Continual Growth, Inhibitors, and Implications of Information Communication Technology in South Korea from a North American Perspective

Despite their late development into the information communication technology (ICT) market, several countries in continental Asia have emerged as technological and industrial leaders in the world. With its information communication technology (ICT) initiatives and policies, South Korea has emerged from its chaotic history as one of Asia\u27s most advanced ICT economies. It could be argued that South Korea has made the same technological progress in 30 years that took the United States to do in over 100. However, rapid growth cannot be achieved without difficulties along the way. The current research presents the ICT growth of South Korea along with factors inhibiting future growth. While South Korea has advanced through government initiatives and diligence among a hard-working society, new initiatives, including the Blue Ocean strategy must be established in order to sustain its competitive advantage. A review of inhibitors limiting continued growth is presented with recommendations for overcoming these limitations

Herding cats: observing live coding in the wild

After a momentous decade of live coding activities, this paper seeks to explore the practice with the aim of situating it in the history of contemporary arts and music. The article introduces several key points of investigation in live coding research and discusses some examples of how live coding practitioners engage with these points in their system design and performances. In the light of the extremely diverse manifestations of live coding activities, the problem of defining the practice is discussed, and the question raised whether live coding will actually be necessary as an independent category

THE INFLUENCE OF MUSCULAR ACTIVATION PROFILES ON LOWER LIMB BIOMECHANICS DURING A SPORT-SPECIFIC LANDING TASK

The purpose of this study was to identify the muscular activation profiles utilised by female athletes during a sport-specific landing task, and examine the effects of varying profiles on biomechanical anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk factors. Muscular activation profiles were identified from electromyography data using a combination of principal component and cluster analysis methods, with the neuromuscular and biomechanical characteristics of profiles compared. Various muscular activation characteristics contributed to the presence of lower limb biomechanical patterns consistent with ACL injury risk factors. Reduction of ACL injury risk may be achieved by targeting these muscular activation characteristics via neuromuscular training programs

The influence of different length between match microcycles on neuromuscular, hormonal and perceptual responses in professional rugby league players

Optimal recovery between matches is critically important in team sports. Indeed, altered neuromuscular performance, hormone levels and increased fatigue can manifest in under recovered team sport athletes. However, the recovery patterns in these variables in the days following professional rugby league matches is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of different between-match training periods on neuromuscular, hormonal and perceptual measures in professional rugby league players. Following familiarization, 12 professional rugby league players from the same team were assessed for changes in countermovement jump (CMJ) (force, power, flight time), perceptual responses (fatigue, well being and muscle soreness) and salivary hormone (testosterone (T) and cortisol (C)) levels during 5, 7 and 9 day periods between matches. Measures were taken 4h prior to the initial match, and then 1, 2, 4, 6*, 7*, 8* and 9* days following (*depending on group). All training was prescribed by the coaches and monitored using the session-RPE method. Lower daily training load was completed on the 5-day compared with the 7 and 9-day conditions (p\u3c0.05). Some CMJ variables (flight time and flight time:contraction time), perception of fatigue, well-being and muscle soreness were reduced in the 2 days following the match in each condition (p\u3c0.05). All CMJ variables returned to near baseline values following 4 days in each condition. Both CMJ maximum and relative power were lower in the 7 day condition when compared with the 9 day condition (p\u3c0.05). Fatigue levels were reduced at 48 h in the 7 and 9-day groups (p\u3c0.05) but had returned to baseline in the 5-day group. All perceptual measures returned to baseline levels prior to the following match in each condition and followed changes in training load. Salivary T and C did not change in response to the match. These results show that neuromuscular performance and perception of fatigue are reduced for at least 48 h following a rugby league match but these can be fully recovered within 4 days. CMJ variables involving flight time appear to be best for assessing acute fatigue caused by a match, and variables involving power may be useful in assessing accumulated fatigue. The perceptual measures were sensitive to both acute fatigue and accumulated fatigue. The salivary hormone analyses were of limited value for assessing recovery. These findings show that with correct training, it is possible to recover neuromuscular, perceptual and endocrine measures within 4 days after a rugby league match

Machine Learning as a Tool for Wildlife Management and Research: The Case of Wild Pig-Related Content on Twitter

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a non-native, invasive species that cause considerable damage and transmit a variety of diseases to livestock, people, and wildlife. We explored Twitter, the most popular social media micro-blogging platform, to demonstrate how social media data can be leveraged to investigate social identity and sentiment toward wild pigs. In doing so, we employed a sophisticated machine learning approach to investigate: (1) the overall sentiment associated with the dataset, (2) online identities via user profile descriptions, and (3) the extent to which sentiment varied by online identity. Results indicated that the largest groups of online identity represented in our dataset were females and people whose occupation was in journalism and media communication. While the majority of our data indicated a negative sentiment toward wild pigs and other related search terms, users who identified with agriculture-related occupations had more favorable sentiment. Overall, this article is an important starting point for further investigation of the use of social media data and social identity in the context of wild pigs and other invasive species

Comparative Genomic Characterization of the Multimammate Mouse Mastomys coucha.

Mastomys are the most widespread African rodent and carriers of various diseases such as the plague or Lassa virus. In addition, mastomys have rapidly gained a large number of mammary glands. Here, we generated a genome, variome, and transcriptomes for Mastomys coucha. As mastomys diverged at similar times from mouse and rat, we demonstrate their utility as a comparative genomic tool for these commonly used animal models. Furthermore, we identified over 500 mastomys accelerated regions, often residing near important mammary developmental genes or within their exons leading to protein sequence changes. Functional characterization of a noncoding mastomys accelerated region, located in the HoxD locus, showed enhancer activity in mouse developing mammary glands. Combined, our results provide genomic resources for mastomys and highlight their potential both as a comparative genomic tool and for the identification of mammary gland number determining factors

Infrared based saliva screening test for COVID-19

Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has resulted in an unprecedented need for diagnostic testing that is critical in controlling the spread of COVID-19. We propose a portable infrared spectrometer with purpose-built transflection accessory for rapid point-of-care detection of COVID-19 markers in saliva. Initially, purified virion particles were characterized with Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron infrared (IR) and AFM-IR. A data set comprising 171 transflection infrared spectra from 29 patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR and 28 testing negative, was modeled using Monte Carlo Double Cross Validation with 50 randomized test and model sets. The testing sensitivity was 93 % (27/29) with a specificity of 82 % (23/28) that included positive samples on the limit of detection for RT-qPCR. Here, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept high throughput infrared COVID-19 test that is rapid, inexpensive, portable and utilizes sample self-collection thus minimizing the risk to healthcare workers and ideally suited to mass screening

Live Coding, Live Notation, Live Performance

This paper/demonstration explores relationships between code, notation including representation, visualisation and performance. Performative aspects of live coding activities are increasingly being investigated as the live coding movement continues to grow and develop. Although live instrumental performance is sometimes included as an accompaniment to live coding, it is often not a fully integrated part of the performance, relying on improvisation and/or basic indicative forms of notation with varying levels of sophistication and universality. Technologies are developing which enable the use of fully explicit music notations as well as more graphic ones, allowing more fully integrated systems of code in and as performance which can also include notations of arbitrary complexity. This itself allows the full skills of instrumental musicians to be utilised and synchronised in the process. This presentation/demonstration presents work and performances already undertaken with these technologies, including technologies for body sensing and data acquisition in the translation of the movements of dancers and musicians into synchronously performable notation, integrated by live and prepared coding. The author together with clarinetist Ian Mitchell present a short live performance utilising these techniques, discuss methods for the dissemination and interpretation of live generated notations and investigate how they take advantage of instrumental musicians’ training-related neuroplasticity skills