Transcript for Episode 34: Ending Exploitation: Natural Resource Extraction and 1970s Legislature

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_transcriptions/1033/thumbnail.jp

Dropping behavior in the pea aphid: how does environmental context affect anti-predator responses?

The pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisumHarris (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a phloem-feeding insect whose antipredator defenses include kicking, walking away, and dropping from the plant. Aphid dropping, a risky and energetically costly antipredator behavior, can be increased by the release of aphid alarm pheromone; there is also evidence that insect density and plant health can affect the likelihood of aphids engaging in this behavior. We investigated whether interactions between alarm cues, insect density, and plant health can alter the dropping behavior of aphids in response to an artificial disturbance. The presence of the alarm pheromone E-β-farnesene resulted in a nearly 15-fold increase in aphid dropping behavior; the other two factors, however, did not affect dropping and none of the two- or three-way interactions were significant. This was surprising because aphids affected plant health: production of new plant biomass after 5 d of exposure to high aphid densities was 50% lower than in the control treatment. This research adds to our understanding of the factors affecting aphid antipredator behavior; the fact that neither aphid density nor feeding period impacted dropping may reflect the high energetic costs of this activity and an unwillingness to use it in any but the riskiest situations

Light is Loud A Sound Driven LED Suit

We approach performance as fundamentally a hybrid situ- ation: that performer and technology are united in a post- phenomenological embrace. Light is Loud takes this as a starting point: the form of the performer is subsumed into an array of lights that takes the temporal shape of a self- referential text. The loss of the human form in the piece be- comes a critical statement on the ambiguity of hybridity. In a completely darkened space, a figure with some strips of LEDs speaks a short poem overtly on the nature of “loud”. While the title of the piece, Light is Loud, suggests “daz- zling”, the effect is a meditation on the nature of quiet.

EXPLOSIVE PLANTAR FLEXOR PERFORMANCE: A COMPARISON OF ELITE SPRINTERS VERSUS PHYSICALLY ACTIVE INDIVIDUALS

This study examined differences in explosive muscular torque production of the plantar flexors of participants with differing training backgrounds. Explosive performance of a group of elite sprinters (n = 14) and physically active individuals (n = 14) were examined during explosive and maximal isometric contractions across different muscle-tendon unit (MTU) lengths. The rate of torque development (RTD) across time windows (0-50, 50-100, 100-150 ms) and maximal voluntary torque (MVT) was measured. Sprinters exhibited greater early phase RTD (0-50, 50-100 ms) across MTU lengths. Relative MVT was greater for sprinters at the dorsiflexed MTU length only. The results suggest sprint-specific training contributes to the improved explosive performance of the plantar flexors across MTU lengths, particularly in the early phase of muscular contraction

HindSight: Encouraging Exploration through Direct Encoding of Personal Interaction History

Physical and digital objects often leave markers of our use. Website links turn purple after we visit them, for example, showing us information we have yet to explore. These “footprints” of interaction offer substantial benefits in information saturated environments - they enable us to easily revisit old information, systematically explore new information, and quickly resume tasks after interruption. While applying these design principles have been successful in HCI contexts, direct encodings of personal interaction history have received scarce attention in data visualization. One reason is that there is little guidance for integrating history into visualizations where many visual channels are already occupied by data. More importantly, there is not firm evidence that making users aware of their interaction history results in benefits with regards to exploration or insights. Following these observations, we propose HindSight - an umbrella term for the design space of representing interaction history directly in existing data visualizations. In this paper, we examine the value of HindSight principles by augmenting existing visualizations with visual indicators of user interaction history (e.g. How the Recession Shaped the Economy in 255 Charts, NYTimes). In controlled experiments of over 400 participants, we found that HindSight designs generally encouraged people to visit more data and recall different insights after interaction. The results of our experiments suggest that simple additions to visualizations can make users aware of their interaction history, and that these additions significantly impact users\u27 exploration and insights

VISUAL DETECTION OF RESPONSE TIME IN ATHLETICS: A “GOLD STANDARD”?

The response time (RT) in the sprint start in athletics is determined automatically from sensors on the blocks but the final decision on whether an athlete is disqualified is determined by visual inspection of the sensor data. This study explored the level of uncertainty of the visual detection of athletes’ RT in the sprint start. Fifteen sprinters performed six sprint starts while forces from the front block, rear block and hands were recorded. Two experimenters performed visual RT detection on two consecutive occasions using two sizes for the analysis window. Intra- and inter-reliability analysis indicated that the mean level of uncertainty of the visual detection was approximately 20 ms for the starting block data. More research is needed to formally assess the precision of the visual detection, which may result in changes in the current false start regulation

HindSight: Encouraging Exploration through Direct Encoding of Personal Interaction History

Physical and digital objects often leave markers of our use. Website links turn purple after we visit them, for example, showing us information we have yet to explore. These “footprints” of interaction offer substantial benefits in information saturated environments - they enable us to easily revisit old information, systematically explore new information, and quickly resume tasks after interruption. While applying these design principles have been successful in HCI contexts, direct encodings of personal interaction history have received scarce attention in data visualization. One reason is that there is little guidance for integrating history into visualizations where many visual channels are already occupied by data. More importantly, there is not firm evidence that making users aware of their interaction history results in benefits with regards to exploration or insights. Following these observations, we propose HindSight - an umbrella term for the design space of representing interaction history directly in existing data visualizations. In this paper, we examine the value of HindSight principles by augmenting existing visualizations with visual indicators of user interaction history (e.g. How the Recession Shaped the Economy in 255 Charts, NYTimes). In controlled experiments of over 400 participants, we found that HindSight designs generally encouraged people to visit more data and recall different insights after interaction. The results of our experiments suggest that simple additions to visualizations can make users aware of their interaction history, and that these additions significantly impact users\u27 exploration and insights

Beyond Detection: Investing in Practical and Theoretical Applications of Emotion + Visualization

Emotion is a dynamic variable that modulates how we perceive, reason about, and interact with our environment. Recent studies have established that emotion’s influence carries to data analysis and visualization, impacting performance in ways both positive and negative. While we are still in the infancy of understanding the role emotion plays in analytical contexts, advances in physiological sensing and emotion research have raised the possibility of creating emotion-aware systems. In this position paper, we argue that it is critical to consider the potential advances that can be made even in the face of imperfect sensing, while we continue to address the practical challenges of monitoring emotion in the wild. To underscore the importance of this line of inquiry, we highlight several key challenges related to detection, adaptation, and impact of emotional states for users of data visualization systems, and motivate promising avenues for future research in these areas

MAPPING OUT THE RESPONSE SEQUENCE OF THE SPRINT START

Establishing the limits of sprint start response time (SSRT) requires the mapping of the muscular sequence of activation and mechanical response delays and was the aim of the current study. Sprint start performance of 15 sprinters was examined with kinematic, EMG, and block force data collected. A general muscle activation sequence was identified, with both deltoid muscles, the rear leg rectus femoris, and the rear leg tibialis anterior the first muscles to increase activation from the set position. With ankle dorsiflexion the initial motion during the block push, examining the period between tibialis anterior muscle onset and block force onset is critical for quantifying mechanical response delays . Estimates of this delay period were as low as 7 ms which has implications for our understanding of the minimum SSRT a sprinter can legally produce