Stryker’s AVAflex Vertebral Balloon System Receives FDA 510(k … – OrthoSpineNews

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Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA March 7, 2017 Stryker announced today that its AVAflex Balloon System has received FDA 510(k) clearance and is, for the first time, available with Strykers market-leading bone cements and implants and the AutoPlex Mixing and Delivery System.

Doctors who perform vertebral augmentations are committed to the health and wellness of their patients, and Stryker is committed to empowering those doctors to provide the best possible care, said Chad Ludwig, marketing director at Stryker Instruments. The AVAflex Balloon System enables doctors to achieve bipedicular results with a unipedicular approach to vertebral augmentation.

The AVAflex and AutoPlex systems are used in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures (VCF), which affect an estimated 750,000 Americans each year. VCF patients can suffer from extreme pain and are at an increased risk for serious health problems. Vertebral augmentation, including the use of a balloon system, has been shown to provide patients with significant pain relief and dramatically reduce mortality rates.,

The AVAflex curved balloon systems new 11-gauge size allows surgeons to achieve with one insertion and a smaller needle what had previously required two insertions, making procedures less invasive and potentially reducing the risk of patient trauma. Using a minimally invasive technique, physicians can successfully create a midline cavity for targeted cement placement by accessing one pedicle.

AVAflex is now available with Strykers bone cements and implants and the AutoPlex Mixer and Delivery System, an easy-to-use bone cement mixing and delivery system. The AutoPlex system provides consistent and thorough blending of components, helping eliminate human error and variability.

Stryker has furthered its mission of making health care better for physicians, hospital staff and patients with the addition of the AVAflex portfolio, which it acquired from Becton Dickinson in 2016. Stryker provides the most complete and least invasive portfolio of vertebral compression fracture treatment options.

With an unrivaled collection of balloon catheters and augmentation options, cements, automated mixers and directional delivery systems, Stryker enables care providers to tailor their approach for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures. Stryker is now the exclusive provider of automatic mixing and delivery systems and 11-gauge curved balloons.

About Stryker

Stryker is one of the worlds leading medical technology companies and, together with our customers, we are driven to make healthcare better. The Company offers a diverse array of innovative products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes. Stryker is active in over 100 countries around the world. Please contact us for more information atwww.stryker.com.

Josh Sandberg has been an executive search consultant focused exclusively on orthopedic and spine start-ups since 2004. He has had a tremendous impact in helping his clients avoid costly hiring mistakes by his deep industry knowledge and network. In 2010, Josh co-founded Ortho Spine Companies, which is the parent company of Ortho Spine Distributors (OSD), Surg.io and Ortho Sales Partners (OSP). OSD a searchable database that helps ease the frustration of finding orthopedic distributors throughout the country. Surg.io is the ultimate distributor toolkit that offers distributors the tools necessary to build the foundation of a scalable and highly functioning sales organization. OSP is an end-to-end solution that helps companies approach the Global Market in a cost efficient way. Our team has hundreds of years of experience and can help you navigate the many challenges present in bringing new technologies to the market.

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Stryker's AVAflex Vertebral Balloon System Receives FDA 510(k ... - OrthoSpineNews

‘La La Land’ is the Ultimate Victim of Hollywood’s Political … – Heat Street

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Memories of the epic Oscars mishap might be receding but a different sense of injusticeto La La Land, completely unrelated to Warren Beattygetting the wrong envelope, still lingers.

On the surface, it might be difficult to argue that a movie that just won sixAcademy Awards is a victim of anything. But its time to ask: is La La Land a victim of sex, gender and racial politics?

Moonlight is a good movie, a lyrical chronicle of growing up poor, gay and black in America. Yet this movie has been made many times before (from Tea and Sympathy in 1956 toBlue is the Warmest Colorin 2013). The twist is that this time, its a black kid. MahershalaAli deserved his Oscar. But is Moonlight the best movie of the year?

By contrast, La La Land is a deceptively simple movie. The operative word here is deceptive. It seems like an old-fashioned movie, but its not. Its an homage to sentimental Hollywood musicals that is never sentimental itself.

It tells one of the oldest stories in the book. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl. Also, much has already been said about La La Land. The seemingly uncut opening scene is a magic trick that will be taught in film schools forever. While its devastating that the boy doesnt end up with the girl, if he had the movie would be another stupid Hollywood musical with a happy ending.

La La Land is in fact about art, what it means to be an artist and what you have to sacrifice to become one. Dedication to ones craft at the expense of all else, is one of writer-director Damien Chazelles themes (see the painful break-up in his previous film Whiplash).

When the two characters first meet, theyre in la-la-land, in other words, immature, and confused. By the end of the movie, they have achieved what they set out to do. They made each other better and put each other on their proper paths. Their relationship was not a failure; it was essential to their development as artists. But are they happy? The look of resignation on Mias face as Sebastian simply nods, as if to say Its OK, speaks volumes in the last shot.

While Ryan Gosling cant sing and Emma Stone isnt much better, this is not supposed to be My Fair Lady.It had to be two actors singing badly and dancing imperfectly. The point is that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when inspired, by love or by art, as were the filmmakers here.

It would be meaningless if they were great singers and dancerstheir craft is jazz and acting, not singing and dancing. It is not coincidental either that they make beautiful music together and that the singing and dancing stops once their relationship begins to sour. It was planned.

The point of making a musical (Dancer in the Dark for instance) is exactly to contrast the real life struggles, non-musical scenes, with ones imaginary world (La La Land) where everything is beautiful like an Astaire and Rodgers musical number. Chazelle may be only 32, but with La La Land he has made a true masterpiece.

However, the movie has committed several sins against politically correct Hollywood. To begin with, it had the audacity to be commercially successful, making over $371 million worldwide.

Hollywood doesnt like rewarding success with an Oscar (look at Steven Spielbergs blockbuster Oscar track record orAlfred Hitchcock, arguably the greatest director of all time, only having won an honorary Academy Award).

More importantly, La La Land has been accused of political incorrectness by various groups including women, blacks and jazz lovers. Critics havecomplained about the moviesgender politics.

Morgan Leigh Davis noted in theLA Review of Books that Mia is not much more than a bystander in her own story: Sebastians drive and dedication are more textured than Mias, and it is his melody that recurs through the film to denote particularly important moments in their relationship. Er, its called a musical motif. Sebastian is the author of their relationship who, byintroducing her to jazz and taking her to see Rebel Without a Cause, is teaching her about life.

Sebastian is director Chazelles alter ego and therefore, the driving force behind the movie. The movie is essentially told from his point of view. Maybe it would have been different if a woman had written and directed it. But a woman didnt.

Worse yet, the movie has been hammered for racial politics. Critics who are perhaps still getting over Trumps election accuseChazelle of agreeing that life was better in the 1950s because America was segregated, since the movie is a throw back to the musicals of the 1950s.

This is absurd. George Michael, Toyota Prius, Soft Cell, cell phones and other elements featured in the film didnt existed in the 1950s. This is not a political movie by any stretch of imagination.

La La Land is about being dedicated to art and the sacrifice that is required in pursuit of that dream. To interpret it as promoting racism is using unbelievably convoluted logic? Do wecriticize Apollo 13 because none of the astronauts were black?

Over at MTV News, Ira Madison III claims: If youre gonna make a film about an artist staying true to the roots of jazz against the odds, youd think that artist would be black.

So the claim goes, Sebastian wants to save jazz, but that is not acceptable because he is white. According to this line of reasoning, Chet Baker, Buddy Rich and countless other white jazz musicians should be wiped from the history of jazz merely because as they happen to be caucasian.

There have been numerous other criticisms about the paucity of black leads (er, John Legend?), homosexual leads, and misguided accusations of intellectual snobbery. But once again, this is not a movie that explores the themes being questioned.

The backlash against La La Land exactly accounts for why so much of mainstream America hates the two Coasts. Why does every show, every movie, every cartoon have to have a homosexual, a minority, or a disenfranchised character?

Isnt that reverse discrimination? Isnt it precisely the kind of thinking that is dividing us further into two people who dont understand each other?

We are not African-Americans, or Native-Americans, or White-Americans. We are all simply Americans, said Teddy Roosevelt over 100 years ago. Chazelle, a jazz drummer in his own right, has made a deeply personal movie about creative dedication. The movie is based on his experiences.

Is he supposed to apologize because he happens to be white, straight, and a man? His protagonist is his alter ego. Wouldnt it be hypocritical if Sebastian was black? (And while were on the subject, didnt we just have a President who is black but went out of his way to help white rich Americans more than any other group?)

Hollywood prides itself on being politically correct and gender, sex, race and socioeconomic-class inclusive.

Moonlight, a far inferior movie to La La Land, won because it is about being poor, gay, and black.

In the current political atmosphere, what could be better than sending a strong messages while 100 billion viewers are watching.The overriding message? Take that Mr. Trump, we told you all right! Talk about a Hollywood ending.

The perceived cultural shortcomings stacked against the political correctness represented byMoonlightrobbed La La Land of its rightful Best Movie Oscar.

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'La La Land' is the Ultimate Victim of Hollywood's Political ... - Heat Street

Political correctness is curtailing free speech: Letters – LA Daily News

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Political correctness is curtailing free speech

Re Does America have a free-speech problem? (Question of the Week, Feb. 27):

Yes, we are losing our ability to speak freely in public. It started with the politically correct movement on our college and university campuses.

To this day, I do not understand the people who objected to the naming of football teams after ethnic groups such as the American Indian. I always thought that the American Indian warrior was a very brave and furious warrior fighting for the right to live as and where he wished. To me, he is to be admired. The warriors on football teams must have felt the same way when their team was carrying the names that represented American Indians.

It used to be that discourse of differing ideas and ideologies was welcomed, especially on college and university campuses. How it seems that any differing ideas from the popular belief of the day are not to be allowed to be uttered in public or published.

The professor who told her students that Donald Trump is a good person was admonished for her beliefs. If she prefaced her statements with the statement that they were her opinions and opened the classroom up for discussion between the differing opinions, she should have been applauded and not punished, regardless of the subject she was supposed to teach.

Irving Leemon, Northridge

Its about how you say it

There is no free speech problem in America. A problem occurs only when people speak in a rude, violent or insulting manner.

Richard Metzger, Porter Ranch

How could they forget?

Re 2nd Oscars gaffe: Living woman pictured during In Memoriam (Feb. 27):

Its sad that certain deceased stars failed to make the cut for the Oscar memoriam segment. How about less time for parachuting candy and Jimmy Kimmel holding up kids?

Among the treasures of talent in the industry not mentioned: Gloria DeHaven, Alan Young, Robert Vaughn, Tammy Grimes, Rita Gam, Patricia Barry, Marvin Kaplan, Fritz Weaver, William Shallert, James Stacy, Robert Horton, Garry Shandling, Charmian Carr and Miguel Ferrer.

The 20-member Oscar committee that chooses those to be memorialized bring much pain to the heirs, families and friends of those left out. Disgraceful. They should be ashamed.

Wink Martindale, Calabasas

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Facebook gives zero fucks about cloning Snapchat, adds geostickers in Instagram – TNW

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Instagram now has geostickers similar to those found on Snapchat. Why? Because parent company Facebook has apparently given its last fuck.

Instagram todayannouncedthe introduction of geostickers to Stories. When you post a new image to your Instagram Story, you can add a sticker of the locale it was taken. This is pretty much the same as Snapchats geostickers, only with subtle design differences.

Gary Vaynerchuk was so impressed with TNW Conference 2016 he paused mid-talk to applaud us.

Credit: Instagram

Since launching Stories, Instagram has not-so-secretly started poaching Snapchats best features. Since, the social app has seen an explosion of new users. Stories, in fact, mirrors Snaps so closely from text and emoji overlays to the single feed layout that Instagram may have slowed the growth of its rival service.

Snapchat first introduced geostickers last August. They functioned very similarly to Snapchats existing geofilters, which are region-specific filters you can put over your pictures.

Apparently, Instagrams explosion post-Snapchat-lite makeover is the reason Facebook is testing a similar Story feature for Facebook.

Currently, Instagram Stories only have stickers for New York and Jakarta, although theyre not available for all users yet.

New Geostickers in Instagram Stories for New York City and Jakarta on Instagram

Read next: Palo Alto startup predicts retail failure via satellite images

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Facebook gives zero fucks about cloning Snapchat, adds geostickers in Instagram - TNW

BESE accepts updated content standards on evolution, climate change – bestofneworleans.com

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This time around, the controversy over climate change was thrown in.

BESE created an 86-person volunteer committee to revise Louisiana science standards for the first time in 20 years. The committees plan would begin implementation during the 2018-2019 school year.

The standards proved a source of contentious debate among a score of witnesses particularly regarding the committees acceptance of evolution and climate change as scientific facts.

In accordance with the Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008, which allows public school teachers to use supplemental materials in the classroom that are critical of the evolutionary theories, several witnesses aired concerns about the new standards.

State Rep. Beryl Amadee, R-Houma, expressed fears of inherent bias toward evolution and climate change within the recommendations.

If you really embrace the idea that we teach the controversy, why isnt it reflected in the proposed standards? Why would you not want students to recognize other standards? Amadee asked.

Proponents of the renewed standards, however, staunchly defended the language in the original document.

Cathi Cox-Boniol, who led the standards committee, maintained the updated standards have fewer topics and more depth, which the committee believed would better expose Louisiana students to global institutionalized science.

We took everything else out of the equation and thought about the student, Cox-Boniol said, noting the committee members logged some 10,000 collective hours on the project.

Of the 86 volunteers on the committee, only one member dissented on presenting the standards package to BESEWade Warren, a biology professor at Louisiana College.

Warren said he was concerned about what he perceived as the standards apparent dogmatic presentation of Darwinian philosophy and exclusion of alternative theories.

He said he suggested adding the sentence results may differ depending on theory to one of the standards, which was rejected by fellow committee members.

The writers of the science standards did not include any of my suggested edits, Warren complained

William C. Deese, a chemistry professor at Louisiana Tech University, argued that introducing alternative theories into the science classroom would diminish students understanding of science as an institution. There is absolutely no controversy within institutionalized science about evolution and global warming, he said.

State Superintendent John White argued students deserve standards based on the latest scientific research and knowledge.

In developing Louisiana Student Standards for Science, Louisiana educators have set ambitious expectations for students who will soon be the leaders of our state and its economy, White said.

BESE approved the updated standards, with curriculum reviews set to launch as early as spring 2017. Field test assessments will be given in spring 2018.

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‘De-evolution Part III’ is a stunning conclusion to The Upbeats’ EP trilogy – Dancing Astronaut

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The Upbeats are widelylooked upon as cornerstones of modern bass music. Their caliber of production may not be as influential as that ofNoisia, who have been able to single-handedly set trends and shape modern DnB with each passing album. Yet, The Upbeats have been at the forefront of the genre for over a decade, and show no signs of slowing their momentum. TheUpbeats havereleased over 15 albums and EPs combined, with each one further cementing their status as one of the best acts bass music has to offer.

Each of The Upbeatsalbums has offered listeners a genial experience, and a fresh perspective on the scope of their genre the hallmark of an act on top of its game. The groupslegendary collaboration with Noisia on theDead Limit EP is still regarded by many to be the best DnB releaseof 2015.

The Upbeats latest work, the De-evolution series (part one of which was initially released in April 2016), has been one of the main talking points in DnB over the pastyear, due to its ingenuity. The three-part series has finally come to its conclusion as the final six pieces of the puzzle are releasedon Vision Recordings.

Each EP has had its own unique story, taking listeners on a sonic journey throughout the various sub-genres of DnB, from serene, calming liquid, to the mind-numbing neurofunk sounds they have helped pioneer throughout their illustrious careers.

While parts one and two of the series are straight out of The Upbeats vast musical playbook, De-evolution Part IIIdeals mostly with a side of DnB not generally touched upon by the duo. Taking this factor into consideration, listening to the EP becomes a much more immersive and enjoyable experience. Thesongs on De-evolution Part IIIhavesplit personalities they can be looked upon simply as extremely well made DnB, but they also expose a much more fragile aspect. Close scrutiny reveals the finely balanced concoction of various sonic elements that definethe collection.

Eachsong in this EP is an individual masterpiece, and the entire collectioncomfortably stands head and shoulders above any other DnB release this year. De-evolutionPart IIIfalls perfectly into place with its two previous iterations, resulting in one of the New Zealanders best works yet.

The EP starts off in typical Upbeats fashion with Cauldron (Feat. Agressor Bunks). The hard-hitting neurofunk single is asensory assault, coercing listeners into a submissive trance. The trackssawing bass, growling synths, and ferocious drumsmake Cauldrona perfect selection for hardcore head-bangingthat provides an ideal foundation for the rest of the EP.

The next song Prism, shares very little common stylistic ground withthe aforementioned track. The energetic tempo of Cauldron is replaced with a thick, grimy tone in the second piece from the collection. Atmospheric vocals are scattered throughout Prism, which would be perfectly at home as a standalone Division recordings release. The impeccablydesigned bass growls, gurgles and splutters culminate in a fantastic tune, ably complemented by its subtlerelements.

If the prior two tracks provided a launch pad for the EP, Veiled and De-Evolution easily take the releaseto another level. Veiled, as previously mentioned, is easily one of the groupsbest liquid singles to date. Words can hardlydo justice to the feeling this masterstrokearouses in listeners.

De-evolution, named after the series itself, is the undoubtedly the climax of the three part project. With the titular track, The Upbeats have gone all out to create ajuggernaut that stands out above the rest of the songs on the EP. The song is a mix of two contrasting styles the first being The Upbeats signature ferocity, and the second being a showcase of their capabilities to manipulate more refined, subtler elements. The two contrasting halves of the song signify the recent change in the duosproduction technique and serve as tipping points in both the EP and The Upbeats careers.

The songs at the tail-end of the EP lean heavily towards the new, ambient style which defines the secondary portion of its eponymous track. A Place For You barely classifies as a traditional DnB song. It transcends genres, typified by the serene vocals and ethereal chord progressions. The final song, Streetlight has a starkly minimalist vibe when compared to other songson the EP a fact that it embraces with lachrymose beauty. Each component of the track mourns the ending of this gorgeous series and the track passes on this gloom to listeners with outstanding ease.

The De-evolution series has been unsurprisingly brilliant. The marathon venture is a brief reflection of The Upbeats storied voyage through the music industry. De-evolutionPart IIIis the perfect ending to this gargantuan project, undertaken by one of the staple acts of modern DnB. To fully appreciate the EP, it is imperative to look upon its insinuation, rather than just the music it encapsulates. The De-evolution series is groundbreaking, genre-defining and utterly spellbinding.

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'De-evolution Part III' is a stunning conclusion to The Upbeats' EP trilogy - Dancing Astronaut

Centerra Gold, Evolution Mining were lowest-cost gold producers in … – MINING.com

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S&P Intelligence report ranked 19 top publicly-listed gold companies according to all-in-sustaining costs (AISC)

One of the effects of the hit the gold price took after soaring to $1,900 an ounce in September 2011, was a concentrated effort on the part of producers to cut costs.

For years big gold mining companies kept on spending, on exploration, salaries, and big acquisitions, confident that the good times would keep rolling with the ever-advancing gold price. Those companies were in for a rude awakening when shareholders dumped them in droves following the gold price retracement of 2012-15. Suddenlyacquisitions were put on hold, exploration spending dried up, and the mantra became: find ways to cut costs.

S&P Global Market Intelligence took a look at 19 publicly-listed, major gold companies in the last quarter of 2016, and found that for most of them, austerity continues to be key,especially with the gold price trending lower in Q4. Recall that gold bears were predicting that Donald Trump's plans for fiscal stimulus, including a $500 billion infrastructure spending program, would lead to strong U.S. economic expansion, ergo, higher interest rates the nemesis of gold.

According toSNL Metals & Mining database, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, the top 19 public gold companies produced gold at a weighted-average cost of US$868/oz, which is slightly lower than US$889/oz reported in the third quarter.

The lowest-cost producer, Centerra Gold (TSX:CG), mines gold at $586 an ounce, while the second-lowest in the group, ASX-listed Evolution Mining (ASX-EVN), produces at $674/oz. Barrick Gold(TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world's most valuable producer of the precious metal, was third on the list at $732 an ounce. Barrick's costs have dropped 12% in 2016, compared to 2015.

Topping the higher-cost end of the spectrum was Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY), which weighed in at$1,129/oz, followed byDetour Gold (TSX:DGF) and AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU), which had AISCs of $1,124/oz and US$1,047/oz, respectively.

Some highlights fromSNL Metals & Mining:

According to Scott Perry, Centerra's CEO, the company's favorable cost performance during 2016 can be attributed to the higher mill production and lower unit costs at the company's flagship Kumtor mine, compared with the previous year.

The acquisition of an economic interest in the Ernest Henry copper-gold mine in Queensland in November 2016 improved [Evolution Mining's]quarterly production by adding 14,257 oz of gold at AISC of A$114/oz. The acquisition is expected to further revamp the group's asset portfolio and improve its cost profile.

[Barrick] continued to strengthen its balance sheet, cutting debt and executing business development initiatives throughout the year. Continuing the trend, the company recently announced that it was consolidating its main assets in Nevada and expects to reduce gold production costs at its operations by US$100/oz.

According to Harmony's CEO, Peter Steenkamp, the 14% increase in all-in-sustaining costs (AISC) can be attributed to the labor cost increase under a three-year wage deal and to the winter tariffs during the period.

Read the full report here

Related: 10 mines still makinggood money if the gold price falls 50%

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Centerra Gold, Evolution Mining were lowest-cost gold producers in ... - MINING.com

Evolution and aging – Plattsburgh Press Republican

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PLATTSBURGH The true definition of aging, according toPlattsburgh State Associate Biology Professor Dr. Joel Parker,is determined by a populations overall mortality rate.

Humans develop as children, then the mortality rate flatlines in their 20s and 30s.

This age is as mortal as you are ever going to get," Parker shared inDeath and Darwin: Why Evolution Does Not Save Us From Agingat the firstScience@30City event of the season at the Champlain Wine Company in Plattsburgh.

Once a human sees his or her 30s, they begin the aging process, he later explained.

I dont think everyone knows that really, lecture attendee Dina Hurwitz said. They didnt even here, so I thought that was pretty interesting.

Parker, who was there to discussthe impacts genetics and evolution have on aging,began his talk by stumping the audience with questions about the aging process. He presented a time-lapsed photo of a child changing into a middle-aged and then elderly woman, asking the audience at which stage of the photos the aging process began.

Parker aScience@30Cityco-founder continued his talk by outlining the different elements of aging and the impact of studies perfected by Charles Darwin, such as natural selection. Parker said the selection process only works on the living.

Something is going to get you, he said of inevitable death; human civilization has moved the selective shadow, but evolution has not yet caught up.

He also demonstrated geologic time, or the clock analogy by creating a proportional timeline of Earths lifespan relative to the development of civilization. Of the 316 miles from the present day Champlain Wine Company to the beginning of time, Ellis Island humans only developed, relative to the timeline, a few blocks away on Oak Street.

Parker discussed various theories on aging and evolution as well, such as the free radical theory, which Parker claimed has ironically died, or been proven inaccurate, and the Telomere Theory of Aging, which explains the shortening and dividing of telomeres found in DNA.

I kicked this off with aging last year, and I think its something that happens to everybody, so it relates to people and so I thought it was a really good one, Parker said of the lecture.

Science@30City is a series of scientific lectures open to the local community; thisfirst lecture of the spring sessions attracted around two-dozen local residents and students of various ages.

The program began in fall 2015after Parker and friend and Champlain Wine Company co-owner Colin Read noticed a disconnect between the SUNY Plattsburgh campus and the city. Parker said these lectures are beneficial for both the college and surrounding area because it brings them together for real conversations in an off-campus environment.

The project turned into a collaborative effort between Parker, his wife, Karen, and Read and his wife, Natalie Peck.

Peck, who co-owns Champlain Wine Company, said the crowds have been more interested in listening to and speaking at the lectures since the series began.

As a part of our community focus at the Champlain Wine Company, its something that weve really been looking to do to bring not just people from the college but other experts in the area in and just talk about things that they know about for interested people."

IF YOU GO

Each lecture is free and open to the public. Sessions are held at 30 City Hall Place. Most sessions are on the first and third Monday of each month. All begin at 5:30 p.m.

The next four sessions this semester are:

Monday, March 20: Astronomy and Cosmology at 30 City with Herb Carpenter, lecturer in the School of Business and Economics.

Monday, April 3: Danger and Research in a Mexican Sulfur Cave, with Dr. Kathleen Lavoie, professor, biological sciences.

Monday, April 17: How the Sioux Holy Man Black Elk Taught the Science of Electromagnetism, with Jeff Cochran.

Monday, May 1: Dementia Caregiver Support in the North Country, with Dr. Richard Durant, director, Center for Neurobehavioral Health.

For more information, contact Dr. Joel Parker, associate professor of biology, at 564-5279 or joel.parker@plattsburgh.edu.

Link:

Evolution and aging - Plattsburgh Press Republican

Will Eisner and the evolution of the graphic novel: He had a lasting influence on comics – The Independent

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of American cartoonist and writer, Will Eisner. Important exhibitions have been organised to commemorate his artistic legacy including one in Angoulme, France at the Muse de la Bande Dessine and another in New York at the Museum of Illustration.

In the course of his long career, Eisner (19172005) had a lasting influence on comics, not only through his works from The Spirit in the 1940s to A Contract with God in 1978 but also by initiating new ways of thinking and talking about comics. Championing and teaching sequential art, he also contributed to popularisation of the term graphic novel.

This catch-all label now refers primarily to the format, but also a literary genre, the most celebrated examples of which are marked by a sense of seriousness and ambition Art Spiegelmans Maus, for example. As the term has spread since the 1980s, however, its outlines have become blurry. The ambition of the expression graphic novel was initially one of distinction its promoters wanted to break with a mainstream comics production they saw as childish.

Poster for the Will Eisner exhibition in Angoulme, France (Angoulme Museum of Comics)

The expression graphic novel was born in the 1960s, introduced by the comic critic Richard Kyle in 1964 in a small-press article about the future of comics. It then circulated through various fan publications. There were just a handful of direct and explicit uses of this expression in published works between 1971 and 1978.

In late 1971, The Sinister House of Secret Love, a DC Comics book, put the expression on the cover of its second issue. This very brief attempt at a gothic romance comic was the first publishing use of the graphic novel label.

Then in the summer of 1974, comics creator Jack Katzs black-and-white magazine The First Kingdom, originally presented as a long science-fiction and fantasy story, was rebranded as a serialized graphic novel.

In 1976, the label was used in the paratext (title pages, flaps of cover jacket) of two large-format hardcover books in black and white, loosely related to the 60s underground comix movement. Beyond Time and Again by George Metzger reprinted pages from a science-fiction strip which previously appeared in the West Coast alternative press. In Bloodstar, Richard Corben adapted in comics a fantasy short story of Robert Howard, creator of Conan.

Jack Katzs black-and-white magazine 'The First Kingdom', published in 1974

Also in 1976, the digest periodical Fiction Illustrated was launched by editor and writer Byron Preiss. On its back cover it claimed to be Americas first adult graphic-novel revue. Over four issues it published standalone comic stories in colour.

At last, in 1978, Will Eisners A Contract with God was published. In a book format with sepia-tone pages, it offered four semi-biographical stories about a Bronx tenement and its inhabitants in the 1930s. Its cover presented it as a graphic novel.

All of these books are quite different from our contemporary Eisner-influenced definition of the graphic novel. Theyre also quite different from one another. In black and white or in color, in classical frame sequences with balloons or using other text/image combination, serious or satirical in tone, periodical or one-shot, large or small, these books dont look like each other, either in format or in form.

Their diversity reflects the main currents of the then-emerging US comic-book field. Their inspirations reveal the shared structuring influences of the actors of this field. These are not autobiographical tales or memoirs like one imagines when considering contemporary classic graphic novels such as Maus or Fun Home, for example. On the contrary, theyre genre stories (science-fiction, fantasy, noir), building on themes, narrative tropes and references taken from comic books, from their pulp magazines ancestors or from cinema.

But above all, these books be it The First Kingdom, A Contract with God or Bloodstar all share a similar ambition for their form, the comics.

In 'Bloodstar', published in 1976, Richard Corben adapted in comics a fantasy short story of Robert Howard, creator of Conan.

In 1964, R Kyle wanted to bring the comic book out of the juvenile field, for it to take its place in the literary spectrum. In 1976, Byron Preiss, in the introduction to the first issue of Fiction Illustrated, set a similar goal for his initiative: "Fiction Illustrated aspires to be adult in its audience and approach, to be a place where new concepts and characters can be presented without concession to the needs of a childrens market or a particular genre."

When one considers the early graphic novels mentioned, it appears that the claim for works to be adult is understood differently by their creators. They form a homogeneous group only in their common rejection of the mainstream production of their time. They try first and above all to distinguish themselves from mainstream comic books because they consider that its format, newsstand distribution and themes (chiefly superheroes) prevent any hope for artistic freedom and recognition. In Fiction Illustrated #1, Byron Preiss wrote: "Most of the comic books are marketed to and identified with children because theyre produced for children."

In a similar manner, in his preface to A Contract with God, Will Eisner considered that:"Certainly, there was more for the cartoonist [] to deal with than super heroes who were preventing destruction of the earth by super villains."

Image from Will Eisner's'A Contract with God' (Will Eisner Studios)

The common feature of these graphic novels is then in what they try not to be: not to be a comic book (but a magazine, a digest, a hardcover book), not to be a super-hero story (but a space opera or heroic fantasy saga, a detective story or a realistic life account), not to be childish.

Of all the graphic novels discussed here, only Eisners had a real symbolic and editorial destiny. A Contract with God is considered a landmark in the evolution of the form and has been constantly reprinted since its first publication. The others have rarely or never been reprinted; theyre seldom discussed and considered in the modern historiography of graphic novels.

Of the different and competing approaches taken by the early graphic novels, its the one championed by Eisner that prevailed. From our contemporary perspective, a true and literary ambitious graphic novel could hardly be, like Bloodstar, about a barbarian fighting a giant worm. Yet a historical examination reminds us that works that pioneered the use of the term graphic novel didnt so much try to emulate legitimate literature as aim for a distinction and an emancipation within the comics field to be able to freely tell stories, whatever they may be, without having to take into account an audience of children or to limit ones ambitions.

But its no surprise that only the work that most closely conforms to literature is the one thats remembered.

Jean-Matthieu Mon is matre de confrences en sciences de linformation et de la communication, CREM, Universit de Lorraine. This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com)

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Will Eisner and the evolution of the graphic novel: He had a lasting influence on comics - The Independent

Dimple 2.0: Evolution of a bahu into a star campaigner – Hindustan Times

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Dimple Yadav had a faltered entry in politics. Her first scripted speech in Lok Sabha was such a disaster that it went viral on YouTube as Dimple Yadavs hilarious mistakes in Parliament.

Dimple fumbled a dozen times, apparently for her inexperience in public speaking. BJP leader Rajeev Pratap Rudy, sitting behind her, chuckled but stood up to appreciate her and congratulate Mulayam Singh Yadavji for his bahus speech.

But thats history.

The 2017 assembly election is Uttar Pradesh has seen Dimple emerge as the star campaigner of Samajwadi Party. She has also commanded more spotlight than many seasoned leaders across political parties.

Now, she draws more crowd than me, more applause than me, her husband and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said. He is not exaggerating.

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Dimple, 39, wasnt just the top woman campaigner, leaving former CM and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati behind in election tours and rallies. She also took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and turned Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shahs metaphorical Kasab, an acronym for the Hindi pronunciation of Congress-SP-BSP, on its head.

Her version of Kasab, underlining peaceful coexistence, prevented Shah from using it often while Akhilesh borrowed it for his rallies.

Admirers say Dimple doesnt read out anymore. At every rally venue, she spoke eloquently and impromptu, using her hand gestures and eye movements to good effect.

Her evolution has not escaped YouTube, which is now flooded with videos that show her as a skilled politician, drawing cheers, claps and slogans such as Dimple bhabhi, jeet ki chabhi (Sister-in-law Dimple is the key to victory).

Dimple hasnt had the best of starts in politics. In 2009, she lost the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat, vacated by Akhilesh, to Congress Raj Babbar. But she won the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat, also vacated by Akhilesh, without a contest in 2012.

Today, she has virtually made the red SP cap a fashion statement after putting it on for the first time during the release of the party manifesto for 2017.

Dimple Rawat and Akhilesh Yadav met at a party in 1995 and love blossomed. This was shortly before Akhilesh left for Australia for higher technical studies. They married in November 1999.

Months after, Akhilesh won his first Lok Sabha election, a by-poll for the Kannauj seat. Dimple chose to be a genteel Yadav bahu as Akhileshs stature in the party rose.

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Till February 8, 2017, Dimple had campaigned only for herself first in Firozabad and then in Kannauj in 2012 and never addressed an election rally. She came out after Akhilesh won the family feud and overshadowed party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. She addressed about 55 rallies from the very first of the seven-phase polls.

Her first campaign for a party candidate, on February 8, was meticulously planned. Akhilesh made party MP Jaya Bachchan introduce Dimple at a rally for Anshu Rani Nishad, the partys candidate for Bah (Agra). Dimple took over after Bachchan said: Dimple is your daughter-in-law, and gift her victory.

Her campaign ended with a special appearance during Akhilesh-Rahul Gandhis joint rath yatra through the streets of Varanasi. She turned out to be the main crowd-puller, this quality attributed to her charisma and refined vocabulary.

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Dimple 2.0: Evolution of a bahu into a star campaigner - Hindustan Times

Stevens County robotics team’s excel in competition – Eastern Washington Statesmen Examiner

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Stevens County made its mark in the FIRST (for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics world last weekend. Both Kettle Falls and Northport high schools have teams in the program.

Thirty teams from Oregon and Washington competed last Friday and Saturday in a game that involved robots collecting and shooting whiffle balls, collecting and placing gears, and climbing a rope.

Each match was played with competing three-team alliances, but the alliances changed from match to match in the qualification rounds. Strategies changed constantly based on each teams capabilities. Each team played in 12 of 60 qualification matches. Permanent alliance selections were made at the start of the quarterfinals, allowing the trio to work together through the higher levels of elimination.

Northport is in its second year of the FIRST program. NHS was in Saturdays winning alliance with teams from Spokane and Palouse. Being on a winning alliance automatically qualified the three robots to compete at the next level.

FIRST Robotics gives students and opportunity to learn and emulate real world career skills in a challenging and exciting way, pointed out Dave Glanville, lead coach for Northport. Every year I am amazed and surprised anew by the growth and development that my team members show.

Veteran Kettle Falls was paired with two teams from Spokane Valley. KFHS made it as far as the quarterfinals. Perhaps even better, though, was being recognized with the Engineering and Inspiration Award.

To be considered for this award, a team must show outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a teams school and community.

Winning this merit-based award makes the Kettle Falls team eligible to compete against other teams in the District championship level Engineering Inspiration Award at Eastern Washington University. Their robot, however, still has to qualify based on points from two competitions.

Our team is on the young side, said KFHS Lead coach Naomi Edwards. But they are doing so much and learning how to take on leadership roles in this complex competition this year. I couldnt be more impressed with their growth this season.

Every FIRST team spends six weeks designing and building a robot to meet specifications and goals. Each of the 155 teams in the Pacific Northwest District compete at two of seven two-day District events. Eligibility for a teams robot to compete at the District Championships (At EWU April 6-8) is based on ranking points earned at their two competitions or being on a winning alliance.

The first of the seven weekends saw 70 teams competing within the District. Northports team is currently ranked 11th and Kettle Falls is 29th. Both teams will compete March 17-18 at Central Washington University (Ellensburg).

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Stevens County robotics team's excel in competition - Eastern Washington Statesmen Examiner

Meet Flippy, a burger-grilling robot from Miso Robotics and … – TechCrunch

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Flipping burgers is a hot and greasy job. Slips, trips, burns and cuts are common hazards associated with the work. But global demand for burgers is tremendous. Top burger chains racked up more than $75.5 billion in annual sales in 2016.To help keep human cooks out of harms way while fulfilling our collective appetite for burgers, Pasadena-basedMiso Robotics is rolling out a new robotic kitchen assistant called Flippy.

Miso Robotics CEO and co-founder David Zito said, We focus on using AI and automation to solve the high pain points in restaurants and food prep. Thats the dull, dirty and dangerous work around the grill, the fryer, and other prep worklike chopping onions. The idea is to help restaurants improve food quality and safety without requiring amajorkitchen redesign.

Miso Robotics was funded in part by the quick service restaurant, CaliBurger, which makes and sells California style burgers, and operates in 12 countries today. Canyon Creek Capital and individual angel investors have also contributed funding to help Miso Robotics get started.

All of Miso Robotics employees went to work in CaliBurger kitchens as grill cooks before and while working on the original design of Flippy.Getting behind the grill and cooking with and without Flippy is a regular part of Zitos job, the CEO said. Now, CaliBurger has committed to using Flippy in50 of its restaurants, at least, over the next two years. It has already been testing Flippy in a Pasadena restaurant, the companies said.

The Flippy robot takes the form of a relatively small, wheeled cart equipped with a 6-axis robotic arm and what Miso Robotics calls a sensor bar. It can be installed in front of or next to any standard grill or fryer. It takes in data from thermal sensors, 3D sensors and different cameras onboard to perceive its environment.Digital systems that send tickets from the counter back to the kitchen give Flippy its orders.

A robots view of the grill.

Among other functions, Flippy grabs unwrapped burger patties, moves them into position on a hot grill, keeps track of each burgers cook-time and temperature, then alerts human cooks when its time to apply cheese or other toppings. Flippy plates burgers but doesnt wrap them or add finishing touches like lettuce, tomatoes, avocado or a restaurants signature sauce.

Unlike other burger-making robots, including those made by Momentum Machines, Flippy is controlled by Miso Robotics AIsoftware. AI and machine learningenable the robotic cook to learn to make new foods,adapting to a restaurants seasonal menu changes.

A range of different tools, like detachable grippers, tongs and scrapers, help Flippy to cook burgers made to order, and keep a grill operating smoothly. A pneumatic pump allows the robot to swap out its own tools. Combined with Miso Robotics AI, this range of toolswill allowFlippy to make more than burgers over time, including chicken, bacon, grilled onions and other items that tend to be served in burger restaurants.

A burger-grilling robot called Flippy works alongside a human cook.

So, are cooks in commercial kitchens flat out of a job? If yes, that would affectsome 2.3 million cooks employed, and too often underpaid, in the industry in the U.S. today.Zito acknowledges that commercial service robots like Flippy are handling more and more complex tasks than ever before, and seem poised to replace people who perform the most repetitive tasks at work.

But at the same time, the CEO said: Tasting food and creating recipes will always be the purview of a chef. And restaurants are gathering places where we go to interact with each other. Humans will always play a very critical role in the hospitality side of the business given the social aspects of food. We just dont know what the new roles will be yet in the industry.

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Meet Flippy, a burger-grilling robot from Miso Robotics and ... - TechCrunch

TALOS Humanoid Now Available from PAL Robotics – IEEE Spectrum

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Photo: PAL Robotics TALOS humanoid robot from PAL Robotics.

If you are a roboticist and you want to work with humanoids but you dont want to build a robot from scratch, PAL Robotics would be happy to sell you one. The Spanish robot makeris introducing a new option that improves on its REEM humanoids: TALOS isa 32-degrees-of-freedom, 1.75-meter-tall, 100-kilogramrobotdesigned for dynamic walking, heavy lifting, and (eventually) assisting humans with all of those tasks that we really dont want to be doing.

PAL Robotics designed TALOS with the intention of having the robot work on physically demanding and accurate tasks performed under hostile or uncomfortable industrial settings, according to PAL CEO Francesco Ferro. This means that the robot is not justa research platformits going to start out in research, as many robots do, but PAL hopes it cantransition into doing useful tasks in the real world, a thing that humanoid robots in general arent known for.

Right out of the box (and we assume its a pretty big box), TALOS can walk at 3 km/h, it can handle traveling over irregular surfaces, and its battery can keep it running forup to 3 hours (depending on what the robot is doing). The robot is powered byROS (hooray!), and full EtherCAT communications allow its internal networks to run control loops in the kilohertz range. It has 7-DoF arms, each of which can lift an impressive 6 kilograms at full extension. Its modular and upgradeable in both hardware and software.

The first TALOS (named Pyrne) is already hard at work at the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture Systems (LAAS-CNRS) in Toulouse, France:

Full-size humanoid robots are a tricky business, so we asked PAL Robotics what the story is behind TALOS:

We believe that our environment is tailored to us, humans, and as such, in the long term, we will need a robot that is able to adapt to our human environments. TALOS has been on our roadmap for a while and we are glad that we were able to work with LAAS-CNRS to have this first unit available and working already for research purposes. It has really proven to be a huge engineering challenge for us and we are very satisfied with the end result.

PAL Robotics hopes that within the next five years, TALOS will be working side by side with humans doing manipulation in industrial applications. Longer term, theres potential for working in search and rescue, or in other areas where its too dangerous to send humans. Its this kind of thing that TALOS is ideal for, and thats reflected in the costat something around 1 million, the best place for a robot like this is where a robot like this is the only safe option.

[ PAL Robotics ]

IEEE Spectrum's award-winning robotics blog, featuring news, articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, drones, automation, artificial intelligence, and more. Contact us:e.guizzo@ieee.org

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TALOS Humanoid Now Available from PAL Robotics - IEEE Spectrum

Robotics team makes impressive strides – Pamplin Media Group

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North Marion hosted latest event Feb. 25 and will send students to state competition in coming weeks

The Presidents Day weekend was a busy one for the North Marion Voltmasters.

Three new robotics teams, along with their robots, joined the North Marion High School roster: Teams C (The Claw), D (DumDum), and E (The Beast), along with Team B (Scorpion), attended the rookies-only tournament on Feb. 18 at Dallas High School.

Though the varsity squad didn't enter its robot, Juggernaut, some of the team members traveled to Dallas to support the younger teams.

The Scorpions made their way through the qualifying rounds and when it all over, Samantha Patton was the last member standing, alone in first place.

And with that finish, Patton had the first choices in selecting other teams to join her alliance heading into the quarterfinals. Her alliance would make it to the finals before falling, earning a second place.

Teams C, with members Daniel Gonzalez, Brice Ferrell and Grace Bramel, finished in seventh place, while Team D's Hunter Wierstra and Beau Wilson managed to take 10th.

But the newbie tourney wasn't the end of the robotics weekend.

All North Marion robots attended the rescheduled Sandy tournament on Feb. 20 "and most performed respectably against far more experienced teams," said adviser Sherie Moran. "For some members that had been unable to attend the rookie tournament, it was a bit overwhelming, but they still put in a solid showing."

Teams C and E were able to select their own alliances going into the quarterfinals and although none of the teams made it to the semifinals, "a lot was learned about engineering, robotics and computer science," said Moran.

She added that, thanks to the Presidents Day weekend events, everyone better understood the challenges and were prepared for hosting the Feb. 25 tournament.

"Running a tournament is way different than just watching or participating in one," Moran said. "This is my second year being involved in the VEX robotics tournament circuit and you look at things differently as a host than you do as a coach or spectator, because if it goes well, no one notices, but if it goes badly everyone does!"

But after the event, Moran said all the feedback she's heard said that North Marion ran a professional event that went smoothly and efficiently. Attendees, participants and volunteers had a great time.

Even with their coach busy with hosting duties, the young teams did well and ended up in the middle of the pack at the end of the qualification matches, with the lowest of the five teams beating at least 10 teams and the top team, led by the Scorpion (Team B) ranked at seventh place against some stiff competition. The teams from Molalla, West Salem, Silverton and Sandy took the other top positions and got to be Alliance captains heading into the quarterfinals.

Three of the other North Marion teams were also lucky enough to make it to the quarterfinals and are excited to try again at state tournament, which will be held at Chemeketa Community College on March 10 and 11.

Without missing a beat, the Voltmasters returned to the classroom to make further modifications to their robots, programs and strategies, more determined than ever to improve their standing and chances for a favorable alliance.

"If nothing else, our little club doesn't quit," Moran said, "and we look forward to growing more and doing better at each and every event."

Anyone who would like to learn more about what is getting students excited to enter the field of robotics is invited to volunteer or sponsor a team.

North Marion is looking for volunteers to fill in as judges, referees, field setters, greeters and other helping hands to set up, manage and tear down. Anyone interested can email Moran at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Robotics team makes impressive strides - Pamplin Media Group

Wonders robotics takes 1st at state – Independent Tribune

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For their first competition in school history, the A.L. Brown robotics team hit the high seas and took top honors.

Six students teamed together to create a daring nautical map for their pirate ship robot to navigate, braving turbulent waters, escaping a whirl pool and battling enemies along the way.

Though the project took weeks of preparationand a six-hour cram session the Saturday beforethe effort paid off in a first-place victory at the statewide N.C. Beta Club Robotics Team competition with the opportunity now to compete at nationals.

This is the very first year Beta Club has had this competition at convention, Robotics Club advisor and A.L. Brown science and engineering teacher Jason Stegall said. This will be a were learning as we go. We had a small taste at the state level, and the national level will be same rules, same guidelines, but obviously the competition gets a lot stiffer. So well have to have a better understanding of what our true goals are for moving, shaking, creatingwhich is so wide open.

N.C. Beta Club holds a statewide convention each year with a host of competitions, and this year the group added a robotics component. Eight schools, including A.L. Brown, signed up. And this particular contest took a bit of a different approach.

In a lot of competitions, it is a scoring of how many balls you can put in the hoop, how quickly can you move this to there, Stegall said. This one was purely a theme. Make a robot that is autonomous, which means theres no remote controlit is sensor driven, that can demonstrate moving, shaking, creating. That was the entire competition that you were trying to fulfill.

Teams earned points for how well they worked together, whether the robot was truly autonomous, and how it demonstrated the moving and shaking and creating aspects.

And, of course, each team had to devise a theme.

The Wonders in the end settled on pirates, though it was not the first idea the team tried.

We got started, and we had to just scrap it and start again, which again is one of the reasons you do these things, Stegall said. You realize that not all things worth doing are as simple as we do it this way and it all works. We let them know, yeah, a lot of times you fail at your first attempts, or you realize you need to make drastic changes and move on. They learned that quite well.

As part of the competition, each team could bring a floor for their robot, since the devices tend to behave differently on different surfaces. The A.L. Brown groupself-dubbed The Seven Seasran with the pirate theme and decided to create a giant nautical map, complete with a compass, sea monsters, islands, coastlines and an enemy fort.

The robot, a pirate ship, was programmed to follow a line, so the map created a path for it to follow through rough waterswith raised patches to simulate rockingand into a whirl pool, where a different sensor told the ship to twirl.

When it came upon another ship, the robot knew to fire, or play recorded sounds of cannons, and when it came upon a fort, it turned to aim at the structure.

It would continue on the path and would come onto a fort, and again it would fire on the fortification, but for that it had to make a different turn, so we could represent when it sees this, a different sensor, Stegall said. So instead of following a line and seeing whats on the floor, this sensor can read distance to objects in front, so it read that the fort was in front and would stop and turn and fire. So it gave us another way to demonstrate our robot as autonomous and using its sensors.

And all of the work, the teacher said, came in the weeks and months leading up to the competition, fine tuning the project and working together to get things done.

Getting the students to work as a big group, having them diligently and efficiently work, work as a team, that is what is actually all of the effort and all of the reason that you do these things, he said. Theyre learning things about robotics, but theyre also learning team and collaboration and being responsible. When someone says Im going to bring this tomorrow, and then they dont, that peer pressure makes them realize, oh, I do have to keep up with this.

The students themselves recognized the importance of this having gone through it once and said they were eager to apply at the next level.

I learned, I think, teamwork is a really excellent skill to have, Jesse Peterson said. I think it really helped us win states.

Communication is also crucial, the students said, and something they need to improve next time around.

I would say learn from your mistakes because it didnt go 100 percent the first time, and now we know how to fix everything and make it better, Jackson Holsclaw said. Im looking forward to working on it and doing a whole new project again and a new robot, change it up.

The Seven Seas have decided to brainstorm a different theme for the national competition, which will feature the top three winners from each state Beta Club conventionthat can make the tripand takes place June 29 at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Stegall said if the school can raise the money, the team intends to go, and go to win.

We have every intent to place, so were not just going to Disney, he said. Were going to compete because it takes too much time. Theres no reason to take this much time and then not have the students focus on it.

The team has already begun, going back to the drawing board and trying to up the ante for what they anticipate to be a much more rigorous field.

Looking at what we did and thinking that the national competition will be much more competitive, I believe were going to do an entire overhaul of how were going about the competition, Stegall said. What we realized is once the students get to the point of its working, we have most of the props made, we have everything fully operational, there is still lots of time necessary to make it right. That is where we learned where time is truly valuable.

So we need to be at that point where everything is mostly working, we need to have time to finesse and fix, and that takes weeks. We need more time since were trying to do more for nationals.

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Wonders robotics takes 1st at state - Independent Tribune

Scientists Are Building Humanoid Robots Using Skin Grafts – Futurism – Futurism

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Real Human Tissue

With all the advances being made in robotics in terms of capabilities, it was only a matter of time before researchers took it one step further, making robots look more human.Thats what a pair of biomedical researchers at the University of Oxford are hoping to do, anyway.

In a report published in Science Robotics,Pierre-Alexis Mouthuyand Andrew Carr assert that the time has come to beginbuilding robots with real human tissue. Not just for looks, either: using humanoid robots would be ideal for advancing our understanding of muscle and tendon grafts, and refining the technologyused to develop them.

To engineer tissue, scientists use bioreactors filled with nutrients and chemicals that can grow sheets of cells. Cells in muscles and tendons, however, require the ability to be stretched and moved by the skeleton a mechanical component that bioreactors are unable to mimic.

Because humanoid robots are capable of mimicking human movement, they would prove an excellent tool. They can essentially serve as a humanoid-bioreactor system, and the tissuecould develop with a little structural help from the robots, more or less the same way it would on a human skeleton.

The ability of humanoids to freely interact with their environment and real objects could be an advantage compared with desktop bioreactors. This may provide more realistic stresses to tissue constructs and eventually achieve grafts with better functionality or with tailored properties, Mouthuy and Carr explain in Science Robotics.

In theory, a humanoid-bioreactor system can be built on top of the humanoid robot using muscles made with electroactive polymers. The developing muscles can essentially piggyback on the robot skeletons movement so the tissues get exercised.The robot skeleton wouldneed to be covered in soft, stretchable sensors so that it can closely monitor the development of the tissues.

In their research, Mouthuy and Carradd that [] in aging populations, musculoskeletal tissue disorders and injuries are a growing health, social, and economic burden. Pain and lack of mobility are common problems due to failure of tissues, such as tendon, ligament, bone, and cartilage. A promising repair strategy is to engineer tissue grafts.

This will lead to the creation of more clinically relevant musculoskeletal tissue grafts and, in particular, allow for personalized tissue graft development by matching the robots morphology and mechanics to the patients needs.

Following this method, its likely we will likely end up with a robot that looks like the Kenshiro robot developed in Tokyo, where its actuators closely copy human movements. In other words, a Terminator-like humanoid robot where a metal skeleton would be covered in human muscles, tendons, and skin.

The researchers assert that not only do we have the technology to make this happen, but that it likely will. Given that it would bescientifically relevant,and has numerous applications in regenerative medicine and other fields, it looks like we could be mingling with robot lookalikes sooner rather than later.

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Scientists Are Building Humanoid Robots Using Skin Grafts - Futurism - Futurism

Dan River Region robotics teams take to the field – GoDanRiver.com

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Both the George Washington and Tunstall high school robotics teams pushed through a challenging contest to earn high rankings during the first qualifying meet of the season, team coaches and players said.

I think we did great, much better than we originally thought we were going to do, said Tunstall build and drive captain Mindy Duenas.

Tunstall and GW both participated in the FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Chesapeake districts Southwest Virginia event Saturday and Sunday in Blacksburg, competing against dozens of teams from Virginia, Washington and Maryland. The Tunstall Trojans finished the qualifying round ranked second and GWs Team Talon finished 14th.

Both teams also competed in the tournament phase. GW bowed out in the quarterfinals while Tunstall was able to advance to the semifinals, eventually losing to the No. 1 seed in a close match.

During each match, alliances made up of three teams use their robots to complete several objectives. This year the objectives are steampunk-themed, so the robots load fuel balls into a boiler and carry plastic gears up a rope system with the goal of powering a steam vehicle.

Team Talon coach Daniel Waters said he was very proud of his teams first performance of the season.

It was good, Waters said. We kept it really close.

During qualifying, GW also was part of the alliance that set the event high score of 360 points.

Tunstall coach Edward Sherlock whose team is competing in its second year said the robot excelled at the gear placing objective.

It was a strong climber, and thats worth 50 points at the end, Sherlock said.

Team Talon also scored points by winning the Gracious Professionalism Award, which is given to the team that displays qualities like teamwork, effective collaboration and positive attitudes. The award is determined by judges conversations with fellow alliance teams and event personnel.

That award shows you are willing to work together. Waters said. Thats kind of the ethos of FIRST.

The Trojans and Team Talon next will head to the second qualifying event on March 24-26 in Glen Allen. If the teams qualify, they will be able to attend the championship event on April 5-8 at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Waters said about 60 teams will qualify for the championship, based on a rankings system which takes into account awards, wins and losses, tournament placement and other factors. Currently, Team Talon is ranked 14th and the Trojans are ranked 18th.

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Dan River Region robotics teams take to the field - GoDanRiver.com

Robotics club gearing up for Gateway competition – Lake Geneva Regional News

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LINN Victory for Reek Schools Robotics Club depends on whether its robot can pickup an egg off the ground, carry it and empty its yoke into a container, without getting any of the shell inside.

The club will compete in Gateway Technical Colleges robotics challenge for middle and high school students on May 11, and two Reek students feel good about their chances to bring home the gold.

Were working really hard, and our idea, this idea, seems to work pretty well, said seventh-grader Taylor Oltrogge.

Recently, the club built a prototype robot, which uses a claw to hold and crack the egg.

What we figured out is we need (the claw) to kind of bend, said sixth-grader Ryan Cunningham.

This is Cunninghams second year in robotics club, and Oltrogges first.

Reek librarian/reading specialist Cari Ruhl created the club, which had six members last year.

Now, there are 14 enough for two teams.

One of Reeks teams is creating a robot for a sumo wrestling-styled portion of the competition, which is held in Sturtevant. Meanwhile, Oltrogge and Cunninghams team is preparing to compete in a timed task competition.

Each year, its a different task, said Ruhl.

Last year, the club had to design a robot capable of picking up six ping-pong balls and placing them in a bin.

Cunningham recalled the design process.

He said that they decided picking up each ball, one by one, wasnt efficient, so they designed a cup-shaped funnel, with a lattice of straws tied across the wider end.

The robot placed the bucket over the ping-pong balls, squeezing them through the lattice.

With the balls inside the bucket, the robot backed up to the bin, and dumped the balls out the narrower end.

It actually works pretty well, Cunningham said.

Ruhl said they were one of the teams which actually picked up all the balls and placed them into the bin in one try.

Outsider robotics

Why did Ruhl who confessed shes not a tech person, nor someone who knows much about robotics or engineering start a robotics club at Reek?

She wanted to see children have an after-school opportunity that went beyond the usual offerings related to sports, music and art.

Its a little bit outside of my normal duties, said Ruhl. Just having the kids being able to work together and build something, thats what interests me, seeing them work together.

And its all of them, she said.

Ruhl orders kits for the students, who learn how to build the robots by following the directions and she learns with them.

Some, like Oltrogge and Cunningham, have experience in some of the skills that apply to robotics.

Cunningham said he was 7 when he took apart his first computer and hes collected electronic cords since he was little.

Oltrogge said her dad got her into electronics at an early age.

When I was little he let me help him build his computers, she said. He doesnt like to buy them because he likes to make them.

Cunningham and Oltrogge said the most fun part of robotics club is figuring out the design challenges, building the robot and working together.

And theyre eager to contend for first place in the challenge.

But if they dont win?

Theres always next year, said Oltrogge. We can just keep trying until we do.

You get the satisfaction of just being in it, said Cunningham.

More:

Robotics club gearing up for Gateway competition - Lake Geneva Regional News

A man with vitiligo who was called ‘zebra’ by bullies has defied their cruel comments by becoming a model – The Sun

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Curtis McDaniel, 22, from New Jersey, USA, was just 11-years-old when white speckles began to appear on his skin caused by vitiligo

A MAN who was bullied for his rare skin condition has defied those who tormented him by becoming a successful magazine model.

Curtis McDaniel, from New Jersey, USA, was just 11-years-old when white speckles began to appear on his skin caused by vitiligo an autoimmune disorder that stops cells from producing pigment.

Caters News Agency

Soon, his face and body developed large white patches and bullies labelled him zebra and Michael Jackson while kids would run away from him crying.

But, when he was 17, the teen stopped seeing his condition, which affects one per cent of the worlds population, as a curse and a couple of years later he was scouted as a model after uploading a selfie.

Now Curtis is a part-time model and soon he will feature on MTVs True Life show, which he hopes to use as a platform to educate others about vitiligo.

Caters News Agency

Caters News Agency

Curtis, 22, said: I was the only person in my family to have vitiligo and took it pretty hard at school, I was bullied a lot by people for my skin.

They would call me burnt lips, Michael Jackson, zebra, giraffe and people thought I was contagious I had a lot.

Girls would ask if I was burned and would say Ew whenever they saw me.

I was a spectacle everywhere I went, I once had kids running out of a store crying when they saw me and was called a monster.

Vitiligo is a skin condition which causes patches of skin to lose their pigmentation it is causes by a lack of the pigment melanin in the skin.

One percentof the population suffers from it and it affects every ethnicity and gender equally.

The main symptom of vitiligo is flat, white spots or patches on your skin.

Initially, the vitiligo may start as a patch of skin that is paler than the rest. Gradually, the patch will become completely white.

Vitiligo does not cause discomfort to your skin, such as dryness, but patches may occasionally be itchy.

If you have vitiligo, the pale areas of your skin are more vulnerable tosunburn.

Treatment for vitiligo is based on improving your skins appearance, you cannot reverse the depigmentationandthe effects of treatment are not usually permanent.

For smaller patches of vitiligo you may be prescribed a steroid cream, thiscan sometimes stop the spread of the patches, and may restore some of your original skin colour.

Before I used to think my skin was a curse, but now I realise my skin is a gift, its allowing me to influence people.

Once I had this new outlook on my skin, I stopped getting so angry and started to smile more.

Before, I hated having my picture taken, so to me I never would have believed I could model.

Caters News Agency

Curtis suffered a deep depression for five years, while he struggled to understand why he had been affected by the condition.

He said: It took over my wrists, arms, then went under my nose, around my lips and my left eyelid too.

Whenever I saw a new white spot while looking in the mirror it would make me angry, once it started to affect my face I punched a mirror in anger.

I was in a bad place.

But, after returning to Christianity, Curtis mind-set changed, and he realised he should see his skin in a positive light.

Curtis said: Its all a process, confidence isnt something you just get, youve got to look at yourself in the mirror and change your mind-set.

Caters News Agency

Caters News Agency

Caters News Agency

Skin is so materialistic, you have to love who you are.

Now, Curtis models while studying and hopes that by proudly showing his skin he can inspire others with vitiligo to not hide away.

Since embracing his condition, Curtishas found people are more attracted to him for both his appearance and his personality.

Curtis said: Its pretty cool, people like the pattern of my skin and also the confidence I have too, I never could have imagined this would be my life now.

Whenever I model or speak I dont want people to see my skin but my heart, I want them to see my heart through my skin.

A lot of people have told me that when they first saw me they liked my skin but what was most attractive was reading about me as a person, thats what makes them fall in love with me.

See more here:

A man with vitiligo who was called 'zebra' by bullies has defied their cruel comments by becoming a model - The Sun

The Future Of Virtual Reality Isn’t Your Living Room – It’s The Mall – Forbes

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Forbes
The Future Of Virtual Reality Isn't Your Living Room - It's The Mall
Forbes
A wave of public space virtual reality (otherwise known as location-based entertainment or LBE) is breaking, allowing everyone to experience new high-end home VR systems whose requirements puts them out of the reach of most consumers. Unique ...

and more »

Excerpt from:

The Future Of Virtual Reality Isn't Your Living Room - It's The Mall - Forbes