Just Because You\u27re Offended Doesn\u27t Mean You\u27re In The Right: A Perspective on Language, Comedy, and Ethics

Some humor is offensive, but does this convey a moral constraint on what comedians can include in their jokes? Using stand up bits and reflections on comedy from George Carlin, Louis C.K., and Doug Stanhope, various philosophies of humor, and the linguistic philosophy of H.P. Grice, I explore the given question and attempt to settle the disputes about when it is prudent to be offended, in what ways comedians should be allowed to offend, and whether or not words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones

Man to Man: We Can Stop Sexual Violence

I was lucky enough to grow up with a loving mother who taught me early on to respect every woman and, more so, to never overstep the boundaries between people unless I am invited to do so with full cognizance of the actions of both parties. To be less philosophical, she was always very clear with me that touching no-no parts with any person (in my case, a lady) without express consent is wrong every time and that I would never forgive myself if I forgot that maxim in a flight of “passion.” At no time in my life have I ever thought that it was okay to “go the distance” with a woman who had not opened herself up to me in that way. This all makes sense, right? Everybody with me? See, I never thought I had to clarify that understanding; that is, until I got to college. [excerpt

The preliminary design of a wearable computer for supporting Construction Progress Monitoring

Progress monitoring has become more and more important as owners have increasingly demanded shorter times for the delivery of their projects. This trend is even more evident in high technology industries, such as the computer industry and the chemical industry. Fast changing markets, such as the computer industry, force companies to have to build new facilities quickly. To make a statement about construction progress, the status of a building has to be determined and monitored over a period of time. Depicting the construction progress in a diagram over time, statements can be made about the anticipated completion of the project and delays and problems in certain areas. Having this information, measures can be taken to efficiently >catch up< on the schedule of the project. New technologies, such as wearable computers, speech recognition, touch screens and wireless networks could help to move electronic data processing to the construction site. Progress monitoring could very much take advantage of this move, as several intermediate steps of processing progress data can be made unnecessary. The processing of progress data could be entirely done by computers, which means that data for supporting decisions can be made available at the moment the construction progress is measured. This paper describes a project, that investigates how these new technologies can be linked to create a system that enhances the efficiency of progress monitoring. During the project a first prototype of a progress monitoring system was developed that allows construction companies and site supervisors to measure construction progress on site using wearable computers that are speech controlled and connected to a central database via a wireless network

Used-habitat calibration plots: a new procedure for validating species distribution, resource selection, and step-selection models

“Species distribution modeling” was recently ranked as one of the top five “research fronts” in ecology and the environmental sciences by ISI's Essential Science Indicators (Renner and Warton 2013), reflecting the importance of predicting how species distributions will respond to anthropogenic change. Unfortunately, species distribution models (SDMs) often perform poorly when applied to novel environments. Compounding on this problem is the shortage of methods for evaluating SDMs (hence, we may be getting our predictions wrong and not even know it). Traditional methods for validating SDMs quantify a model's ability to classify locations as used or unused. Instead, we propose to focus on how well SDMs can predict the characteristics of used locations. This subtle shift in viewpoint leads to a more natural and informative evaluation and validation of models across the entire spectrum of SDMs. Through a series of examples, we show how simple graphical methods can help with three fundamental challenges of habitat modeling: identifying missing covariates, non-linearity, and multicollinearity. Identifying habitat characteristics that are not well-predicted by the model can provide insights into variables affecting the distribution of species, suggest appropriate model modifications, and ultimately improve the reliability and generality of conservation and management recommendations

Geostationary earth climate sensor: Scientific utility and feasibility, phase A

The possibility of accurate broad band radiation budget measurements from a GEO platform will provide a unique opportunity for viewing radiation processes in the atmosphere-ocean system. The CSU/TRW team has prepared a Phase 1 instrument design study demonstrating that measurements of radiation budget are practical from geosynchronous orbit with proven technology. This instrument concept is the Geostationary Earth Climate Sensor (GECS). A range of resolutions down to 20 km at the top of the atmosphere are possible, depending upon the scientific goals of the experiment. These tradeoffs of resolution and measurement repeat cycles are examined for scientific utility. The design of a flexible instrument is shown to be possible to meet the two goals: long-term, systematic monitoring of the diurnal cycles of radiation budget; and high time and space resolution studies of regional radiation features

Supporting Domain Experts in Determining Viable User Interface Designs for Wearable Computers Used in AEC Work Situations

The design of mobile IT systems, especially the design of wearable computer systems, is a complex task that requires computer science knowledge, such as that related to hardware configuration and software development, in addition to knowledge of the domain in which the system is intended to be used. Particularly in the AEC sector, it is necessary that the support from mobile information technology fit the work situation at hand. Ideally, the domain expert alone can adjust the wearable computer system to achieve this fit without having to consult IT experts. In this paper, we describe a model that helps in transferring existing design knowledge from non-AEC domains to new projects in the construction area. The base for this is a model and a methodology that describes the usage scenarios of said computer systems in an application-neutral and domain-independent way. Thus, the actual design information and experience will be transferable between different applications and domains

Functional Specialization of Seven Mouse Visual Cortical Areas

SummaryTo establish the mouse as a genetically tractable model for high-order visual processing, we characterized fine-scale retinotopic organization of visual cortex and determined functional specialization of layer 2/3 neuronal populations in seven retinotopically identified areas. Each area contains a distinct visuotopic representation and encodes a unique combination of spatiotemporal features. Areas LM, AL, RL, and AM prefer up to three times faster temporal frequencies and significantly lower spatial frequencies than V1, while V1 and PM prefer high spatial and low temporal frequencies. LI prefers both high spatial and temporal frequencies. All extrastriate areas except LI increase orientation selectivity compared to V1, and three areas are significantly more direction selective (AL, RL, and AM). Specific combinations of spatiotemporal representations further distinguish areas. These results reveal that mouse higher visual areas are functionally distinct, and separate groups of areas may be specialized for motion-related versus pattern-related computations, perhaps forming pathways analogous to dorsal and ventral streams in other species

Issues in delivering it systems to field users

IT support for field personnel is starting to appear on bridge inspection sites, construction sites, and on the manufacturing floor. ENR magazine now regularly advertises palm computing-based systems for recording data on a construction site. This support can, and should, take on many forms and functions and needs to be carefully designed and evaluated like any other important tool used in the field. With careful design and implementation, IT devices for the field should have tremendous impact on the productivity of field personnel. If the devices are not carefully designed to take account of the field context and the abilities and preferences of the field personnel, field workers will not use these tools