The Evolution Ontology

Existing ontologies model components of evolution, but none synthesize them or describe the framework of ideas used to conceptualize evolution. The Evolution Ontology (EO) aims to do just this. EO models processes (e.g. natural selection); contexts (e.g. habitats); the entities that undergo evolution; and the theories, methods, and disciplines of evolutionary science. Uses include data curation, data mining, and literature curation, EO’s developers working on the latter two for works of Darwin and the Biodiversity Heritage Library

Difficulties in Using GRBs as Standard Candles

Gamma-Ray Bursts have been detected uniformly all over the observable universe, ranging in comoving distance from a few hundred Mpc to a few thousand Mpc, representing the farthest observable objects in the universe. This large distance coverage is highly attractive to those who study cosmology and the history of the early universe since there are no other observed objects that represent such a deep and comprehensive probe of the history of the universe. For this reason, there have been extensive studies into the possibility of using GRBs as standard candles much like Type Ia Supernovae, even though little is known about the physical mechanism that produces the observed burst of gamma-rays. We discuss the attempts at defining GRBs as standard candles, such as the search for a robust luminosity indicator, pseudo-redshift predictions, the complications that emission collimation introduces into the estimation of the rest-frame energetics, and the difficulty introduced by the widely varying observed properties of GRBs. These topics will be examined with supporting data and analyses from both Fermi and Swift observations. Problems with current studies using GRBs as standard candles will be noted as well as potential paths forward to solve these problems

Finding Your Voice: Toward an Individualized and Humanized Approach to Dialectical Praxis in the Professional Theatre Rehearsal Room

As a professional accents and dialect coach, I have long worked toward defining the most dynamic function of the coach in the room and toward shaping a personal methodology to grant life and “authenticity” to our vocal work as actors. Traditional dialectical approaches often stipulate an exacting adherence to static, generalized representation of dialectical populations via generic sound structures, demand for phonetic fluency, and a right/wrong approach to dialect training. This methodology often breeds self-consciousness in the actor and a tendency to get caught in the intellectual aspect of rather than embodiment within a given dialect. A contemporary approach to dialect coaching aims to render dialect work repeatable, accurate, and most importantly emotionally accessible to the professional actor who seeks to gain a deeper understanding of their character through an embodied, customized approach that makes space, sees the individual, and shapes the dialect around each voice and spirit in the room. It is not enough to do it “right.” Instead, an actor must understand what that “right” means to their performance and how it empowers their pursuit of deeper work. Why does a country speak with a certain rhythm or pitch structure? What is the effect on thought when one language’s sound base is transferred to another? How does one stressed sound dictated by a regionalism alter the intention of a line, moment, or action? How does dialect empower the choices and arc of this character from moment-to-moment in a script? From these questions, and along with a thorough technical grounding, I have built a personal approach to dialect work and coaching that strives to give actors a tool not just for an external character trait, but that instead provides an access point to character that utilizes the text, technique, and the body in order to make dialect and accent the prime delivery system of a character’s value system, intentions, and embodiment. In other words, I work to craft and relay a repeatable technique for actors toward the learning and synthesizing of dialect into the actor’s process. I aim to present an overview of the professional dialectician’s work as well as an interactive custom method to professional dialectical coaching and learning via a self-crafted system with the acronym S.L.I.N.G. Through this step-by-step roadmap to building character specific accents and dialects, I posit that any professional actor or novice can develop the skills to craft repeatable, dynamic, and character driven dialects with or without a fluent background in the IPA system, Phonetic Pillows, or other frequently used training models. This approach represents the seeds of an in-process collaborative book on which I am working, entitled Accent on Acting, that utilizes this technique alongside an acting colleague’s perspectives in an effort to demystify the dialect process and place it at the forefront of the actor’s approach to understanding, accessing, embodying, and interpreting the music of the world’s myriad voices

Peeking Inside the Black Box: Visualizing Statistical Learning with Plots of Individual Conditional Expectation

This article presents Individual Conditional Expectation (ICE) plots, a tool for visualizing the model estimated by any supervised learning algorithm. Classical partial dependence plots (PDPs) help visualize the average partial relationship between the predicted response and one or more features. In the presence of substantial interaction effects, the partial response relationship can be heterogeneous. Thus, an average curve, such as the PDP, can obfuscate the complexity of the modeled relationship. Accordingly, ICE plots refine the partial dependence plot by graphing the functional relationship between the predicted response and the feature for individual observations. Specifically, ICE plots highlight the variation in the fitted values across the range of a covariate, suggesting where and to what extent heterogeneities might exist. In addition to providing a plotting suite for exploratory analysis, we include a visual test for additive structure in the data generating model. Through simulated examples and real data sets, we demonstrate how ICE plots can shed light on estimated models in ways PDPs cannot. Procedures outlined are available in the R package ICEbox.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 2 algorithm

Planetary Improvement: Discourses and Practices of Green Capitalism in the Cleantech Space

There is money to be made in saving the planet. A whole host of actors, such as investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and policy makers have mobilized around our ecological problems, seeking to innovate new `green\u27 and `clean\u27 technologies that can serve a rapidly changing environment. The presumption that such technologies are both necessary and necessarily profitable anchors visions of a `green\u27 capitalism that can and must be brought into existence. However, just as free markets have never been all that free, why should we presume that green capitalism would be all that green? Instead of attempting to arbit whether or not the greening of capital is or can `work\u27 - this work seeks to understand whether and how `green capitalism\u27 coheres around new justificatory frames, or what Boltanski and Chiapello call a new spirit of capitalism. The emerging spirit of green capitalism is positioned somewhere between the maintenance of the current neoliberal form of accumulation and a desire to return to romanticized visions of more stable, centrally coordinated economic systems. It is an attempt to make sense of capitalism in crisis, and a crisis caused by capitalism. This research focuses specifically upon individuals within the broad field of green capitalism who are actively grappling with the ways in which the infrastructure of global capitalism has irrevocably shaped world ecology, and who are experimenting, in thought and practice, with a wide range of new techno-social configurations intended to mitigate, or even reverse, these negative ecological effects. The project is divided into two parts. The first is grounded by a critical discourse analysis of mass-market texts published over the past 25 years that advocate for green capitalism. Four distinct `motifs\u27 can be found in this literature, each of which is analyzed in turn. These are: Planetary Improvement; Eco-Utopian Socialism; EcoFordism; and Green Developmentalism. This critical discourse analysis then connects with an ethnographic investigation of the `cleantech space\u27 in New York City. Through my ethnographic work I explore the performativity of abstract market imperatives in this field, which encompasses a wide array of technologies that boast some form of material or energetic efficiency over prevailing norms. The cleantech space is filled with innovative entrepreneurs, inventors and investors, all of whom want to see new technologies succeed. And yet, in the eyes of capital (or the fiduciary responsibility of investors) not all innovations are created equal. Only those innovations that promise sizeable and rapid returns are likely to receive support. In other words, there are many good technologies out there that make for bad investments. And so, while it may be the case that we will need new technologies to provide the infrastructure for any ecologically viable future economy, it is not so clear that the specific technologies being produced by the prevailing funding streams will ever be able to get us there

How the upper and middle classes embraced a culture of household debt and aggressive financial risk taking

The last three decades have seen a growing role for financial markets and institutions in the economy, with households included in this trend. But how have households changed their attitudes and behaviors in relation to financial markets? In new research which looks at survey data on consumer finance, Adam Goldstein and Neil Fligstein find evidence of a new household ‘finance culture’. While financial firms sought out customers of all incomes, the upper and middle classes have embraced household borrowing and have become much more likely to take financial risks

A New Discriminator for Gamma-Ray Burst Classification: The Epeak-Fluence Energy Ratio

Using the derived gamma-ray burst E_peak and fluences from the complete BATSE 5B Spectral Catalog, we study the ensemble characteristics of the E_peak-fluence relation for GRBs. This relation appears to be a physically meaningful and insightful fundamental discriminator between long and short bursts. We discuss the results of the lower limit test of the E_peak-E_iso relations in the E_peak-fluence plane for BATSE bursts with no observed redshift. Our results confirm the presence of two GRB classes as well as heavily suggesting two different GRB progenitor types.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap