to force accommodation, but only until France settled the war indemnity and regained sovereignty in late 1873. In this situation, switching to gold was superior to adopting bimetallism, as it prevented France from derailing Germany’s reform ex-post.

Tracking the Splitting and Combination of Group Target With $\delta$ -Generalized Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter

Splitting and combination are two important events of group target motion. However, the existing tracking approaches for group target splitting and combination events suffer the problems of high-computational cost and low accuracy. Under the random finite set framework, with target extent modeled by random matrix, the algorithms for group target splitting and combination tracking based on δ-generalized labeled multi-Bernoulli filter are researched. Three classical splitting modes of group target are discussed. With appropriate splitting criteria developed, e.g., the setting of the splitting gate, the chosen of the splitting dimension, the compensation of the subgroup's centroid position, and so on. According to the characteristics of each mode, the efficiency and the accuracy of the algorithm for group target splitting event are improved. The group combination approach is derived, where the representation of labels under the tack complicatedly changed condition, e.g., the group splitting and combination events jointly exist are given. With the velocity combination criterion established according to the target motion trend, a decreased sensitivity of the algorithm for target splitting event is avoided. The results show that the proposed algorithms have improved the tracking performance for group target splitting and combination events.