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Daily Archives: August 9, 2017
How Google is making music with artificial intelligence – Science Magazine
Posted: August 9, 2017 at 5:11 am
A musician improvises alongside A.I. Duet, software developed in part by Googles Magenta
By Matthew HutsonAug. 8, 2017 , 3:40 PM
Can computers be creative? Thats a question bordering on the philosophical, but artificial intelligence (AI) can certainly make music and artwork that people find pleasing. Last year, Google launched Magenta, a research project aimed at pushing the limits of what AI can do in the arts. Science spoke with Douglas Eck, the teams lead in San Francisco, California, about the past, present, and future of creative AI. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: How does Magenta compose music?
A: Learning is the key. Were not spending any effort on classical AI approaches, which build intelligence using rules. Weve tried lots of different machine-learning techniques, including recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, variational methods, adversarial training methods, and reinforcement learning. Explaining all of those buzzwords is too much for a short answer. What I can say is that theyre all different techniques for learning by example to generate something new.
Q: What examples does Magenta learn from?
A:We trained theNSynthalgorithm, which uses neural networks to synthesize new sounds, on notes generated by different instruments. TheSketchRNNalgorithm was trained onmillions of drawingsfrom ourQuick, Draw!game. Our most recent music algorithm,Performance RNNwas trained on classical piano performances captured on a modern player piano [listen below]. I'd like musicians to be able to easily train models on their own musical creations, then have fun with the resulting music, further improving it.
Q: How has computer composition changed over the years?
A:Currently the focus is on algorithms which learn by example, i.e., machine learning, instead of using hard-coded rules. I also think theres been increased focus on using computers as assistants for human creativity rather than as a replacement technology, such as our work and Sonys Daddys Car [a computer-composed song inspired by The Beatles and fleshed out by a human producer].
Q: Do the results of computer-generated music ever surprise you?
A:Yeah. All the time. I was really surprised at how expressive the short compositions were from Ian Simon and Sageev Oores recent Performance RNN algorithm. Because they trained on real performances captured in MIDI on Disklavier pianos, their model was able to generate sequences with realistic timing and dynamics.
Q: What else is Magenta doing?
A:We did a summer internship around joke telling, but we didnt generate any funny jokes. Were also working on image generation and drawing generation [seeexample below]. In the future, Id like to look more at areas related to design. Can we provide tools for architects or web page creators?
Magenta software can learn artistic styles from human paintings and apply them to new images.
Fred Bertsch
Q: How do you respond to art that you know comes from a computer?
A: When I was on the computer science faculty at University of Montreal [in Canada], I heard some computer music by a music faculty member, Jean Pich. Hed written a program that could generate music somewhat like that of the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. It wasnt nearly as engaging as the real Keith Jarrett! But I still really enjoyed it, because programming the algorithm is itself a creative act. I think knowing Jean and attributing this cool program to him made me much more responsive than I would have been otherwise.
Q: If abilities once thought to be uniquely human can be aped by an algorithm, should we think differently about them?
A: I think differently about chess now that machines can play it well. But I dont see that chess-playing computers have devalued the game. People still love to play! And computers have become great tools for learning chess.Furthermore, I think its interesting to compare and contrast how chess masters approach the game versus how computers solve the problemvisualization and experience versus brute-force search, for example.
Q: How might people and machines collaborate to be more creative?
A: I think its an iterative process. Every new technology that made a difference in art took some time to figure out. I love to think of Magenta like an electric guitar. Rickenbacker and Gibson electrified guitars with the purpose of being loud enough to compete with other instruments onstage.Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell and Marc Ribot and St. Vincent and a thousand other guitarists who pushed the envelope on how this instrument can be played were all using the instrument the wrong way, some saidretuning, distorting, bending strings, playing upside-down, using effects pedals, etc. No matter how fast machine learning advances in terms of generative models, artists will work faster to push the boundaries of whats possible there, too.
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Artificial intelligence is inevitable. Will you embrace or resist it in your practice? – Indiana Lawyer
Posted: at 5:11 am
Growing up, Kightlinger and Gray LLP attorney Adam Ira can recall members of his family, many of whom were factory workers, expressing concerning about the prospect of automated machines taking their jobs. Now, Ira said similar concerns are creeping into his work as a lawyer, as the rise of artificial intelligence in the practice of law has begun automating legal tasks previously performed by humans.
As the number of available AI products grows, attorneys have begun to gravitate toward tools that enable them to do their work quickly and more efficiently. Artificial intelligence can come in multiple forms, legal tech experts say, from simple document automation to more complex intelligence using algorithms to predict legal outcomes.
In recent months, several new AI products have been introduced with the promise of automating the mundane tasks of being a lawyer, leaving attorneys with more time to focus on the complex legal questions raised by their clients.
For example, Seattle-based TurboPatent Corp. launched an AI tool in mid-July known as RoboReview. Through RoboReview, patent attorneys can upload a patent application into the AI software, which then scans the document and assesses it for similarities to previous patent applications and uses the level of similarity to predict patent eligibility. RoboReview can also make other predictions about the patent process, such as how long the process might take or what actions the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may take with the application, said Dave Billmaier, TurboPatent vice president of product marketing.
Shortly after RoboReview went public, Amy Wan, attorney and founder and CEO of Bootstrap Legal, introduced an AI product that automates the process of drafting legal paperwork for people trying to raise capital for a real estate project of $2 million or less. As a former real estate securities attorney, Wan said she witnessed firsthand how inefficient the process of drafting such documents could be, especially considering that much of the work involved routine tasks such as copying and pasting from previous documents.
With Wans AI product, users answer questions about their real estate project, and the software uses those answers to develop the necessary legal documents, which are returned to the user within 48 hours. Such technology expedites drafting the documents a process she said could otherwise take 20 to 25 hours to complete while also cutting the costs associated with raising real estate capital. Wan said her company and AI product are based on the principle that cost considerations should not prevent people from accessing legal services.
Saving time and cutting costs are AI advantages that serve as the key selling points for legal tech developers, as clients have come to expect their attorneys to use modern technology to perform efficient work at the lowest possible cost, said Jason Houdek, a patent and intellectual property attorney with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Though RoboReview is new, Houdek said he has been using similar AI tools to determine patent eligibility, ensure application quality and predict patent examiner behavior for several years.
Similarly, Haley Altman, CEO of Indianapolis-based Doxly Inc., said most legal tech entrepreneurs like her are trying to develop AI tools that take large sets of data or documents and extrapolate the relevant information lawyers are looking for, thus reducing the amount of time they spend combing through documents. The Doxly software, which is designed to automate the legal transaction process, uses AI to mimic a transactional attorneys natural workflow, making the software feel natural, she said.
Job security?
Despite these benefits, some attorneys are concerned that continued use of AI in the practice of law could put them out of a job. Further, Jim Billmaier, TurboPatent CEO, said the old guard of attorneys, those who have been in practice for many years, can be inclined to resist artificial intelligence tools because they go against traditional practice.
There may be some legitimacy to those concerns, the attorneys and legal tech experts said. For example, attorneys at large firms that still employ the typical billable-hour model could see a drop in their hours as a result of AI products, said Dan Carroll with vrsus LLC, a rebranded version of legal tech company CasePacer. The vrsus technology utilizes AI to enable attorneys at plaintiffs firms to reach outcomes for their clients as quickly as possible, rather than focusing on how many hours they are able to bill, Carroll said.
Similarly, certain practice areas that are more transactional in nature, such as bankruptcy or tax law, might be more susceptible to automation, Ira said.
But such automation is now inevitable, as further AI development is a matter of when, not if, Houdek said. Jim Billmaier agreed and noted that attorneys who are resistant to AI advancements will find themselves underperforming if they choose not to take advantage of tools that increase efficiency.
While technological advancements might be inevitable, they do not have to be uncontrollable, said Ira Smith, vrsus chief strategy officer. Few attorneys fully understand the nuances of what makes AI work, Smith said, yet few tech developers, such as IBM, understand the nuances of practicing law.
As a result, attorneys and legal tech companies should focus less on how new artificial intelligence products might change their work and instead try to mold whatever AI tools are currently on the market to improve the product of their work, Smith said. He encouraged attorneys to be product agnostic and focus less on the technological platform and more on technologys possible benefits.
Why would it matter whether (IBMs) Watson is utilizing my data as long as I can take that and serve it back to my clients? Smith said.
Human advantage
Even as legal tech and other companies offer new and ever more advanced AI products, attorneys said the human mind will always be needed in the practice of law.
For example, even if a computer becomes intelligent enough to draw up contracts on its own, lawyers will still need to review and finalize them, Altman said. Ira agreed and noted that use of AI can create ethical issues, as attorneys must ensure the automated documents they produce reflect accurate and competent work.
Further, the power of persuasion is a trait that is uniquely human, and one that is critical to the practice of law, Ira said. Though an intelligent computer might able to cobble together a legal argument one day an advancement he thinks is still at least 10 to 15 years off it could never speak to a judge or a jury in a manner meant to persuade and effectively advocate on behalf of a client, Ira said.
Similarly, judges will always be needed to use their minds and legal training to decide the outcome of cases, Houdek said, and human juries will always be needed to decide cases.
Though some human jobs or billable hours might decrease as a result of advancements in artificial intelligence, the legal tech experts said AI is more of a benefit than a threat because it allows legal professionals to use their minds and training for the creative work that comes with being an attorney.
AI technology isnt taking their jobs, Altman said. The whole point of it is to enable them to do the work that they really want to be focusing on.
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AI Vs. Bioterrorism: Artificial Intelligence Trained to Detect Anthrax by Scientists – Newsweek
Posted: at 5:11 am
South Korean scientists have been able to train artificial intelligence to detect anthrax at fast speeds, potentially dealing ablow to bioterrorism.
Hidden in letters, the biological agent killed five Americans and infected 17 morein the yearfollowing the 9/11 attacks, and the threat of a biological attackremains a top concern of Western security services as radicals such as the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) seek new ways to attack the West.
Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have now created an algorithm that is able to study bacterial spores and quickly identify the biological agent, according to a paper published last week for the Science Advances journal.
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The new training of AI to identify the bacteria usingmicroscopic images could decrease the time it takes to detect anthrax drastically, to mere seconds from a day. It is also accurate 95 percent of the time.
Anthrax contaminates the body when spores enter it, mostly through inhalation, multiplying and spreading an illness that could be fatal. Skin infections of anthrax are less deadly.
Spores from the Sterne strain of anthrax bacteria (Bacillus anthracis) are pictured in this handout scanning electron micrograph obtained by Reuters May 28, 2015. Reuters/Center for Disease Control/Handout
This study showed that holographic imaging and deep learning can identify anthrax in a few seconds,YongKeun Paul Park, associate professor of physics at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, told the IEEE Spectrum blog.
Conventional approaches such as bacterial culture or gene sequencing would take several hours to a day, he added.
Park is working with the South Korean agency responsible for developing the country's defense capabilities amid fears that North Korea may plan a biological attack against its archenemy across their shared border.
North Korea's regime is no stranger to chemical agents. South Korea has accused operatives linked toPyongyang of responsibility for the assassination of North Korean leader Kim JongUn's half brother, Kim Jong Nam, using a VX agent at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February.
Contamination by anthrax hasa death rate of 80 percent, so detection of the bacteria is crucial.
Spreading anthrax far and wide in an attack would mean that thousands would die if contaminated. So Western security services fear that hostile parties, such as ISIS sympathizers or regimes such as North Korea, will make attempts to develop a capability to cause a mass-casualty attack.
The researchers say the AI innovation could bring advances elsewhere, too, including the potential to detect other bacterias, such as those that cause food poisoning and kill more than a quarter of a million people every year.
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The Race to Cyberdefense, Artificial Intelligence and the Quantum Computer – Government Technology
Posted: at 5:11 am
I've been following cybersecurity startups and hackers for years, and I suddenly discovered how hackers are always ahead of the rest of us they have a better business model funding them in their proof of concept (POC) stage of development.
To even begin protecting ourselves from their well-funded advances and attacks, cyberdefense and artificial intelligence (AI)technologies must be funded at the same level in the POC stage.
Today, however, traditional investors not only want your technology running, they also need assurances that you already have a revenue stream which stifles potential new technology discovery at the POC level. And in some industries, this is dangerous.
Consider the fast-paced world of cybersecurity, in which companies are offered traditional funding avenues as they promote their product's tech capabilities so people will invest. This promotion and disclosure of their technology, however, gives hackers a road map to the new cyberdefense technologies and a window of time to gain knowledge on how to exploit them.
This same road map exists for technologies covered in detail when standard groups, universities, governments and private labs publish white papers documents that essentially assist hackers by giving them advanced notice of cyberdefense techniques.
In addition to this, some hackers receive immediate funding through nation states that are coordinating cyberwarfare like the traditional military and others are involved in organized secret groups that fund the use of ransomware and DDoS attacks. These hackers get immediate funding and then throw their technology on the Internet for POC discovery.
One project that strongly makes a case for rapidly funding cyberdefense technologies in an effort to keep up with hackers is the $5.7 billion U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) EINSTEIN cyberdefense system, which was deemed obsolete upon its deployment for failing to detect 94 percent of security vulnerabilities. As this situation illustrates, the traditional methods of funding cyberdefense taking years of bureaucratic analysis and vendor contracts does not work in the fast technology discovery world of cyberdefense. After the EINSTEIN project failure, DHS decided to conduct an assessment it's currently working to understand if it's making the right investments in dealing with the ever-changing cyberenvironment.
But it also has other roadblocks, as even large technology companies and contractors with which DHS does business have their own bureaucracies and investments that ultimately deter the department from getting the best in cyberdefense technologies. And once universities, standards groups, regulation and funding approvals are added to these processes, you're pretty much assured to be headed for another disaster.
But DHS doesnt need to develop these technologies itself. The department needs to support public- and private-sector POCs to rapidly mature and deploy new cyberdefense technologies. This suggestion is supported by what other countries are successfully doing including our adversaries.
The same two things that have motivated mankind all through history immediate power and money are now motivating hackers, and cyberdefense technologies are taking years to be deployed. So I'll say it again: The motivational and funding model of cyberdefense technologies must change. The key to successful cyberdefense technology development is making it as aggressive as the hackers that attack it. And this needs to be done at the conceptual POC level.
The concern in cyberdefense (and really all AI) is the race to the quantum computer.
Quantum computer technologies cant be hacked, and in theory, its processing power can break all encryption. The computational physics behind the quantum also offer remarkable capabilities that will drastically change all current AI and cyberdefense technologies. This is a winner-takes-all technology that offers capability with absolute security capabilities capabilities that we can now only imagine.
The most recent funding source for hackers is Bitcoin, which uses the decentralized and secure blockchain technology. It has even been used to support POC funding in what is called an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), the intent of which is to crowdfund early startup companies at the development or POC level by bypassing traditional and lengthy funding avenues. Because this type of startup seed offering has been clouded with scams, it is now in regulatory limbo.
Some states have passed laws that make it difficult to legally present and offer an ICO. While the U.S. seems to be pushing ICOregulation, other countries are still deciding what to do. But like ICOs or not, they offer first-time startups an avenue of fast-track funding at the concept level where engineers and scientists can jump on newer technologies by focusing seed money on testing their concepts. Bogging ICOs down with regulatory laws will both slow down legitimate POC innovation in the U.S. and give other countries a competitive edge.
Another barrier to cyberdefense POC funding is the size and technological control of a handful of tech companies. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple have become enormous concentrations of wealth and data, drawing the attention of economists and academics who warn they're growing too powerful. Now as big as major American cities, these companies are mega centers of both money and technology. They are so large and control so much of the market that many are beginning to view them as in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. So how can small startups compete with these tech giants and potentially fund POCs in areas such as cyberdefense and AI? By aligning with giant companies in industries that have the most need for cyberdefense and AI technologies: critical infrastructure.
The industries that are most vulnerable and could cause the most devastation if hacked are those involved in critical infrastructure. These large industries have the resources to fund cyberdefense technologies at the concept level and they would obtain superior cyberdefense technologies in doing so.
Cyberattacks to critical infrastructure could devastate entire country economies and must be protected by the most advanced cyberdefense. Quantum computing and artificial intelligence will initiate game-changing technology in both cyberdefense and the new intellectual property deriving from quantum sciences. Entering these new technologies at the POC level is like being a Microsoft or Google years ago. Funding the development of these new technologies in cyberdefense and AI are needed soon but what about today?
Future quantum computer capabilities will also demand immediate short-term fixes in current cyberdefense and AI. New quantum-ready compressed encryption and cyberdefense deep learning AI must be funded and tested now at the concept level. The power grid, oil and gas, and even existing telecoms are perfect targets for this funding and development. Investing today would offer current cyberdefense and business intelligence protection while creating new profit centers in the licensing and sale of these leading-edge technologies. This is true for many other industries, all differing in their approach and requiring specialized cyberdefense capabilities and new intelligence gathering that will shape their future.
So we must find creative ways of rapidly funding cyberdefense technologies at the conceptual level. If this is what hackers do and it's why they're always one step ahead, shouldn't we work to surpass them?
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The Race to Cyberdefense, Artificial Intelligence and the Quantum Computer - Government Technology
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When artificial intelligence goes wrong – Livemint
Posted: at 5:11 am
Even as artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to break new ground, there is enough evidence to indicate how easy it is for bias to creep into even the most advanced algorithms. Photo: iStockphoto
Bengaluru: Last year, for the first time ever, an international beauty contest was judged by machines. Thousands of people from across the world submitted their photos to Beauty.AI, hoping that their faces would be selected by an advanced algorithm free of human biases, in the process accurately defining what constitutes human beauty.
In preparation, the algorithm had studied hundreds of images of past beauty contests, training itself to recognize human beauty based on the winners. But what was supposed to be a breakthrough moment that would showcase the potential of modern self-learning, artificially intelligent algorithms rapidly turned into an embarrassment for the creators of Beauty.AI, as the algorithm picked the winners solely on the basis of skin colour.
The algorithm made a fairly non-trivial correlation between skin colour and beauty. A classic example of bias creeping into an algorithm, says Nisheeth K. Vishnoi, an associate professor at the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at Switzerland-based cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL). He specializes in issues related to algorithmic bias.
A widely cited piece titled Machine bias from US-based investigative journalism organization ProPublica in 2016 highlighted another disturbing case.
It cited an incident involving a black teenager named Brisha Borden who was arrested for riding an unlocked bicycle she found on the road. The police estimated the value of the item was about $80.
In a separate incident, a 41-year-old Caucasian man named Vernon Prater was arrested for shoplifting goods worth roughly the same amount. Unlike Borden, Prater had a prior criminal record and had already served prison time.
Yet, when Borden and Prater were brought for sentencing, a self-learning program determined Borden was more likely to commit future crimes than Praterexhibiting the sort of racial bias computers were not supposed to have. Two years later, it was proved wrong when Prater was charged with another crime, while Bordens record remained clean.
And who can forget Tay, the infamous racist chatbot that Microsoft Corp. developed last year?
Even as artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to break new ground, there is enough evidence to indicate how easy it is for bias to creep into even the most advanced algorithms. Given the extent to which these algorithms are capable of building deeply personal profiles about us from relatively trivial information, the impact that this can have on personal privacy is significant.
This issue caught the attention of the US government, which in October 2016 published a comprehensive report titled Preparing for the future of artificial intelligence, turning the spotlight on the issue of algorithmic bias. It raised concerns about how machine-learning algorithms can discriminate against people or sets of people based on the personal profiles they develop of all of us.
If a machine learning model is used to screen job applicants, and if the data used to train the model reflects past decisions that are biased, the result could be to perpetuate past bias. For example, looking for candidates who resemble past hires may bias a system toward hiring more people like those already on a team, rather than considering the best candidates across the full diversity of potential applicants, the report says.
The difficulty of understanding machine learning results is at odds with the common misconception that complex algorithms always do what their designers choose to have them do, and therefore that bias will creep into an algorithm if and only if its developers themselves suffer from conscious or unconscious bias. It is certainly true that a technology developer who wants to produce a biased algorithm can do so, and that unconscious bias may cause practitioners to apply insufficient effort to preventing bias, it says.
Over the years, social media platforms have been using similar self-learning algorithms to personalize their services, offering content better suited to the preferences of their usersbased solely on their past behaviour on the site in terms of what they liked or the links they clicked on.
What you are seeing on platforms such as Google or Facebook is extreme personalizationwhich is basically when the algorithm realizes that you prefer one option over another. Maybe you have a slight bias towards (US President Donald) Trump versus Hillary (Clinton) or (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi versus other opponentsthats when you get to see more and more articles which are confirming your bias. The trouble is that as you see more and more such articles, it actually influences your views, says EPFLs Vishnoi.
The opinions of human beings are malleable. The US election is a great example of how algorithmic bots were used to influence some of these very important historical events of mankind, he adds, referring to the impact of fake news on recent global events.
Experts, however, believe that these algorithms are rarely the product of malice. Its just a product of careless algorithm design, says Elisa Celis, a senior researcher along with Vishnoi at EPFL.
How does one detect bias in an algorithm? It bears mentioning that machine learning-algorithms and neural networks are designed to function without human involvement. Even the most skilled data scientist has no way to predict how his algorithms will process the data provided to them, said Mint columnist and lawyer Rahul Matthan in a recent research paper on the issue of data privacy published by the Takshashila Institute, titled Beyond consent: A new paradigm for data protection.
One solution is black-box testing, which determines whether an algorithm is working as effectively as it should without peering into its internal structure. In a black-box audit, the actual algorithms of the data controllers are not reviewed. Instead, the audit compares the input algorithm to the resulting output to verify that the algorithm is in fact performing in a privacy-preserving manner. This mechanism is designed to strike a balance between the auditability of the algorithm on the one hand and the need to preserve proprietary advantage of the data controller on the other. Data controllers should be mandated to make themselves and their algorithms accessible for a black box audit, says Matthan, who is also a fellow with Takshashilas technology and policy research programme.
He suggests the creation of a class of technically skilled personnel or learned intermediaries whose sole job will be to protect data rights. Learned intermediaries will be technical personnel trained to evaluate the output of machine-learning algorithms and detect bias on the margins and legitimate auditors who must conduct periodic reviews of the data algorithms with the objective of making them stronger and more privacy protective. They should be capable of indicating appropriate remedial measures if they detect bias in an algorithm. For instance, a learned intermediary can introduce an appropriate amount of noise into the processing so that any bias caused over time due to a set pattern is fuzzed out, Matthan explains.
That said there still remain significant challenges in removing the bias once discovered.
If you are talking about removing biases from algorithms and developing appropriate solutions, this is an area that is still largely in the hands of academiaand removed from the broader industry. It will take time for the industry to adopt these solutions on a larger scale, says Animesh Mukherjee, an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, who specializes in areas such as natural language processing and complex algorithms.
This is the first in a four-part series. The next part will focus on consent as the basis of privacy protection.
A nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether or not Indian citizens have the right to privacy. At the same time, the government has appointed a committee under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna to formulate a data protection law for the country. Against this backdrop, a new discussion paper from the Takshashila Institute has proposed a model of privacy particularly suited for a data-intense world. Over the course of this week we will take a deeper look at that model and why we need a new paradigm for privacy. In that context, we examine the increasing reliance on software to make decisions for us, assuming that dispassionate algorithms will ensure a level of fairness that we are denied because of human frailties. But algorithms have their own shortcomingsand those can pose a serious threat to our personal privacy.
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Golf: Spieth chasing golf immortality at PGA – Duluth News Tribune
Posted: at 5:10 am
During nine practice holes with Kevin Kisner at Quail Hollow Club, amid kids and adults alike shouting "Jordan, Jordan!" the 24-year-old Spieth seemed to barely perspire.
He did, however, offer this early assessment of Quail Hollow: "Extremely tough."
It helped Monday that, for the first time, PGA Championship players were allowed to wear shorts during practice rounds. Spieth said it was nice because it reminded him of playing casual rounds back home in hot Dallas.
Spieth's blue-green shirt and gray shorts did not, however, explain why he seemed more immune to the humidity than others. Perhaps it's because he's won the British Open and two other PGA Tour events in 2017. Really, can this week's 99th PGA Championship be much of a sweat?
Yes, a victory on Sunday would make Spieth the youngest male golfer to complete the career Grand Slam, eclipsing Tiger Woods, who completed the Slam at 24 years, six months old.
Spieth, however, said during last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational: "My focus isn't on completing the career Grand Slam. My focus is on the PGA Championship."
On Monday, his focus was seeing Quail Hollow, a course on which he hasn't played a competitive round since he competed in his only Wells Fargo Championship in 2013, tying for 32nd.
Last year, three of Quail Hollow's first five holes were significantly altered, with the first two holes being combined into a new No. 1 and a par 3 added, as the new No. 2.
"They didn't change that much," he said. "Really, (holes) one, two and four and five. They made one essentially an extremely long par 4 by combining the old one-two, and then they split up No. 5 into two holes, that par 5, into a 3 and 4. Other than that, it stayed the same.
"The greens are firm and the fairways are soft, so it's long and then tough to hold the greens. With the way the greens are, if they don't soften up, it's going to be 'Par is an awesome score.' "
Last week, Spieth described winning the Grand Slam as a life goal, adding that he believes his odds of completing it at some point are strong. Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen are the only players to complete the Slam.
"If it happens (this week), then fantastic," Spieth said. "And if it doesn't, then it's not going to be a big-time bummer whatsoever because I know I have plenty of opportunities.
"Getting three legs of it is much harder than getting the last leg, I think although I've never tried to get the last leg, so it's easy for me to say."
Unlike his British Open victory three weeks ago at Royal Birkdale, where Spieth only had caddie Michael Greller accompanying him, he'll have a sizeable family and friends gallery at Quail Hollow.
On the night of his British Open win, Spieth's longtime girlfriend, Annie Verret, sent a group text to about 20 Spieth family members and friends, ultimately resulting in the group surprising Jordan and Greller with a champagne-toast greeting upon landing in Dallas.
That group will expand at Quail Hollow. On Monday, Spieth's mother, Chris, and sister, Ellie, walked five holes of Jordan's practice round, with Ellie at times walking alongside Jordan in the fairway.
Some Spieth family members already were in North Carolina, visiting relatives, when Jordan arrived Sunday night from playing the Bridgestone in Akron, Ohio. One of Jordan's grandfathers, Bob Julius, lives in Wilmington, about 200 miles southeast of Charlotte.
After his British Open victory, Spieth received congratulatory notes and texts from the likes of President George W. Bush, Nicklaus, Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy.
Like Spieth, Mickelson and McIlroy are one victory from completing the career Slam, though neither can do so this week. Mickelson lacks a U.S. Open title and McIlroy has yet to win the Masters.
Spieth said he sees more pros than cons about playing the PGA relatively soon after the British.
"(A pro) is you believe you're in form," he said. "I think I'm in form, and form is a huge part of being in contention, obviously. But when you feel that way going in, it feels that much easier to get into contention.
"So that's a huge pro. I'm not really finding any negatives in this."
After a session on the Quail Hollow practice range before his practice round, Spieth spent 20 minutes signing autographs, with one exhorting Spieth: "Grand Slam, baby!"
Spieth said little, but smiled and kept signing. The August sun grew hotter, but, still, it was no sweat for Spieth.
99th PGA Championship
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, N.C.
Defending champion: Jimmy Walker
Fast fact: Jordan Spieth can become the sixth player with the career Grand Slam
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Your brain can form new memories while you are asleep … – Washington Post
Posted: at 5:08 am
A sleeping brain can form fresh memories, according to a team of neuroscientists.The researchers played complex sounds to people while they were sleeping, and afterward the sleepers could recognizethose sounds when they wereawake.
The idea that humans canlearn while asleep, a concept sometimes called hypnopedia, has a long and odd history. It hit a particularly strange note in 1927, when New York inventor A. B. Saliger debuted thePsycho-phone. He billed the device as anautomatic suggestion machine. The Psycho-phone was a phonograph connected to a clock. It playedwax cylinder records, which Saliger made and sold.The records hadnames like Life Extension, Normal Weight orMating. That last one went: I desire a mate. I radiate love My conversation is interesting. My company is delightful. I have a strong sex appeal.
Thousands of sleepers bought the devices, Saligertold theNew Yorkerin 1933. (Those included Hollywood actors,he said, though he declined to name names.) Despite his enthusiasm for the machine Saligerhimself dozed off to Inspiration and Health the device was a bust.
But the idea that we can learn while unconscious holds more meritthan gizmos namedPsycho-phone suggest. In the new study, published Tuesday in the journalNature Communications, neuroscientistsdemonstrated that it is possible to teach acoustic lessons to sleeping people.
We proved that you can learn during sleep, which has been a topic debated for years, said Thomas Andrillon, an author of the study and a neuroscientist at PSL Research University in Paris.Just don't expect Andrillon's experiments to make anyonefluent in French.
Researchersin the 1950s dismantled hypnopedia's more outlandish claims. Sleepers cannot wake up with brains filled withnew meaning or facts, Rand Corp. researchers reported in 1956. Instead, test subjectswho listened to trivia at night woke up with non-recall. (Still, the Psycho-phone spirit endures, at least in the app store, where hypnopedia software claims to promoteforeign languages, material wealth andmartial artsmastery.)
Yet success is possible, if you're not trying to learn dictionary definitions or kung fu. In recent years, scientists have trained sleepers to make subconscious associations. In a 2014 study, Israeli neuroscientists had 66 people smell cigarette smoke coupled with foul odorswhile they were asleep. The test subjects avoided smoking for two weeks after theexperiment.
In the new research, Andrillon and his colleagues moved beyondassociation into pattern learning. While a group of20 subjects was sleeping, the neuroscientists played clips of white noise. Most of the audio was purely random, Andrillon said. There is no predictability. But there were patterns occasionally embedded within the complex noise: sequences of a single clip of white noise, 200 milliseconds long, repeated five times.
The subjects remembered the patterns. The lack ofmeaning worked in their favor; sleepers can neither focus on what they're hearing nor make explicit connections, the scientist said. This is why nocturnal language tapes don't quite work thebrain needs to register sound and semantics.But memorizing acoustic patterns like white noise happens automatically. The sleeping brain is including a lot of information that is happening outside, Andrillon said, and processing it to quite an impressive degree of complexity.
Once the sleepersawoke, the scientists played back the white-noise recordings. The researchers asked the test subjects to identify patterns within the noise. It's not an easy task,Andrillon said, and one that you or I would struggle with. Unless you happened to rememberthe repetitions from a previous night's sleep. The test subjects successfullydetected the patterns far better than random chance would predict.
What's more, the scientists discovered that memories of white-noise pattern formed only during certain sleep stages. When the authors played the sounds during REM and light sleep, the test subjects could remember the pattern the next morning. Duringthe deeper non-REM sleep, playing the recording hampered recall. Patternspresented during non-REM sleep led to worse performance,as if there were a negative form of learning, Andrillon said.
This marked the first time that researchers had evidence for the sleep stages involved in the formation of completely new memories, said Jan Born, a neuroscientist at the Universityof Tbingen in Germany, who was not involved with the study.
In Andrillon's view, the experiment helps to reconcile two competing theories about the role of sleep in new memories: In one idea,our sleeping brains replay memories from our waking lives. Asthey're played back, the memories consolidate and grow stronger, written more firmly into our synapses. In the other hypothesis, sleep instead cuts away at older, weaker memories. But the ones that remain stand out, like lonely trees in a field.
The study indicates that the sleeping brain can do both,Andrillon said. They might simply occur at separatemoments in the sleep cycle, strengthening fresh memories followed by culling.
A separate team of neuroscientists had suspected that the two hypotheses might be complementary. But until now they did not have any explicit experimental support. It is a delight to see these results, since we proposed already, quite a few years ago, that the different sleep stages may have a different impact on memory, said Lisa Genzel,aneuroscientist atRadboud University in the Netherlands. And here they are the first to provide direct evidence for this idea.
Not all neuroscientists were so convinced. Born, an early proponent of the idea that sleep strengthens andconsolidates memories, said this study showed what happens when we form memories while asleep. The average memorya recollection from a waking experience might not work in the same way, he said. I would be skeptical about inferring from this type of approach to what happens during normal sleep.
Andrillon acknowledged the limitations ofthis research, including thatthe scientists did not directly measure synapses. We interpret our results in the light of cellular mechanisms, he said, meaning strengthening or weakening of synapses, that we could not directly measure, since they require invasive recording methods that cannot be applied in humans.
When asked whether understanding the roles of sleep cycles and memory could lead to future sleep-hacks, a la thePsycho-phone,Andrillonsaid, We are in the big unknown. But, he noted, sleep is not just about memory. Trying to hijack the recommended seven-plus hours of sleep could disrupt normal brain function. Which is to say, even if you could learn French while asleep, it mightultimately do more harm than good. I would be very cautious about the interest in this kind of learning, he said, whether this is detrimental to the other functions of sleeping.
Read more:
Climate change is keeping Americans awake at night. Literally.
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Dear Science: How do I stop snoring?
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Your brain can form new memories while you are asleep ... - Washington Post
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Last text sent by Lubbock girl electrocuted in bathtub showed extension cord, towel – Amarillo.com
Posted: at 5:08 am
Local utility companies are addressing the dangers of electricity safety following the death of a Lubbock teen who was reportedly electrocuted while attempting to charge her phone while bathing in her fathers Lovington, New Mexico, home.
For Wes Reeves, spokesman for Xcel Energy, the death was a tragic reminder of how cautious people should be around electricity.
I think what happens is we get in a hurry, and we dont stop to think about things when were at home. We think about safety out on the road, and we think about safety at work, but at home were often very lax about it.
One of the dangers he spoke about was the use of extension cords.
At about 12:24 a.m. on July 9, police responded to a report of an unresponsive juvenile female in the 800 block of West Avenue H in Lovington.
Life-saving measures were provided at the scene, during hospital transport and at the hospital. However, the girl was pronounced dead at Nor-Lea Hospital a short while later.
Sharing her story
Soon, the family of 14-year-old Madison Coe reached out to the community in an effort to help save lives by sharing her story.
Spreading the message, Coes family gave police permission to release a photo of her last text message in which she wrote:
When you use (an) extension cord so you can plug your phone in while youre in the bath.
Above the message is a photo of a charger plugged into an extension cord resting on top of a towel.
Lovington police released a statement in which they reported Coe used a Samsung S6 Edge phone while taking a bath.
The phone was connected to its respective charger cord, which was connected to an extension cord plugged into a non-GFCI, non-grounded bathroom wall outlet.
While the child took precautions to keep the connection of the cords dry, the report states, it is believed she was not aware of a significant area of fraying to the extension cord.
According to the release, Coe came in contact with the frayed area while she was in the bath, but the phone was never immersed.
Cord safety
With extension cords being a part of our daily lives, Reeves said, it is important to check them regularly and toss them out if they are damaged.
In addition to checking for frayed and nicked cords, Reeves said, make sure the extension cord is not covered, overloaded and used as permanent wiring. He also warns any electrical device plugged into the wall should never be around water.
There is a lot of safety built into these cords and these chargers, he said. but anytime you have water anywhere near these devices, youre putting yourself at risk. So its best to stay away from charging phones or anything like that in the bathroom.
Lynn Simmons, spokeswoman for South Plains Electric Cooperative, said to remember is that electricity and water do not mix.
Whether you have wet hands and are plugging something in, Simmons said, or turning a light switch on, that is never a good idea. And definitely anything that is plugged into a wall should be kept away from sinks, tubs, swimming pools, any mud puddles, any source of water. Because if that device being plugged in comes in contact with that water it will create that circuit for that electricity, and then thats where the danger lies whether its just a shock or a fatality it can be anywhere in between there.
Reeves said a rule of thumb in his own household is to steer clear of using appliances in the bathroom.
With kids and all of these electrical devices, Simmons said, the parents just need to stop, take a moment, explain to kids about plugging and unplugging, and the idea of keeping devices away from water. Whether its got a good cord or a bad cord, that still couldve been a really bad situation even if the power cord had been good, if (Coe) wouldve dropped that phone into the tub with her. It couldve had the same bad outcome. Parents just need to remember to take time to educate their kids on that.
Electrocutions
In the case of Madison Coe, the cause of death was confirmed as electrocution, and according to officials with the Lovington Police Department, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission were assisting them with the investigation.
According to the agencys website, the most recent records have statistics on electrocutions from 2002 through 2009: About 88 consumer-product associated electrocutions involving individuals ages 1 through 19 years old.
In addition to those statistics, the SPEC website states each year there are about 300 electrocutions; 12,000 shock and burn injuries and 150,000 fires.
Those numbers are electricity-related cases that occurred within homes, as another danger lies in overloading outlets.
Looking at extension cords and surge protectors as pieces of equipment, Simmons said, it is important to see if the cords capacity fits the job.
While it may be OK to plug a lamp into a smaller cord, Reeves said, it is not a good idea to plug heavier equipment into the cord, and overloading extension cords or surge protectors can cause the wiring to melt.
You want to be really careful with that, she said. A lot of people use surge protectors, and I think they think theyre safe because theyre called a surge protector, but you need to be very careful not plugging too much into one outlet. (If something should go wrong) hopefully your system will trip a breaker and prevent any kind of problems, but you can start fires, you can be injured by a shock or worse if youre not careful around outlets and plugging too many items into a single outlet.
Whats GFCI?
As stated in the news release, the outlet in the bathroom was a non-ground, non-GFCI wall outlet.
How do you know if an outlet has a GFCI?
According to the Xcel energy website, there should be a red and black test and reset button on the face of the outlet.
The website states GFCI, or ground fault circuit interrupter, automatically shuts off power to the outlet to protect from fires or users from shock. And they should be installed in outlets near water sources such as outdoor areas, garages, laundry room, kitchens and bathrooms.
If your home is in need of updated or additional outlets, Reeves said, contact a licensed electrician.
If possible, he said, if you need some sort of change in your home, have an electrician come in and put another outlet in your home where you need it.
For more information on electrical safety, visit spec.coop or xcelenergy.com.
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Kenyan elections: Why it is important – WION
Posted: at 5:08 am
There are eight candidates for the presidency in Kenyas 2017 election. Of these, two are the main contenders; Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Raila Amolo Odinga. This is a replica of the 2013 polls where the two presidential candidates were the dominant opponents.
The running mate configuration has not changed either, with both retaining their previous partners. William Ruto for Kenyatta and Kalonzo Musyoka for Odinga. The only thing that has changed is their party identities.
Kenyattas 2013 Jubilee coalition is now the Jubilee Party, comprising most of the constituent parties that had been part of the coalition. The 2013 Jubilee formation was an alliance between parties loyal to the president, and his deputy William Ruto.
For its part Odingas camp underwent a coalition overhaul, morphing from the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy to the National Super Alliance. The coalition brings together several parties, both old and new, led by the Orange Democratic Movement, Odingas longtime party.
Latest polls have indicated that the two candidates are neck-and-neck. Both have factors working for and against them.
Uhuru Kenyatta
A few things are in Kenyattas favor. At 55 years of age, he is a young president who represents generational change. Kenyatta also comes from one of the wealthiest families in Kenya. Forbes Magazine ranks him as the 26th richest person in Africa, with an estimated fortune of $500 million. This means that hes been able to contribute financially to a vibrant campaign.
As the incumbent, some would also argue that he has had access to state resources and agencies to facilitate his re-election. Incumbency has also allowed him to drive his campaign on the steam of his development record and flagship projects in infrastructure, the energy sector and public service delivery.
In terms of voting blocs, Kenyatta has the support of Kenyas two most populous ethnic groupings: the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru (GEMA) and the Kalenjin. The registered voters in the GEMA grouping are approximately 5,588,389, in the Kalenjin are 2,324,559.
Combined, thats 7,912,948 votes, which is equivalent to 40 per cent of the electorate. Thats a formidable start when you consider that presidential strongholds have historically recorded a higher voter turnout during elections.
On the other hand, Kenyattas four-year tenure has been riddled with corruption allegations, including the Eurobond and National Youth Service scandals.
His admitted inability to rein in corruption in his government has worked against him. Additionally, his government is also accused of ethnic exclusion.
The Jubilee presidency is seen as a two-man show. This has contributed to the perception that Jubilee is not ethnically representative.
Raila Odinga
Odinga has many things going for him. High up on the list are his charisma and strong political mobilisation skills. Historically, Odinga has always been a formidable opposition politician; not being an incumbent has enabled him to galvanise effectively.
Odinga enjoys wider ethnic support compared to President Kenyatta, comprising among others the Kamba, Luhya, Luo and Maasai tribes. These communities comprise over a third of the voting population. But the disadvantage is their historically lower record of voter turnout.
At 72 years of age, Odinga represents the older generation of Kenyan leaders who joined politics in the 1970s and 80s. And this being his fourth attempt at the presidency, theres lethargy among some of his supporters.
Hes viewed by some as power hungry and untrustworthy, especially because of his alleged association with Kenyas 1982 coup. His calls for mass action after the contentious 2007 election, during a period that saw the displacement and death of thousands of Kenyans, also contributed to this perception.
Also to his disadvantage is an association with past corruption scandals during his term as prime minister, including the maize and Kazi Kwa Vijana youth programme scandals.
The main political formations
There are two main formations in the 2017 election - the Jubilee Party and the National Super Alliance.
The Jubilee Party, formed in September 2016, followed a merger between the National Alliance and the United Republican Party representing two ethnic communities - the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin. The Jubilee Party also has the support of other political parties including the Kenya African National Union, NARC Kenya, the Labour Party and the Democratic Party amongst others.
The National Super Alliance is a coalition of political parties formed in April 2017. Its leading lights are Odingas Orange Democratic Movement, the Wiper Democratic Movement led by Kalonzo Musyoka, the Amani National Congress led by Musalia Mudavadi, Ford Kenya led by Moses Wetangula and Isaac Rutos Chama Cha Mashinani. The coalition brings together the Luo, Kamba and Luhya ethnic groups, and a section of the Kalenjin community.
In this election cycle, party manifestos have become increasingly important. This explains the Jubilee administrations scramble to complete promises outlined in its 2013 document.
The Jubilee Party has made even more promises in its recently launched manifesto. Three that have caught the public attention include the creation of 1.3 million jobs a year, free public secondary education and the expansion of Kenyas food production capacity.
The National Super Alliances promises are more political. They include a constitutional amendment to provide for a hybrid executive system to foster national cohesion. Two other notable promises are to lower the cost of rent by enforcing the Rent Restriction Act and to implement free secondary education.
Strengths and weaknesses
The strengths of the Jubilee Party lie mainly in its incumbency and its development track record over the last four-and-a-half years. But the party has been weakened by divisions within its ranks. These were amplified during the campaign as disagreements broke out over the leadership of campaign teams. The ruling party is also handicapped to the extent that its not as ethnically diverse as its competitor.
The National Super Alliances main strength lies in its ethnic diversity. Its five principals represent different ethnic communities.
The super alliance also creatively captures the zeitgeist of a section of the electorate, with some of its campaign slogans such as -vindu vichenjanga (things are a-changing in the Luhya dialect) making their way into popular use. It is riding on the euphoric wave that usually accompanies the hope of regime change.
One of its weaknesses, however, includes a perceived predilection to violence because the opposition has previously resorted to mass action. In 2016 for example, it organised a series of protests to mobilise for the removal of key members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission, the body responsible for organising the general election.
Another weakness is its close association with allegedly corrupt financiers.
Key concerns
There is a perception that historically, the presidency has been the preserve of two ethnic groups the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin. This feeling of disenfranchisement has become a key campaign issue.
There are, however, some non-tribal issues that have taken the foreground. These include corruption, economic and social stability, lower cost of living and improved security.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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