Face Value

The human face is the most universally important focus of communication. It is a significant source of identity and the most expressive means of nonverbal communication. We use our faces to speak and express emotions. We use faces to recognize friends or foes; to spot family resemblances; and to consider attractiveness or unattractiveness. Gleaned from a number dictionaries, my interpretation of what is meant by taking something or someone at face value means to accept that idea, object, or person because of the way it first looks or seems, without thinking about what else it could mean, and to accept that the idea, object, or person is exactly what it appears to be. In the first phase of my sculptural ceramic work I use the human face in caricature to playfully parody both the contradictions between literal and ambiguous interpretations of terms in the English language, and how we function in society surrounded by human stereotypes and the language generated by those stereotypes. I feel that the use of humor invites the viewer to participate actively in experiencing the art. By using the term face value the humorous use of a word, or combinations of words can have different meanings and possible applications as a play on words or pun. The second phase of my sculptural work involved the process of incorporating the image of the human face cast from real life. I realized I needed to challenge myself technically and take my art from a childlike caricature level of innocence to a more adult level of life experiences. I did not want to give up that sense of playfulness, so I kept with the human stereotypes and play on words or pun theme. However during this period of creativity a personal event happened in my life and the sense of playfulness and parody became bittersweet. The third phase of my work portrays implied faces that exaggerates a fear I had as a child and still haunts my subconscious to this day. (Abstract by OPUS staff

Combining Independent Smart Beta Strategies for Portfolio Optimization

Smart beta, also known as strategic beta or factor investing, is the idea of selecting an investment portfolio in a simple rule-based manner that systematically captures market inefficiencies, thereby enhancing risk-adjusted returns above capitalization-weighted benchmarks. We explore the idea of applying a smart strategy in reverse, yielding a "bad beta" portfolio which can be shorted, thus allowing long and short positions on independent smart beta strategies to generate beta neutral returns. In this article we detail the construction of a monthly reweighted portfolio involving two independent smart beta strategies; the first component is a long-short beta-neutral strategy derived from running an adaptive boosting classifier on a suite of momentum indicators. The second component is a minimized volatility portfolio which exploits the observation that low-volatility stocks tend to yield higher risk-adjusted returns than high-volatility stocks. Working off a market benchmark Sharpe Ratio of 0.42, we find that the market neutral component achieves a ratio of 0.61, the low volatility approach achieves a ratio of 0.90, while the combined leveraged strategy achieves a ratio of 0.96. In six months of live trading, the combined strategy achieved a Sharpe Ratio of 1.35. These results reinforce the effectiveness of smart beta strategies, and demonstrate that combining multiple strategies simultaneously can yield better performance than that achieved by any single component in isolation

Combining Independent Smart Beta Strategies for Portfolio Optimization

Smart beta, also known as strategic beta or factor investing, is the idea of selecting an investment portfolio in a simple rule-based manner that systematically captures market inefficiencies, thereby enhancing risk-adjusted returns above capitalization-weighted benchmarks. We explore the idea of applying a smart strategy in reverse, yielding a "bad beta" portfolio which can be shorted, thus allowing long and short positions on independent smart beta strategies to generate beta neutral returns. In this article we detail the construction of a monthly reweighted portfolio involving two independent smart beta strategies; the first component is a long-short beta-neutral strategy derived from running an adaptive boosting classifier on a suite of momentum indicators. The second component is a minimized volatility portfolio which exploits the observation that low-volatility stocks tend to yield higher risk-adjusted returns than high-volatility stocks. Working off a market benchmark Sharpe Ratio of 0.42, we find that the market neutral component achieves a ratio of 0.61, the low volatility approach achieves a ratio of 0.90, while the combined leveraged strategy achieves a ratio of 0.96. In six months of live trading, the combined strategy achieved a Sharpe Ratio of 1.35. These results reinforce the effectiveness of smart beta strategies, and demonstrate that combining multiple strategies simultaneously can yield better performance than that achieved by any single component in isolation

Do Exergames Allow Children To Achieve Physical Activity Intensity Commensurate With National Guidelines?

The purpose of this study was to determine if two popular exergames, Wii Fit™ and EA Sports Active™, both games for the Nintendo Wii™ console, help children achieve intensity consistent with recommended physical activity guidelines. Thirty children (19 males and 11 females, Mean age = 9.4 ± 1.8 years) participated in this study by playing each game during one research session. During the session participants wore a heart rate monitor and accelerometer to measure exercise intensity. Perceived exertion (RPE) was measured with the children’s run/walk OMNI scale. All three measures of exercise intensity (heart rate, accelerometer counts, and RPE) found that the EA Sports Active™ game session elicited higher exercise intensity. However, heart rate data found both games to achieve moderate intensity (65-68% age-predicted HRmax). When using heart rate as an indicator of exercise intensity it appears that both exergames were of sufficient intensity to achieve physical activity guidelines. Future studies should continue to investigate the utility of exergaming in helping children to become more physically active

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): The stellar mass budget of galaxy spheroids and discs

We build on a recent photometric decomposition analysis of 7506 Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey galaxies to derive stellar mass function fits to individual spheroid and disc component populations down to a lower mass limit of log(M*/M⊙) = 8. We find that the spheroid/disc mass distributions for individual galaxy morphological types are well described by single Schechter function forms. We derive estimates of the total stellar mass densities in spheroids (ρspheroid = 1.24 ± 0.49 × 108 M⊙ Mpc −3h0.7) and discs (ρdisc = 1.20 ± 0.45 × 108 M⊙ Mpc −3h0.7), which translates to approximately 50 per cent of the local stellar mass density in spheroids and 48 per cent in discs. The remaining stellar mass is found in the dwarf ‘little blue spheroid’ class, which is not obviously similar in structure to either classical spheroid or disc populations. We also examine the variation of component mass ratios across galaxy mass and group halo mass regimes, finding the transition from spheroid to disc mass dominance occurs near galaxy stellar mass ∼1011 M⊙ and group halo mass ∼1012.5 M⊙h−1. We further quantify the variation in spheroid-to-total mass ratio with group halo mass for central and satellite populations as well as the radial variation of this ratio within groups

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): the wavelength dependence of galaxy structure versus redshift and luminosity

We study how the sizes and radial profiles of galaxies vary with wavelength, by fitting Se´rsic functions simultaneously to imaging in nine optical and near-infrared bands. To quantify the wavelength dependence of effective radius we use the ratio, R, of measurements in two rest- frame bands. The dependence of Se´rsic index on wavelength, N , is computed correspondingly. Vulcani et al. have demonstrated that different galaxy populations present sharply contrasting behaviour in terms of R and N . Here we study the luminosity dependence of this result. We find that at higher luminosities, early-type galaxies display a more substantial decrease in effective radius with wavelength, whereas late types present a more pronounced increase in Se´rsic index. The structural contrast between types thus increases with luminosity. By considering samples at different redshifts, we demonstrate that lower data quality reduces the apparent difference between the main galaxy populations. However, our conclusions remain robust to this effect. We show that accounting for different redshift and luminosity selections partly reconciles the size variation measured by Vulcani et al. with the weaker trends found by other recent studies. Dividing galaxies by visual morphology confirms the behaviour inferred using morphological proxies, although the sample size is greatly reduced. Finally, we demonstrate that varying dust opacity and disc inclination can account for features of the joint distribution of R and N for late-type galaxies. However, dust does not appear to explain the highest values of R and N . The bulge–disc nature of galaxies must also contribute to the wavelength dependence of their structure. Key words: galaxies: formation – galaxies: fundamental parameters – galaxies: general – galaxies: structure

Annual variability of ice-nucleating particle concentrations at different Arctic locations

Abstract. Number concentrations of ice-nucleating particles (NINP) in the Arctic were derived from ground-based filter samples. Examined samples had been collected in Alert (Nunavut, northern Canadian archipelago on Ellesmere Island), Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow (Alaska), Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard), and at the Villum Research Station (VRS; northern Greenland). For the former two stations, examined filters span a full yearly cycle. For VRS, 10 weekly samples, mostly from different months of one year, were included. Samples from Ny-Ålesund were collected during the months from March until September of one year. At all four stations, highest concentrations were found in the summer months from roughly June to September. For those stations with sufficient data coverage, an annual cycle can be seen. The spectra of NINP observed at the highest temperatures, i.e., those obtained for summer months, showed the presence of INPs that nucleate ice up to −5 ∘C. Although the nature of these highly ice-active INPs could not be determined in this study, it often has been described in the literature that ice activity observed at such high temperatures originates from the presence of ice-active material of biogenic origin. Spectra observed at the lowest temperatures, i.e., those derived for winter months, were on the lower end of the respective values from the literature on Arctic INPs or INPs from midlatitude continental sites, to which a comparison is presented herein. An analysis concerning the origin of INPs that were ice active at high temperatures was carried out using back trajectories and satellite information. Both terrestrial locations in the Arctic and the adjacent sea were found to be possible source areas for highly active INPs