Females understand consequences of actions same as males, but make decisions differently

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Hitler and Eva Braun
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Women more likely to avoid harming even a single person, even if it results in thousands of deaths, research finds

Although females rationally evaluate the outcomes of actions the same as males, females make different decisions about their actions, according to recent research. Females are more strongly influenced by emotional aversion to causing immediate harm than are males, even when they believe their less harmful actions will result in greater overall harm, such as in hypothetical situations about stopping mass killers by killing or torturing them first.

“Gender differences on moral dilemmas which pit utilitarianism against deontology, seem to be driven primarily by differences in affective reactions to harm-doing, and very little, if at all, by differences in terms of cognitive evaluations of outcomes,” Dr. Rebecca Friesdorf of Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario, Canada told The Speaker.

“In other words, in this context, men and women seem to differ little in terms of how much they rationally consider the end result, but much more in terms of their emotional response to harming a single victim.”

The team of scientists, which also included members from the University of Cologne and the University of Texas, looked at data from 6,100 participants who had participated in research about high-stakes moral dilemmas, which included decisions that would result in death, lies, abortion and animal research. They team sought for differences in moral judgements between the sexes.

The team used a statistical procedure to rate and quantify the nature of the judgments.

“Although there is little evidence for gender differences in cognitive processing,” commented Friesdorf, “gender differences in affective processing are common and robust. For example, men and women score equally high on need for cognition, and gender differences in cognitive ability tend to be rather small. Yet, women tend to experience stronger emotional responses than men; they are more persuaded by messages appealing to emotion; they score higher on measures of empathic concern; and they are more adept at identifying with other’s emotional states.”

In the recent research, the team found that females were less willing to support the killing of Adolf Hitler or torturing a bombing suspect to find explosives, although they reasoned that the actions would save more lives overall.

The researchers suspect that the reason for this is that females are more emotionally averse to the idea of themselves causing harm than are men.

“We suspect that this is the case based on prior research, specifically Greene’s (2007) dual-process model of moral judgment,” said Friesdorf. “A large body of evidence supports this model, in which rejecting harmful actions in moral dilemmas is associated with affective processes, and accepting harmful action that maximizes outcomes is associated with cognitive processes. For example, manipulations that vividly highlighted the harm caused by action increased deontological judgments, whereas reducing negative affect reduced deontological judgments. Conversely, manipulations enhancing rational decision-making increased utilitarian judgments, whereas cognitive load slowed and time pressure reduced utilitarian judgments. Moreover, brain regions associated with affect were more active when people made deontological judgments, whereas brain regions associated with working memory were more active when participants made utilitarian judgments.

“Thus, a wide range of evidence supports the dual-process model of moral judgment where affective reactions to harm motivate harm rejection regardless of the outcomes — consistent with deontological ethics — and cognitive evaluations of outcomes motivate harm acceptance when harm leads to better overall outcomes — consistent with utilitarian ethics.”

Although not the subject of their recent work, Friesdorf offered us some thoughts about how the differences in female and male decision-making might have effects in the real world.

“Although I’m not currently aware of any research which investigates gender differences in these inclinations (deontological/utilitarian) in more every-day type scenarios/dilemmas, I suspect that it is possible that they do generalize to some situations. For example, perhaps in an employment context, female managers might be more likely than male managers to be empathic/sensitive toward the potential suffering of a single employee, and therefore less likely to make a choice which greatly benefits a large group of employees, if it involves dealing great harm to the single individual.”

The report, “Gender Differences in Responses to Moral Dilemmas,” was completed by Drs. Rebecca Friesdorf, Paul Conway, and Bertram Gawronski, and was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Made By Raffi – A nontraditional theme, published worldwide

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Made By Raffi
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“Made By Raffi” is a children’s book, by Craig Pomranz, inspired by a true-life incident, about a boy who is bullied by his classmates for being different and who becomes a hero for his skills, which are traditionally feminine. The nontraditional theme puts the book into a somewhat narrow classification.

What may come as a surprise is that the book was just published in Mandarin and in Korea. Moreover, a publisher in Turkey has expressed interest. In contrast, Southern U.S. newspapers have been reluctant to promote the book in southern Texas and Louisiana, saying that they felt it would not be accepted by the public.

What makes this book acceptable and potentially acceptable in former Communist and developing dictatorship regimes, and at the same time, not considered an option in a Democracy such as the U.S.? Some publishers have wondered if Raffi’s nontraditional gender role and the rainbow on the front cover of the book symbolize something more about his difference, hinting at him possibly being gay. That question is not answered.

The book initially focuses on the “normalcy” of Raffi’s life, showing his relationship with his mother, father and dog. It goes on to describe that he feels apart from other children, uncomfortable with loud interactions and horseplay, and content to sit quietly alone during recess.

However, Raffi questions his difference, asking why that might be. He then finds meaning in his separateness when a teacher teaches him how to knit as the other kids are playing on the playground. Raffi’s parents are very supportive of his interest, giving him the tools he needs to succeed.

book review
Raffi’s parents support him by buying him yarn for knitting.

Initially Raffi is teased by classmates for nontraditional gender expression. But in a turn of events, Raffi becomes a hero for his class when his fine motor skills of knitting – and sewing – are needed for design of a prop for the class play.

“Made by Raffi” has been published worldwide in seven languages and distributed in ten countries – in England, Australia, the U.S., Norway, Denmark, Italy, Taiwan, Korea, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The book has received accolades for promotion of appreciation across differences, beginning with the very young. According to Pomranz, his publicists “are always looking to find publishers around the world – those who will help to promote the book and its nontraditional theme.

“A publisher in Turkey loves ‘Made by Raffi,’ but said ‘The concept of childhood gender nonconformity is not a popular subject in Turkey.’” Nevertheless, he said he was passing it on to another publisher he thought might be doing more controversial books. In Taiwan, the focus became encouraging children to develop their interests. They added some activity pages towards this aim.

It should be noted that the book was published in Taiwan – not Mainland China – and in South Korea – not the North. North Korea was the subject of a report by the United Nations last year, which claimed that the Republic’s actions towards its citizens were comparable to those of the Nazi regime. At the time, China – North Korea’s closest ally – told the U.N. to “mind its own business.” Still, South Korea is a traditional and homogeneous society, and acceptance of Made by Raffi indicates a wind change, even if ever so slight.

Contemplation of the book’s publication in Turkey is significant in contrast to last year’s ban on the use of Twitter in that country. That prohibition brought a statement by the U.S. State Department about book burnings during the Nazi regime and the increasing isolation of Turkey. At that time, Turkish lawyers stated that this block was against the law and a direct confrontation against freedom of speech.

book review
Author Craig Pomranz

A question is raised as to whether southern Texas will have a change of heart regarding publicizing “Made by Raffi.” This is because Texas has lately seen a change on matters regarding gender and traditional roles. Known for its conservatism, Texas in 2005 approved a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage. The amendment campaign included a rally by Ku Klux Klan members. The decision was made by 76 percent of 17 percent statewide voter turnout. The result was reversed last year by a federal judge, stating that disallowing gays and lesbians to marry discredits their relationships.

“Made by Raffi” is a heartwarming tale of accepting differences. Despite its nontraditional theme, the book is gaining support in unlikely places for publication throughout the world. Perhaps the acceptance of Raffi’s interests – by his teacher, his parents, and eventually, his classmates and teacher – help to normalize nontraditional gender roles for children, and this is contributes to its universal appeal.

By Aliza Baraka

Sources:
“Made by Raffi” (book), published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Bks (July 29, 2014) and illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain
Personal interview with Craig Pomranz
North Korea as Bad as Nazis Says UN and China Says to Bug Off
Turkey Twitter Ban Recalls Books in the U.S. and Google in China
Texas LGBT Community Hopes for Big Win

Never Mind the Generation Gap – The War on Music in 2015

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You don’t have to look far on social networking or in the pub to find an old punk bemoaning the fact that the kids “have nothing to say these days.” He’s well aware that it’s not the summer of 1976 anymore, but what disturbs him more is that his kids are embarrassed by his somewhat pacified antisocial aggression.

The punks are now parents and the hippies often grandparents. And that’s ignoring the majority who were listening to ABBA or The Carpenters as opposed to the somewhat more media-stoked Jimi Hendrix or The Sex Pistols at their respective times. With a dynamic online petition to stop Kanye West playing Glastonbury as the most recent of many, it’s HIS fans who are in fact upping the social ante, unbearable as he is.

Thus, white punk rebellion, somewhat away from its Trotskyite/anarcho roots has filled out, sat down, and had to accept that only about 10 percent of the movement’s output was listenable in the first place. The rest of it was simply the sound of fury, replaced less by The Arctic Monkeys or Fat White Family and more by Skrillex or Eminem. Punk spirit wears Gucci and Puma, and headbutts you in a Wetherspoons for spilling its pint or looking at its bird.

Johnny Rotten’s main target in 1977 was the older generation, when the music industry was powerful enough to take aim at other demographics or other artists, and thus to become its own media outrage industry. Blur and Oasis’s feud in the mid nineties was the dying ember of this music press flames fanning technique. Now, with digital having decimated the traditional recording industry and deadened neighbours having music venues closed up and down the country, the enemy of music has changed. The enemy is now the lack of imagination of the consumer.

The enemy now is also the corporations who insist on their logos swamping festivals; record company focus groups who insist on legacy artist reissues; a generation of musicians who see it as a career, and think the apex of artistic success is Noel Gallagher; and a public who are so dumbed-down in their listening tastes that a new Muse album is greeted with wild enthusiasm.

The parents and grandparents are more outrageous and rebellious than their progeny, and their ‘cultural revolutions’ didn’t so much fail, as were co-opted into parody. Clever. It’s a relief that Thatcher’s years are gone, sure, we’re just left with the smiling fallout – and that this century’s version of anti-war sentiment is met with Daily Mail choruses of ‘traitor’ for somehow demoralising troops in the middle-east. There is an enemy all right, but it’s not mum and dad – they’re despairing for the passivity, apathy, ignorance and politeness of youth. As long as they’re not chavs. The enemy of music and spirit is big business collaborating with the government, validated by mainstream consumers. Ever get the feeling you’ve been pacified?

Sean Bw Parker

New senses easily added to mammal brain, beginning with geomagnetoception

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Researchers at Tokyo University have added a new sense to the brains of rats. The procedure was relatively simple and the rats integrated the new sense — a geomagnetic compass — quickly. Blind rats given the new sense were soon able to navigate laboratory mazes almost as well as sighted rats. Because of the ease with which the new sense was added, researchers think many other senses can be added to the mammal brain, expanding the “colorfulness” of our experience and abilities.

“Perhaps we do not make full use of our brain.” Dr. Yuji Ikegaya of the University of Tokyo told The Speaker. “The limitation does not come from our lack of effort, but it does come from the poor sensory organs of our body. The body restricts the brain; that is, the brain has over-evolved compared to the current performance level of the body. The real sensory world must be much more ‘colorful’ than what you are currently experiencing.”

The research team added a geomagnetic compass to the senses of blind mice, and the mice were able to navigate a lab maze almost as well as mice that were not blind.

New senses easily added to mammal brain, beginning with geomagnetoception (3)
Dr. Yuji Ikegaya

“Although I do not believe that the brain is always plug-and-play ready, the brain seems to be highly adaptive and flexible so that it can perceive and use even non-inherent sense,” said Ikegaya.

The connectivity point for the new sense did not have to be specific, Ikegaya told us.

“We arbitrarily inserted two electrodes into the visual cortex. The locations of stimulation seemed unlikely to be important, because stimulation of other brain areas also worked similarly. Our head-mountable geomagnetic sensor device was designed to connect a digital compass, a microchip used normally in smart phones, to two tungsten microelectrodes for intrabrain stimulation. It is also equipped with a manipulator of stimulation intensity and a rechargeable battery. The device weights 2.5 g and thus head-mountable. During exploration of an animal, it automatically detects the head direction and thereby generates electrical stimulation pulses — for example, when the animal faces the geomagnetic north or the south.”

Ikegaya pointed to the latent, incredibly flexible potential of the mammal brain — potential that has so far been largely untapped. He expressed hope that there were many abilities that could be added to our brains.

New senses easily added to mammal brain, beginning with geomagnetoception (1)
Schematic for the process

 

“We expect that humans can expand their senses through artificial sensors — ‘supersensory’ organs — including geomagnetism, ultraviolet, radioactive rays, humidity, ultrasonic, radio wave, pheromones etc. Sensing sunlight UV may be important for reducing skin cancer. Also, ultrasonic and radio wave may enable a next-generation form of human-to-human communications.”

One of the most notable possibilities suggested by the study is improvements in the navigation abilities of blind people.

The report, “Visual Cortical Prosthesis with a Geomagnetic Compass Restores Spatial Navigation in Blind Rats,” was completed by Tokyo University’s Drs. Hiroaki Norimoto and Yuji Ikegaya and was published in Current Biology.

By Sid Douglas

Indian free speech law: Democracy redo

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In a major victory for free speech, the Indian supreme court slashed the draconian provision in section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Session 66A had infringed the right of speech of Indian citizens since 2000. The IT Act of 2000 gave the Indian government the power to arrest an individual for posting “offensive” content online. Recently, the court struck off section 66A, stating that the definition in the rule book for deeming an act “offensive” is unclear and irrational and clarifying that what is offensive to one individual could seem appropriate to others.

This decision comes amidst a major public discourse in India during the past month, after the Indian government decided to ban the broadcast of the BBC documentary “India’s Daughter” about the 2012 rape of an young Indian girl in Delhi. As a democratic republic, India has been a free society since its independence in 1947, barring the brief emergency in 1975 imposed by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The founding fathers of India placed significant emphasis on freedom of speech when the Indian constitution was written.

The Delhi rape case has transformed India in numerous ways, and particularly on the questions of women’s rights and citizens’ freedoms. The girl Nirbhaya has become a social change icon in the country. But the banning of “India’s Daughter” is viewed by many Indians as a repression of free speech.

Benefits of Section 66A Draconian axing:

The striking of Section 66A means Indians can express their opinion in the written or speech form on almost anything without fearing prosecution. Most important benefit of this draconian removal is the fact that Indians can now fight the government in-case of free speech oppressions. But the sedition law still exists in the Indian Law, any person can still be prosecuted in India for anti-government activities such as hate speech or contempt towards the government establishment. Also, couple of major amendments, section 69A and Section 79 still remain as road blocks for a freer India. Under the Section 69A of the Indian Penal Code the government has power to block any information from the Internet or any electronic resource in-case of communal violence but, the alleged improper content should be submitted to court before the government may take action as per the Section 79.

Remaining Censorships in India:

Still work remains to be done in the quest for free India as Section 66A dismissal statement is still unclear on the point of freedom of “expression” i.e. cartoons, photographs and movies. This imprecision gives the government leverage in prosecuting a print cartoonist or a private filmmaker or an amateur photographer. After all, the law treats freedom of speech and freedom of expression as two different entities though it seems to understand that both are mutually inclusive.

The master of the enlightenment age Voltaire famously defended free speech by stating, though one may not agree about something but one ought to defend to death the right of that being expressed. A similar notion is picking steam in Indian society after the government’s “India’s daughter” documentary ban. The recent pro free-speech judgement from the Supreme Court adds zest in the fight for a freer India.

Opinion by Vikas Sharma Vemuri

Sources:

Center For Internet and Society-India

The Hindu

Madrid is a city of experimental art

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Madrid is a city of experimental art
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A new photo exhibition opens this week

There is a new photo exhibition running in the centre of Madrid. It is sponsored by El Arpa English academy and the idea of the event is to showcase photos taken on smart phones. The subject matter can be anything and everything and it takes in the urban and the rural, the personal and the panoramic, the morning and the night. It is these transitions which give the exhibition its name, “Transiciones.”

The blurb expounds on this by saying “less is sometimes more” and continues its hymn by saying:

“See images that have been captured as they lurked incognito to the naked eye as the photo was taken… see the indistinct matte of colours that bleed into each other and the sharp relief of building and nature against the light, a light that affects the image as day transitions into the night and, as it does, the filter that affects the image changes with it.”

In an interview with Maria, a tall and stunningly attractive archaeologist by trade, she explained, that as the event coordinator, the exhibition was part of a larger theme. “Last year we had a poetry exhibition in Diego de Leon and it was called “En Transito.” The theme was of poetry that was scribbled or written while on the go and the articles upon which poetic musings were inscribed included napkins, metro tickets, magazines, tissues and an assorted mix of things that are usually stuffed into pockets or bags. This exhibition is a spiritual successor and its function is to celebrate how the tool defines the art but also, more importantly, to make art accessible to everyone.

Over 30 budding artists have made submissions. In addition, some photographers gave details regarding where, why and how the photos were taken. Rachelle Toarmino, one of the submitters told this interviewer about how, on the Santiago route, the light was astounding that the image looked like it had been taken on a real camera while another photographer, Samuel O’Neill simply put a pair of red sunglasses in front of his camera and the results are spectacular. It is this kind of low tech approach that this exhibition is keen on.

Jonathan Kates, another submitter, added about one of his photos:

“Taking photos at nightclubs with cell phones is very hard but this one was sheer awesome luck, and was taken at Mondo Disko in February during an epic Maceo Plex extended set. It’s hard to capture an entire night in a single frame but the composition and the outstretched hands really highlight the mood.”

Madrid is currently in the throes of Easter processions and the marching of men in pointy hats that are there simply to bring the wearer just that little closer to heaven. Madrid is also passing deeply unpopular laws that have caused the United Nations to sit and baulk from their headquarters in New York. Quite simply, Madrid is a city of multifarious events. But if there is one event that that cannot be missed, it is the photo exhibition in Taberna San Jose. It runs for the next two weeks and the friendly bar keep Jorge will assist you with artistic or alcoholic replenishment.

If you wish to see the exhibition, it is in Taberna San Jose, metro Banco de España.

By Enda Kenneally

Vancouver Art Gallery’s exhibition of Herzog & de Meuron’s dazzling projects

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The new Vancouver exhibition “Material Future” is a great deal more than just haughty architectural designs embellished with simplistic elemental assemblies. It will be, according to the Vancouver Art Gallery, a showcase in “design philosophy.”

The famous architectural firm, Herzog & de Meuron, which has given rise to beautiful works of architecture across the globe, currently have their projects showcased in the VAG in a exhibition that opened on March 27. However, what is most interesting, at least to Vancouver residents, is the fact that a portion of the exhibition will focus on the designs, planning, and building of the future Vancouver Art Gallery. The actual conceptual design of the future building will be unveiled to the public in late spring.

Herzog & de Meuron is the Swiss architectural firm that designed the famous Tate Modern in London, the Young Museum in San Francisco, the National Stadium in Beijing, and the Schaulager in Basel, as well as current projects such as a new museum of visual culture in Hong Kong and the much anticipated M+. What makes the firm so well known is its uniqueness with particular attention to the materials, site and context of all of its buildings. It employs an international team of about 460 collaborators which works on projects across Europe, the Americas and Asia. The firm‘s main office is in Basel, with additional offices in Hamburg, London, Madrid, New York City, and Hong Kong.

“The firm is internationally renowned for their attention to materials, site, and context, which defines a practice that is astonishingly subtle and complex.” said a representative of the gallery in an email.

“Herzog & de Meuron has demonstrated their commitment to the new Vancouver Art Gallery project. Their research of Vancouver and British Columbia includes extensive travel throughout the province and significant time spent with Gallery stakeholders, including many artists in the Vancouver art community.”

Interestingly, the VAG has organized the exhibition in three key steps. First a preliminary introduction to the new VAG building project, which will include plans, introductions to the site architects, and different processes. The second will be a meticulous study space which will focus on the strategies and the process behind Herzog & de Meuron, and which will include monographs, as well as a projection room of the firm’s projects. The final step — and I dare say the most important — will be a lobby that will provide the visitors with the “context, plans and statues of the future gallery.”

“It has been a remarkable journey since last April when we started working closely with Herzog & de Meuron on the conceptual design of the new Vancouver Art Gallery building. This exhibition charts the history and the trajectory of the Gallery’s future growth, and it is an exciting prelude to the unveiling of the conceptual design of the new building,” said Kathleen S. Bartels, Director of the Gallery.

“Every step of the way, Herzog & de Meuron have demonstrated their commitment to this landmark project that will act as a catalyst for the city of Vancouver and beyond. Their research on Vancouver and British Columbia has been impressive, including extensive travel throughout the province.”

This whole process began in 2013, when the gallery launched an international RFQ-Request for Qualification — which means a call to firms around the world to step up and show their work so that the gallery could make a final decision on which they saw the best fit for what they wanted. Seventy-five companies from 16 different countries around the world responded to the call, until finally Herzog & de Meuron was given the job, which will work along with the Vancouver firm Perkins+Will.

Material_Future_08
Material Future Vancouver Art Gallery at 1145 West Georgia Street after refit, 1958 Vancouver Art Gallery Archives

When it comes to architecture the human mind is usually dazzled by the new and the thrilling, yet there is something rather interesting in the fact that the future gallery will no longer be the in the old provincial courts so fashionably renovated by architect Arthur Erikson in the early 1980’s. The art gallery has made it clear that they need more space for the ever-increasing collections. In fact it has reiterated that it needs a space of about 320,000 square feet, and the new location at West Georgia and Cambie is more than adequate.

Now the question remains: What are we to expect when the full design of the new building will be unveiled in late spring? Modern debauchery with cold glass and mystical complexities? Herzog & de Meuron has managed to astound people every time it first unveiled anything new, and even more so once the buildings actually came to life. This has been the case with the Allianz Arena in Munich Germany, and the Tate Modern in London which was one of the buildings that led the firm to win the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2001.

We have been assured that the gallery is in competent hands, and, I dare say, Herzon & de Meuron are indeed a collection of the best talent in the world of architecture. Yet, as the romantic and classicist that I am, I feel remorse at the knowledge that the art gallery will move away from the old provincial courthouse which I think is much more providential, in the sense that it is more of an appropriate structure to house high works of art.

One thing which must be said is that perhaps what is more important to the Vancouver Art Gallery is the procuring of more works of art, that allude to greater artistic tendencies, rather than the formal and costly construction of a new building — one which will still undoubtedly be beautiful and worthy to be called an art gallery. Still the question remains: What will the art gallery fill it with? Even the recent Cezanne exhibition has proven in my view to be rather tediously discouraging.

It might be just my travels within the European landscape, in fact it might simply be my half-European lineage speaking out, but I assure you the collections which have graced the Vancouver Art Gallery throughout its existence, at least in my own opinion, are not much when compared the halls of art that fill Europe’s museums, and palaces.

Although I welcome the relocation with great delight, undoubtedly at the pleasure which will be procured from seeing a beautiful Herzog & de Meuron building in Vancouver, I will still feel almost as if the more important purpose of an art gallery is to grace its viewers with more alluring pieces before superb buildings. Infallibly, perhaps even in the context of art galleries what is on the inside is far more important than the outside, as the old bromide goes.

Preferably both, yet the reality of the situation is that this is not Europe, and its halls are very far away. We must satisfy our visual needs with what we have. This will not be the the first physical move of the VAG as we all know, and although we might have mixed feelings in regards to it, we must support the gallery’s decisions, for it is the most important source of the promotion of visual arts in Vancouver.

The exhibition is scheduled to run until October.

By Milad Doroudian

Feature Image Source: Installation view of Material Future: The Architecture of Herzog & de Meuron and the Vancouver Art Gallery, exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, March 27 to October 4, 2015 Photo: Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery

Second Image Source: Vancouver Art Gallery Archives

New surface technology could provide invisibility from sonar to any object

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New surface technology could provide invisibility from sonar to any object
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Usually, sound reflects off of the objects it encounters, bouncing some sound waves back in the direction from which they came — this phenomenon is familiar in the application of sonar. No technology has yet been developed that can provide sonar invisibility to any object, but a team of Singaporean researchers recently proposed a novel material surface that could do just this by directing sound waves around an object to be sent off in one direction on the other side.

The technology shares some features with topological insulators, which direct the flow of electrons along a surface, and builds on recent advances in our understanding of a class of electronic waves called “topological edge states.”

Dr. Baile Zhang
Dr. Baile Zhang

“‘Topological edge states’ are a kind of state originally found in electronic topological insulators and quantum Hall systems,” Dr. Baile Zhang of Nayang Technological University, who led the research, told The Speaker. “They are technologically promising because they are immune to backscattering from defects and disorders, similar to superconductors. But later it was found that topological edge states can also be constructed with classical waves, like electromagnetic waves and mechanical vibrations.

The proposed surface prevents sound waves from propagating through the middle of a two-dimensional triangular lattice of spinning metal cylinders. The periodic pattern of the lattice creates a sonic band gap, like other topological insulators, but it creates something else, too.

The edges of the proposed material support propagation in only one direction around the perimeter of the object. Thus, the edge states can guide sound waves with high precision.

New surface technology could provide invisibility to any object from sonar (3)
Triangular acoustic lattice with lattice constant. Inset: unit cell containing a central metal rod, surrounded by an anticlockwise circulating fluid flow in a cylinder region of radius

“The circulating fluids can break time reversal symmetry, meaning that a wave moving forward will perceive differently from another wave moving backward,” Zhang told us.”So, we can utilize it to realize waveguiding only in one direction without reflection, no matter how large the defects are.”

That is what is key for creating stealth technology of this sort, said Zhang — the regularity of the material and guiding the flow of sound waves. “An irregular protrusion is one of the biggest headaches for stealth engineers,” he said, but coating any object with an acoustic topological insulator would guide sound waves around it in a single direction and hide that object from sonar.

“I think the most important thing is a picture of acoustic waves that can circumvent any defect or disorder, immune to backscattering from them,” said Zhang of the research.

The report, “Topological Acoustics,” was completed by Zhaoju Yang, Fei Gao, Xihang Shi, Xiao Lin, Zhen Gao, Yidong Chong, and Baile Zhang, and was published online on APS Physics.

Museum of Vancouver’s upcoming exhibition asks the question: What is happiness?

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — We usually ask ourselves, “How can we be more happy?” Rarely do we find the answer to this challenging question. Yet, Stefan Sagmeister’s “The Happy Show” will try to solve some of the most onerous dilemmas of happiness.

How can one be more happy? I for one have not one perceptible clue. Do we find it in things, people, or something as simple as a good cup of coffee?

The exhibition will be featured over two floors at the MOV, making it one of the largest to ever be put on in the museum’s history. It will be constructed of video screens, info-graphics, interactive machines, and even a bike that powers a neon sign. All of which have been designed to discuss issues such as mindfulness, well-being, and even sex, and according to the MOV, ” transcend the boundary between art and design.” Visitors will also be able to enjoy an extended preview of Sagmeister’s soon-to-be-released documentary “The Happy Film.”

“’The Happy Show’ arrives as the wellbeing of Metro Vancouver residents is at the forefront of attention. The Vancouver Foundation has recently reported that Lower Mainland residents feel lonely and isolated. Our local and provincial governments are now recognizing that social connection is crucial for personal happiness and for a thriving city,” says Gregory Dreicer, MOV Director of Curatorial and Engagement.TheHappyShow-SagmeisterWalsh4

Stefan Sagmeister, born in Austria in 1962, has been studying the meaning of happiness for the past 10 years as he struggled with alcohol, drugs, weight gain, and even depression. He has called this exhibition an amalgamation of all his beliefs and experiences that he gathered in those 10 years. In fact, his upcoming documentary will chronicle his various attempts at bettering his own state of joy, through different techniques, including cognitive therapy, meditation, and mood-altering drugs.

Sagmeister published numerous popular books, and is the winner of two Grammy Awards, the Lucky Strike Designer award, among a great deal more. He is also the co-founder of the New York-based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh.

The question of happiness, rather forcibly, make us think of what it might mean to us personally. Surely it cannot be something fully objective, as happiness is an individual thing that is different for each one of us. Yet, at the root of it all we might be surprised that there is a lot of common ground in what makes humans happy, regardless of gender, and background. I guess we have to wait for Sagmeister’s exhibition, and we might just find out.

In case that you do not have the patience to wait you can take a sneak peak at Sagmeister’s blog, that features some of the works and ideas that will be presented in the show.

The Museum of Vancouver is an award-winning authority on Vancouver’s history, sharing the region’s stories from its Aboriginal beginnings to contemporary topics. “The Happy Show” is set to open on April 23, and will run until September.

Images by Museum of Vancouver.

By Milad Doroudian.

“Patience,” raising rates, or QE4?

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“Patience," Raising Rates, or QE4? It’s anyone’s guess…
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It’s anyone’s guess…

On Wednesday, March 18th, the Federal Reserve released an official statement and held a press conference regarding monetary policy and current economic conditions. In this statement, the Fed projected a decline in its inflation expectation, and revised projected GDP growth downward. These are both signs of a slowing economy, not the accelerating economy required to actually raise interest rates. Janet Yellen reiterated, as she has since October, that the decision to raise rates is entirely data dependent, and not at all based on a specific calendar date. When labor market conditions improve and inflation reaches the targeted 2%, the Fed at that time would consider raising rates. The FOMC’s projections estimate that labor market conditions will improve further to 4.9% unemployment and inflation will edge upward to two percent in the years 2016 and 2017. The inherent difficulty with accepting the future estimate on inflation is the fact that the projection of inflation is an outlier to the trend being established by the incoming data. Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation, including food and energy, has been declining since November. The Fed also cut its estimate of PCE inflation from December, for the year 2015. The PCE measure has been falling since October when it was at 1.48%, and current sits at 1.31%. This is a decline of 11% since the Fed finished its bond buying program. The last time PCE was 2% was in March of 2012. If the Fed expects inflation in 2015 to be low, borderline dangerously low by the ideas of some FOMC Board members, then how can the Fed raise rates this year? Especially if raising rates has the effect of lowering inflation even more, then the United States might enter outright deflation. The Federal Reserve has been trying to prevent deflation ever since the financial crisis.

When the Fed put out its statement, it no longer included the word “patient” in regards to when it will raise interest rates. In previous press conferences, Chair Yellen has said that when the Committee elects to remove “patient”, the Fed may begin to raise rates “in a couple of meetings.” During her most recent conference she said that there is no calendar date and markets should not expect a rate hike in necessarily two meetings. Effective the word “patient” was removed, but its meaning in terms of the Fed’s Policy was not. In the Question and Answer portion of the Conference Sam Fleming from the Financial Times asked a question regarding the risks of leaving “zero lower bound” and how tightening too early can have greater risks than remaining in a low interest rate environment. Chari Yellen responded by saying, “When an economy is operating at the so called zero lower bound, it creates a situation where there are asymmetric risks.” She continues, “If there are adverse shocks to demand that tend to push inflation and economic performance in an adverse direction, it’s not possible to lower rates. Of course that’s a reason why for a number of years we engaged in active asset purchase programs.” Yellen pointed out that while at close to zero percent interest rates the Fed’s policy options to further stimulate the economy are limited.

With the dramatic drop in the price of oil, along with thousands of rig layoffs have pulled the energy industry into a large contraction. Combine this with largely negative economic data, paired with the fact that the US is historically due for a recession, and there could be a large problem for the Fed. The Bloomberg ECO Surprise Index, which measures general economic data trends, is at its lowest level since the depths of the recession in 2009. The US economy could very well be starting to roll over into a recession, in which the Federal Reserve’s policy options are limited. According to Janet Yellen’s remarks about past policy decisions in this type of scenario, one would think that if this negative trend continues the possibility of another asset purchasing program could enter into the discussion, postponing today’s talks about raising interest rates even further.

Analysis by Andrew Gehrig

Sources:

“Chair Yellen’s Press Conference.” Federal Reserve. 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Mar.2015.
“Consumer Price Index Summary.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
“Dollar Slides as Worst Data Misses Since ’09 Cloud Fed Outlook.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
“Economic Projections of Federal Reserve Board Members and Federal Reserve Bank Presidents.” FederalReserve.gov. Federal Reserve, 18 Mar. 2015. Web.

Draw a Picture, Find Similar Pictures – New Online App Does This For You

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“You’ve used keywords to search for images, but have you used color?
With Splash, you can now browse a subset of the 500px Marketplace by getting creative with color,” is the line offering the app 500px’s online service.

Users simply go to the webpage, select a color and spraypaint it or draw it onto a blank canvas, and the app finds similar pictures in real time — yes, real time. As you draw, the app will update its similar picture results.

500px website

Ebola in Liberia could could be eradicated by June, according to new “method of plausible parameter sets”

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Ebola in Liberia could could be eradicated by June, according to new method of plausible parameter sets
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The Ebola virus, which has taken the lives of over 4,000 people in Liberia over the past year, could be wiped out completely by the beginning of summer. It is not a foregone conclusion, but it is a realistic possibility, according to the researchers responsible for a new forecast based on new highly inclusive models.

“I think the elimination of human-to-human transmission of Ebola in Liberia by summer is probable and can be expected,” Dr. John Drake, the associate professor at the UGA Odum School of Ecology who led the project, told The Speaker. “However, as with all infectious diseases near elimination, the last mile will be one of the toughest and it would be foolish to count on elimination before it has been finally achieved.”

The work was undertaken by a joint team of ecologists from the University of Georgia and Pennsylvania State University.

“Our new method of model fitting — called the ‘method of plausible parameter sets’ — aims to quickly provide a back-of-the-envelope working model that primarily rules out inconsistent scenarios rather than quantifying the relative likelihood of alternative consistent scenarios,” Drake told us.

Their model not only estimates Ebola’s reproductive number (the number of new cases that could result from currently infected people), but also infection and treatment setting, variations in individual infectiousness, hospital capacity and burial practice changes.

Dr. John Drake
Dr. John Drake

“The factors in our study are inter-related. Hospital capacity and a willingness of infected persons to be admitted are mutually reinforcing as hospitals can do nothing to isolate patients if infected persons are unwilling to be recognized and a willingness to be treated is useless without facilities that can safely treat. The safe, dignified burial of the deceased was also crucial to reducing the average number of secondary infections from a case. I believe all three were necessary for containment.”

It does not include some other factors, however. The team limited their model to what they felt was most important, ignoring superfluous data in order to achieve a usefully “intermediate complexity.”

The models used data from earlier Ebola outbreaks, factored for underreporting, in-hospital and burial transmission, and infection control effectiveness. They then added data from July through September about new cases and changes in the factors of transmission. Branching processes — a mathematical formulation that provides for all possible outcomes based on the proportion of their probabilities — was used in the models.

“Branching process theory is an area of mathematics that can be used to model contagion, reproduction, and other population dynamic phenomena that have a probabilistic component to them,” Drake explained. “We found it to be useful in this case because we could derive many of the properties of interest — like the average change in infection — from considerations about the constituent processes — like transmission from nursing care or during funeral preparations and proceedings.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the Liberian outbreak, Drake commented, was the decisions and actions of those who undertook to fight it.

“Containment required collective coordinated action. Governments, non-governmental organizations and the Liberian people are to be commended for acting swiftly and assertively. Our model predicts that if they had not, things might have gotten much worse very quickly.”

The researchers expect that their model will also be useful for future outbreak scenarios, as will their new method for model fitting.

The report, “Ebola Cases and Health System Demand in Liberia,” was completed by John M. Drake, RajReni B. Kaul, Laura W. Alexander, Suzanne M. O’Regan, Andrew M. Kramer, J. Tomlin Pulliam, Matthew J. Ferrari, Andrew W. Park, and was published in the journal PLOS Biology.