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Afrobeat Pioneer & Drummer Tony Allen Has Died

Multiple news sources report that TONY ALLEN, the NIGERIAN born drummer and pioneer of Afrobeats has died in PARIS. The cause of death is not known yet. He was 80. He came to fame as Musical … more




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Former Bad Company Vocalist Brian Howe Passes

BRIAN ANTHONY HOWE, former lead singer of the legendary rock band BAD COMPANY has passed away, according to TMZ.  HOWE, who replaced PAUL RODGERS as the vocalist for BAD COMPANY, died … more




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Note From Hubbard Radio Chairman/CEO Ginny Morris As More Downsizings Have Surfaced Due To COVID-19 Impact

HUBBARD RADIO Chairman/CEO GINNY MORRIS released a company-wide memo which ALL ACCESS has obtained, regarding the downsizings. Hello Everyone, Today is a very tough and unprecedented day at … more




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Sony Music

Sony Music Entertainment is a United States music corporation owned and operated by Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation, and includes such music labels as Columbia Records, Epic Records, RCA Records, and numerous Sony Music national companies. Sony Music represents popular music...




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The Clorox Company

The Clorox Company, based in Oakland, California, is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products.




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The Walt Disney Company

The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the...




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Australian study: Many home blood pressure monitors not validated for accuracy

Research Highlights: Most home blood pressure monitoring devices sold in Australia by global e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay have not been validated (tested for accuracy). Using an unvalidated device could lead to incorrect at-home blood...




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FDA review of e-cigarettes is as critical as ever – any delay related to COVID-19 must be brief

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 1, 2020 – After years of harmful delays by the FDA, a federal judge last July set a May 12, 2020, deadline for e-cigarette manufacturers to apply to the FDA and demonstrate a public health benefit in order to keep their products...




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How to Find the Best SaaS Products for your Company

Are you on the hunt for some software that will help you run your business more smoothly? Whether you’re needing something to help with payroll, project management or HR, we’re living in a time where specialty trade software is growing faster than Jack’s beanstalk. Finding a great...

The post How to Find the Best SaaS Products for your Company appeared first on SmashingApps.com.




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The Many Lands of Manyland – A Trip to a Universe of Creativity

As like must of our readers, we have been stuck home in quarantine for the past weeks. Or is it months? It’s hard to tell. Anyway, we decided to use this spare time to find some games that are both fun and have design value. So, we looked for a game that induced creativity, was...




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This Tiny Face Makeup Is The Perfect Solution For A Coronavirus Mask

mykestify While some women might be quite used to wearing a mask over their face due to their job specification...




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Places I’d Love To Live In: Beautiful Illustrations Of Lovely Places By Darya Shnykina

In these times of confinement, the time is for the mind to escape. Today we invite you to discover the...




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Ankeny wide receiver Brody Brecht picks Iowa football and baseball

Once in a while, a college football prospect with potential in another sport ends up with the Hawkeyes. Brody Brecht might be the next one of those for the Hawkeyes. The 6-4, 200-pound wide...




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Best sports movies: ‘All-Stars’ resonates with anyone involved in youth sports

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




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Tony Paoli steps down as Cedar Rapids RoughRiders high school hockey coach

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tony Paoli announced Thursday that he is stepping down after four years as head coach of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders high school hockey team. Paoli did amazing work, taking...



  • Minor League Sports

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Many anticipated arts, cultural events delayed or canceled

Summer is going to look a bit different in the Corridor this year as many, long-cherished events are being canceled or postponed. And the organizations that run those events want you to know they...




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John "Johnny" Bjornsen

JOHN "JOHNNY" BJORNSEN Cedar Rapids

John "Johnny" Bjornsen, 68, passed away Saturday, May 2, 2020, after a brief battle with COVID-19. John was born in 1951 to John and Lucille Bjornsen in Cedar Rapids. He attended Harrison, Roosevelt and Jefferson schools and graduated in 1970. Shortly after graduation, he joined the Army and served two years in South Korea. In his earlier working years, he was employed by Harnischfeger and General Mills. In his later years, he did volunteer work for a few organizations, including Horizons. John was an avid bicycle rider and enjoyed going to garage sales, usually with Sheree. He is survived by his daughter, Christie Bjornsen of Davenport; two sisters, Linda Cornelius of Clinton and Sheree Bjornsen of Cedar Rapids; nieces Hollie Bjornsen of Cedar Rapids and Cadence Cornelius (Eli) of St. Paul; and long-term friend, Donna Miller of Marion. A memorial of life and family gathering will be held at a later date to be announced. To share a thought memory or condolence with his family, please visit the funeral home website at www.gayandciha.com. Johnny will be missed by all who knew him.




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Sullivan: County leads with many of Iowa’s ‘firsts’

I grew up on a Heritage farm (150 years in the same family) near Sutliff, and attended K-12 in the Lisbon school system. I am an alumnus of the University of Iowa. I have held several positions in the field of human services, including six years with the Department of Human Services and six years as executive director of the Arc of Johnson County.

I am married to Dr. Melissa Fath, a research scientist at the University of Iowa and a volunteer pharmacist at the Free Medical Clinic. We have three adult children — Rachel, Jordan and BJ, and have served as foster parents for another 50+ children.

I am a member of several community organizations, including: St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Iowa Foster & Adoptive Parent Association, NAMI, Center for Worker Justice, ACLU Hawkeye Chapter, AFT Local 716, and Iowa City Federation of Labor. I also served four years as chairman of the Johnson County Democratic Party.

Some of the accomplishments of which I am proud:

• Leadership during the COVID-19 crisis.

• Leadership during 2008 floods.

• Raising the minimum wage — the first county in Iowa to do so.

• Passed a Human Rights Ordinance — the first county in Iowa to do so.

• Passed a Sensitive Areas Ordinance — the first county in Iowa to do so.

• Passed the Conservation Bond Initiative — the first county in Iowa to do so.

• Passed the Community ID Program — the first county in Iowa to do so.

• Started 1105 Project with gift of old Public Health building.

• Saved Sutliff Bridge after 2008 floods.

• Started trails funding.

• Created the Free Tax Help project.

• Created the Livable Community for Successful Aging.

• Added outdoor warning sirens to unincorporated Johnson County.

• Created the Local Foods Policy Council.

• Heritage AAA Outstanding Elected Official — 2009.

If reelected, my goals are:

1. Continue community recovery from COVID-19;

2. Begin serving people at the GuideLink Center;

3. Improve affirmative action results;

4. Renegotiate six union contracts to the benefit of all.

I am grateful for your past support, and I thank you for your future consideration. I promise to never take this position for granted! I respectfully request your vote on or before June 2.

Rod Sullivan is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Johnson County Board of Supervisors.




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How a bad hosting company can impact your business website

With the throng of websites on the internet vying for people’s attention, it will be hard to stand out if you don’t have an appealing or dependable business website. Investing in building your own website and acquiring a reliable domain and web hosting provider are some of the things you must do right to make […] More




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5 Reasons Why Should Hire a Web Design Company (Now!)

Wondering why you should hire a web design company? If so, click here for five reasons why you should hire a web design company now! More




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Beautiful Illustrations of Lovely Places by Darya Shnykina

En ces temps de confinement, l’heure est à l’évasion de l’esprit. Nous vous proposons aujourd’hui de découvrir le joli travail de l’illustratrice russe Darya Shnykina. Elle est l’auteure d’une série de créations intitulée Places I’d Love To Live In.  Elle a imaginé représenter d’adorables petites maisonnées solitaires en pleine nature. Des petits havres de paix où chacun […]




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Echo custom fields in any category

Here is a neat trick. Say you want to show a custom field in you post or in a certain categories post. There is a simple code you need to write in order to accomplish this: <?php $image = get_post_meta($post->ID, "image", $single = true); ?> <?php if($image != '') : if(in_category(7)) { echo ''; } […]

The post Echo custom fields in any category appeared first on WPCult.




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Many anticipated arts, cultural events delayed or canceled

Summer is going to look a bit different in the Corridor this year as many, long-cherished events are being canceled or postponed. And the organizations that run those events want you to know they aren’t any more happy about it than you are.

The organizers of these events are having to make unprecedented, tough decisions.

“Cancellation is not a good word in our business,” said Chuck Swanson, Building a Legacy executive director of Hancher. “It is something that we really don’t want to do and it takes a lot for us to come to that.

“We live for the live performance and bringing the artists and audiences together. That’s the happiest time for me, so none of these decisions have been easy.”

Hancher has had to cancel numerous upcoming events in the past few months that would have brought to Iowa City in artists from all over the country and the world. It also is holding off announcing its upcoming season — which it typically would be doing at this time of year.

this isn’t something the staff has faced since the floods of 2008 and because they book events so far in advance they are confronting additional challenges.

“You know there’s so much that goes into a show before it happens,” Swanson said. “I just think of all the anticipation, booking the artists, advancing the show, setting ticket prices, advertising and then ticket sales.

“It’s like a farmer who does all this work to get his crops ready and then at the end of the season ends up with nothing to harvest.”

He noted Hancher has been reaching out to its booked performers and, in some cases, have had performers reach out to them to cancel upcoming shows.

The significant time and resources that go into planning large-scale events is the main factor in necessitating cancellation discussions and decisions at many organizations.

“Many logistical items have to be coordinated, from renting shuttles to scheduling volunteers and staff. Initial planning for some events begins as early as 12 to 18 months in advance and proceeds all the way up to the day of the event,” said John Myers, Indian Creek Nature Center executive director.

Citing the center’s annual Maple Syrup Festival, he noted food represents a significant cost and often cannot be saved or reused.

“We have had to be mindful of the financial resources available to us and ensure that we wisely manage those to ensure (the center) can emerge from this pandemic as a functioning and healthy organization,” he said.

“None of the decisions to cancel events or how to handle subsequent financial losses are easy and they challenge everyone,” Myers added. “As our whole lives have been upended, it makes even the simplest of decisions harder and that takes an impact on morale.”

He acknowledged staff members aren’t the only ones feeling the strain.

“We have a significant core of volunteers who are no longer able to give their time, which also creates a strain on morale and increases the amount of work that needs to be done when we return,” he pointed out.

Another primary factor is what is allowed and considered safe by the city, state and Iowa Department of Public Health.

“At this point, only allowing groups of 10 or less is a far cry from the thousands or people we usually see at the Iowa Arts Festival,” said Lisa Barnes, executive director of Summer of the Arts in Iowa City, which produces the Iowa Arts Festival.

“The governor has announced that reopening the state will be done in stages, and based on what we’ve found from other events around the country, concerts and large festivals will be the last to open,” he noted.

Summer of the Arts announced just last week that the Iowa Arts Festival would not take place this year, a month in advance of the event.

“We needed to make a decision so that we can move forward with alternative plans,” Barnes said, noting the organization has had questions about the Iowa City Jazz Festival, scheduled for July 3 through 5 and added a decision regarding that festival and July programming will be made by mid-late May.

“We also needed to make the decision far enough out to be able to work with our performers and cancel the agreements,” she said.

On Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds loosened some but not all of the social-distancing restrictions for the remaining 22 counties she had put in place.

Heartbroken

Discussions about the future of these events have been happening for weeks for many organizations, highlighting they are not taken lightly.

Carissa Johnson, executive director of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival, said conversations about the future of this year’s event started in mid-March, right around the time the Cedar Rapids SaPaDaPaSo Parade announced its cancellation for 2020.

“We plan year ’round for the two- to three-week festival,” Johnson explained.

“Our planning really ramps up in April and May, and we have many more costs associated with producing the festival the closer we get to the start. In order to protect our time and resources, we elected to cancel before we had more costs and variables to consider.”

As for who is making the final decision, organizations said many stakeholders are involved. Barnes said the decision on the Iowa City Arts Festival, for example, included staff, the board of directors, festival planning committees, the city of Iowa City and Johnson County Public Health, along with input from some of the vendors, artists and performers.

Tapping into experts in those public health field has been key as well.

“We have these assets, people, at the University (of Iowa), that have been really helpful as we make these decisions about canceling and as we prepare to think about reopening,” Hancher’s Swanson said.

The Freedom Festival include staff and board members in discussions, with recommendations from Linn County Public Health and the city of Cedar Rapids, factoring in the health, safety and well-being of the community.

“We are just as heartbroken as the rest of the community, but this decision was to protect our community as much as possible,” Swanson said.

“This community is a family and we will all get through this together and come back stronger next year.”

Myers noted organizations such as the Indian Creek Nature Center are also rely on advice from national associations, such as the American Alliance of Museums, and discussions among the leadership of many local cultural groups.

“For many events, we have also reached out to participants to gather their input and comfort level of attending once we are able to reopen,” Myers said.

The financial effects of having to cancel is stressful for organizations, too.

“Financially, this has been a hard time for the Nature Center to endure,” Myers pointed out. “We’ve had over 100 different programs, events and facility rentals canceled between March 15 and April 30, and our losses are currently over $250,000. As we approach the summer, there are a number of other events we continue to review, including our popular summer camps.”

The Nature Center has postponed a national conference to be held there in September — due to indications of low participation — for peers from around the nation who run not-for-profit and government nature centers.

“We are losing thousands of dollars in vendor fees and sales receipts because we had to cancel,” said Barnes, of Summer of the Arts.

“We have sponsors tied to certain events, like the Iowa Arts Festival, that in some cases want to carry over their support to next year, which impacts our fundraising for this year and next.”

She noted her group already has been made aware of funding that won’t be coming in from some sponsors next year due to the financial impact those organizations are facing as well.

And that can be tough.

“When we cancel, our whole staff is involved — from the box audience and public engagement folks to the technical production team and our front-of-house staff,” Swanson said.

“Our communication is key in talking through it all and then sharing clear messages with our audiences, especially in terms of refunds. But we’ve been encouraged by so many generous friends of Hancher donating their ticket purchase price back to us.”

While disappointment still is thick in the air, organizations don’t plan to abandon their missions and is keeping an eye on serving the public.

“This is a challenging time for everyone, and our board and staff is committed to finding creative and non-traditional solutions to ensure the Freedom Festival’s return,” Johnson said. “The community and our stakeholders have been tremendous supports of the Freedom Festival and we believe they will continue to do so in the future.

“We ask for understanding and patience as we try to navigate this crisis and what we can still provide for our community.”

Freedom Festival buttons will be sold this year as they’ve already been made, and “It’s a way the community can show their support,” Johnson said.

Barnes agreed and noted the Iowa Arts Festival committee is working on ways to support the performers, artists and vendors they had scheduled by trying to develop some virtual opportunities for engagement.

While the show, or events, might not go on, organizers said they very much want to remain connected to their audiences and attendees.

“I want to make sure everybody knows we care about them and that we’re trying to find ways to stay connected because I think we’re all in this together and the arts are one of the best ways for people to get through difficult times,” Swanson said.

Myers agreed.

“Indian Creek Nature Center will be ready to welcome guests and visitors back to our events as soon as we are able to do so safely,” he said.

“In the meantime, we hope everyone finds peace in nature by taking a hike or bike ride, having a picnic or just enjoying time outside.”




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There is no longer any such thing as Computer Security

Remember "cybersecurity"?

Mysterious hooded computer guys doing mysterious hooded computer guy .. things! Who knows what kind of naughty digital mischief they might be up to?

Unfortunately, we now live in a world where this kind of digital mischief is literally rewriting the world's history. For proof of that,




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Video Tutorial: How to Turn Anything into Gold in Photoshop

In today’s Adobe Photoshop tutorial I’m going to show you how to turn anything into gold using this simple combination of Photoshop filters and tools. The effect smooths out the details of a regular image and adds an array of shiny reflections to mimic the appearance of a polished metal statue. A gradient overlay gives […]

The post Video Tutorial: How to Turn Anything into Gold in Photoshop appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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What is the Sony a6400 Crop Factor?

Sony introduced the a6400 model of digital cameras in early 2019. The a6400 rapidly became a best-seller among both professional and amateur photographers. The camera is smaller than standard digital single reflex cameras but still uses Sony’s extensive line of lenses. Sony has achieved all this using an APS-C sensor system in a mirrorless body. What is Sony a6400 crop Continue Reading

The post What is the Sony a6400 Crop Factor? appeared first on Photodoto.



  • Cameras & Equipment
  • Sony a6400 crop factor

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How (And Where) To Mount an Action Camera (On Anything!)

Pictures and video from an action camera can be awesome. But how do you get the best shots? It’s all about the mounting of the camera and we’re going to tell you how to do it. How and where do you mount an action camera? The most popular place to mount an action camera is on a helmet using a Continue Reading

The post How (And Where) To Mount an Action Camera (On Anything!) appeared first on Photodoto.



  • Cameras & Equipment
  • Photography Tips & Tricks
  • action camera accessories
  • action camera mounts
  • mount action camera on anything

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Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Complete Guide

Have you got yourself a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact but not sure how to do something on it? Don’t worry, we’ve come up with a comprehensive guide for all the things your handset is capable of. Navigate the various sections using the links below. If you can’t find what you’re looking for just leave a … Continue reading Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Complete Guide





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ASPIRE: An Acronym for Better Web Practice

Sometimes interesting things happen on Twitter. Last week Scott Jehl proposed ASPIRE as an acronym for the practices we should follow as web designers and developers. From the resulting blog post: Great websites should aspire to be: Accessible to folks with varying cognitive and physical abilities and disabilities Secure and reliable for storing, manipulating, and transferring information Performant on average devices […]

The post ASPIRE: An Acronym for Better Web Practice appeared first on MOR10.




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10 Things To Do Before Any Video Interview

We’re all working from home, and that include job interviews, news interviews, class lectures, webinars, presentations to customers and even just business meetings. The 10 Things to Do Before Any Video Interview infographic from Kickresume is a great last-minute checklist before you turn on your webcam!

In the end, you can take this infographic as a checklist. You can use it to prepare for your job interview or any other video conference call.

And, oh boy, are we going to make many more of those. Sure, it took a global pandemic for companies to recognize the value of working from home but now there’s no going back. Video conference calls are here to stay. (I personally hate it but even I should probably get used to it. Damn.)

Anyway, good luck at your job interview!

I would have preferred more visual elements, but I like that this is a tightly focused infographic with a clear, useful message to a broad audience. This is one of the best uses for an infographic: an informative topic, related to the industry of the publishing company, with a popular, trending topic. This design checks all the boxes.

Designers have to remember that the infographic image file will often be shared by itself, so it always helps to include a few more thins in the footer:

  • The Infographic Landing Page URL (not just the company home page). This will help readers find the full infographic and the article that went along with it. Don’t make people search for it on your website.

  • A copyright or Creative Commons statement is always a good idea when you publishing an infographic




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How To Get UN-STUCK From Anything in Life That’s Got You Down [with Lewis Howes]

Ever felt STUCK with something in your life? Blocked, like you can’t get past this mental state, this hurdle, this creative block, this bad habit, this… Wait a minute. Why am I even asking that question? Of course you’ve been stuck before. We’ve literally ALL been stuck before. And by extension we all know how much it sucks to be in this state of mind. AND – on the flipside – how amazing it is when you can reclaim your life and get back to the things you want to be thinking, doing, and becoming. I’m obsessed with overcoming the mental blockers that try to keep me down – and I think it’s been a big piece of my personal success. Which is why I thought this little nugget might help. ENTER: Lewis Howes. My good friend Lewis Howes was in the studio shooting his newest CreativeLive course last week and I was able to snag him for a few minutes to chat about his new book and his amazingly simple, yet powerful process for reclaiming our lives and live our biggest dreams. In this episode, Lewis shares a powerful experience from his life and how- on reflection – it helped […]

The post How To Get UN-STUCK From Anything in Life That’s Got You Down [with Lewis Howes] appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.




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Harmony > Balance with Jason Calacanis

Today we’re going back to San Francisco with myself and Jason Calacanis on stage during my tour stop for my book Creative Calling. Jason is an investor and long time host of the This Week in Startups podcast. And, of course, Jason wastes no time in our conversation. He goes right to the heart of the matter by getting into failure, venture capitol, knowing when to quit, and when to push through. Enjoy! FOLLOW JASON: facebook | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe   This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker, money/life and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts — Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.

The post Harmony > Balance with Jason Calacanis appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.




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Wix Video — a great marketing tool for any website.

Increases time on page and boosts engagement with your site Thanks to the ever-increasing internet speeds, videos are in high demand. Right now, video is everywhere on social media, websites, and apps. We are watching them on all our screens, desktops, tablets, phones and smart TVs. It is expected a growth in video content up …

Wix Video — a great marketing tool for any website. Read More »




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Surjective endomorphisms of projective surfaces -- the existence of infinitely many dense orbits. (arXiv:2005.03628v1 [math.AG])

Let $f colon X o X$ be a surjective endomorphism of a normal projective surface. When $operatorname{deg} f geq 2$, applying an (iteration of) $f$-equivariant minimal model program (EMMP), we determine the geometric structure of $X$. Using this, we extend the second author's result to singular surfaces to the extent that either $X$ has an $f$-invariant non-constant rational function, or $f$ has infinitely many Zariski-dense forward orbits; this result is also extended to Adelic topology (which is finer than Zariski topology).




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Cliques with many colors in triple systems. (arXiv:2005.03078v1 [math.CO])

ErdH{o}s and Hajnal constructed a 4-coloring of the triples of an $N$-element set such that every $n$-element subset contains 2 triples with distinct colors, and $N$ is double exponential in $n$. Conlon, Fox and R"odl asked whether there is some integer $qge 3$ and a $q$-coloring of the triples of an $N$-element set such that every $n$-element subset has 3 triples with distinct colors, and $N$ is double exponential in $n$. We make the first nontrivial progress on this problem by providing a $q$-coloring with this property for all $qgeq 9$, where $N$ is exponential in $n^{2+cq}$ and $c>0$ is an absolute constant.




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The growth rate over trees of any family of set defined by a monadic second order formula is semi-computable. (arXiv:2004.06508v3 [cs.DM] UPDATED)

Monadic second order logic can be used to express many classical notions of sets of vertices of a graph as for instance: dominating sets, induced matchings, perfect codes, independent sets or irredundant sets. Bounds on the number of sets of any such family of sets are interesting from a combinatorial point of view and have algorithmic applications. Many such bounds on different families of sets over different classes of graphs are already provided in the literature. In particular, Rote recently showed that the number of minimal dominating sets in trees of order $n$ is at most $95^{frac{n}{13}}$ and that this bound is asymptotically sharp up to a multiplicative constant. We build on his work to show that what he did for minimal dominating sets can be done for any family of sets definable by a monadic second order formula.

We first show that, for any monadic second order formula over graphs that characterizes a given kind of subset of its vertices, the maximal number of such sets in a tree can be expressed as the extit{growth rate of a bilinear system}. This mostly relies on well known links between monadic second order logic over trees and tree automata and basic tree automata manipulations. Then we show that this "growth rate" of a bilinear system can be approximated from above.We then use our implementation of this result to provide bounds on the number of independent dominating sets, total perfect dominating sets, induced matchings, maximal induced matchings, minimal perfect dominating sets, perfect codes and maximal irredundant sets on trees. We also solve a question from D. Y. Kang et al. regarding $r$-matchings and improve a bound from G'orska and Skupie'n on the number of maximal matchings on trees. Remark that this approach is easily generalizable to graphs of bounded tree width or clique width (or any similar class of graphs where tree automata are meaningful).




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Novel Deep Learning Framework for Wideband Spectrum Characterization at Sub-Nyquist Rate. (arXiv:1912.05255v2 [eess.SP] UPDATED)

Introduction of spectrum-sharing in 5G and subsequent generation networks demand base-station(s) with the capability to characterize the wideband spectrum spanned over licensed, shared and unlicensed non-contiguous frequency bands. Spectrum characterization involves the identification of vacant bands along with center frequency and parameters (energy, modulation, etc.) of occupied bands. Such characterization at Nyquist sampling is area and power-hungry due to the need for high-speed digitization. Though sub-Nyquist sampling (SNS) offers an excellent alternative when the spectrum is sparse, it suffers from poor performance at low signal to noise ratio (SNR) and demands careful design and integration of digital reconstruction, tunable channelizer and characterization algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel deep-learning framework via a single unified pipeline to accomplish two tasks: 1)~Reconstruct the signal directly from sub-Nyquist samples, and 2)~Wideband spectrum characterization. The proposed approach eliminates the need for complex signal conditioning between reconstruction and characterization and does not need complex tunable channelizers. We extensively compare the performance of our framework for a wide range of modulation schemes, SNR and channel conditions. We show that the proposed framework outperforms existing SNS based approaches and characterization performance approaches to Nyquist sampling-based framework with an increase in SNR. Easy to design and integrate along with a single unified deep learning framework make the proposed architecture a good candidate for reconfigurable platforms.




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Collaborative Deanonymization. (arXiv:2005.03535v1 [cs.CR])

We propose protocols to resolve the tension between anonymity and accountability in a peer-to-peer manner. Law enforcement can adopt this approach to solve crimes involving cryptocurrency and anonymization techniques. We illustrate how the protocols could apply to Monero rings and CoinJoin transactions in Bitcoin.




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Sunny Pointer: Designing a mouse pointer for people with peripheral vision loss. (arXiv:2005.03504v1 [cs.HC])

We present a new mouse cursor designed to facilitate the use of the mouse by people with peripheral vision loss. The pointer consists of a collection of converging straight lines covering the whole screen and following the position of the mouse cursor. We measured its positive effects with a group of participants with peripheral vision loss of different kinds and we found that it can reduce by a factor of 7 the time required to complete a targeting task using the mouse. Using eye tracking, we show that this system makes it possible to initiate the movement towards the target without having to precisely locate the mouse pointer. Using Fitts' Law, we compare these performances with those of full visual field users in order to understand the relation between the accuracy of the estimated mouse cursor position and the index of performance obtained with our tool.




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Anonymized GCN: A Novel Robust Graph Embedding Method via Hiding Node Position in Noise. (arXiv:2005.03482v1 [cs.LG])

Graph convolution network (GCN) have achieved state-of-the-art performance in the task of node prediction in the graph structure. However, with the gradual various of graph attack methods, there are lack of research on the robustness of GCN. At this paper, we will design a robust GCN method for node prediction tasks. Considering the graph structure contains two types of information: node information and connection information, and attackers usually modify the connection information to complete the interference with the prediction results of the node, we first proposed a method to hide the connection information in the generator, named Anonymized GCN (AN-GCN). By hiding the connection information in the graph structure in the generator through adversarial training, the accurate node prediction can be completed only by the node number rather than its specific position in the graph. Specifically, we first demonstrated the key to determine the embedding of a specific node: the row corresponding to the node of the eigenmatrix of the Laplace matrix, by target it as the output of the generator, we designed a method to hide the node number in the noise. Take the corresponding noise as input, we will obtain the connection structure of the node instead of directly obtaining. Then the encoder and decoder are spliced both in discriminator, so that after adversarial training, the generator and discriminator can cooperate to complete the encoding and decoding of the graph, then complete the node prediction. Finally, All node positions can generated by noise at the same time, that is to say, the generator will hides all the connection information of the graph structure. The evaluation shows that we only need to obtain the initial features and node numbers of the nodes to complete the node prediction, and the accuracy did not decrease, but increased by 0.0293.




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Cotatron: Transcription-Guided Speech Encoder for Any-to-Many Voice Conversion without Parallel Data. (arXiv:2005.03295v1 [eess.AS])

We propose Cotatron, a transcription-guided speech encoder for speaker-independent linguistic representation. Cotatron is based on the multispeaker TTS architecture and can be trained with conventional TTS datasets. We train a voice conversion system to reconstruct speech with Cotatron features, which is similar to the previous methods based on Phonetic Posteriorgram (PPG). By training and evaluating our system with 108 speakers from the VCTK dataset, we outperform the previous method in terms of both naturalness and speaker similarity. Our system can also convert speech from speakers that are unseen during training, and utilize ASR to automate the transcription with minimal reduction of the performance. Audio samples are available at https://mindslab-ai.github.io/cotatron, and the code with a pre-trained model will be made available soon.




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Despite risks, many in small town continue to support youth football

Despite multiple concussions, a high school freshman continues to play football. Will family tradition outweigh the risks?




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20 Company Website Designs to Inspire Your Small Business

As a small or midsize business (SMB), your company website is often the first touchpoint for potential clients — and you want it to make a great first impression. The secret to hitting home with your audience is to have a sophisticated and lively website design that’s aesthetically pleasing and provides great user experience (UX). […]

The post 20 Company Website Designs to Inspire Your Small Business appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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Top 6 Company Website Design Templates

Are you looking to build a new site for your business? If so, company website design templates can help you create the website you want. With so many templates available, how do you determine which one is best for your business? On this page, we’ll provide you with the top six company website design templates, […]

The post Top 6 Company Website Design Templates appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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Closure of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant

By Lauren McCauley Common Dreams In landmark agreement, California’s last remaining nuclear plant will be replaced by greenhouse-gas-free energy sources A plan to shutter the last remaining nuclear power plant in California and replace it with renewable energy is being … Continue reading




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What’s New With Node? Interview With Bethany Griggs, Node.js Technical Steering Committee

Node.js 14 is available now. We wanted to get more context and details about the state of Node, and why developers should care about Node.js 14. We talked with Bethany Griggs, Node.js Technical Steering Committee member and Open-source Engineer at IBM, to find out more. 

Bethany has been a Node Core Collaborator for over two years. She contributes to the open-source Node.js runtime and is a member of the Node.js Release Working Group where she is involved with auditing commits for the long-term support (LTS) release lines and the creation of releases. 




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Jumanji: The Next Level continues a one-joke franchise that wasn't all that funny to begin with

[IMAGE-1]Welcome back to the jungle. And welcome to an unfortunate new Christmas movie tradition: the Jumanji movie.…



  • Film/Film News

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The Fox Theater cancels all events, including Spokane Symphony concerts, through April 10

As the threat of the Coronavirus spreads throughout the country, public events everywhere are being canceled and postponed for public safety concerns. The Fox Theater is the latest venue to follow suit, closing its doors and canceling all events through April 10.…




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Portland's Jenny Don't and the Spurs are back with new music after a quiet 2019

Jenny Don't and the Spurs were right in the middle of recording their third full-length album when a vocal polyp put a halt to the process.…