Monthly Archives: January 2021

NEW ORLEANS New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton spoke with media Thursday about his upcoming matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Thursday, Payton was asked about the evolution of Tom Brady and this relatively new Bucs team in a season overshadowed by COVID-19.

Relatively no offseason, so someone like Tom (Brady) who comes to a new club, youre not provided those normal OTAs, call it mini-camps where youre having opportunities to begin to put in a system. I think that, without speaking for them, I think that we saw that progression thats probably still evolved throughout the course of the season and quite honestly with us the same way, says Saints Head Coach Sean Payton.

Payton adds that this last half of the season, or last third of the season I think theyre playing at a very high level.

The Buccaneers finished the 2020 NFL regular season ranked top-5 in the NFL in total offense, passing, and rushing.

Their defense also finished 5th in total yards allowed per game, 3 spots behind the New Orleans Saints.

The New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play this Sunday at 5:40 p.m. in the Superdome.

For full coverage of the New Orleans Saints NFC Divisional Round matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, dont forget to tune into ourRoad to Tampa: Divisional Round SpecialFriday at 6:30 p.m. on WGNO.

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Sean Payton describes the evolution of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season - ArkLaTexHomepage

NOIDA, India, Jan. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "Regardless of the critical period of retrenchment our organization - like many others - was going through, we ensured that we shed none of our valuable staff and that each of our diligent employees received the hard-earned pay they were entitled to, every month."- Manmeet Singh, Head, HR & Administration, T&T Group

The COVID-19 pandemic was perhaps one of the most testing times in the recent world history. From healthcare to economy, the pandemic altered the very fabric of human life - and the corporate world was no exception. Businesses and industries all across the globe suffered a massive setback, with many of them even succumbing to the crisis. Such unprecedented circumstances, hence, called for extraordinary measures on part of all the divisions and subdivisions of business organizations to ascertain not only their survival but to also enable them to break even and grow. In view of that, at T&T, we adapted to new ways of working to keep the operations going while competently addressing a multitude of complex issues, ranging from leadership development to employee encouragement. The HR team went through a thorough study of every operation and work routine and presented a systemic viewpoint that ensured communication, collaboration, and coordination across functions, units and departments. We also facilitated dialogues that help ensure the right amounts of re-prioritizing, re-proportioning and reinvention of organizational goals to adapt to the changing dynamics of the market.

As the pilot of an organization's talent plane, the HR division has a responsibility to create connectivity as well as create practices that maintain efficiency and effectiveness, and top of everything, ensure a healthy work environment. Considering that, we designed and brought into practice a new and enhanced working style that helped us in managing from a distance, keeping employees motivated toward the goal in the midst of ambiguity, providing clarity and calm, keeping a track of work progress, and above all, building a community while we were at it.

While we designed an effective framework that brought the organization's working pretty much back in action, we also made sure that it covers anything and everything on the side of the employees too. The COVID-19 pandemic had far-reaching impacts on people's physical, mental and emotional health, which is why the wellbeing of our employees was at the center of our framework. The HR team dedicatedly worked to provide the employees with everything they would need, be it employee assistance programs, financial counselling, or programs for exercise, nutrition and mindfulness. We also needed to realize that this wasn't a regular Work From Home situation, rather this time the employees were at home fighting the crisis and yet trying to deliver the best in their capacities. Being a keeper of employment, benefits systems and pay, the HR department catalyzed new and expanded approaches to bring ease in work life. The employees were given all the required accesses and provided with the essential resources to maintain a smooth working. Most importantly, and regardless of the critical period of retrenchment our organization - like many others - was going through, we ensured that we shed none of our valuable staff and that each of our diligent employees received the hard-earned pay they were entitled to, every month.Furthermore, those who burned the candle at both ends to serve in the best interest of the company were rewarded with appraisals and incentives.

The pandemic has altered our working culture in many ways, but it has also brought our organization together - stronger than ever. T&T Group has always been ready for challenges and to drive the Indian real estate into the unexplored horizons of technology and advancement, and this time is no exception. With India's first Digital Housing, we elevated the way people lived; now, with our sound HR policies and management, we established an exemplary work culture - one that is resourceful, supportive, and well-equipped to face unforeseen challenges.

About T&T Group

T&T group contemplates to change the landscape of the homes to usher India into the futuristic era. It has already started with the T homes, and the next project will strive to better that on several fronts. It will leverage the win-win combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) and propel the living experience to a whole new level.

SOURCE T&T Group

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An Exceptional Year Of Organizational Evolution For T&T Group: An Update from its HR and Administration Head - PR Newswire India

This year, the pandemic has kept us apart physically, but humans are nothing if not innovative, and communication is a basic human need. While Zoom and other video calling technologies quickly filled much of the void for those desperately missed in-person communications; the phone is still one of the most important communication channels for financial institutions.

Research shows that the phone channel is still consumers' preferred method for handling complex or sensitive financial matters. The popularity of the phone is not expected to let up either. In our survey of financial institutions, 70% of respondents said their outbound calling increased this year, and over 65% said they expect it to increase in 2021. Thats in spite of the challenges of robocalls, call spoofing, and fraud.

Theres a lot on the horizon when it comes to the phone, including new regulations and standards to protect us, along with new features that will cement the phone as a more modern tool with an improved customer experience. Below are predications from three Neustar experts on phone channel trends in 2021 financial institutions need to be aware of in the new year.

An enhanced customer experience

Given the deluge of robocalls, fraud, and call spoofing, most financial institutions find customers dont readily pick up the phone these days. In fact, 88% of business calls go unanswered.

But theres good news. According to James Garvert, SVP and general manager of caller identification solutions at Neustar, illicit robocalls have eroded trust in the phone channel, but in the coming year, we expect to see over 50% of mobile phones utilising robocall protection solutions alongside call authentication standards like STIR/SHAKEN which is mandated by the FCC for use by June of 2021. Whats more, the emergence of branded calling, which display rich call data such as logos, reason for the call, and more, on the mobile display coupled with STIR/SHAKEN authentication will reassure customers about who is actually calling.

We anticipate that these factors will improve call answer rates, and trust will be on the rise. To increase trust in the channel, financial institutions should look to provide their customers with branded, authenticated call experiences.

The incessant need for more bandwidth will continue.

According to John Denemark, SVP and general manager of carrier provisioning at Neustar, "Financial institutions are struggling to meet the sudden and dramatic shift to remote relationships with customersand remote workers. That centers around the need for faster and more secure bandwidth.

Internet service providers and telecom carriers have moved to increase bandwidth capabilities but, in an age where customers are used to getting what they want, when they want it it cannot happen fast enough.

5G presents a new breadth of possibilities for the industry, but its years away before everyday customers will truly feel its impact, Denemark continued. In 2021, we will see the race intensify as the telecom industry seeks to massively upgrade, expand, and densify their networks, all while monetising those investments and simplifying and automating their operations. Financial firms will experience significant benefits from those upgrades.

Robocall mitigation wont stop at the border

We learned this year that many scams originate overseas and slip into our calling ecosystem, often through smaller voice carriers. While Canada has taken the first steps toward adopting robocall mitigating STIR/SHAKEN protocols, more is needed from the international business community, and countries around the world, to make any meaningful impact against international illicit robocalls. Any financial institution operating in international markets needs to understand how their call environments change in different international markets knowing so can make the difference between a missed call or a positive customer experience.

Jon Peterson, vice president and fellow at Neustar, noted, "The U.S. government and enterprises have taken aggressive steps to curb robocalling but illicit robocalls are not bound by our borders. Look to 2021 for the early signs of international progress beyond North America, with other countries stepping up to either create new or adopt established caller identity authentication protocols to reduce the amount of illicit robocalls worldwide."

To be able to provide excellent customer experience by phone, financial institutions must first be able to connect with their customers. 2021 will bring in new standards such as STIR/SHAKEN and technologies such as branded calling, to return trust back to the phone call.

Financial institutions need to be aware of these trends to take advantage of rebounding trust in the channel and to not only more easily and readily connect with customers, but also provide seamless experiences over the phone that will keep customers safe, secure, and valued.

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The evolution of the phone call in 2021 - Finextra

Baseball has gone through many changes over the past decade, but no element of the game has been so radically transformed as the fine art of pitching. The game is still the game, but the methods by which pitchers develop, the way theyre coached, and the statistics and data by which theyre evaluated by teams, media, and fans alike have undergone a rapid evolution over the last 10 years.

Of course, some of this evolution dates back much further. The early sabermetric era produced some fundamental insights that laid the foundation for what was to come as early as the late 90s. As teams became more and more focused on the FIP components, pitchers who racked up strikeouts and prevented home runs became more and more attractive as compared to efficient, pitch to contact types.

That perspective only sharpened as we entered the era of spin data with the advent of the Trackman system and MLBs Statcast. Quickly, we learned that whiffs are correlated to velocity and to movement. My initial simplistic assumption that high spin equals more movement equals more strikeouts was shared by a lot of the early front offices pioneering the use of that information. But then you had to consider that sinkers and changeups all have some backspin, and for a pitch with backspin to drop more than normal, you needed less backspin than average.

So there you go, the solution was simple. Go buy up all the undervalued high spin pitchers you could find, and as a backup plan, any extremely low spin pitchers as well. Any major deviation from average seemed like it could be a good thing.

Early adopters of the importance of spin data were joined by an influx of coaches and front office analysts as these insights were backed up by ever more detailed information. Raw rpms quickly became a sought after item among advanced teams. The ability to spin the ball at higher rates than other pitchers was quickly identified as one of the most attractive attributes a pitcher could possess. That insight led to sweeping changes in scouting at all levels of the game. The smartest teams in the room, such as the Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers, quickly adapted their evaluations to emphasize pitchers who could spin the heck out of the ball. The rest have been playing catchup over the past few seasons.

Meanwhile, pioneering research by teams and innovators like Driveline Baseball and others quickly took their understanding far beyond raw spin. Many teams are still struggling to catch up and make use of all this new information, even as the gathering and study of it has become ubiquitous.

When we first think about the relationship between spin and movement, were thinking about the Magnus effect. A curveball has topspin, so it moves toward the ground. A four-seamer has backspin that keeps the pitch fighting gravity and riding through the zone. Sidespin on a two-seam fastball makes the ball tail to the pitchers arm side. This changes if you drop your release to sidearm or submarine, but you get the drift. Specifically, the Magnus effect describes the fact that a spinning sphere will move in the direction that the spin on the front of the ball is moving.

When teams first started collecting spin rate data on a grand scale, the Magnus effect was really all they were thinking about. Presumably, the faster the spin, the more movement youd create. To be clear, there are obviously many, many unrelated factors that go into making a good pitcher, but these early insights immediately had a profound effect on how early adopters at the college and pro levels evaluated and taught players.

High spin guys suddenly saw their stock boosted at all levels. They were encouraged to throw their best stuff more often and instructed to dial in their breaking balls. Low spin pitchers saw their stock drop a bit and were encouraged to work on their changeup as the only salvation possible. Particularly as more and more teams lacking the necessary expertise got on the bandwagon in 2016-2017, there were success stories but also widespread misapplication in the ways the new data informed their understanding of pitching.

However, by this point early research from Driveline Baseball and other cutting-edge theorists with far more experience than most teams had already quickly illustrated that the Magnus effect didnt explain pitch movement alone. Several other factors were involved.

As they discovered, of the types of spin that are interacting on the balls path through the air, gyro spin, which is more like football or rifle spin, can actually inhibit movement on pitches typically designed to be affected most by high spin rpm, particularly four-seam fastballs and curveballs. Active spin, which is spin that contributes to the pitchs movement via the Magnus effect, as opposed to gyro spin, which does not, began to be expressed with the term spin efficiency.

For a quick visualization exercise, imagine a spinning ball moving toward home plate, and it has a stick through the center that is perpendicular to the direction its moving. So in this example, its sticking out to both sides. You can hold both ends of the stick and rotate it like a steering wheel. That changes the direction that the Magnus effect will move the ball but whether it be topspin, backspin, or sidespin, all will have highly active spin on the pitch.

Now, hold the two ends of the stick and move one side forward and the other back like steering a motorcycle. By doing so, youve introduced gyrospin, reducing the active spin involved. Most pitches have some of both, but initially pitchers were trying to reduce gyro to get the most Magnus effect movement possible. But as it turns out, gyro works too if you know what youre doing.

The first well-known experiment to really put seam alignment into effect was Trevor Bauers creation of a two-seam fastball variant he called the Laminar Express. Essentially, recognizing that the seams create drag, Bauer tried to orient the seams on this pitch so that one side of the ball was smooth throughout its flight, and the side he wanted it to move toward had more seam involved. By doing so, he hoped to get more arm side run on the pitch as seen below.

For pitches that are designed to take maximum effect of the Magnus force, you dont want gyrospin involved. You want the most active spin possible to maximize the Magnus effect on the pitch. This tends to apply to four-seam fastballs and curveballs most specifically. Gyrospin inhibits the Magnus effect, and yet can, with the proper seam alignments on the ball, actually create tons of movement as well movement that may bring sinkers and changeups in particular back into prominence.

This is where Utah State University Professor Barton Smiths conception of seam-shifted wake enters the picture. It should be noted that plenty of other luminaries, like Tom Tango at Statcast, or Harry Pavlidis, editor-in-chief at Baseball Prospectus, were all aware that active spin wasnt explaining movement fully. And obviously the research done by Driveline Baseball most notably has driven all this evolution in the first place. There were plenty of people studying the subject, but Smith, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was able to do the actual research that uncovered much of this, and he coined the term, seam-shifted wake.

The issue, as in Bauers laminar express, is the seams. Obviously, the baseball is not perfectly round. Beyond the vagaries of baseball construction, which have come under enormous scrutiny because of the juiced baseball controversy, the seams create drag. Individual pitchers and coaches have understood vaguely that seam alignment can affect movement all along of course, but this was largely anecdotal, just a matter of trial and error.

Its always been reported by hitters that some pitchers have weird late movement, for example, and spin rates, spin axis, and spin efficiency couldnt account for it. The famous story of Mariano Rivera throwing a cutter accidentally while just playing catch, eliciting shock from his throwing partner as it dove away from his glove late, is presumably an example of a pitcher stumbling across the seam-shifting effect that can make a ball move in ways its spin would not lead you to predict.

Heres a seam-shifted wake pitch from Dustin May. Its been nicknamed the Demon Sinker. Despite modest amounts of raw spin and poor active spin on the ball, the thing moves like crazy. The effect is featured in Dan Strailys changeup below the May clip as well.

Essentially, by adjusting grips and release to put more of a balls stitching spinning on one side of the ball rather than the other, there are particular alignments that make the ball move dramatically more or less than the Magnus effect could explain, depending on how the spin and drag interact.

Pitchers have always understood that scuffing one side of the baseball, or loading it with extra weight from saliva, pine tar, or other forms of tampering, could produce some unique effects. Now, all those trick pitch effects are becoming better understood and studied scientifically rather than anecdotally. Seam-shifting can do similar things for a pitcher, but without breaking the rules. However, its a subtle art to put into practice and no doubt were only at the beginning.

Rob Friedman, better known as the Pitching Ninja on Twitter and Youtube, has been a great public promoter of all this new research over the last few years. About a year ago, as this concept was first starting to get discussed, he put together a quick primer that should explain things better with some visuals.

Professor Smith was recently a guest on the Pitching Ninja podcast and explained most of the concepts in a longer conversation with a few visual aids. Its well worth your time and is embedded below. You can also visit his site, Baseball Aerodynamics, to read through the experiments hes conducting and the data hes gathered. The quick one-sentence takeaway is that theyre beginning to understand, in a much finer way, how the subtle interaction of velocity, spin rate, spin axis and direction, seam alignments, and release all work together to make a pitch move more or less, or even in more than one direction on its path to the plate. Smith actually has a new post up with an explanation of some of the terminology and debates over usage as well. Sort of an in-progress glossary of terms and explanation.

We havent gotten to factoring in barometric pressure on the field and wind direction, but Im sure thats not far behind either. Im only partly kidding.

On that podcast they also delve into the fact that slightly wobbling axes and/or particular seam alignments and gyrospin could make the ball move multiple ways on its path to the plate. Hitters have discussed seeing this effect forever, but much like the curveballs movement was once thought by some to be an illusion, pitches that demonstrated late movement in a different direction from the pitchs initial trajectory seemed to have been creatures born from illusion (excepting knuckleballs, of course). That holy grail of pitching late movement, sometimes not even in the same direction as the initial spin movement is now understood as being caused by seam-shifted effects. Ultimately, the utter lack of spin on a knuckleball brings seam-shifted wake effects fully into play and explains why a knuckler can often move in multiple directions on its way to the plate.

Magnus effect movement, particularly on high active spin pitches, is consistent on the path to the catchers glove. A curveball with high active spin dives in the same direction throughout the pitch. A pitch with more gyro, and the proper seam alignments, may start moving one way, and then as gyro re-aligns the seams in relation to the direction the pitch is moving, drag may occur on the seams that cause it to move in a different direction, or more exaggeratedly in the same direction it was already breaking toward.

Hitters learn to predict spin movement by seeing how the pitcher released the ball. Pitches that move contrary to the visual spin pattern a hitter can see from home plate can really confound the hitters predictive ability.

Well, obviously, this matters to everyone in baseball. The concept of seam-shifting opens a new paradigm for the two-seamer, sinkers, and changeups in particular, but may ultimately be brought into play with any pitch that doesnt have high amounts of active spin. Presumably even the high active spin pitches can be tweaked a bit with the seam-shifted wake concept. Generally speaking though, gyro is the friend of seam-shifted effects, and the effects are more pronounced with pitches with plenty of it.

The difficulty in knowing how much this will change pitching, is that each pitcher is slightly unique. Not only do you have to find the sweet spot with the seams to enhance these effects, youve still got to repeat pitches the exact same way out of the same release point while locating effectively to different spots. In other words, as a pitcher you still have most of the problems you always had.

Command, velocity, mentality, durability, reading hitters, are all just as important as ever. But especially for guys who dont spin the ball all that well to begin with, this new understanding opens up a whole new world of potential improvements to their stuff.

A key example Dr. Smith has cited among Tigers pitchers is Spencer Turnbulls four-seam fastball. The pitch has always been odd because Turnbull gets more than average spin rate on it and yet the amount of movement it gets has always been reported as below average by Trackman. There was no explanation of why its such a devastating, though erratic, pitch that is rarely barreled up for a home run and tends to get sinker-type results off the bat. Our friends over at Motor City Bengals have a clip from Smiths appearance on their podcast recently with a quick explainer on Turnbull.

As it turns out, the seam-shifted wake effect is in play here too. The pitch was initially described in Statcasts methodology as having poor movement, because tracking systems only measured how much a pitch moved from its starting trajectory to the glove. It couldnt consider that it might be changing break along the way to the plate. Just in the past week, Statcast has released a whole new spin direction leaderboard that is now taking this all into account. In Turnbulls case, it starts out moving like a normal four-seamer, but because it has plenty of gyro and the right seam alignments, it appears to cut and take off vertically as it gets to the plate. As Tigers radio color commentator Jim Price would describe it: late movement, baby.

This is part of why many of us are particularly excited about new Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter. Fetter is someone who follows all this research with keen interest, has experience putting these concepts into practice, and can tailor and sell them to his players. Obviously, there is much more to coaching pitchers than the subtleties of pitch design, but other than major league experience, Fetter appears to check all the other boxes. Where hes thought to be on the cutting edge is in translating pitch shaping research into actionable information that his pitchers can put to work.

The advantages of having a cutting edge pitching coach in this regard are pretty clear. Most teams are still out there hunting down and paying premiums for guys with the highest spin four-seamers and breaking balls they can get their hands on. These are still new, and poorly understood concepts around the game. Theres an opportunity to be ahead of the game for once, both in how and where in the draft the club drafts pitchers, and in how they teach and develop them. Fetter and others in the organization with this knowledge are the reason.

As we become more familiar with how to put the new Statcast reported spin direction data to work, well begin analyzing Tigers pitchers with seam-shifted wake pitches in mind. At this point, its still rather unclear how well pitchers are going to be able to take advantage of these concepts, and whether or not this is going to radically alter how pitchers are evaluated in terms of the draft, trades, or free agent signings. For now, take a look at some of the embedded video, get generally familiar, ask questions in the comments below, and well revisit this soon. Good luck hitters.

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Seam-shifted wake and the evolution of pitch design - Bless You Boys

Two new COVID-19 variants have been found in Ohio, and they appear to have originated in the United States, researchers announced on Wednesday (Jan. 13).

One of these variants, dubbed the "Columbus strain," has three gene mutations that haven't previously been seen together in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a statement from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. These mutations occur in the so-called spike protein of the virus, which it uses to latch onto cells.

This strain quickly became the dominant coronavirus variant in Columbus, Ohio, over a three-week period from late December 2020 to early January, according to the researchers, who hope to post their findings soon on the pre-print database bioRxiv.

Related: Fast spreading U.K. variant: All your questions answered

"This new Columbus strain has the same genetic backbone as earlier cases we've studied, but these three mutations represent a significant evolution," study leader Dr. Dan Jones, vice chair of the division of molecular pathology at they Wexner Medical Center, said in the statement. "We know this shift didn't come from the U.K. or South African branches of the virus."

The Ohio researchers have been regularly sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome from patient samples since March 2020 to monitor the virus's evolution.

Like other coronavirus variants found around the world, including the U.K. variant, the mutations in the Columbus strain occur in the virus's "spike protein," which allows the virus to enter cells. It's possible these mutations make the virus more transmissible, the researchers said.

But so far, there is no evidence that these mutations would impact the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, according to the researchers.

"It's important that we don't overreact to this new variant until we obtain additional data," said Peter Mohler, a co-author of the study and chief scientific officer at the Wexner Medical Center

The second variant found by the Ohio researchers has a mutation dubbed 501Y that is identical to one seen in the U.K. variant. This mutation affects the receptor-binding domain, or part of the virus's spike protein that latches onto the ACE2 receptor in human cells; in lab-dish experiments, the mutated receptor-binding domain binds more tightly to the ACE2 receptor, past research found.

But the researchers believe the Ohio variant independently evolved that mutation from a strain already in the U.S. It was found in one patient from Ohio, so the researchers don't yet know how prevalent it is in the population overall.

A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNBC that the agency is reviewing the new research.

Originally published on Live Science.

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New 'Columbus strain' of coronavirus evolved in the US - Livescience.com

Tolerance of humans and tameness are noted traits differentiating domestic and wild rabbits.

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An international team of researchers led by Leif Andersson, a professor at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS), has found changes in gene expression patterns across the brain between wild and domestic rabbits, which likely contributed to the evolution of tameness during domestication.

By demonstrating that domestic animals acquired tolerance toward humans through regulatory changes of certain genes, researchers are able to better understand the link between genetic changes and the mechanisms of evolution in rabbits and, at a larger scale, of plants and animals in general. The research builds off Anderssons previous work demonstrating a link between rabbit domestication and brain structure.

The European rabbit is one of the most recently domesticated animals, exhibiting distinct morphological, physiological and behavioral differences from their wild counterparts. Tolerance of humans and tameness are noted traits differentiating the domestic and wild rabbits.

Domestication is often associated with the rapid development of such traits in a rather short evolutionary time period. As such, domestication has long been a major topic in evolutionary biology, as it allows researchers to study the mechanisms of evolution on a more manageable time scale.

In the study, published in Genome Biology and Evolution, the researchers compared gene expression patterns in four brain regions between newborns of wild and domestic rabbits. They detected hundreds of genes differentially expressed between the two.

It is important to notice that the drastic changes in behavior between domestic animals and their wild ancestors are associated with changes in how genes are expressed during the development of the brain, Andersson said. The domestication of plants and animals is one of the most important developments during human history. In this study, we shed light on how this process has altered brain function in domestic animals and made them tamer.

One significant finding was that genes involved in dopamine signaling, a chemical involved in fear responses, were expressed at higher rates in the amygdala, or area of the brain associated with memory, decision-making, and emotional responses, of the domestic rabbit. Notably, the amygdala is known as the part of the brain driving the fight or flight response, which would play a part in determining whether a wild animal flees in the company of humans or a tame animal tolerates human presence.

Researchers also found that genes associated with ciliary function were consistently downregulated in the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with learning and memory, of domestic rabbits. Cilia cells are tiny hair-like structures that aid in the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid.

The flow of this fluid contributes to the transmission of molecular signals across the brain. Since these ciliary genes are important for brain development, the researchers hypothesized that these changes contribute to the evolution of tameness.

We were really surprised by the consistent changes we observed that several genes involved in dopamine signaling were consistently unregulated in the domestic brain, and that many genes with associated with ciliary function was consistently downregulated, Andersson said.

Read more from the original source:

Study On Rabbit Brain Reveals Genetic Markers Of Domestication - Texas A&M University Today

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Leading distributor expands its premium portfolio with top games from dominant live-casino supplier

QTech Games, the number-one games distributor across Asia and all growth markets, has announced its latest high-profile partnership with the elite live-casino provider, Evolution.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evolutions multi-award-winning content suite has been made available to QTech Games clients and their players, adding more punch to a powerhouse platform setting the pace for bringing the best online games to market across emerging territories.

Evolutions cutting-edge live studio delivers a peerless immersive experience for players, who can now enjoy these engaging, real-time table games (from classics like blackjack, roulette, baccarat and three-card poker to regional favourites such as Indias Andar Bahar) via the flexible QTech platform which offers the fastest integration on the market.

This ever-evolving production line further bolsters QTech Games comprehensive catalogue of gaming domains, which offers a complete one-stop shop for global operators.

The deal organically advances Evolutions worldwide footprint, opening up an array of emerging markets for accelerated growth. As the fastest-growing distributor over the past few years, QTechs platform is localised for each region with native mobile apps, robust reporting and marketing tools, and 24/7 local-language support.

Ulf Norder, CCO at QTech Games, said: Were thrilled to team up with Evolution. Naturally, their stunning live-dealer portfolio needs no introduction. The QTech Games platform is integrated with the best games from the planets top providers and Evolution now stand at the zenith of that mountain with their garlanded games.

Of course, theres a huge revenue opportunity for operators due to the fact that live casino remains such an exciting online gaming sector in its own right. Seamless integration equips our clients with best-in-breed live games for their end users. Unrivalled customization options, dedicated tables and native speaking dealers also make it far easier to customise the experience to any specific market needs. Strong growth in casino vertical continues in the face of the pandemic, and we cant wait to see how these games perform across a range of new markets.

An Evolution spokesperson added: This deal seamlessly broadens Evolutions international scope, unlocking untapped markets from Asia to Eastern Europe and Latin America for diversified growth. Evolutions unflinching commitment to delivering engaging live-player experiences affords customers, who love these games, the visceral thrill of playing in a real-world casino, while QTechs peerless localised expertise made them the perfect fit for us.

QTech Games is a pioneering distributor across Asia and other sometimes-overlooked regions, so we look forward to seeing how our games connect with different and diverse audience sets. Evolution is constantly creating innovative and exciting content with which to offer players the ultimate gaming adventure its entertainment redefined.

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QTech Games' premier platform takes another giant step with Evolution - European Gaming Industry News

Everything you need to know!

There are quite a few pocket monsters in the Pokemon universe that have a unique appearance depending on their gender. For instance, Pikachus tail ends in a point if Pikachu is male, and in a heart if its female.

Two more Pokemon with gender-based differences are Hippopotas and its evolution, Hippowdon -- two Ground-type Pokemon from Generation IV of the Pokemon universe.

Heres everything you need to know about collecting and evolving these Pokemon in Pokemon Go!

To start, Hippopotas is always brown and tan, but its specific color pattern is determined by its gender. If Hippopotas is female, it has a dark brown face with lighter accents. If its male, its face is tan and the rest of its body has darker accents. You can see these color differences in the screenshots below.

In Pokemon Go, Hippopotas can be evolved into Hippowdon using 50 Hippopotas Candy. (As of this writing, Hippopotas is appearing more frequently than normal as part of Pokemon Gos 2021 Sinnoh Celebration event, so this is a great time to stock up on that Candy!)

Hippowdons gender also determines its appearance. To be specific, female Hippowdon is dark gray and black, while male Hippowdon is tan and black (check them out in the screenshots below).

And there you have it!

Keep in mind, youarent required to collect both male and female Hippowdon in Pokemon Go. Instead, its just an optional goal you can complete if you want to have one of everything in the game!

To learn more about Pokemon Go, or to view the rest of our guides for the game, check out our previous coverage.

Link:

Pokemon Go Hippopotas and Hippowdon Evolution Guide - SuperParent

Yahoo Sports senior NFL writer Terez Paylor spoke with former NFL MVP and Seattle Seahawks legend Shaun Alexander about his life since he retired and his take on the evolution of the NFL game.

Shaun joins Yahoo Sports on behalf of the Fedex Air & Ground Players of the Year. Fans can vote for their favorite nominee at http://www.nfl.com/fedex

TEREZ PAYLOR: All right, I'm here with former NFL All Pro, former NFL MVP, as you can see from the giant trophy behind him, Shaun Alexander who's speaking on behalf of the FedEx Air and Ground Players of the Year Award. And Shaun, we'll get to that in a second. But first of all, how are you doing today, man?

SHAUN ALEXANDER: Man, I'm doing good, man. Thanks for having me. This is a-- it's a lot of fun. It's fun to rep FedEx, you know, the Air and Ground Award since I won it before. But life is good, man. As crazy as this time is, like, football is still a great thing to pull people away from anything except, you know, cheering on your schools or cheering on your team. And they kind of loosen up a little bit. So this is good.

TEREZ PAYLOR: How much football do you still watch these days, my man? You watch a lot of pro football?

SHAUN ALEXANDER: You know, with my boys becoming, like, 11 and 9, it's starting to crank up again, you know what I mean? So I went--

TEREZ PAYLOR: OK. OK.

SHAUN ALEXANDER: --through a phase of, eh, you know? And so now they're like, dad, you know-- they're asking me questions like, hey, was you as good as, [LAUGHS] you know, [INAUDIBLE].

[LAUGHTER]

So it's fun answering those questions and seeing their friends respond to them after their dad's telling them who I was when I was playing. [LAUGHS] So that's--

TEREZ PAYLOR: That's hilarious.

SHAUN ALEXANDER: He was-- yeah.

TEREZ PAYLOR: OK.

SHAUN ALEXANDER: 'Cause I don't really tell 'em--

TEREZ PAYLOR: I got you.

SHAUN ALEXANDER: --too much.

TEREZ PAYLOR: Really? OK. Because I was wondering, like, of these running backs in today's game-- and this would be a compliment for them because you're an MVP. There's not a lot of running backs who've done that in the last two decades. Like, when you try to explain to your sons, I ran like this guy or I ran like that guy. Is there anybody that you bring up? Do you compare yourself to anybody, or no? Do you just put on the old tapes?

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SHAUN ALEXANDER: Yeah. No, you know. [LAUGHS] You know, I tell them, like, you know, sometimes they'll show a play, and I'll be like, oh yeah, you know what? I made a play like that before. So I can show them, like, a long run or show them [INAUDIBLE].

TEREZ PAYLOR: I got you.

SHAUN ALEXANDER: But what usually happens is, is a uncle or a cousin or friend that come over and they'll play a game and they'll be like, oh man. OK, dad. Yeah. Yeah, you was [INAUDIBLE].

TEREZ PAYLOR: I got you. What is it like for you to watch, like, where football's going? Like, it's still-- it's pretty pass happy now more than it used to be. But the game is more open. So like, do you like it? Because it was a little bit more-- I guess you could say it was more physical in a lot of ways. Defenses had more of a shot. But where football has gone, like, where are you at with it? Are you good with it? Do you enjoy it? Or do you like it the way it was when you played?

SHAUN ALEXANDER: Yeah, I think that it's always evolving, you know? I remember when they said-- it was kind of the end my career-- that they were going to create this thing called the horse-collar. And I said, what you mean? And he was like, they can't pull you back from the back of your-- I was like, I don't know if somebody's going to tackle me, you know what I mean? Like, what--

TEREZ PAYLOR: [LAUGHS]

SHAUN ALEXANDER: --if that's [INAUDIBLE]-- because I was always square you up and get you to miss. And if I got you to miss and you're on my back, how you going to pull me down? And so a lot of the things, you know, targeting and all that stuff, I'm just like, yeah, this just all helps the-- the offensive player. And so I also feel like, you know, great players would figure it out. And so, you know, Marshall Faulk, you know, he's going to figure out how to be Marshall Faulk. You know, Barry Sanders, they going to figure out how to do Barry Sanders things, you know? That doesn't change, you know?

And so that's the same way for me. Like, it didn't matter who I was playing against or what the scheme was, I'm going to figure out how to score touchdowns. And so that's what guys do. It's the guys that fit in the systems and program-type guys, those are guys that it'd be a little bit harder for them to go from generation to generation.

TEREZ PAYLOR: Now, FedEx has a Ground Player of the Year nominees, there's three of them this year. Henry, Cook, Alvin Kamara. Dalvin Cook's from Minnesota. What are your thoughts on those three guys? And as a former winner of this, is there something that you look back on as the years go and be like, yep, this is a really cool thing. Like, what does this add to your life when you get that trophy?

SHAUN ALEXANDER: Yeah, no. You know what? Even the whole FedEx Air and Ground NFL Player of the Year Award, it's so sweet, you know, to know that you are marked with three of the best guys for that year on the ground. Three of the best receiver-- quarterbacks for that year. This year is really special because-- and this one I'm a part of-- I want to get everybody to vote. And we want Yahoo Sports to get-- tell everybody to vote. Voting starts now. It ends at February 2nd at 3:00 o'clock. nfl.com/fedex or Twitter @NFL. Just get your social medias.

But this year is so special because it's always been more than just an award. It's also about impacting people. And the partnership with Direct Relief has been amazing. They are responsible for creating these emergency medical care bags that are helping about 500 people per bag. And for the winner, we gave $20,000 to them-- on behalf of them to that city to go get these emergency medical care bags out. And the goal is about the FedEx Cares 50 by 50, which is helping 50 million people by their 50th year, which is 2023.

And so can you imagine getting all the fans a part of, hey, we want you to be a part of us helping 50 million people. 50 million lives, you know? So that's what makes this thing so exciting, you know? I think that this year is going to be amazing. Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, great running backs. They get it done. I lean towards Derek. Bama guy. Like family to me. 2,000 yards. It's just really special. The air nominees are amazing. The ground nominees are amazing. It's going to be-- it's going to be exciting. I'm excited about just Direct Relief and the whole 50 by 50. It's just been a great cause and so I'm really glad that we got to bring it up and talk about it.

TEREZ PAYLOR: Thank you so much for your time, man. This was great. You know, again, thanks again, man.

SHAUN ALEXANDER: No doubt, man. Bless you, dude.

TEREZ PAYLOR: Take care.

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Shaun Alexander speaks about the evolution of the NFL and his life since retirement - Yahoo News

New research suggests that the design of the visual processing system of Madagascars gray mouse lemur holds secrets about the origins of vision for humans and for primates around the world.

A single mouse lemur leaping from branch to branch.

Leaping about in the jungles, the gray mouse lemur could easily be confused with an actual mouse but only if mice had monkey-like bushy tails and were given to vaulting and bounding. This lemurs part-primate/part-rodent appearance may have to do with the fact that its evolutionary roots probably date from about 55 million years ago, when primates and rodents first took divergent evolutionary paths. Today, it still shares many physical traits with fossils of Earths earliest primates.

Gray is just one of many species of mouse lemurs. Despite being genetically unique and sometimes having distinctive mating calls, the various mouse lemur species look so similar that they are considered cryptic; its hard to tell them apart. In general, mouse lemurs weigh about two ounces, maybe a little more. They are the smallest known genus of primate.

Recent research comparing the visual processing system of the gray mouse lemur with that of much larger and more recently evolved primates including humans suggests that, once the visual cortex of very early primates settled into a highly functional design, it didnt evolve much further. Publishing in the February 2021 issue of Current Biology, scientists at the University of Geneva, the Max Planck Institute in Gttingen, and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris propose that, for modern primates of any size, the fundamental units of the visual cortex may be nearly identical in function, design, and size to those of the gray mouse lemur.

In their Current Biology article, the researchers describe using optical imaging methods to peer into the gray mouse lemurs primary visual cortex. There they witnessed sight in action. As the lemurs were shown visual stimuli consisting of moving gratings oriented in eight different directions, the researchers detected in their visual cortices the emergence of precise patterns of neuronal signaling. They also saw that patterns of neuronal activity were organized in the small patches that, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University described as columns. They saw that, distributed across the gray mouse lemur visual cortex, columns packed with neurons formed functional orientation maps. Neighboring maps with different orientation sensitivities were arranged in a circular fashion, forming pinwheel-like shapes.

In a phone interview, Daniel Huber, an associate professor at the department of Basic Neurosciences at the University of Geneva, likened the visual processing system of the gray mouse lemur to that of a camera. A pinwheel containing multiple, neighboring columns integrates discrete bits of visual information, he explained. Its analogous to the electronic circuitry in a digital camera, which processes information from neighboring red, green and blue pixels into a single color.

In their Current Biology article, Huber and his fellow researchers compare their findings about the visual cortices of gray mouse lemurs with data about larger primates. They demonstrate that, across all of the primates species they studied, the architecture is the same. As Huber explained, this suggests that, how the gray mouse lemur sees and interprets basic visual information may be how all primates everywhere do.

Gray mouse lemur.

Surprisingly, Huber and his colleagues also found that the size of the columns is the same from one primate species to another. They are virtually identical across three orders of magnitude in body size.

How can a two-ounce and a 140-pound primate have same-sized columns? According to Huber, Its possible that this basic unit in primate vision cannot be simplified or scaled down.

This would require a silverback gorillas columns to be so thriftily packed as to fit into the primary visual cortex of a lemur whose brain is the size of a human fingertip. Indeed, in the Currrent Biology article, the researchers speculate that the organization of neurons into columns and of columns into pinwheels minimizes the length of wiring needed within the primary visual cortex, thereby economizing on volume.

While the basic visual unit size is about the same from species to species, according to Huber, the primary visual cortex of a larger primate simply contains more of those units.

Huber also noted that the fact that the units themselves are not simplified or scaled down in smaller species would indicate that they are a product of early primate evolution. Fossils of those earliest primates are very small.

According to Huber, fifty-five million years of stability is extraordinary in a complex biological system that serves so many different species.

The gray mouse lemur was declared a threatened species in 1975, though now the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species numbers it among those of the Least Concern. Still its habitat is dying back precipitously, and it is frequently caught to be sold as pets. Considering how closely todays gray mouse lemurs resemble the fossils of the very earliest primates, if the entire species disappears one day, so will a treasure chest of information about human vision, and even about humans in general.

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Scientists May Have Found The Evolutionary Roots Of Human Vision - Forbes