The Classics, Race, and Community-Engaged or Public Scholarship

Our discipline has always been at, its core, concerned with language. At its best, The American Journal of Philology has professed to being a forum for those seeking knowledge of the words and worlds of Greece and Rome. It is unreasonable, however, to disentangle the discipline of philology and its allied fields – art history, philosophy, archaeology, and so forth – from the modern realities of slavery, race, and their impacts well after global abolition, emancipation, and any declaration of a post-racial period. That is, we bring a great deal of cultural baggage to what we call the Classics

Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: 2013-2014 Report

The 2013-2014 UNL Research Report, published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development, highlights some of the diverse research, scholarship and creative activity at the heart of UNL’s research enterprise during the fiscal year July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014. A companion website includes more photos, videos and additional resources

SoK: Anti-Facial Recognition Technology

The rapid adoption of facial recognition (FR) technology by both government and commercial entities in recent years has raised concerns about civil liberties and privacy. In response, a broad suite of so-called "anti-facial recognition" (AFR) tools has been developed to help users avoid unwanted facial recognition. The set of AFR tools proposed in the last few years is wide-ranging and rapidly evolving, necessitating a step back to consider the broader design space of AFR systems and long-term challenges. This paper aims to fill that gap and provides the first comprehensive analysis of the AFR research landscape. Using the operational stages of FR systems as a starting point, we create a systematic framework for analyzing the benefits and tradeoffs of different AFR approaches. We then consider both technical and social challenges facing AFR tools and propose directions for future research in this field.Comment: Camera-ready version for Oakland S&P 202

Performance evaluation of a six-axis generalized force-reflecting teleoperator

Work in real-time distributed computation and control has culminated in a prototype force-reflecting telemanipulation system having a dissimilar master (cable-driven, force-reflecting hand controller) and a slave (PUMA 560 robot with custom controller), an extremely high sampling rate (1000 Hz), and a low loop computation delay (5 msec). In a series of experiments with this system and five trained test operators covering over 100 hours of teleoperation, performance was measured in a series of generic and application-driven tasks with and without force feedback, and with control shared between teleoperation and local sensor referenced control. Measurements defining task performance included 100-Hz recording of six-axis force/torque information from the slave manipulator wrist, task completion time, and visual observation of predefined task errors. The task consisted of high precision peg-in-hole insertion, electrical connectors, velcro attach-de-attach, and a twist-lock multi-pin connector. Each task was repeated three times under several operating conditions: normal bilateral telemanipulation, forward position control without force feedback, and shared control. In shared control, orientation was locally servo controlled to comply with applied torques, while translation was under operator control. All performance measures improved as capability was added along a spectrum of capabilities ranging from pure position control through force-reflecting teleoperation and shared control. Performance was optimal for the bare-handed operator

The Programmer as Player: Uncovering Latent Forms of Digital Play Using Structuration and Actor-Network Theory

Is programming a game considered play? Normally we would say that it is not; play happens when a game is consumed, not when it is produced. But by adopting this perspective we are falling into the trap that popular culture and mass media set when they categorize games as just another entertainment product. What, then, is the true purpose of this division between programming and play? Why do we seem them as different? In this article, I will explore the early history of computer gaming to show how this dichotomy came about. As it turns out, the computer engineers who worked with the earliest computer systems must shoulder much of the blame. Those programmers who created games such as Spacewar identified themselves as proto-hackers, standing a distance apart from those engaged in more "serious" computer work. Engineers such as Douglas Engebart, meanwhile, were thinking about the computer as a tool to solve problems, not a platform for artistic endeavour. These two forces enabled outsiders to consider gaming and programming to be wholly separate activities. For the purposes of this work, both structuration theory and actor-network theory are employed. I found that each methdology offered fresh insights into these issues, which could then be merged to provide a complete picture of this early era in digital computing

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

PHYLOGENETIC REVISION OF THE GENUS ARENIVAGA (REHN) (BLATTODEA: CORYDIIDAE), WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES, A KEY TO THE MALES, AND AN INVESTIGATION OF ITS ECOLOGICAL NICHE

The cockroach genus Arenivaga is revised. Forty-eight Arenivaga species are recognized with nine previously known species and 39 described as new including the following: A. pagana sp. n., A. grandiscanyonensis sp. n., A. haringtoni sp. n., A. hopkinsorum sp. n., A. umbratilis sp. n., A. tenax sp. n., A. impensa sp. n., A. trypheros sp. n., A. darwini sp. n., A. nalepae sp. n., A. sequoia sp. n., A. mckittrickae sp. n., A. gaiophanes sp. n., A. belli sp. n., A. estelleae sp. n., A. delicata sp. n., A. mortisvallisensis sp. n., A. milleri sp. n., A. pratchetti sp. n., A. gumperzae sp. n., A. rothi sp. n., A. ricei sp. n., A. adamsi sp. n., A. nicklei sp. n., A. akanthikos sp. n., A. moctezuma sp. n., A. paradoxa sp. n., A. apaeninsula sp. n., A. hebardi sp. n., A. dnopheros sp. n., A. aquila sp. n., A. florilega sp. n., A. galeana sp. n., A. gurneyi sp. n., A. pumila sp. n., A. hypogaios sp. n., A. diaphana sp. n., A. nocturna sp. n., A. alichenas sp. n. All species are described or redescribed, major morphological features are illustrated, distributions are characterized, and the biology of the species is reviewed. A neotype series is designated for A. investigata Friauf & Edney. The phylogenetic relationships between 24 species of the Corydiid cockroach genus Arenivaga were investigated using morphological and molecular data. The molecular dataset included the following markers: the nuclear gene histone III (H3), the mitochondrial ribosomal RNA gene 12S (12S), and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene (CO1). The phylogenetic relationships of these 24 species were then explored using three optimality criteria: parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. The putative sister genus Eremoblatta and more distantly related Blatta orientalis were used as outgroups. A partitioned Bremer analysis was performed to provide some insight into which portions of the data provided the most evolutionary insight into this unusual group of insects. All analyses confirm the genus is monophyletic. Several relationships within the genus are recovered with strong support. Both the parsimony and likelihood estimations fail to provide good resolution along the backbone of the generic tree, whereas the Bayesian estimation resolves most nodes. Most of the strongly supported relationships are reinforced by both geographical distribution and genital morphology. The relative contributions of 23 ecological variables to the niche of the genus Arenivaga were examined. This analysis revealed that more than 95% of their ecological niche could be described by eight variables: soil, isothermality, minimum temperature of the coldest month, mean temperature of the driest quarter, annual precipitation, precipitation of the driest month, precipitation of the wettest quarter and ground cover. These eight variables with respect to their relative contributions to the niche of the genus as a whole as well as the individual niches of 27 species in the genus were then examined. This revealed the similarity of niche composition of most of the species, as well as how varied the niches were of several species. A species dendrogram built from similarity of contribution of the eight variables to niche composition was compared to a phylogeny of the genus, but few similarities in topology were found. This analysis revealed that soil is the most important contributor to these species niches, followed by precipitation of the driest month, and finally, precipitation of the wettest quarter. It also confirmed that the majority of Arenivaga species have niches comprised of similar, but not identical, proportions of as few as four, and as many as eight ecological variables. Currently there is no evidence to support niche conservatism between closely related species, indicating that adapting to new and variable niches is one of the drivers of speciation in this genus

The place of speculation in kabbalah and tantra

In this paper I consider the apparently distinctive outlooks indicated by the mystical thought of Jewish kabbalah and Hindu tantra as they aim at realizing the scope of divine awareness. It is a profound horizon of light that beckons to them, which shows them to be on the verge of touching God. For both traditions there is a demonstrative reflective consciousness by the practitioner in realizing and recognizing the place of God’s being, as a supernal and mundane reality. It is an attempt to grasp that which is otherwise unreachable and unknowable, by pointing to a sublimely felt reality. I argue that there are some phenomenological similarities to the way in which approaching the divine is understood in these two systems, especially in regard to the role of specularity in apprehending and discriminating the place of God

A Novel Design of Vitual and Mixed Reality Scenarios for Automation Training

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Andrés Salinas-Hernández on April 23, 2021