1,599 research outputs found
Episode 098 - Morgan Ames
No full textOn this episode of Leading Lines, producer Cliff Anderson brings us an interview with Morgan Ames, author of The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop Per Child, published in 2019 by MIT Press. One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC, was a non-profit initiative launched in 2005 to bring low-cost laptops to children in developing countries, under the assumption that doing so would transform education in those countries.
In the interview, Morgan Ames talk sabout the origin of OLPC, the challenges the program faced, and its legacy on computing and education
hpDJ: An automated DJ with floorshow feedback
No full textMany radio stations and nightclubs employ Disk-Jockeys (DJs) to provide a continuous uninterrupted stream or “mix” of dance music, built from a sequence of individual song-tracks. In the last decade, commercial pre-recorded compilation CDs of DJ mixes have become a growth market. DJs exercise skill in deciding an appropriate sequence of tracks and in mixing 'seamlessly' from one track to the next. Online access to large-scale archives of digitized music via automated music information retrieval systems offers users the possibility of discovering many songs they like, but the majority of consumers are unlikely to want to learn the DJ skills of sequencing and mixing. This paper describes hpDJ, an automatic method by which compilations of dance-music can be sequenced and seamlessly mixed by computer, with minimal user involvement. The user may specify a selection of tracks, and may give a qualitative indication of the type of mix required. The resultant mix can be presented as a continuous single digital audio file, whether for burning to CD, or for play-out from a personal playback device such as an iPod, or for play-out to rooms full of dancers in a nightclub. Results from an early version of this system have been tested on an audience of patrons in a London nightclub, with very favourable results. Subsequent to that experiment, we designed technologies which allow the hpDJ system to monitor the responses of crowds of dancers/listeners, so that hpDJ can dynamically react to those responses from the crowd. The initial intention was that hpDJ would monitor the crowd’s reaction to the song-track currently being played, and use that response to guide its selection of subsequent song-tracks tracks in the mix. In that version, it’s assumed that all the song-tracks existed in some archive or library of pre-recorded files. However, once reliable crowd-monitoring technology is available, it becomes possible to use the crowd-response data to dynamically “remix” existing song-tracks (i.e, alter the track in some way, tailoring it to the response of the crowd) and even to dynamically “compose” new song-tracks suited to that crowd. Thus, the music played by hpDJ to any particular crowd of listeners on any particular night becomes a direct function of that particular crowd’s particular responses on that particular night. On a different night, the same crowd of people might react in a different way, leading hpDJ to create different music. Thus, the music composed and played by hpDJ could be viewed as an “emergent” property of the dynamic interaction between the computer system and the crowd, and the crowd could then be viewed as having collectively collaborated on composing the music that was played on that night. This en masse collective composition raises some interesting legal issues regarding the ownership of the composition (i.e.: who, exactly, is the author of the work?), but revenue-generating businesses can nevertheless plausibly be built from such technologies
Visualizing Coevolution With CIAO Plots
No full textIn a previous paper [2], we introduced a number of visualization techniques that we had developed for monitoring the dynamics of artificial competitive co-evolutionary systems. One of these techniques involves evaluating the performance of an individual from the current population in a series of trials against opponents from all previous generations, and visualizing the results as a 2-d grid of shaded cells or pixels: qualitative patterns in the shading can indicate different classes of co-evolutionary dynamic. As this technique involves pitting a Current Individual against Ancestral Opponents, we referred to the visualizations as CIAO plots. Since then, a number of other authors studying the dynamics of competitive co-evolutionary systems have used CIAO plots or close derivatives to help illuminate the dynamics of their systems, and it has become something of a de facto standard visualization technique. In this very brief paper we summarise the rationale for CIAO plots, explain the method of constructing a CIAO plot, and review important recent results that identify significant limitations of this technique
The development of mission theology and praxis at Cliff College, with reference to its antecedents and history.
No full textA thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the department of Theology and Religion, Faculty of Arts, Durham University 2005.This thesis is an examination and evaluation of evangelistic ministry at Cliff College and its major themes, or Charisms. It charts the rise of the College and its antecedents in section one, introducing the main characters and events. Section two introduces themes that have shaped the tradition of the College; the most significant being holiness teaching which finds its origins in the works of John Wesley. Though they differed in emphasis, most Principals were proponents of this doctrine. There developed at the College a theology which was biblical and evangelical but not fundamentalist or sectarian. The College espoused 'faith principles' but ensured supporters were aware of its needs. The College is known primarily for training people in evangelism. Section three charts this innovative ministry beginning with the joyful News Mission and continuing through the years of Cook, Chadwick and Broadbelt. Between 1939 and the late 1950s there was a dearth of creative thinking about evangelism. Meadley and Beiben laid the foundations that, in the late 1970s, gave rise to a new strategy which was given impetus through the 1980s. The innovative thinking of the first period is illustrated by reference to the Joyful News female evangelists and the trekkers. Section four examines the particular academic stance taken by College Principals. This was specifically to offer training, focussed on evangelistic ministry, to those who may not otherwise have the opportunity. A policy of open access was retained throughout, with the College seeking proper recognition. This eventually came with the validation of the College programmes by the University of Sheffield. Chapter eleven charts the emergence of missiology as a discipline in the academy. The conclusion identifies the ambivalent attitude of Methodism to the College, and that its major charisms continue to have a significant influence though in need of constant restatement
Knowledge-based vision and simple visual machines
No full textThe vast majority of work in machine vision emphasizes the representation of perceived objects and events: it is these internal representations that incorporate the 'knowledge' in knowledge-based vision or form the 'models' in model-based vision. In this paper, we discuss simple machine vision systems developed by artificial evolution rather than traditional engineering design techniques, and note that the task of identifying internal representations within such systems is made difficult by the lack of an operational definition of representation at the causal mechanistic level. Consequently, we question the nature and indeed the existence of representations posited to be used within natural vision systems (i.e. animals). We conclude that representations argued for on a priori grounds by external observers of a particular vision system may well be illusory, and are at best place-holders for yet-to-be-identified causal mechanistic interactions. That is, applying the knowledge-based vision approach in the understanding of evolved systems (machines or animals) may well lead to theories and models that are internally consistent, computationally plausible, and entirely wrong
Letter from Cliff [Uyeda] to Michi Weglyn, July 20, 1987
No full textA letter from "Cliff" [Clifford I. Uyeda] to Michi Weglyn criticizing the 1987 book "They Call Me Moses Masaoka" by Mike Masaoka and Bill Hosokawa. The author of the letter also describes internal conflict on the national board of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL).These materials are from box 73 and 74 of the Frank Chin Papers. The Frank Chin Papers contain personal and professional correspondence between Frank Chin and Michi Weglyn relating to particular projects on which either author was working as well as files related to the Day of Remembrance Tribute to Michi Weglyn
Writing for fun: Interview with Peter Corris, author of the Cliff Hardy detective novels
No full textAustralian author Peter Corris (1942–) talks about his transformation from anxious academic to lighthearted writer of detective novels, especially the Cliff Hardy series. He reveals the real-life models he used in creating Cliff Hardy, the authors he took as role models, and where he gets ideas for the plots and settings
Cliff Retreat Induced by Series of Storms at Miȩdzyzdroje (Poland)
No full textIn Miȩdzyzdroje, a coastal town in Poland, significant cliff retreat has been observed in recent times. It used to be considered mainly a response to storm events with particularly high water levels and wave energy. However, morphology of cliff coasts is shaped not only by the most extreme storm surges or by a number of accompanying processes such as precipitation. Much wider effects are now being linked to the occurrence of series of subsequent storms. This research uses a set of five terrestrial LiDAR surveys carried out between November 2016 and April 2017 to determine short-term cliff erosion associated with two major storm surges and several smaller storms. The surveys covered the whole cliff profile as well as the topography of the adjacent beach. Results indicate a considerable reduction in beach levels as a first important effect. Frequency of the storm events prevented the beach from recovering between the surges, allowing the waves to directly attack the cliff base. Consequently, the cliff foot line retreated up to 4.7 m. This resulted in an erosion volume exceeding 25.000 m within 5 sections of the coastal cliff analysed, which are 500 m long in total. This work demonstrates that the development of the coastline is not only directly linked with the rate of erosion at given storm parameters. More importantly, the frequency of extreme events has to be considered.Hydraulic Structures and Flood Ris
Christchurch New Zealand cliff hike
No full textFor this 8-minute documentary, the author lugged a video camera and gave a running commentary of a hike from the Scarborough area of Christchurch, New Zealand up a cliff with great scenic beauty. Not long afterward the author saw on TV in Japan that the cliff with all its vegetation and bird nests had crashed into the ocean during a major Christchurch earthquake
Alice and Cliff Donahue
No full textPhotograph - Friends of Alice B. and William Clifford Donahue, Athabasca, Alberta. Seated, left to right: Cliff Donahue, Joe Mikkelsen, Beryl Mikkelsen, and Marge Logan. Standing, left to right: Don Logan, Alice B. Donahue, Aaron Jones, Lorene Jones, and Beatrice Par
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