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Phone Cases Specifications
Our Apple iPhone cases are a grippy rubber outer case with an aluminum backing plate for both structure and support. The aluminum backing plate is the ideal print area as it will leave your chosen design with a glossy and high quality finish phone case. These cases have a protruded front to ensure your screen is protected against drops and scratches. Our phone cases have undergone a military drop test standard MIL-STD-810G 516.6 and with Sure grip sides you are sure to reduce the possibility of dropping your phone.
PC TPU Rubber/Aluminium
As per Apple iPhone Models
(Acceptable Variance +/- 1 mm)
Product Weight
0.14 Kg
Design Process
Our designs are created with the knowledge that every camera is different. This is why we design our phone cases around high-coverage areas to ensure your new case is completely visible. If you have received your order and it doesn't match the online product imagery please contact us.. As we are striving to be the best we urge you to put them to the test and give us feedback on what we can do to improve.
While our drinkware is dishwasher safe, we recommend hand washing our drinkware to avoid fading in the future.
Production Process
We create our phone cases with the highest quality equipment with perfect colour matching in mind. Through this, we strive to create a finished product that is identical to our online imagery to avoid any disappointment upon arrival. If your order greatly differs from the online store please do not hesitate to notify us (Contact Details). Through years of testing, we believe we have created exactly that and we hope you do too. To learn more about the process click here. If you would like to know more about the history and happenings of Swamp Phone Case click here
Ordering Process
Order and Pay
Add to cart, once you fill in your details the site will display shipping options. Select how you would like delivered, proceed to checkout. With 258 bit encryption, your information is kept safe. Choose from one of our payment options and complete your transaction with Feeling Goods.
If your item has an image on it, it enters the production queue, is produced and then marked as completed by Feeling Goods printing team or one of our partners. Please note, actual product may vary from pictured as every display reproduces images differently. Upon completion you will receive an email with tracking information.
We dispatch 90% of items same day if ordered before 2:00PM AEST. We are not Australia Post or a courier in any way. Once we have dispatched, please understand we can only see what you can see on your tracking. Allow enough time for it to arrive and enjoy your new Feeling Goods Product.


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Why we should put yoga in the Australian school curriculum
Young people in Australia experience very high stress in schools, which has negative impacts on their academic performance and mental health. It is crucial schools teach students how to identify and best manage stress. These skills will continue to benefit them throughout their lives.
Adolescence is a critical stage at which to intervene as health-related behaviours established during this period are often carried into adulthood.
School-based stress management programs, such as mindfulness based yoga programs, have been shown to be effective in the United States. Similar programs would benefit Australian school children.
Read more: What is mindfulness? Nobody really knows, and that's a problem
Australian school kids are highly stressed
Nearly half (47%) of Australian students feel very tense when they study, compared to the international average of 37%.
Based on the OECD average, 67% of Australian students report feeling very anxious even if well prepared for a test, compared to the international average of 56% (64% for girls and 47% for boys).
In the 50% of young people in years seven to 12 who report feeling moderately to extremely stressed over exams, the number one source of pressure comes from themselves. Coping with stress is a top issue of concern to young people.
The impact of school stress on young Australians and society
Drop out
School related academic stress and burnout decreases student academic motivation and increases the risk for dropout.
Australian early school leavers earn approximately A$27,500 less a year than school completers. People with higher rates of education report fewer illnesses and better mental health and well-being.
In 2014, there were almost 38,000 early school leavers aged 19, costing Australia A$315 million a year. Dropping out can also have wider social impacts, like repeated inter-generational problems of low academic outcomes, unemployment, poverty, less participation in the political process and contribution to the community.
Academic achievement
In Australia, students with low well-being are likely to have poorer academic achievement. Frequent positive emotions during class are associated with more student engagement, while negative emotions are associated with less engagement in years seven to ten.
Stress can also impair mental health which further reduces academic performance.
In high school, people experiencing depression symptoms have poorer educational achievement, concentration difficulties, troubles completing school tasks, and trouble with social relationships, self-learning, reading and writing as well as higher rates of risky behaviour.
The impact of stress and poor stress management follows young people into higher education. In 83% of Australian TAFE and undergraduate students, the main factor affecting people's studies was stress.
In US undergraduates, perceived stress and higher anxiety about exams translates to poorer final grades and academic performance.
Risky behaviour
Substance use has been shown to be a dominant stress management strategy in year 11 students in the US. In Canada, students who felt connected to their school report better health, higher self-worth, less anxiety and less likelihood of smoking, drinking alcohol and associating with peers who commit crimes.
Academic resilience and buoyancy increases the likelihood of success in school despite setbacks, stress or pressure in the academic setting. Resilient and buoyant students are able to maintain high levels of achievement, despite stressful events.
Schools can better support students with yoga programs
Schools can change educational policies and practices to address the needs of students at risk of academic failure. Student stress levels relate to how supportive they feel their teachers and schools are, rather than the number of school hours or the frequency of tests, according to an OECD survey.
The practice of yoga and mindfulness has become popular in recent years as a form of stress management in Australia. These practices decrease physiological markers of stress in diverse populations.
Read more: How yoga makes us happy, according to science
There is no definitive classification of yoga, but common elements are:
controlled breathing
meditative techniques
asanas (the physical yoga postures or positions)
mindfulness practice, which is the process of focusing awareness on the present moment and acknowledging and accepting feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, in a non-judgmental way.
Mindfulness-based communication improves resilience in first-year college students, while students who take part in some moderate or vigorous physical activity are less likely to report they feel very anxious about schoolwork.
In high school settings, studies from the US and India show mindfulness based yoga programs can improve grades or mitigate decreases in grades across the school year, improve emotional regulation, improve memory, anger control and fatigue/inertia, improve mood and decrease anxiety.
A qualitative study showed yoga improves self-image and management of negative emotions and optimism. Students think yoga could reduce interest in the use of drugs and alcohol and increase social cohesion with family and peers.
At home, parents can consider practising mindfulness together with their kids, and can access a range of mindfulness and meditation online programs and apps for young people, such as through Headspace and Smiling Mind.
Given the evidence base, offering mindfulness based yoga programs in schools may help young people learn to manage stress and increase their ability to bounce back in response to stress.
This article was written by Michaela Pascoe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Exercise and Mental Health, Victoria University. The piece first appeared on The Conversation.

subset: commoncrawl


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Fragaria all species
The following libraries are associated with this organism.
Pan-genome Strawberry Pangenome Project 2021 (Qin et al 2021) Whole Genome Sequences & Annotations Other Fragaria species
Potentilla micrantha, a closely related species that does not produce berries. SNP Array
Fragaria (the strawberries) is a monophyletic genus of the family Rosaceae (sub-family Rosoideae) consisting of approximately 24 species representing ploidy levels ranging from diploid (2n = 2x = 14) to decaploid (2n = 10x = 70). The wild members of the genus are distributed throughout the northern hemisphere and along parts of the western side of South America; while the primary species of cultivation and commerce, octoploid (2n = 8x = 56) Fragaria x ananassa, is grown throughout most of the world. Evolutionarily, F. x ananassa is among the youngest of crop species, having arisen in France in the mid-1700s as a hybrid between two octoploids: a white-fruited female clone of F. chiloensis ssp. chiloensis f. chiloensis brought to Europe from Chile; and a red-fruited, hermaphroditic form of F. virginiana ssp. virginiana brought to Europe from northeastern North America, likely from the St Lawrence River Basin in what now is Canadian territory. Thus, the immediate ancestry of the octoploid, cultivated strawberry traces to the Americas. The only Fragaria species of lower ploidy known to be endemic to North, South, and Central America is Fragaria vesca (see details under separate F. vesca species description). The extant distribution of Fragaria vesca species diversity ranges from Eurasia to eastern Asia. Multiple diploid and tetraploid species, a hexaploid species (F. moschata), a decaploid species (F. iturupensis) along with various odd-ploid hybrid forms, but no known octoploids are present in eastern Asia. A new decaploid species, F. cascadensis, with limited distribution centered in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, has recently been described. The strawberry fruit is variably described as an accessory fruit or an aggregate fruit. The true fruit of the strawberry are the dry, "seedy" achenes, which stud the surface of the enlarged, fleshy receptacle. Cultivated strawberry plants are typically hermaphroditic and self-compatible; however, gametophytic self-incompatibility and alternate forms of sexuality such as dioecy, subdioecy, and gynodioecy occur in various Fragaria species. Strawberry can also reproduce vegetatively via rooting of runner plants or stolons. For commercial production, strawberry is propagated clonally; however, F1-seed-based propagation is now being implemented on an increasing scale in international settings. Two diploid species, F. vesca and F. iinumae, have been identified as likely subgenomic contributors to the genomes of the octoploid Fragaria species. Other diploids may have contributed genes or subgenomic components as well. The specifics of the reticulate evolutionary pathway from the diploid to the octoploid level remains to be elucidated. Extensive genomic resources have been developed in F. vesca (see F. vesca description), and complementary efforts are in progress in F. iinumae. Genome sizes (1C values) in the diploid Fragaria species are about 240 Mbp, while those in the octoploids are about 800 Mbp. Transcripts
Available Fragaria transcript data in GDR . Click on the Transcript Assembly name for more detailed information. The Fragaria Reference Transcriptome (Fragaria RefTrans v1.0) from published RNA-Seq and EST data is coming soon.


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Recently, Jeramy Hale Sensei was teaching at the dojo. He brought up a point which I thought was so important that I decided to make a video about it. Jeramy Sensei was making the point that your aikido training partner is not your pretend enemy.
Here's the video. I hope you enjoy. I look forward to seeing your comments.
Here's the transcript to the video:
Hi, everyone. My name is Frank Bloksberg. I am Chief Instructor of Aikido'Ka, an aikido dojo in Grass Valley, California. My good friend Jeramy Hale taught at the dojo on a recent Friday evening, and said something so important and profound that I feel compelled to discuss it with you. Jeramy was talking about the relationship between the people training. Jeramy explained that even though your partner is playing the role of an attacker, that person is not your pretend enemy. Let me say this again because it's so incredibly important. Even though your training partner is playing the role of attacker, that person is not your pretend enemy. I'll explain why Jeramy's point is so important.
Here's a quote from an article about the self-defense value of a particular form of karate. "When we train, we're as serious as we would be during a life-and-death struggle. Our mindset throughout each session is that we're really defending ourselves. We're conditioning our minds to see our attackers and to fight them with every move we make." In other words, see the people you're training with as your enemy and treat them that way. After years of this type of practice, how do you think you'll respond to any type of a threat, whether physical or emotional?
Well, here's what the article says about that:
"When students practice, we try to develop reaction. Ideally, when you're attacked, you'll react automatically. The further you go in your training, the more your techniques will become reactions. They'll become second nature to you."
I agree that it's absolutely true that training should create fast, precise movement. If you have to think about how to respond to a physical attack, then chances are your response will be too late. But if year after year you practice a violent response to attacks, then that's how you'll respond to any perceived attack – without any thought and lightning quick. Indeed, that's the point.
The self-defense aspects of Aikido are about resolving disputes, even potentially violent disputes, with no one getting hurt. With Aikido, we look to blend with our attacker. We use evasive movements to unravel the attack and place the attacker in an untenable position. We practice these movements until we can precisely perform them without thought and lightning quick. So if you do perceive an attack, you will not automatically respond with violence. And that's the point.
Here's another important point:
Aikido, as with every other real, modern martial art is not a combat system. Aikido is primarily about self-improvement and relationship building. While Aikido practice can build incredibly effective self-defense skills, it's primarily an art. Practicing Aikido can make you a much happier, healthier member of an incredibly fun community. Practicing a true combat system will make you a better fighter and get you beat up a lot, likely nothing more. You get to choose which one of these you want from your life. You know which one I choose.
Here's how I describe the roles that attacker and defender have in Aikido practice:
You bring the attack in such a way so that your training partner can do his or her technique perfectly. Likewise, you perform your defensive techniques so that the attacker can receive the technique perfectly. We're people, so we don't do anything perfectly. Nonetheless, that's the goal. We practice to support each other's improvement. We're not pretending to be enemies. We're partners in our practice, and working together for mutual self-improvement and to learn whatever the thing is that we're working on.
Whenever human beings understand something, we automatically believe it. You don't have a choice. The belief happens automatically. Once you understand something, you may be able to override the belief. But many beliefs continue even after the belief has been thoroughly debunked. The scientific literature is filled with studies about this. If we pretend to be each other's enemies, then we actually are enemies at least for some time. We then have to somehow override that belief.
Consider for a moment what pretending to be enemies can bring up in your mind. Bringing an attack as an enemy involves trying to hurt your enemy. It brings up the desire to defeat, even humiliate one's enemy. We destroy trust and community by doing so. In no way is this appropriate for Aikido practice.
Aikido exists to improve our lives and our relationships. Not surprisingly then, creating enemies has absolutely no place in the dojo – not even pretending and not even for a short time.
Now don't get the wrong idea. Aikido is martially effective. Depending on your practice, it can be extremely effective. You can train as vigorously and powerfully as you want. You will get there with respect and by building trust with your training partners.
The dojo is a safe place for everyone who trains here. If you and I are training together, you have to feel safe. If you don't feel safe, then I have work to do to get you there, and being your enemy sure isn't going to accomplish that.
So thank you, Jeramy. If Aikido training sounds good to you, then please check us out at JoinAikido.com, and thank you so very much for your time.
Start your 30 days free aikido training by filling out the form below. I look forward to training with you!


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Masters Scholarships
Nanotechnology/Medical Engineering: Fully Funded KESS II MSc by Research Scholarship: Smart Sensors…
*This scholarships is part funded by the Welsh Government's European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys.*
This fully funded research Masters project will develop a novel, smart electrochemical sensor technology for the detection of Cannabidiol (or CBD), a prescription drug. Using the state of the art facilities at Swansea's Centre for Nanohealth, the MSc scholar will work with top research scientists and academics to develop sensors for testing and purity quality control.
CBD benefits include acting as an anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsant, anti-oxidant, an antipsychotic agent, and is, therefore, an effective treatment for such disorders as inflammation, oxidative injury, epilepsy, nausea and vomiting – according to a 2013 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. As of 2018 in the United States, cannabidiol was approval of as a prescription drug by the US Food and Drug Administration for two rare forms of childhood epilepsy.
The project will involve the development of biosensor assay for the electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical detection of cannabidiol. This will involve the development of novel nanomaterials, functionalisation strategies and biosensor evaluation. The student will gain hands on experience on the high-end techniques such as SEM, XPS, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and electrochemical techniques including Cyclic voltammetry and Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy.
These transferable skills are highly sought after by industry and academia.
The student will join the Centre for Nanohealth under the guidance of Dr. Anitha Devadoss and closely work with Professor Owen Guy's research group. The company with which this project is associated, Zimmer and Peacock Ltd, is a global electrochemical sensor developer and manufacturer.
Scholarships are collaborative awards with external partners including SME's and micro companies, as well as public and third sector organisations. The scholarship provides 1 year funding with a 3 month period to complete the thesis. The achievement of a postgraduate skills development award, PSDA, is compulsory for each KESS II scholar and is based on a 30 credit award.
ERC Advanced Grant HisTochText / Ingénieur d'Etudes Microscopie
One-year position / Ingénieur d'études sous contrat à durée déterminée
Location: CRC du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris
Gross monthly salary: 2 305,51 €
The Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE) is a large institution of higher education and research, member of the Comue Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), and founding member of the Campus Condorcet project. The EPHE is established on several sites in France and French Polynesia.
– 1 year contract in the framework of the ERC project "History of the Tocharian texts of the Pelliot collection". This ERC project focuses on the study of Buddhist culture in the Kucha region of the Tarim Basin (present-day Xinjiang, China) in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. For this purpose, documents in Tocharian and in Sanskrit of the Pelliot Kuchean Collection, held in the French National Library (BNF), will be studied by both historians and linguists and physicochemists.
– Within this large project, the job consists in providing information on the manuscript material constituents in order to enhance the codicological knowledge of these documents and to help classify manuscripts by combining data from studying texts (linguistics, content of texts …) and from scientific results achieved by material analysis. To do this, should be identified: tree species for documents on wooden tablets and fibers for paper documents, using mainly optical and digital microscopy techniques. Digital microscopy could also provide additional information by observing the surface of documents.
– She/He should Identify the materials (wood, paper) constituting the supports of manuscripts by microscopic techniques (optical, digital).
– She/He should Set up a non-invasive identification and analysis & testing protocol for wood and paper substrates by microscopy.
Analyzes on manuscripts shall be conducted at the BNF (Richelieu site) using transportable equipment (several weeks planned on site). Mission preparation and data processing will be done at the Centre de recherche sur la conservation (CRC) on the site of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris. At CRC, he / she will work under the responsibility of a research scientist in strong interaction with the various researchers of the laboratory involved in this project.
– She/He should work in Multidisciplinary collaboration with physicochemists and historians specializing in manuscripts studies
– She/He should take part in international meetings
– She/He should write papers on research works
– She/He should have a Good knowledge of plant anatomy and xylology,
– She/He should have a Good working knowledge of English and particularly in the scientific field
– Great interest in studying ancient manuscripts materials would be appreciated
– Good knowledge in the identification of wood species, and possibly of paper fibers
– Strong knowledge or even mastering optical and digital microscopy techniques.
Soft skills
– She/He should be predisposed to working independently and showing initiative while at the same time working cooperatively within the research team, and collaborative working relationships;
– She/He should be aware of health and safety rules
Initial training in sciences, graduated with a Master degree
With a Specialty in Plant Anatomy
Previous experience in the characterization of ancient manuscripts will be appreciated
For further information, please contact:
[email protected] , +33 1 40 79 53 18
If you want to apply, please email your resume and your letter of motivation to :
[email protected] (Principal Investigator)
[email protected] (Project manager)
[email protected] (Scientific partner – supervisor)
Masters Scholarships
Māori Electoral Option MA Thesis Scholarship
The scholarship covers stipend of $15,000, plus tuition fees for the thesis component
Tenure of award:
One year
Closing dates for applications:
15 November 2018
Number of awards offered:
History or background of award
An MA Scholarship is available for a thesis in the 2019 academic year, associated with the 'Big Data Approach to the Problem of Electoral Turnout', a Marsden-funded research project, under the supervision of Professor Jack Vowles. Taking a 'big data' approach, using marked electoral rolls indicating whether or not the 30,000 people sampled cast a vote, this research maps and seeks to explain stability and change in voting and not voting over two general elections and two local elections. The proposed research will analyse movement between the general and Māori rolls during 2018, using both the matched sample and the entire rolls before and after the change.
Purpose of award
Applications are sought from those who are eligible at the time of application, or who will have become eligible at the start of Trimester 2 the following year, to enrol for a Master's degree by thesis worth 90 points or more. This will either be Part 2 of a two-year, 180 point Master of Political Science (MPols) degree (course code POLS595, 90 points) or a 120 point Master of Arts (MA) thesis in Political Science (course code POLS591).
Selection criteria
* Applicants would normally be expected to have completed a Bachelor's degree or Honours or Master's degree Part 1 in political science or an appropriate social science subject demonstrating academic achievement equivalent to a First-Class Honours degree from a New Zealand University.
* Applicants undertaking a 180-point Master's degree may be eligible for this scholarship provided that they conduct the research under POLS595 (as a 90-point thesis).
* Scholarships will be awarded solely on the basis of academic merit.
* The research will require a willingness to engage with and analyse data, using various methods of quantitative analysis and experience in using statistical methods will be an advantage. Assistance in learning such skills, if required, will be available from the project research assistant in the first half of the year, and throughout from the supervisor.
How do students apply?
Apply online
Decision makers
Professor Jack Vowles, Dr. Matthew Gibbons, Professor Jon Fraenkel.
What conditions are attached to acceptance of this award?
Entry into MA or MPols programme
For guidelines, application forms and more information about this award contact:
Position: The Scholarships Office
Organisation: Victoria University of Wellington
Address: PO Box 600 Wellington 6140 New Zealand
Phone: +64 4 463 5557
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/study/student-finance/scholarships
Masters Scholarships
Vision Matauranga – Deep South Challenge Masters Scholarship (by Thesis)
Up to $20,000 ($15,000 stipend and a fees contribution of up to $5,000)
Tenure of award:
One year
Closing dates for applications:
15 November 2018
Number of awards offered:
History or background of award
In collaboration with Victoria University, the VISION MĀTAURANGA science programme as part of the Deep South National Science Challenge, is offering two Masters Scholarships. The scholarships have been established to build cross-disciplinary research capability and capacity in global change studies to help meet the emerging demands of increasingly complex social, economic, political and bio-physical system changes facing Māori and wider Aotearoa/New Zealand society. Projects are sought that will contribute to the following four research themes:
Theme 1: Understanding climate change – linkages, pressure points and potential responses
Theme 2: Exploring adaptation options for Māori communities
Theme 3: Assistance to Māori businesses to aid decision-making and long-term sustainability
Theme 4: Products, services and systems derived from mātauranga Māori*
* Includes: Te Reo Māori and Tikanga Māori
Purpose of award
The scholarships have been established to build cross-disciplinary research capability and capacity in global change studies to help meet the emerging demands of increasingly complex social, economic, political and bio-physical system changes brought on by a warming climate facing Māori and wider Aotearoa/New Zealand society.
Applications are sought from those who are eligible at the time of application, or who will have become eligible within six months of notification, to enrol in a Master's degree by thesis worth 90 points or more. In most cases this will be Part 2 of a two-year Master's degree.
Selection criteria
Applications are sought from those who are eligible at the time of application, or who will have become eligible within six months of notification, to enrol in a Master's degree by thesis worth 90 points or more. In most cases this will be Part 2 of a two-year Master's degree.
– Applications are invited from New Zealanders of Māori descent
– You must be eligible to undertake an MA or MSc at Victoria University of Wellington
– You must be enrolled in a full-time study
– Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit
– A suitable university supervisor must be agreed prior to acceptance
– Proposed research should be feasible and applicable
– Study must commence within 6 months of receiving this scholarship
Applicants across the physical and social sciences are encouraged to apply.
How do students apply?
Scholarship applicants must contact the School in which they wish to enrol directly so that their research proposal and the feasibility of supervision can be assessed. Enrolling as a Master's student and applying for a Scholarship are two separate processes. The holding of Scholarship is conditional upon the scholarship recipient gaining enrolment as a Master's student.
Applicants, other than those who have completed all of their study at Victoria, must include a certified copy of their academic record from other institutions with this application.
Apply online
Decision makers
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit by the Deep South Challenge Kāhui Māori and the Science Leader for the Vision Mātauranga science programme.
How and when do students learn of the decision?
Once the Selection Committee has made a decision applicants will be notified by email of their results, and any feedback from the Committee. The scholarship will be paid in monthly instalments following completion of a 6-monthly progress report by the student.
What conditions are attached to acceptance of this award?
Scholarship recipients will be expected to sign a Postgraduate Scholarship Contract.
Once the period of tenure of a scholarship has commenced, the Scholarships Committee may, at its sole discretion, grant a scholarship recipient a deferment of their scholarship for a period of up-to six months. In most cases such a deferment will coincide with a formal suspension from their enrolment in the Master's degree.
A scholarship shall be terminated and the corresponding proportion of the scholarship emolument forfeited, if a scholarship recipient ceases to resume the aforesaid programme of research or advanced study within one month of the last day of the period of deferment.
Scholarship recipients shall be required to devote themselves full-time to their programme of research during the tenure of the scholarship and may not hold a position of employment without the approval of the Scholarships Committee. Approval may be given for scholarship recipients to undertake paid employment (usually tutoring) for up to a maximum of 600 hours in one calendar year.
Each scholarship recipient and his/her principal supervisor shall provide a quarterly progress report to the Scholarships Office six months after the commencement of the scholarship. Where progress is not satisfactory, the matter will be referred to the Scholarships Committee.
The Scholarships Committee may at any time suspend or terminate a scholarship, if the scholarship recipient is not diligently pursuing their programme of research, has violated the University Statute on Conduct, or has failed to comply with any of the terms and conditions on which the scholarship was awarded.
Who else has information about this award?
For more information about this award and the Vision Mātauranga programme of science please contact:
Associate Professor Sandy Morrison
Deep South Challenge Vision Mātauranga Science Leader
Email: [email protected]
For guidelines, application forms and more information about this award contact:
Position: The Scholarships Office
Organisation: Victoria University of Wellington
Address: PO Box 600 Wellington 6140 New Zealand
Phone: +64 4 463 5557
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/study/student-finance/scholarships


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Something significant shifted in media this year — and it's not just about the pandemic keeping us inside, glued to screens. It's all due to a simple idea: cater to the will of the consumer.
With today's fragmented, social media-fueled pop culture environment, the consumer has never had more power. A random tweet can derail a blockbuster movie; a stream of clever TikTok videos can create a star. And all the biggest media companies are chasing viewer tastes more intensely than ever, focusing on their streaming platforms as consumers create an increasingly personalized, fractured media diet.
Here's how all that adds up to the four biggest ways 2020 transformed media.
Broadcast TV and movie theaters face serious threats
Once the center of the entertainment universe, broadcast television and movie theaters have been hit hard by the pandemic, which has changed consumer behavior in lasting ways.
For broadcasters, the lockdowns in mid-March forced many shows to end their seasons early and kept networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, The CW and Fox from developing many new shows. The fall season, when broadcasters often debut their most-anticipated new series, was pushed back for months. And a few new shows which managed to debut in the fall, like Kim Cattrall's Filthy Rich and John Slattery's NEXT on Fox, are already canceled.
Small wonder media companies like Disney and NBC Universal have reorganized their corporate structures to emphasize streaming.
As a consumer with a pretty decent home media system, I had already set a high bar for movies worth the hassle and cost of viewing in a theater. Add in the possibility of COVID-19 exposure and increased availability of theatrical films on streaming, and that math tilts pretty hard against movie theaters.
I've often believed the rise of new media doesn't kill old media; it just forces it to change. So broadcast TV and movie theaters won't disappear entirely, but they will be transformed.
News media struggled to convince half of America to accept basic facts.
Did Joe Biden win the presidency in a fair election? Is the coronavirus a deadly health threat, curbed by widespread mask wearing? Those are basic questions with basic answers — yes, and yes — but Americans have been divided on these issues throughout 2020.
The divide is fed by political partisanship, ideologically driven media outlets and a President one factchecker says issued more than 20,000 false or misleading claims as of July – long before he began challenging November's election result with a series of meritless charges about widespread voter fraud.
Often, Trump has seemed to embody what Stephen Colbert once called "truthiness"; believing something is true because you feel or want it to be true, regardless of the actual facts. Indeed, it is notable that the top two contenders for factchecking website PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year" in 2020 were often echoed by President Trump and Trump-friendly media outlets like Fox News Channel: COVID-19 denialism and a refusal to believe Joe Biden won the presidential election (Coronavirus denial eventually won the top spot).
The problem was highlighted in a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey, which found 61 percent of Americans overall trusted the presidential election result, but just 24 percent of Republicans did.
We are learning this year how much of American democracy depends on the mutual acceptance of norms and basic facts. What we may learn next year, is what happens to democracy if that mutual acceptance drops even further.
The reckoning over civil rights and racial diversity transformed entertainment TV and journalism
This year, I saw three things happen in television that I never expected. The Bachelor chose its first Black man as a star. Cops and Live PD, two unscripted shows long criticized for stereotyping poor folks and people of color, were canceled.And CBS, a network long criticized for its lack of diversity, announced specific diversity goals for scripted and unscripted series, aimed at boosting the numbers of non-white people throughout their productions.
Many factors led to these changes, including the reckoning over systemic racism kicked off by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police this summer. And CBS has weathered a string of scandals this year involving allegations of abusive workplace conduct or staffers and contestants of color feeling marginalized at shows like All Rise, Hawaii Five-O, Magnum P.I., MacGuyver andSurvivor.
Skeptical as I am about the TV industry's resistance to real transformation on racial issues — note reports that Cops quietly resumed productionafter its cancelation by Paramount Network to make episodes for overseas outlets — the success of shows led by non-white characters like I May Destroy You, Lovecraft Country, Small Axe, P-Valley, Ramy and The Last Dance are a good sign.
The world of journalism also saw seismic changes this year, from the resignation of The Philadelphia Inquirer's editor after the newspaper published a headline which offensively referenced the Black Lives Matter movement – it read, "Buildings Matter, Too" – to apologies from both The Los Angeles Times and The Kansas City Star for past racism in its coverage on people of color.
It all feels like a long-overdue recognition of the impact systemic racism continues to have on media. The issue goes beyond individual acts perpetrated by specific people; it's about ending habits, strategies, reflexes and traditions within platforms which marginalize non-white people.
There's more work to be done, especially to feature Hispanic characters and storytellers, who remain among the most underrepresented groups on TV and in journalism.
But at a time when some of the best shows on television are also the most diverse, there's little argument left for failing to reflect the wide array of races, cultures, genders and orientations visible in the wider world.
The line between theatrical films and TV vanished as the next phase of the streaming wars begins.
The streaming wars kicked off with big platform launches, from Apple TV+ and Disney+ late last year, to WarnerMedia's HBO Max and NBC Universal's Peacock this year. 2020 showed us the shape of the coming second phase: increasing and refining what's on these platforms, to define the identity of the service and hold your attention.
It's like that scene in every Marvel movie where all the heroes assemble for the big fight: Disney this month announced plans to fill Disney+ with lots of new material – 100 titles annually for the next four years – including at least 10 new Star Wars shows and 11 Marvel programs. Warner Bros. will debut all 17 of its feature films scheduled for release in 2021 on HBO Max the same date they hit theaters. They're both gunning for each other and industry leader Netflix, which still has more subscribers than either Disney+ or HBO Max.
And even though short-form streamer Quibi died just months after launch, new streaming platforms like AMC+ and Discovery+ have emerged, filled with even more content.
This will be a pitched battle for control of the attention economy – what earns consumers' notice and loyalty. In the process, more material will move to streaming television, reaching us through our smartphones, tablets, desktops or smart TVs.
The success of Disney+'s launch – Disney says it gained nearly 87 million subscribers since its launch in November 2019, four years sooner than early predictions – resulted from careful planning and help from the pandemic. The service had a library of classic content filled with material from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm (Star Wars), Pixar and National Geographic. Disney+ only needed one original hit early on, the amazing reinvention of the Star Wars universe called The Mandalorian.
HBO Max had a tougher ride, with a monthly subscription fee of nearly $15 (about twice the cost of Disney+) and a less impressive content library when stacked against Disney+'s big franchises. Moving films like The Matrix 4 and the Suicide Squad sequel to HBO Max may help juice consumer interest, but it will come at the expense of angering the film industry and theater owners, who may lose a fortune if Warner Bros. films struggle at the box office.
Successfully taking advantage of a media trend is all about timing: Sure, everything may likely move to streaming eventually, but did Warner Bros. pull the trigger too soon?
The answer to that question will determine the shape of the world's most powerful entertainment companies for years to come.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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These are fried and not baked, knocking them straight into the realm of unhealthy treats. Such are the food cravings you get around this time of year before those healthy eating resolutions come knocking on January 1st (if you're that way inclined).
I made these by mixing a simple bread dough and enriching it with melted vegan margarine as opposed to the milk and eggs used in traditional doughnut recipes. You can fill the doughnuts with jam if you want, or shape them into rings. This recipe provides the basic canvas but you can be as creative as you want. Enjoy! ;)
makes approx. 10-12
- 1 tbsp dried yeast
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp vegan margarine (melted)
- 2.5 cups plain flour
- 4 tbsp caster sugar
- sunflower oil
- cinnamon and caster sugar, for dusting
Combine the yeast, warm water and 1 tsp of sugar. Leave aside for about 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy.
Mix the melted vegan margarine with the yeast mixture and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the plain flour and 4 tbsp of caster sugar. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. Mix to form a soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm area for about an hour.
Knead the dough lightly (in the bowl) for a minute. With oiled hands, form the doughnuts (for a ring shape, use the end of a wooden spoon or your thumb to poke a whole through the middle...whatever works) and space them out on a lined baking tray. Cover and leave to rest for another 10 minutes.
In a pan, heat enough sunflower oil to deep fry the doughnuts. You'll know the oil is ready for frying when a small piece of the dough sizzles and starts to brown.
Fry the doughnuts on medium heat, flipping them round if necessary, until golden brown all over. Drain on some kitchen paper.
Sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and caster sugar.


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Hoping to share a little bit of the spotlight with that other eco-themed documentary — alongside which it debuted at the Sundance film festival — Who Killed the Electric Car? will drive (without emissions!) into theaters next month (or tomorrow, if you're in NYC or L.A.).
On June 9, I sat down for a wide-ranging discussion with Chris Paine, the director, Chelsea Sexton, an activist prominently featured in the film, and Wally Rippel, an engineer who played a role in developing the power system for the late, lamented GM EV-1.
For still more electric-car interview fun, go here.
DR: So I started watching this movie, about this one peculiar car, and then about halfway through all the sudden I'm watching a movie about fuel economy and global warming and energy security. Did you use the former as a hook for the latter, or did the former just carry you into the latter?
CP: That's an excellent question. When I started filming I wasn't thinking [about the bigger issues], but by the time we were editing it's like, this is such a great microcosm.
It's more than a car story, you know. I mean, much more than a car story.
DR: How did you hear about the EV? I'm sure I'm not the only one who had no idea it even existed before the movie came out.
CP: Well, it's funny you say that. Car companies just didn't talk about it. The only reason they built them was that California made them. And to their shock, they built, thanks to engineers like Wally, probably the most advanced car Detroit ever built, and the most maintenance-free car. And when all the car companies were forced to do it, they realized that it threatened their business model. It also threatened the oil industry. So they wanted to dismantle it.
WR: The sad thing is, the technology has gotten so much better since then, and other people are doing it, so as a country we're missing a lot of opportunity here.
DR: It seems so dunderheaded to think that building a better car would hurt an automaker's business model. Did you talk to people inside the car companies? Did you get a sense of their deliberations?
CP: Tom Everhart, the board member from GM — one of our amazing interviews — said they debated internally and basically GM and most carmakers decided to put all their money on a gas car and ditch this. Except Toyota didn't. Toyota said, you know what, we're going to keep this hybrid thing running. And Honda did too. But American carmakers threw the whole thing out the window, because they were making so much money off their high-margin gasoline cars.
WR: But Toyota's making money and GM's losing money. So they lost the bet.
DR: You don't touch on this too much in the movie, but there's also a growing concern that oil supply is peaking while demand is growing; gas is inevitably going to rise in price, which makes the life of the gas car … who knows, five, 10, 20, 30 years. But limited. Inevitably declining. Is no one in GM anticipating that, or is it just a focus on short-term profits?
WR: I'll bend over backwards and try to be as fair as I can to the car companies. First of all, a lot of things have happened since they got rid of the EV-1 that they might not have expected. The price of oil's gone up a lot. Remember in the year 2000, oil was $12 a barrel or something. And now it's been hovering around $70, with the possibility of going up a lot if anything happens unexpectedly.
The technology has moved a lot more. For many, many years people put a lot of money into batteries and they didn't see much come out. Thanks in part to the consumer electronics industry, a lot of progress has taken place in batteries. So we have better batteries, we have higher oil prices, and those things, you could argue, might not have been anticipated. They should have been — you didn't have to be a rocket scientist.
CP: You would think that friggin' GM would have one guy from Andersen or Price Waterhouse that would say, hey, there's a chance gas could go to $5 a gallon.
CS: I think that they're aware of it, they're just choosing to address it differently. I mean, their whole ethanol campaign is their statement that on some level they're aware of this. It doesn't mean they're addressing it in the best way.
DR: That was my next question, actually. You discuss hydrogen quite a bit in the movie — the illusion of hydrogen, perpetually 10 years out — but it seems to me that ethanol is the bigger gesture on the part of American carmakers toward this issue. Why didn't you get into that more? Do you have any thoughts on it?
CP: Well, the way industry went after the electric car in California was to say, hey, we have another zero-emission vehicle, that's hydrogen fuel-cell. And it's the next car. So it it fit into the [film's murder-suspect] structure. The thing with ethanol and other alternative fuels is: these are very big topics. So the movie would go from 90 minutes to 2.5 hours very quickly. Both Wally and Chelsea will tell you that in our view, electricity is the right way to power your car the first 50 miles of every drive. After that, with a plug-in hybrid you have a fuel. And the right fuel is either …
CS: … is renewable diesel or cellulosic ethanol. But in any case, made in a better energy-equation way, and also made from waste instead of food crops.
WR: People have pointed to Brazil and said, look at what Brazil has done, they don't have this dependency on foreign oil. But they've also cut down rainforests in order to do this.
DR: They also use way less energy per capita than we do.
WR: One of the best answers for providing energy right now is wind. You put a wind generator on agricultural land, and you use less than one-tenth of one percent of the land in doing that. You grow the crops still, but you've got a second crop, which is electrical energy. And the amount of energy you get per square mile is quite a bit higher than with any of the biofuels, ethanol included. So as far as utilization of land or utilization of capital, electricity has a lot going for it. The weak link in the equation has always been the battery. When you have an electric car, the cost of energy is the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon, but the battery depreciation cost may be twice that.
DR: The movie seems to start out in support of all-electric cars and end up in support of electric-gas hybrids, which seems a little bit of a step back. Why not all electric cars now?
WR: Ten years ago, I don't know that we could have been talking about plug-in hybrids the way we do now, because the batteries, in order to get adequate power for acceleration, had to be large enough that it was really looking like an electric car. You didn't have space left over for an internal combustion engine. So there's been technical progress that allows us to put two power trends together. And this is not a step back: I mean, these vehicles are pure electric if you're driving 30 miles a day. But they also, by virtue of the engine, allow you to have a much larger market share. It potentially can become not just a niche thing but mainstream, and really do some good.
CS: I think we remain very much in support of [battery-only] electrics, but I am also realistic about what the car companies are willing to do next. And this is a nice technological middle ground that has probably an initial larger market than pure battery-electrics, that appeals to more segments of society and more of the folks who are coming to the table: the neo-conservatives and evangelicals, pretty much everyone comes at it from a different angle, but they all arrive at the same solution. And also it's a way to take advantage of all of the different types of renewable energies, biodiesel and any of the others. If there's one car that can do it, [plug-in hybrid] will be it.
DR: You say the weak link is batteries. But one of the other weak links, or one of the other big questions, is the fact that most electricity nowadays comes from coal.
WR: Fifty-one percent.
DR: That's touched on in the movie briefly, but could one of you say more about how to address the criticism that shifting your emissions [from oil] to coal isn't all that great?
WR: This is a key point. First of all, the total amount of electricity we generate in terms of energy units is about five times the energy required to power all the ground vehicles, all the cars and small trucks. Often people don't realize that. You tell them if every vehicle were electric, you don't triple the size of the utilities. The amount of generation that you have to have in terms of power plants increases only a few percent.
CP: Right now you could charge, overnight, 20 to 30 million cars a night without building any additional utilities, just using off-peak power.
WR: So the argument there is dealing with capital resource. And that's important, especially compared to hydrogen. You don't have to build a new infrastructure. It's already there, it's paid for.
The other issue, which is very important, is CO2. Electric utilities produce more CO2 than cars and small trucks. So that issue has to be dealt with. That is not optional. And the options for dealing with that are [things like] photovoltaic, wind, geothermal. So the point is that after you deal with CO2, it doesn't mean you have to double the size of the utility. It's a 20 percent effect.
CP: There's a huge misinformation campaign about this. Even if you have coal, or the current national mix, if you use an electric car, because of the basic efficiency, because you can clean up the stacks, it's 60 percent cleaner to run an electric car than it is to run a CO2 car. If you're in California — this is what the movie mentions — it's one-tenth of the CO2, because we have so many non-coal sources.
DR: Same for Washington — there's so much hydropower.
WR: Yes. You have to ask, when I plug something in, where is that extra load being picked up? And it's picked up not by a mix but by one particular thing, and in some cases it is picked up by a coal-generating plant. But even in that most extreme case, you're better off. The big picture is, when you look at where we've got to be 20 years from now, we've got to replace those coal plants as well.
CP: Well, we need sequestering.
DR: Sequestering is hydrogen-esque in its perpetually-10-years-out status.
CS: Absolutely. But it's important to understand that electric cars will get cleaner over time as the grid gets cleaner. Gasoline cars can only get dirtier.
And while the grid can support millions of plug-in cars without having to increase generating capacity, it's going to take some time to get those millions of cars on the road, and in that time sequestration will either prove itself or not.
WR: Only 2 percent of our electricity comes from oil at this point; that 2 percent will probably disappear in the next few years. So we've got to do something with utilities around the CO2 issue, and we're going to be forced to do it. And this makes plug-in hybrids 20 years from now look wonderful. It's not going to be an issue — people won't be asking that question.
DR: I'm sure there are some hardcore environmentalists out there who say a movie like this, and the hype around hybrids and electric cars, is all part of fetishizing personal transportation, when what we really should be doing is enhancing public transportation, building denser cities, trying to break this illusion that everyone needs that 20-ton machine to carry them around to the grocery store. Did you think about that at all?
CP: We certainly did. But we're also dealing with American realities, and the American personality is so tied up in the car. So right now electricity drives a lot of public transportation, which is a good thing, but in the meantime … it's not going to be an instant shift.
CS: Certainly public transportation is one of the solutions, and some cities are already very conducive to it, and others — L.A. in particular — are not. If you talk to urban planners, they describe shifting to public transportation as the 50-year plan. We could get electric cars or plug-in hybrids back on the road in the next year, while also working in terms of public transportation for the future.
DR: Did you expect the film to get picked up [by a studio]?
CP: You know, you start a project and you just [focus on] your own values and what you want to do. Obviously, when gas started hitting $3 a gallon, it made studios more interested. And it sort of reached a tipping point. People were paying attention. And the studio says, OK, we might not lose money on this project. It's really all about timing. So in a way we're lucky.
You can't underestimate how fun it is to drive an electric car. I never really loved cars, and I drove that electric car and it just took my breath away. So fast! The best thing is you pull up next to a Porsche and you take it off the line. And they think you're driving some prissy golf cart. And you're like, oh by the way, this car is pretty green, and … anyway.
WR: That was my vision in doing this, in the engineering, was to make a statement that electric propulsion can be more than environmentally friendly — it can be a lot of fun. And I think that, by the way, fits into the previous question of mass transit. Cars are more exciting than transit, let's face it.
CS: We're not trying to position electric cars as the car for everybody, or even plug-in hybrids; it is much more about giving people a choice. Ultimately we need to go toward a diversity of fuels, but so many people don't realize what an amazing choice they were denied, and what a viable choice.
DR: Is there an extant, working EV-1 on the road?
CS: GM gutted and donated about 40 of them, split roughly between colleges and museums. A few of the universities have rebuilt theirs, so there are a few that are running that way, but there are not any originally intact, legally obtained working EV-1s.
CP: In private hands — I think GM probably has a few. We saw two in Detroit under these shrouds, and we're like, oh my god, I'd give anything for that — but if I steal a car we'd have a whole 'nother problem.
WR: That's a good movie.
DR: A heist movie.
CP: Who stole the electric car?
DR: The movie was very even-handed, distributing blame among the many various bad actors involved, but I'm curious: did any one of the many suspects you identified really irk you more than the others?
CP: Well, we didn't include a lot. We didn't nail the media. The media wouldn't report this story; they're still not.
I think the one that makes me most upset sometimes are these PR agencies that get hired by the auto and oil industry to manipulate public opinion. The Automobile Manufacturers' Association and the Western States Petroleum Association are both in the business of influencing society by manipulating media. And that to me is the most unconscionable thing.
WR: It puts us on par with the Soviet Union, I think.
DR: Sort of puts the lie to the free-market arguments — what people do and don't want — when all the available information is basically sponsored or manipulated by the interests involved.
WR: You know, we have a unique situation here and that is that 97 percent of ground transportation is oil-based. For the electric utilities, you don't have that monopoly, you have all different sources of energy, ranging from hydro to geothermal. And if you look at advertising, you see that the automotive sector is a very large sector in many different media. So you have a kind of locking of arms where people say, we're going to control this. And it makes it difficult for a story to come out; it makes it difficult for people to make a choice.
DR: Now that the movie's out, do you feel like there's resistance to letting it get publicity?
CP: Look on IMDB: our rating is 4.3 out of 10 stars. Now, my ego aside about whether I made a good movie or not, I know it's not a 4.3. The worst I'd say is it's a 6, and I happen to think it's a lot more than that. We showed that screening two times at Sundance and every time got a standing ovation, blah blah blah, and then here come 300 entries giving the movie a 2. And some of the entries came from India and the Midwest.
DR: Outsourced?
CP: John Q Public goes to the site, they go oh, electric car, I'm kind of interested — but I don't know if I want to see a 4 movie, you know? So that's dirty baseball.
DR: Do you want to guess final box office?
CP: [laughs] I hope we're the 1-2 punch with Inconvenient Truth.
DR: Do you feel like you're competing for viewers with that movie, or do you feel like it's synergy?
CP: That's the big picture, and [ours is] a specific example. That movie's a little bit more of a lecture, ours is more of a movie.
CS: They're pretty different thematically. His is a very smart but very academically presented film, and ours is a little more rebellious in spots. They complement each other nicely that way.
DR: I asked Al Gore why [his movie spent] so much time on the problem and not on solutions, and he said it's because Americans are in denial about the problem. But I guess one way of looking at it is, your movie is one answer to the question: what can people do?
CS: Well, I think we have learned, if nothing else, you absolutely have to ask for what you want. The longer you accept the status quo, the longer we're going to have it. And it's definitely been a lesson that we as a global community have to start asking more questions and paying more attention and making ourselves aware, but also have more faith in our ability to create change. Because there's been this [sense that] "I can't make a difference," kind of that same thing with voting, and it's just not the case anymore.
CP: Yeah, car companies are so used to [saying], here's what's for sale: you choose from our line. But right now, you can bark back up the tree and say, I'm not buying a damn Prius until you plug it in. And then that goes back to the manager and corporate, and they sit there and go, uhhh …
CS: A nationwide media outlet came to us last year during our little vigil, and while they were setting up the cameras, they said, we want to tell you a story: we just came from Toyota, and we were talking to them and asked them why they didn't build a plug-in hybrid, and their distilled, non-sugarcoated answer was: because we don't have to. So many people are buying the gas-burning version, we simply don't need to.
It's the perfect encapsulation of auto-industry attitude — and probably not just the auto industry. The longer you buy what they make, the longer they'll keep making that and nothing else.


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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastating illness that gradually robs sufferers of muscle strength and eventually causes a lethal, full-body paralysis. The only drug available to treat the disease extends life spans by a meager three months on average.
In a new study published in Nature Genetics, University of Pennsylvania researchers and colleagues have made inroads into the mechanism by which ALS acts. Working with a powerful fruit fly model of the disease, they found a way of reducing disease toxicity that slows the dysfunction of neurons and showing that a parallel mechanism can reduce toxicity in mammalian cells. Their discoveries offer the possibility of a new strategy for treating ALS.
The senior author of the study is Nancy M. Bonini, a professor in the Department of Biology in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences. Contributors from her lab include Hyung-Jun Kim, Leeanne McGurk and Ross Weber. They partnered on the work with long-time collaborators from Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, John Q. Trojanowski and Virginia M-Y Lee. Additional co-authors included Alya R. Raphael and Aaron D. Gitler of Stanford University and Eva S. LaDow and Steven Finkbeiner of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.
Recent years have seen an uptick in scientific understanding of the genetic roots of ALS.
"There's been an explosion over the last five-plus years in the identification of genes that contribute to genetically inherited ALS," Bonini said.
One of the key genes that has come to light as playing a role in the disease is called TDP-43, which binds to RNA and has been found to aggregate abnormally in the cytoplasm of patients with ALS.
Previous studies led by Gitler and Bonini, working with colleagues including Trojanowski and Lee, had found that TDP-43 interacts with a gene called ataxin-2.
"That became very interesting to us because ataxin-2 on its own is a gene whose mutations cause human degenerative disease," Bonini said.
Given the strong interactions between TDP-43 and ataxin-2, and additional findings of an association of ataxin-2 with ALS, the team continued investigating this interaction. Bonini's lab has long pursued questions about neurodegenerative disease using the fruit fly as an animal model and did so again in this work.
"These model systems are very fast and simpler than mammalian models," Bonini said. "They allow us to focus on conserved pathways and can be remarkably powerful for giving us insight into pathways involved in disease."
Using yeast models and the fly, the team showed that genes that modulate cellular structures known as stress granules, which act as holding pens for RNA and proteins when cells are under stress, modify TDP-43 toxicity. Previous work had suggested that ALS patients may have abnormal accumulations of stress granule components, indicating that the structures might somehow be tied to the disease. In flies, the Bonini team found that expression of genes predicted to promote stress granules increased the toxic activity of TDP-43 in genetic screens, underlining the importance of these structures to the pathology of ALS.
Investigating fruit flies engineered to express the human version of TDP-43, they found the flies showed signs of a build-up of stress granule components, as evidenced by an increase in the tagging of a molecule called eIF2α with a phosphate group. eIF2α phosphorylation is associated with formation of stress granules and reduced generation, or translation, of proteins. These flies also had symptoms reflective of ALS; they could not climb as readily as normal flies and had shorter lifespans.
The researchers were able to modulate these symptoms, however, by altering the expression of genes related to eIF2α phosphorylation and stress granules.
Further, using transgenic flies, the team identified a region of the ataxin-2 protein critical for increasing the detrimental effects of TDP-43. That region is known to be a binding site of a protein called poly-A binding protein, or PABP, that is also known to go to stress granules.
"If you knock out that domain, there is a dramatically reduced interaction between TDP-43 and ataxin-2," Bonini said. "That, coupled with our other data, is suggestive of the idea that the disease state may be associated with pathological stress granules. Perhaps they are remaining in the cell too long or not being resolved properly."
As in the flies, PABP may factor into human disease, the researchers found. Examining ALS patients' spinal cord tissue, they found dense aggregations of PABP in the cytoplasm, reminiscent of stress granules.
Finally, the researchers went back to the fly to see if they could reverse the TDP-43 toxicity.
They fed flies a compound developed by GlaxoSmithKline that inhibits the addition of phosphate groups to eIF2α. Reducing eIF2α phosphorylation is predicted to mitigate stress granule formation and the state of translational repression associated with stress granules. Upon feeding flies, they witnessed a dramatic restoration of physical strength in the flies expressing TDP-43. Those fed the compound retained more climbing ability compared with animals without the compound.
To test the effectiveness of the GSK compound in mammalian cells, the team exposed rat neuron cells expressing TD-43 in culture to the compound, and found it reduced the risk of cell death. The data raise the possibility that the prolonged stress state associated with stress granules and the deleterious effects on cellular pathways associated with such prolonged stress are important in disease.
Bonini suggests the results show promise for a treatment strategy for ALS and highlight again the power that flies, yeast and other seemingly simple model organisms can have in shedding light on human neurological disease.
"We can integrate from a number of extraordinarily powerful systems, including yeast, fly and then mammalian cell culture, to see if, with this united front, can we provide evidence from all spokes that the approach is suggestive of a therapeutic effect," she said. "They are all important pieces of the puzzle."
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Robert Packard Center for ALS, the Williams H. Adams Foundation, Target ALS and a BrightFocus Alzheimer's disease grant.


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Monday, May 25, 2015
Small-game fallacies
Most studies in experimental economics suffer from small-game/large-game effects. Unless these experiments are very securely anonymized, in a way the players actually trust, and in a way the players have learned to adapt to, overriding their moral instincts -- an extremely rare circumstance, despite many efforts to achieve this -- large-game effects quickly creep in, rendering the results often very misleading, sometimes practically the opposite of the actual behavior of people in analogous real-life situations. A common example: it may be narrowly rational and in accord with theory to "cheat", "betray", or otherwise play a narrowly selfish game, but if the players may be interacting with each other after the experimenters' game is over, the perceived or actual reputational effects in the larger "games of life", ongoing between the players in subsequent weeks or years, may easily exceed the meager rewards doled out by the experimenters to act selfishly in the small game. Even if the players can somehow be convinced that they will remain complete strangers to each other indefinitely into the future, our moral instincts generally evolved to play larger "games of life", not one-off games, nor anonymous games, nor games with pseudonyms of strictly limited duration, with the result that behaving according to theory must be learned: our default behavior is very different. (This explains, why, for example, economics students typically play in a more narrowly self-interested way, i.e. more according to the simple theories of economics, than other kinds of students).
Small-game/large-game effects are not limited to reputational incentives to play nicer: moral instincts and motivations learned in larger games also include tribal unity against perceived opponents, revenge, implied or actual threats of future coercion, and other effects causing much behavior to be worse than selfish, and these too can spill over between the larger and smaller games (when, for example, teams from rival schools or nations are pitted against each other in economic experiments). Moral instincts, though quite real, should not be construed as necessarily or even usually being actually morally superior to various kinds of learned morals, whether learned in economics class or in the schools of religion or philosophy.
Small-game/large-game problems can also occur in auditing, when audits look at a particular system and fail to take into account interactions that can occur outside their system of financial controls, rendering the net interactions very different from what simply auditing the particular system would suggest. A common fraud is for trades to be made outside the scope of the audit, "off the books", rendering the books themselves very misleading as to the overall net state of affairs.
Similarly, small-game/large-game problems often arise when software or security architects focus on an economics methodology, focusing on the interactions occurring within the defined architecture and failing to properly take into account (often because it is prohibitively difficult to do so) the wide variety of possible acts occurring outside the system and the resulting changes, often radical, to incentives within the system. For example, the incentive compatibility of certain interactions within an architecture can quickly disappear or reverse when opposite trades can be made outside the system (such as hedging or even more-than-offsetting a position that by itself would otherwise create a very different incentive within the system), or when larger political or otherwise coercive motivations and threats occur outside the analyzed incentive system, changing the incentives of players acting within the system in unpredictable ways. Security protocols always consist of at least two layers: a "dry layer" that can be analyzed by the objective mathematics of computer science, and a "wet layer" that consists of the often unpredictable net large-game motivations of the protocols' users. These should not be confused, nor should the false precision of mathematical economic theories be confused with the objective accuracy of computer science theories, which are based on the mathematics of computer architecture and algorithms and hold regardless of users' incentives and motivations.
A related error is the pure-information fallacy: treating an economic institution purely as an information system, accounting only for market-proximate incentives to contribute information via trading decisions, while neglecting how that market necessarily also changes players' incentives to act outside of that market. For example, a currently popular view of proposition bets, the "prediction markets" view, often treats prop bets or idea futures as purely information-distribution mechanisms, with the only incentives supposed as the benign incentive to profit by adding useful information to the market. This fails to take into account the incentives such markets create to act differently outside the market. A "prediction market" is always also one that changes incentives outside that market: a prediction market automatically creates parallel incentives to bring about the predicted event. For example a prediction market on a certain person's death is also an assassination market. Which is why a pre-Gulf-War-II DARPA-sponsored experimental "prediction market" included a prop bet on Saddam Hussein's death, but excluded such trading on any other, more politically correct world leaders. A sufficiently large market predicting an individual's death is also, necessarily, an assassination market, and similarly other "prediction" markets are also act markets, changing incentives to act outside that market to bring about the predicted events.
15 comments:
This is pure gold. Prediction market may become assassination market
Things are moving quickly...
FYI I'm in full agreement with Szabo. Combinatorial prediction markets, never mind mild futarchy, haven't been proven in real life situations. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are virgin territory as they are. No need to further complicate things.
Lets handle this the way the early evolution of the web was handled! - 2:15 PM
- Unknown said...
While a "prediction market on Death A" provides a payout to Group X upon A's death (Group X being those who correctly bet that A would die), an assassination market needs to provide the payout to a specific individual Z (usually as only Z knows the date of A's death). In a prediction market, one cannot control or restrict membership in Group X, which makes the incentives different: A rival assassin can spy on Z and steal his payout by front running Z's trade, A can bet on his own death and then fake it -profiting from his enemy's contributions-, Z's co-conspirators can wait for the pro-death trade to go through - make a (now-wildly-profitable) pro-life trade - and then rat out Z to the authorities in exchange for legal immunity. These counterexamples all exploit the unrestricted entrance into the prediction market's Group X.
Moreover, consider two large prediction markets instead of one: the first, "A to be assassinated sometime in May 2015?", the second, "Someone to try to assassinate A (successfully or otherwise) sometime in May 2015?". What are the incentives now? The more money on M1="No", the more likely someone is to attempt to assassinate (M2="Yes" should increase), warning the victim of danger, and giving bettors a way to profit by thwarting the assassination itself (but not the assassination-attempt).
I'd go as far to say that, by narrowing your focus to a single prediction market, you've made the very fallacy you describe in your post.
-Paul - 5:30 PM
- HostFat said...
Is it possible that more than one prediction market will survive?
I think that it will be the same as for currencies (on the long run at least)
Are there incentives to stay on different prediction markets? (I mean, if they give the same features ...) - 4:58 PM
- Unknown said...
I think you've gotten a little confused. InTrade.com was a single website, but it contained many, many different prediction markets. There may be only one "prediction marketplace" (ie, one website [InTrade], or one protocol [Truthcoin]), but it would be very bizarre to imagine only one prediction market existing. That would be a little like saying "people can only ever trade shares of one corporation (Apple, for example)". - 6:15 PM
This needs to be applied to Game of Thrones immediately
- shah8 said...
When you see a bunch of public intellectual singing a certain tune that rings dubious to you, but beneficial to a state--predicting how another state is just going to lose, lose, lose in the near future because of x, y, z (made up bad faith stuff), that's coming from the stuff Szabo is talking about up there.
For instance, the anti-Greek chorus. There are several themes used over the times, however, let's point out the early May theme of how Greece was going to inevitably capitulate completely, and poor, stupid, and feckless Syriaza was going to be tossed over by the voters they overpromised to. In neither case was that ever likely. The international chorus was there to rattle/communicate with institutional stakeholders. No big if it doesn't work, any more than icing the kicker at the end of an American football game. - 10:12 PM
For a real world "prediction market that changes incentives outside that market" with $billions at stake, look no further than CDS vs underlying credit. Here's a good place to start:
Or this:
Just stumbled across this blog. The Assassination Market quip killed me. Thank you. - 8:07 PM
- Kyle said...
The "Assassination market" has been around since the early 90s (see Jim Bell and Wikipedia.)
Nassim Taleb calls that the ludic fallacy http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludic_fallacy
- Iang said...
Any market cannot be separated from feedback into the price of the good itself, a sort of Heisenberg Uncertainty Response. The more a market attracts interest from less interested parties, the less it predicts some 'true' reflection of the fundamentals.
Prediction markets become assassination markets, but they can also becomes a disinformation market. Saddam Hussein could have bet on the book for his death either up or down for different purposes. Up if he wanted to convince people he was dead (and please stop trying to kill me) or down to convince people he wasn't worth killing.
Economist Charles Goodhart of the Bank of England postulated that any measurement of the currency intended as a control became like a corset and activity would bulge out elsewhere, rendering the control useless. Likewise a market can become the driver not the intermediary. We see this with certain commodities markets where the paper issuance is orders of magnitude greater than the physical, and prop trading starts to drive the price away from physical fundamentals. - 5:59 PM
Look at what happened with "The Interview" movie. Apparently even making a movie about a fictional assassination is considered enough to incentivize assassination in some people's eyes. And ironically Kim Jong-un's (alleged) reaction could have caused him to be more likely to be killed. Real world feedback loops quickly become entangled in unpredictable ways.
- Stewart Harding said...
It's nice to read an article that isn't just pictures or misguidance from some ageing hippie. Thanks for sharing.
- camp said...
I don't see how you stop the assassination aspect.
Let's use the example of public election results that is often used when discussing prediction markets. The bets focus on the following question: Will Hillary Clinton be inaugurated as president in 2016?
A dead person can't be sworn in.
Most questions (perhaps all) are subject to an outside attack in this way. I don't see how this issue can be overcome. But it's not the death of prediction markets imo. Those are useful enough (and effectively inevitable) that it's more likely that we'll transition away from violence as a species than avoid mass adoption of prediction markets. - 5:15 PM
- Zawy said...
As in the prediction market problem, expectations of a selfish or cooperative environment results in a selfish or cooperative environment. Hence it's a social disaster to philosophically think in terms of "selfish genes" or selfish individuals as capable of originating selfish forces independent of their origins. The global environment is the only source of physical forces (from potential energy gradients) that guides the creation and sustenance of individuals and genes. Information creation in the specifics of markets is the result of a larger, governing environment. The error is not limited to economics and evolution, but goes back to their fundament, physics: Newton's law is not fundamental because it allows for non-conservative forces (mainly friction) which are not fundamental (see Feynman, "Least Action"). This results in the belief that the thermodynamics 2nd law is "entropy is always increased" which has been supplanted by the standard model and direct observation that entropy in large expanding volumes of the Universe is constant (see Weinberg's "The First 3 Minutes") which means all small open volumes of the Universe (e.g., the Earth's Surface) must have decreasing entropy that is emitting entropy to "allow" the Universe to expand (entropy is conserved).
The error in thinking the Universe is doomed to a heat death erringly justifies a philosophy of selfishness. - 4:36 AM


text:
For a brief moment in May 2013, no one knew what the hell was going on in skateboarding.
Dill and Ave announced that they were leaving Alien Workshop, Brian Anderson quit Girl and Alex Olson left shortly after. The elder statesmen, the infastructure of our favorite companies seemed to be crumbling as message boards blew up, skate nerds popped boners and rumors were at an all time high.
As the dust settled, there were a couple of things that became more clear: Ave and Dill were doing their own project while Brian was starting his own company, 3d skateboards and taking riders Alex Olson and Austyn Gillette with him. With no other information out there besides a few scattered Instagram posts, we got the first details on 3d and the breakup with Girl, all straight from the big boss man himself.
Dill and Ave left Alien Workshop around the same time as you announced you were leaving Girl. Were you in touch with them and did their announcement impact your decision to leave in any way?
It was a complete coincidence, I had no idea those guys were gonna do what they're doing. I had quit Girl already but I wasn't telling anybody. I had decided that at this point in my career I just wanted to do something to challenge myself, to go on and move forward. And then Dill and Ave put out that announcement and I was like holy crap, this is crazy. We talked a lot because it's such a weird a thing when you split up with someone that you care about, it wasn't easy. It was actually great to have both of them to talk to during everything because it's stressful and there's friendships involved.
Rumor has it that 3d stands for 3 dudes or 3 dicks. Are either of these true and if not, why did you choose the name, 3d?
[laughs] No no, none of that is true. I had like 5 names I was really thinking about. One of the things is, I'm really conscious of layouts and aesthetics. I just thought that because Skate Mental is two words, to have a brand name on the same box that was small would look pretty cool aesthetically. There's Girl, there's Zero, Flip – a lot of 4 letter brands. They are easy, 1 syllable. I just thought 3d, it rhymes and it's easy. I didn't wanna do it because it's already an existing name in our culture but I just had a good feeling about it. Brad [Staba] liked it too and I'm happy how we chose to call it that.
As you know there is clothing company, "3d Innovations" that was started in Connecticut in 1990 by Matt Landon, the same state you are from. It had riders like Jeff Pang, Matt Reason and Jahmal Williams just to name a few. Were you aware of the company before you chose your name, 3d skateboards?
I was unaware of 3d Innovations. When Brad and I licensed 3d Skateboards it wasn't a name that was "taken" so… I've been in touch with Matt from 3d Innovations. We're on cool terms I do believe. Lots of companies and corporations in life and business have similar names. Restaurants, clothing, distributions..etc. So I think everything is fine in that respect.
Besides wanting to start your own company was there anything happening at Girl that you were unhappy with that played a part in your decision to leave?
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the way things were going with Girl. That's why it was hard to go through with everything because we're all really close friends and I love those guys so much. I just felt like I wanted to do something for myself, instead of in a few years realizing that I can't jump down stairs when I'm 45, and I kinda wanted to have my own thing started by the time that happens. I have a few Girl tattoos, and I'm happy I have them because it's great memories of fun trips and great years.
Yeah I saw some people comment like, "Looks like he's gonna have to get rid of all his tattoos!!"
I know, I love that people said that. It's like what are you talking about..
How did Alex Olson and Austyn Gillette get involved?
I had already left Girl, and Alex called me to tell me that he was thinking about leaving too, but nothing was planned. I am good friends with Austyn, and he kinda learned that I was gonna do my own thing. It was hard for him as well because he really respects everything Habitat has done for him, but we all thought doing something small would be fun at this point in life. As far as right now it's just gonna be the 3 of us and again, it wasn't intentional – I named it 3d just thinking it was gonna be me. I wasn't planning on "stealing" riders or taking anybody, it's not like that. Things kinda just flowed naturally. As of right now there's not gonna be any more announcements, it's just us, and were just gonna put our stuff out at the tradeshow [Agenda LA] and cruise and see how things are received.
I saw Anthony Pappalardo pop up and write some stuff on 3d's Instagram, any involvement potentially with him or have other people been calling and trying to get involved?
Oh – I actually didn't read what he wrote but everybody is always saying to put him on. I love Anthony, he's awesome. But again, I just gotta take care of Alex and Austyn first and get it rolling. Of course there has definitely been alot of people contacting and asking questions and wanting to be involved, I just want to start it really small so I can take care of my two guys.
"I wasn't planning on "stealing" riders or taking anybody, it's not like that."
From riding for other people's companies for many years now, are there things you have seen or always felt should be run differently? If so, what are they and will you do it differently at your own company now?
Ya, but I don't wanna say that I was not OK with the way Girl or Chocolate were ran. I love those trips, they were amazing. I just think, these days a lot of kids are getting burnt really quick. I mean you gotta go out and film so you can make your career, but going to these trips to China and all this stuff, it's just kinda not that fun. I just wanna go on a trip in a car with my two homies and we're gonna film everything and skate ditches and just have fun. I love every single person we traveled with but I think it's rad to do something small. So we don't have to be in a van with a whole bunch of people to get coffee and take a crap and go to Target and all that stuff. Just 3 of us, it's just quicker and easier.
I also want people to skate where they live, I think of Eastern Exposure and stuff like that. People skated in Philly and skated in their hometowns. I want Alex and Austyn to be happy in LA and go out and film tricks in like a schoolyard there. I'll skate NY and be in SF all the time, film there hanging out with Brad and all of us will skate where we are comfortable.
There's a rumor that Nike has some stock in the company or has some involvement in it. Is this true?
No, Nike has absolutely nothing to do with 3d. It's just me and Brad, Skate Mental and Big Time. That's it. And I love that people think that, the conspiracy theories are just glorious. Nike doesn't do hardgoods. It's a huge corporation, that's not where they're at or I'm at, they are just my awesome shoe sponsor. We are doing this on our own, with our own funds and on our own terms. No truth to them having any involvement but they have been really supportive of the whole thing, they got my back.
Are you still going to be riding for Fourstar clothing?
That was something cool to talk about with Carroll, when I was thinking about doing 3d, I was so happy he was like, "You still wanna do Fourstar?!" I was like, "Of course!! Please!" I love it there. I love those guys.
How did it you break it to Girl & Crailtap that you were leaving?
I mean this is pretty personal, but I talked to Brad [Staba] first, then went to LA to talk to Girl about it and told them I'm getting older and I wanted to do my own thing. And it wasn't fun for any of us. But they know I'm not trying to be a jerk about it. People leave record companies, leave bands, leave basketball teams. It's not fun but it happens. I just wanted to give them the respect of talking to them about it in person and I kinda went a little fast.. I just wanna convey how much I love those guys, there was absolutely nothing wrong and I'm glad they are my friends. I want to go on Fourstar trips with them and maintain our friendships for the rest of my life.
Related Posts
Class act. Nice work, Ian.
"I just felt like I wanted to do something for myself, instead of in a few years realizing that I can't jump down stairs when I'm 45, and I kinda wanted to have my own thing started by the time that happens." Smart!
Go to episode 5 of BA's epicly later'd and go to 5 min and 20 seconds
glad he said those things about china, seeing footage from there is like seeing a work trip, i want to see footage of people skating in their neighborhoods
Wasn't totally sold on 3D yet but this interview just convinced me. Amazing roster and the philosophy behind it is solid – will be great to see some FUN parts from all these guys who are more than capable of crushing it. Somebody's gotta create the awesome teams of the future. Good to see there are going to be companies still dedicated to skateboarding at its purest and not the mainstream monstrosity it's become today.
"I don't want to be this brutal punk that hates everything that people like, and I'm trying really hard to undo that."
Check out early documentation of London's Southbank, vert ramps tucked into Lord of the Rings-level forests, and everything in between.
Over coffee and cigarettes Matt talks prank shows, ABDs and his love for the VX.
The man loves to read Nietzche, skates in some expensive vintage gear, and paints in his own neoclassical-meets-abstract-expressionist style.
Breakfast-obsessed skaters rejoice!


text:
Scripting Enabled at @mediaAjax 2008
Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 11:44 amI am right now at @media Ajax 2008 getting ready to go on stage to deliver my "Scripting Enabled" talk, explaining how the main issue about accessibility is that we just don't talk enough to each other. Technology is never really the boundary we have with accessibility, it is that we don't understand how people work and what technology is capable of.
[slideshare id=598740&doc=atmediaajaxscriptingenabled-1221470402418982-9&w=425]
Links in the presentation
- Hack injecting lang attributes into twitter feeds, looping them through the Google translation API
- Presentation of accessibility hacks that are in use on Yahoo sites
- Yahoo Live
- Yahoo Live deaf chatroom
- Antonia Hyde's presentation on learning disabilities and online video
- Easy YouTube
- Yahoo Video – turn JavaScript on and off
- Timed captioning hack for YouTube
- Annotations hack for YouTube
- Tubecaption.com
- SoundManager2
- JavaScript Karaoke Engine
- JW Player
- JW Player with Audio descriptions and captions
- Access Enabling Ajax
- WebVisum
- IBM's social accessibility project
- Scripting Enabled
Tags: @media, @mediaaajax08, @mediaAjax, accessibility, atmediaaax08, atmediaajax, communication, flash, interaction, javascript


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text:
Studio ROOF Big Insects | Giant Lady Beetle
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Product information
3D object to build, comes flatpacked;
Made of recycled cardboard and printed with vegetable inks;
Dimensions when built up: 13 x 7 x 29 cm – 5 x 2.8 x 11.4″;
2 x A4 sheet with 13 pieces to pop out and assemble;
Assembly instructions can be found on the inside of the packaging.