AVENGERS: ENDGAME SCIENCE, SF = BOX OFFICE BOFFO

Avengers: Endgame exploits time travel and quantum mechanics as it tries to restore the universe

by Michael Milford, The Conversation

At the end of Avengers: Infinity War half the people (including heroes and villains) in the universe were gone in the snap of a finger from Thanos (Josh Brolin).

So how can Avengers: Endgame (in cinemas from this week) try to bring them back?

Well, with that tried and tested movie plot device: time travel. Plus a surprising amount of scientific jargon thrown in, including quantum mechanics, Deutsch propositions, eigenvalues and inverted Möbius strips.

But don't think that everything you hear during the movie was created in the minds of some crazy screenwriter. Many of the time-travel concepts in Endgame are connected, at least in name, to recent scientific theory, simulation and speculation.

Let's dive into the science of quantum time travel and discuss whether eigenvalues can really save the universe, but be warned: moderate spoilers ahead.

Time travel 101

The key premise of the movie is that the only thing that can reverse the deaths of half the universe are the things that caused those deaths in the first place: the powerful Infinity Stones.

Problem is, Thanos destroyed these in the present day, so the stones are only available in the past. Retrieving them will require a convoluted journey back in time to multiple locations by the remaining Avengers.

Is time travel actually possible? We've known since Albert Einstein posed his Theory of Special Relativity more than 100 years ago that travel forward in time is relatively easy.

All you need to do is move at close to the speed of light and you can theoretically travel millions or even billions of years into the future within your lifetime.

But could you get back again? This feat appears to be much more difficult. Here are a few challenges and possible solutions.

The grandfather paradox

Travelling back in time can cause apparent logical inconsistencies in reality, like the well-known grandfather paradox.

If you went back in time and killed your grandfather when he was young, then you could never be born, but if you weren't born, then how did you go back and kill him?

Scientists have several theories about these time loops (physicists call them closed timelike curves). Some theories state that such loops are just physically impossible and therefore travel back in time can never happen.

But we know, also thanks to Einstein, that spinning black holes can twist up both space and time, which is why one side of the black hole is brighter than the other in the first picture ever taken of one.

Time travel in the Endgame

In the movie, the characters first make fun of many other time-travel movies such as Back to the Future and the Terminator series where changing your own past and future is possible.

Instead, Endgame goes with the alternative reality idea, where any changes back in time cause a whole new universe to be created, a so-called splitting or branching off of multiple timelines. In physics, this idea is called the Many Worlds Theory.

To avoid this problem, the Avengers plan to borrow the stones from past timelines, use them in the present day, but return them to exactly the same moment once they have finished with them. But will it work?

Enter quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is mentioned a lot in the movie and there are in fact many emerging theories about quantum time travel, including some that potentially solve the grandfather paradox.

In quantum mechanics, atomic particles are more like indistinct waves of probability. So, for example, you can never know both exactly where a particle is and what direction it's moving. You only know there is a certain chance of it being in a certain place.

A British physicist named David Deutsch, who is mentioned in the movie, combined this idea with the Many Worlds theory, and showed that the grandfather paradox can disappear if you express everything probabilistically.
Like the particles, the person going back in time only has a certain probability of killing their grandfather, breaking the causality loop. This has been simulated successfully.

This might seem strange, and while some of the jargon used in the movie may seem a little over the top, you can be sure that real quantum science is even stranger than movie makers could ever imagine. It's clear that even scientists are struggling to make sense of the implications of quantum theory.

Terminology for effect

The time-travel theory scenes (of which there are several) are filled with technical jargon, some out of place, some in the right ballpark.

Here are a few of the terms we hear in the movie concerning time travel:

Eigenvalues: In discussing their approach to time travel, characters Tony Stark and Bruce Banner mention eigenvalues. This is most likely an example of movie maths talk for effect, as eigenvalues are a fairly low-level (basic) concept in linear algebra.

Verdict: A case of the math mumbles

Planck scale: The Planck scale is all about very small things. Planck length, time and mass are base units used in physics. A Planck length is 1.616 × 10−35m. That's very small.

It is the distance that light travels in one unit of Planck time – which is also a very small amount of time. Given the movie is about quantum mechanics-based time travel, chatting Planck scales don't seem too far off topic.

Verdict: Planck has a point.

Möbius strip. Credit: Wikimedia/David Benbennick, CC BY-SA

Inverted Möbius strip
The time-travel jargon also discusses inverting a Möbius strip. A normal Möbius strip is a surface with only one side. You can create one easily by taking a strip of paper, twisting it once, and then sticking it together.

Although a Möbius strip has a range of interesting mathematical properties, its technical relevance to time travel is tenuous, beyond some high-level attempts to explain the grandfather paradox.

Verdict: Twisting theory a little.

Verdict

From a scientific perspective, it's intriguing to have a new movie with such a heavy plot foundation in time travel, and the movie doesn't pull many punches in diving straight into both the jargon and implications of various time-travel scenarios.

While some of the mathematical terminology is clearly there for effect, the plot makes a reasonable effort to adhere to current high level-thinking about time travel – to a point.

Time travel is one of those captivating scientific concepts that is perhaps furthest from implementation by scientists, and so its pivotal role in a movie about superheroes who can fly, go subatomic, destroy universes and change reality is perhaps particularly apt.


Explore further Travel through wormholes is possible, but slow
Provided by The Conversation

Avengers: Endgame review – a spectacular end to Infinity Saga and fitting finale for fans 
Emma Kelly Tuesday 23 Apr 2019 

Endgame is the perfect ending for fans (Picture: Marvel) After 22 films, 11 years and countless spoilers from Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland, the finale of the Infinity Saga is finally here. 

And Avengers: Endgame is the perfect payoff for all devotees of the MCU. There’s basically been a countdown to Endgame since Infinity War ended, with more pressure on the finale than any film I can remember in recent years. 

It doesn’t just act as a sequel to Infinity War – it’s the bookend to an entire era of movies, and possibly a goodbye to some of the MCU’s favourite heroes; it’s well documented that Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Scarlet Johannson’s contracts are coming to an end. And it would be understandable if the Russo brothers buckled under the pressure. 

It’s hard to meet the expectations of millions of hardcore fans. But somehow, Endgame has managed to give fans the satisfying ending they deserve, as well as providing a stellar superhero movie. Due to the threat of Thanos (and, you know, Marvel and Disney) I can’t actually say that much about Endgame – nor do I want to. 

But here’s what we already know, thanks to trailers – the movie picks up right after the Thanos snap, and our remaining heroes are trying to formulate a plan to retrieve the Infinity Stones, reverse the snap and bring half the universe back from the dust. 

Anything else I say would be a massive spoiler, and you’re better off going into Endgame blind. Even Ruffalo and Holland have managed to keep the plot under wraps, so make the most of the ignorance. But what I can say is that fans of the MCU won’t be disappointed. 

What the Marvel films do best are a) battle scenes and b) comedy and those are in abundance in Endgame. Chris Hemsworth is, as always, on top form as Thor, and delivers some laugh out loud moments throughout the script; as does Paul Rudd as the decidedly clueless Scott Lang/Ant-Man. And there’s scenes with Bruce Banner/Hulk (Ruffalo) that hark back to his Thor: Ragnarok days – aka the best era for Hulk. 

Pretty much everybody from the OG Avengers gets to shine in Endgame, and make no mistake – for all of the additional crossovers that Infinity War brought us, this is an Avengers movie. The focus is on Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye, and that’s exactly how it should be in the finale. You can really feel the connection in the gang, and it’s quite evident that this isn’t only the Avengers’ final outing in the MCU, but possibly this group of actors’ too. 

 Unfortunately, this does lead to one or two schmaltzy moments that disrupted the flow of the movie – emotion is fine (‘Mr Stark, I don’t feel so good’) but one particular moment veers on soppy, which seems at odds with the rest of the film. This is teamed with one particular character climax which left me a tad disappointed.

 Endgame is predominantly fan service, and this could be seen as a good or bad thing. Some of my favourite moments were callbacks to previous films or little in-jokes that will be a treat for MCU fans, but for the casual movie fan, may be off-putting or even a bit confusing; a knowledge of the last 21 films is needed for the bulk of the plot. 

Climaxes fans have been calling for are all tied up, and while satisfying, I’m not sure some of it really contributed to making Endgame a great movie. But the whole package does make it great. I cheered, I gasped, I clapped, I laughed, I started whooping with strangers. There’s nothing more joyous than watching a film people truly care about in a cinema, and I doubt Marvel fans will find a more enjoyable cinema experience – even if you do have to limit your fizzy drink intake due to the three hour runtime (which, honestly, didn’t feel as long as I thought, although 15-20 minutes could easily have been shaved off). Prepare to laugh, to cheer, and to have the rug pulled out from under you – but mostly, prepare for a satisfying ending for a beloved saga. Is it perfect? No. But neither are our heroes. 

WTF

‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’ TICKETS SELL FOR $15,000 ON EBAY

But does that include snacks?
By Whitney Shoemaker
-April 7, 2019
3

[photo via YouTube]

Avengers: Endgame tickets went on sale this past Tuesday, sending fans into a frenzy and practically breaking the internet as we all tried to snag pre-sale tickets to the highly anticipated MCU film. The overwhelming demand made the ticket buying process far from easy and it wasn’t long before those who did manage to grab tickets had them posted on eBay for an absurd amount of money.

A quick eBay search will show Endgame ticket prices ranging anywhere from $124.99 to a whopping $15,000. No one in their right mind would pay that much for movie tickets, right?

It looks like some Marvel fans are taking the “whatever it takes” mentality to an entirely new level.

Apparently there are two die-hard Marvel fans willing to do (and pay) whatever it takes in order to see the Infinity Saga finale on opening day—even if that means dishing out an insane $15,000 for a pair of tickets.

Does that include popcorn and snacks?

The eBay listing includes two tickets to see Avengers: Endgame on Friday, April 26 at AMC in West Orange, New Jersey.

According to ComicBook.com, the original listing had the tickets sitting at $2,500 with no active bids earlier this week. However, someone opted to use the “Buy It Now” feature and snatch the ticket pair for $15,000.

But, WHY?![Photo via eBay]

We’re really hoping they’ll have enough cash left over for snacks, especially considering the film has a leaked runtime of over three hours.

It’s a pretty impressive runtime considering the directors recently confirmed that there’s fake footage in the trailers.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters April 26.

If you’re looking for a cheaper way to prove you’re a die-hard MCU fan, you can snag a Marvel Movie Marathon ticket from AMC. The chain confirmed they would be showing a 59 hour marathon of all 22 Marvel films leading up to Endgame at select theaters later this month.

‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’ ADS SET THE STAGE FOR MARVEL’S BIGGEST MOVIE EVER

The latest ads for Avengers: Endgame continue to hype the newest installment up without spoiling much (as usual), and there’s now an interesting trailer covering the MCU’s entire history in the span of two minutes.

First up are a trio of new TV Spots, two of which were posted officially by Marvel and the last of which was recorded by a fan in low-resolution quality. The first of these ads features Captain America giving an inspiring speech that Rocket and Ant-Man seem to like a lot, and the second of ad features a couple of extra shots that haven’t been seen previously. Worth noting is that it confirms speculation that, in the second half of the movie, the Avengers split up into smaller teams in order to accomplish some as-of-yet unconfirmed goal, and it seemingly hints that Hawkeye will be a part of the initial mission to go after Thanos right after the Snap:

The third ad features new clips with Hawkeye and Black Widow on the Benatar, prepping a jump to lightspeed. There’s also a scene of Hawkeye (as Ronin) getting into a katana duel with a member of the Yakuza, War Machine surprising Ant-Man by landing right in front of him and teasing him for it, Pepper Potts wearing an Arc Reactor, and Iron Man reiterating that their desperate plan is their best hope to save the entire universe, once and for all:

But more interesting is the fact that there’s yet another 2.5-minute advertisement that Marvel have cooked up to commemorate the fact that we’re ten days away from the movie’s release date. The clip features footage from 20 of the 22 films, skipping The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man: Homecoming (since those are Universal and Sony movies respectively), though some substitute footage is brought in instead. It culminates in one message, a dialogue between Captain America and Iron Man, echoing one of the best lines from the original team-up movie:

“Before we’re done, we still have one promise to keep…”

“…If we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it.”

You can catch it below:

While the trailer is largely composed of shots from previous movies, it’s interesting to see how much it emphasizes dusted characters alongside the surviving ones. Also confirmed to return is the Sanctuary II, Thanos’s massive ship that he used to kill tons of Asgardian refugees and to take the Space Stone from Loki. It seemed like it was way too big a setpiece to simply not include in the final battle, and I can’t wait to see what they do with it.

‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’ HAS NO SCENES AFTER THE CREDITS, NOR ANY REFERENCES TO MARVEL CHARACTERS PREVIOUSLY LICENSED TO FOX

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A day before Avengers: Endgame opens in the United States, some people have managed to see the final film early, either through premiere events or because it opened in their territory already. Unsurprisingly, there are no references to characters that Marvel gained as a result of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Perhaps more surprisingly, there are also no scenes after the credits.

Let’s start with the whole details on the characters that fit under the Fox umbrella, which includes a library made up of X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, X-Force, and Silver Surfer, among tons of characters that Fox never touched under their nearly-20-year tenure with their various Marvel licenses. For a while, people speculated that, since the Disney-Fox acquisition was on its way to completion, Marvel would have time to introduce a number of Fox-owned characters into an already-stuffed narrative that was more focused on wrapping up character arcs for existing characters than it was on setting up future sequels. However, if Disney allowed Marvel to do this before the merger was complete, then that could have opened up a massive can of worms that wouldn’t have benefited anyone in the long run and could have even disrupted the acquisition.

Eventually, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had to weigh in by stating that they wanted to focus on their current half-decade of plans before integrating Fox characters into the mix, and the directors also chimed in by stating that they barely had any time to put X-Men or Fantastic Four characters in the movie even if they wanted to. After this denial, people still didn’t believe Marvel (since they have been dishonest in the past to protect certain secrets) and continued with their speculation that the company was going to rush casting someone that they’d need for 10+ years in a cameo appearance. Well, the movie’s out now, and they weren’t lying – there are no Fox-owned characters in the movie because there is not a post-credits scene to begin with. (And no, they’re not going to add a post-credits scene to the movie after it’s already in circulation.) Marvel have never operated on a need to rush toward anything before, and whatever X-Men plans are going to happen in the future will happen solely on Marvel’s terms.

Multiple people have been able to confirm that Avengers: Endgame does not have a post-credits scene, a mid-credits scene, or anything after the closing shot of the film. The last Marvel Studios movie to not have an after-credits scene was The Incredible Hulk, although this is a special case. The intended post-credits scene of the film (Tony Stark visiting a distraught Thaddeus Ross to tell him about the Avengers Initiative) was moved to just after the intended final shot of the film (Bruce Banner gaining full control over when he can turn into the Hulk) in order to capitalize on the overperformance of that year’s Iron Man. That move also was to help establish that yes, Marvel was officially going forward with a shared universe on film, at a time when not every Marvel movie had something after the credits. It’s still functionally a stinger… Just one that arrives just before the credits start rolling.

But no such scene happens with this movie, because Marvel want to establish the movie as being the closing chapter for the initial version of the Avengers, and they don’t want to undercut it by immediately revealing their plans for the future. There are plenty of hints about where the franchise could go after Endgame, but they’re not the point of this specific film. Part of the journey is the end, and the end is here. We’ll get plenty of Marvel adventures in the years to come, and the Fox characters will be a part of those adventures, but for now, it’s time to reflect upon 11 years of successful films.

‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’ PROJECTIONS POINT TOWARD INSANE BOX OFFICE GROSS

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If the initial box office projections prove to be accurate, Avengers: Endgame‘s opening weekend could result in the kind of box office opening that is hitherto undreamt of, as Doctor Strange would say.

Deadline‘s most recent update on ticket presales in the United States indicate that the concluding chapter of the current Avengers saga has made approximately $120M in ticket presales before the film even had its premiere earlier tonight. Some estimates are even higher, believing that the total presales are in the $140M range. (Note that neither of these figures come from Disney.) Current estimates suggest that in a worst-case scenario, Endgamewould open to $260M to $270M.

However, Deadline are so confident about how well they think that the movie is going to do that they say that a $300M domestic opening is not impossible, so long as every available theater shows Endgame on 5-8 screens a total of 4-5 times a day each to at least 70% capacity. That would translate to mostly-full screenings across some 12,000 screens. It should be noted that while the movie’s 3 hour and 1 minute running time would typically keep it from potentially soaring to these heights, Endgame‘s tracking is so strong across all demographics – at a rate that’s already higher than the already-record-smashing Avengers: Infinity War – that it’s ultimately a non-issue.

Of course, that’s not to say that the international market is slouching, either. China, the largest non-American market, has pre-sold $90M in tickets on the opening day. Of these, an estimated $20M will apply to midnight screenings of the film, which is more than double what the previous record-holder for largest box office opening (The Fate of the Furious) was able to manage.

View image on Twitter

Gavin Feng@gavinfeng97

Chinese total pre-sale of Avengers: Endgame is nearly $90M and would be higher in the last 14 hours. Early estimate for the midnights box office is around $20M, which is more than double of what the previous record holder Furious 8 did($9.1M). #AvengersEndgame

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With these kinds of numbers in mind, a $1B opening weekend is not something that can be ruled out at this point. Let that sink in for a moment.

If you want a better chance of seeing it on opening weekend if you haven’t already pre-bought your ticket, or perhaps more than once, then you might be in luck. The Hollywood Reporter adds that 17 AMC locations will be showing the movie non-stop from Thursday to Sunday, with another 18 operating from Thursday to Saturday, and another 29 operating from Thursday to Friday, all to accommodate for this movie’s massive demand. So it seems as though it will be a snap for Marvel to break their previous records; Avengers: Endgame should have no problem matching its predecessor at the box office, possibly even outdoing it in the process.

Avengers: Endgame' Already Broke The Record For The Biggest Box-Office Opening In China Of All Time

TRAVIS CLARK
APR 24, 2019

"Avengers: Endgame" has already made $107.2 million in China, where it opened on Wednesday.It's on its way to becoming the biggest Hollywood release in China ever."Endgame" has already shattered pre-sale records in the US, and is poised to break the opening-weekend box-office record when it debuts this weekend.
"Avengers: Endgame" is breaking pre-sale records in the US ahead of its release this weekend, but the movie is also already dominating in China.
The movie opened two days head of the US in China on Wednesday, and has already made $107.2 million, well on its way to becoming the country's biggest Hollywood movie of all time. It's China's biggest opening day ever.READ MORE: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, ranked by how much money they made at the worldwide box officeChinese movie-ticket service Maoyan is projecting "Endgame" to gross $521 million during its entire Chinese run, according to Variety, which would make it the highest-grossing non-Chinese film ever.
In the US, the movie has shattered multiple pre-sale records. It's ticket service Fandango's biggest first-day and first-week seller, and has sold five times as many tickets through the service as last year's "Avengers: Infinity War." It's also AMC Theatres' biggest pre-sale movie of all time, and the company is keeping 17 theaters open around the clock Thursday through Sunday to accommodate the high audience demand.
The movie is expected to break "Infinity War's" US opening weekend record. It grossed $258 million in its debut, but "Endgame" is expected to gross at least $280 million, and could even reach $300 million.
Could "Endgame" become the biggest movie of all time? It will have to beat "Avatar," the current record holder, which grossed $2.8 million worldwide. "Infinity War" grossed $2.05 billion.



                                                      ---------30------------

SARCASM

MERIT SHOP INC.

CLIMATE CRISIS IS THE CRISIS OF CAPITALISM

ROSA LUXEMBURG EXECUTED 1919

2019 CENTENARY ROSA LUXEMBURG'S DEATH

END THE YEMEN WAR

HELL'S BELLE

APRIL 28 DAY OF MOURNING CANADA / UN

THE NDP/USW LAW WAS PASSED 2010

APRIL 28 WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY USA

FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING

WOMEN ARE THE PROLETARIAT

Whose Family Values?

Women and the Social Reproduction of Capitalism

APRIL 25, 2019
Gestures and visual animations

reveal cognitive origins of linguistic meaning

by New York University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Gestures and visual animations can help reveal the cognitive origins of meaning, indicating that our minds can assign a linguistic structure to new informational content "on the fly"—even if it is not linguistic in nature.


These conclusions stem from two studies, one in linguistics and the other in experimental psychology, appearing in Natural Language & Linguistic Theory and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"These results suggest that far less is encoded in words than was originally thought," explains Philippe Schlenker, a senior researcher at Institut Jean-Nicod within France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University, who wrote the first study and co-authored the second. "Rather, our mind has a 'meaning engine' that can apply to linguistic and non-linguistic material alike.

"Taken together, these findings provide new insights into the cognitive origins of linguistic meaning."

Contemporary linguistics has established that language conveys information through a highly articulated typology of inferences. For instance, I have a dog asserts that I own a dog, but it also suggests (or "implicates") that I have no more than one: the hearer assumes that if I had two dogs, I would have said so (as I have two dogs is more informative).

Unlike asserted content, implicated content isn't targeted by negation. I don't have a dog thus means that I don't have any dog, not that I don't have exactly one dog. There are further inferential types characterized by further properties: the sentence I spoil my dog still conveys that I have a dog, but now this is neither asserted nor implicated; rather, it is "presupposed"—i.e. taken for granted in the conversation. Unlike asserted and implicated information, presuppositions are preserved in negative statements, and thus I don't spoil my dog still presupposes that I have a dog.

A fundamental question of contemporary linguistics is: Which of these inferences come from arbitrary properties of words stored in our mental dictionary and which result from general, productive processes?

In the Natural Language & Linguistic Theory work and the PNASstudy, written by Lyn Tieu of Australia's Western Sydney University, Schlenker, and CNRS's Emmanuel Chemla, the authors argue that nearly all inferential types result from general, and possibly non-linguistic, processes.


Their conclusion is based on an understudied type of sentence containing gestures that replace normal words. For instance, in the sentence You should UNSCREW-BULB, the capitalized expression encodes a gesture of unscrewing a bulb from the ceiling. While the gesture may be seen for the first time (and thus couldn't be stored in our mental dictionary), it is understood due to its visual content.

This makes it possible to test how its informational content (i.e. unscrewing a bulb that's on the ceiling) is divided on the fly among the typology of inferences. In this case, the unscrewing action is asserted, but the presence of a bulb on the ceiling is presupposed, as shown by the fact that the negation (You shouldn't UNSCREW-BULB) preserves this information. By systematically investigating such gestures, the Natural Language & Linguistic Theory study reaches a ground-breaking conclusion: nearly all inferential types (eight in total) can be generated on the fly, suggesting that all are due to productive processes.

The PNAS study investigates four of these inferential types with experimental methods, confirming the results of the linguistic study. But it also goes one step further by replacing the gestures with visual animations embedded in written texts, thus answering two new questions: First, can the results be reproduced for visual stimuli that subjects cannot possibly have seen in a linguistic context, given that people routinely speak with gestures but not with visual animations? Second, can entirely non-linguistic material be structured by the same processes?

Both answers are positive.

In a series of experiments, approximately 100 subjects watched videos of sentences in which some words were replaced either by gestures or by visual animations. They were asked how strongly they derived various inferences that are the hallmarks of different inferential types (for instance, inferences derived in the presence of negation). The subjects' judgments displayed the characteristic signature of four classic inferential types (including presuppositions and implicated content) in gestures but also in visual animations: the informational content of these non-standard expressions was, as expected, divided on the fly by the experiments' subjects among well-established slots of the inferential typology.


Explore furtherChimp communication gestures found to follow human linguistics rules
More information: Lyn Tieu et al, Linguistic inferences without words, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1821018116
Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences


Provided by New York University

SAFE HEARING PPE

Agronomy Research 12(3), 895–906, 2014

Exposure to high or low frequency noise at workplaces: differences between assessment, health complaints and implementation of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE)

K.Reinhold*, S.Kalle and J.Paju Institute of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, EE12618 Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract

Employees are exposed to high and low frequency noise which may cause different health effects. Hearing loss first occurs in the high frequency range, low frequency usually causes sleeping disturbances and annoyance. TES 1358 sound analyzer with 1/3 octave band was used to measure the equivalent sound pressure level, the peak sound pressure level, and the noise frequency spectrum at different workplaces. All the results were compared to Estonian and International legislations. High frequency noise was studied in metal, electronics and wood processing industries. The results showed that in several cases, the normative values were exceeded and the highest values appeared in the range of speech frequencies. Frequency analysis indicated that the noise level spectra at work stations of various machines differed in patterns. The low frequency spectra on a ship showed peaks in the frequency range of 50...1,250 Hz. Most employers provided workers with personal protective equipment against noise, but when selecting ear muffs, noise frequency had not been taken into consideration and therefore workers in the same enterprise used similar ear muffs. Knowledge of the prevailing frequencies assists to decide which ear protection should be used to avoid damage. An adequate hearing protector device can reduce the noise exposure significantly. Key words: Noise, frequency analysis, PPE, occupational hazards. 

INTRODUCTION 

The human perception of sound is between 20...20,000 Hz. The ear is most receptive in the range of 500...8,000 Hz, so called acoustical window, even though the most sensitive range of hearing is 1,000...4,000 Hz (Salvendy, 2012) and the spectrum of human speech ranges in the frequency region of 250...6300 Hz (Cox & Moore, 1988). Health effects from noise exposure have been studied by many researchers. Differences in complaints between low (20...500 Hz) (Alves-Pereira & Castelo Branco, 2007) and high frequency noise have been presented in several sources. Also it has been indicated, that hearing loss tends to occur in the range of high frequencies first (Salvendy, 2012). Industrial noise can mainly be characterized with high frequency noise, but also a considerable number of workers are exposed to low frequency noise on a daily basis. There is a general agreement that progression in hearing loss at frequencies of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 Hz eventually will result in impaired hearing, i.e. inability to hear and understand speech (Johnson et al., 2001).

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APRIL 25, 2019
Sound of the sea solves decades-old supervolcano mystery

by University of Aberdeen

Solfatara is a shallow volcanic crater located at the centre of Campi Flegrei, 

where volcanic material is emitted through steaming vents. 

Credit: University of Aberdeen

Scientists have used the sound of the sea to discover the route taken by hot fluids that feed a supervolcano in southern Italy.

Using an innovative technique that uses the 'hum' - or seismic noise—of waves crashing at the coastline of Campi Flegrei, scientists have produced a seismic image of the deeper structure of the volcano that reveals the main route bringing hot fluids to the surface.

Their research has featured in a documentary—'The Next Pompeii'—on Nova, a popular science series on major US broadcaster PBS. The documentary highlights the innovative scientific techniques being used to monitor Campi Flegrei – a volcanic caldera to the west of Naples that last erupted five centuries ago.

The area has been relatively quiet since the 1980s, when the injection of volcanic material in the shallower structure of the volcano caused thousands of small earthquakes, which was followed by 38 years of relative silence.

Seismic imaging is one of the main methods used by scientists to accurately map a volcano's structure at depth, however the low level of seismic activity in the area over nearly four decades has meant that Campi Flegrei's inner structure has remained a mystery – until now.

The so-called 'feeder pathway' discovered by scientists is believed to have been formed during the last period of seismic activity in the 1980s, and brings volcanic material from the depths of the volcano, located out at sea.

The material then travels up and along established routes beneath the volcano towards fumaroles at Solfatara and Pisciarelli—located approximately in the centre of the caldera—where they are expelled as vapour through steaming vents.

Seismologists Professor Luca De Siena, Dr. Carmelo Sammarco and Dr. David Cornwell led the study from the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen. They worked alongside the Vesuvius Observatory, which advises the Italian Government's Department of Civil Protection of the threat posed by volcanic activity in the region.

Professor De Siena, now at the University of Mainz, said: "By using the noise at the seashore to create a seismic image, we have finally a better idea of how volcanic material travels from the depths of the volcano to the surface,"

"This is the first time this relatively new technique has been used in a heavily populated area, and it shows us that the feeder pathway created at the beginning of the 1980s appears fully functional in 2011-2013, when we collected the data.

"This is important as it improves our understanding of the character of the volcano, which may ultimately improve monitoring and early warning procedures in an area inhabited by millions of people."


Explore furtherScientists locate potential magma source in Italian supervolcano
More information: L. De Siena et al. Ambient Seismic Noise Image of the Structurally Controlled Heat and Fluid Feeder Pathway at Campi Flegrei Caldera, Geophysical Research Letters (2018). DOI: 10.1029/2018GL078817
Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters


Provided by University of Aberdeen

APRIL 17, 2019
Artificial intelligence speeds efforts to develop clean, virtually limitless fusion energy

by John Greenwald, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Depiction of fusion research on a doughnut-shaped tokamak enhanced 

by artificial intelligence. Credit: Eliot Feibush/PPPL and 

Julian Kates-Harbeck/Harvard University

Artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science that is transforming scientific inquiry and industry, could now speed the development of safe, clean and virtually limitless fusion energy for generating electricity. A major step in this direction is under way at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University, where a team of scientists working with a Harvard graduate student is for the first time applying deep learning—a powerful new version of the machine learning form of AI—to forecast sudden disruptions that can halt fusion reactions and damage the doughnut-shaped tokamaks that house the reactions.

Promising new chapter in fusion research

"This research opens a promising new chapter in the effort to bring unlimited energy to Earth," Steve Cowley, director of PPPL, said of the findings, which are reported in the current issue of Naturemagazine. "Artificial intelligence is exploding across the sciences and now it's beginning to contribute to the worldwide quest for fusion power."

Fusion, which drives the sun and stars, is the fusing of light elements in the form of plasma—the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei—that generates energy. Scientists are seeking to replicate fusion on Earth for an abundant supply of power for the production of electricity.

Crucial to demonstrating the ability of deep learning to forecast disruptions—the sudden loss of confinement of plasma particles and energy—has been access to huge databases provided by two major fusion facilities: the DIII-D National Fusion Facility that General Atomics operates for the DOE in California, the largest facility in the United States, and the Joint European Torus (JET) in the United Kingdom, the largest facility in the world, which is managed by EUROfusion, the European Consortium for the Development of Fusion Energy. Support from scientists at JET and DIII-D has been essential for this work.

The vast databases have enabled reliable predictions of disruptions on tokamaks other than those on which the system was trained—in this case from the smaller DIII-D to the larger JET. The achievement bodes well for the prediction of disruptions on ITER, a far larger and more powerful tokamak that will have to apply capabilities learned on today's fusion facilities.

The deep learning code, called the Fusion Recurrent Neural Network (FRNN), also opens possible pathways for controlling as well as predicting disruptions.

Most intriguing area of scientific growth

"Artificial intelligence is the most intriguing area of scientific growth right now, and to marry it to fusion science is very exciting," said Bill Tang, a principal research physicist at PPPL, coauthor of the paper and lecturer with the rank and title of professor in the Princeton University Department of Astrophysical Sciences who supervises the AI project. "We've accelerated the ability to predict with high accuracy the most dangerous challenge to clean fusion energy."


Unlike traditional software, which carries out prescribed instructions, deep learning learns from its mistakes. Accomplishing this seeming magic are neural networks, layers of interconnected nodes—mathematical algorithms—that are "parameterized," or weighted by the program to shape the desired output. For any given input the nodes seek to produce a specified output, such as correct identification of a face or accurate forecasts of a disruption. Training kicks in when a node fails to achieve this task: the weights automatically adjust themselves for fresh data until the correct output is obtained.

A key feature of deep learning is its ability to capture high-dimensional rather than one-dimensional data. For example, while non-deep learning software might consider the temperature of a plasma at a single point in time, the FRNN considers profiles of the temperature developing in time and space. "The ability of deep learning methods to learn from such complex data make them an ideal candidate for the task of disruption prediction," said collaborator Julian Kates-Harbeck, a physics graduate student at Harvard University and a DOE-Office of Science Computational Science Graduate Fellow who was lead author of the Nature paper and chief architect of the code.

Training and running neural networks relies on graphics processing units (GPUs), computer chips first designed to render 3-D images. Such chips are ideally suited for running deep learning applications and are widely used by companies to produce AI capabilities such as understanding spoken language and observing road conditions by self-driving cars.

Kates-Harbeck trained the FRNN code on more than two terabytes (1012) of data collected from JET and DIII-D. After running the software on Princeton University's Tiger cluster of modern GPUs, the team placed it on Titan, a supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and other high-performance machines.

A demanding task

Distributing the network across many computers was a demanding task. "Training deep neural networks is a computationally intensive problem that requires the engagement of high-performance computing clusters," said Alexey Svyatkovskiy, a coauthor of the Nature paper who helped convert the algorithms into a production code and now is at Microsoft. "We put a copy of our entire neural network across many processors to achieve highly efficient parallel processing," he said.

The software further demonstrated its ability to predict true disruptions within the 30-millisecond time frame that ITER will require, while reducing the number of false alarms. The code now is closing in on the ITER requirement of 95 percent correct predictions with fewer than 3 percent false alarms. While the researchers say that only live experimental operation can demonstrate the merits of any predictive method, their paper notes that the large archival databases used in the predictions, "cover a wide range of operational scenarios and thus provide significant evidence as to the relative strengths of the methods considered in this paper."

From prediction to control

The next step will be to move from prediction to the control of disruptions. "Rather than predicting disruptions at the last moment and then mitigating them, we would ideally use future deep learning models to gently steer the plasma away from regions of instability with the goal of avoiding most disruptions in the first place," Kates-Harbeck said. Highlighting this next step is Michael Zarnstorff, who recently moved from deputy director for research at PPPL to chief science officer for the laboratory. "Control will be essential for post-ITER tokamaks—in which disruption avoidance will be an essential requirement," Zarnstorff noted.

Progressing from AI-enabled accurate predictions to realistic plasma control will require more than one discipline. "We will combine deep learning with basic, first-principle physics on high-performance computers to zero in on realistic control mechanisms in burning plasmas," said Tang. "By control, one means knowing which 'knobs to turn' on a tokamak to change conditions to prevent disruptions. That's in our sights and it's where we are heading."

APRIL 25, 2019 REPORT

China's efforts to reduce air pollution in major cities found to increase pollution in nearby areas

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers with members affiliated with institutions in China, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, the U.S. and Austria has found that efforts by the Chinese government to reduce air pollution in its major cities have resulted in higher air pollution levels in nearby areas. The group has published a paper describing their findings in the journal Science Advances.


Over the past several decades, China has become a major manufacturing powerhouse, but in doing so, has put the health of its urban citizens at risk due to severe air pollution. The pollution mainly comes from factory smokestacks. The problem was highlighted back in 2008 as viewers of the Beijing Olympics saw dense clouds of pollution blanketing major parts of the city. Since then, the Chinese government has instituted policies and rules governing the amount of pollutants a company can emit. The results have been promising—pollution levels have diminished. But it appears the problem has been shifted rather than solved, the researchers on this new effort report. They took and tested air samples from a large number of sites just outside of the big metropolitan areas and found huge increases in air pollution levels.

The researchers note that many of the rules surrounding pollution limits are localized in China. This means that companies that find themselves emitting over the limit can simply move to a nearby area that falls under a different, less strict, jurisdiction. They note also that quite often those people in charge of making rules about air pollution outside of the metropolitan areas are much laxer about pollutants because they hope to attract companies that will employ people who live there.

In testing the air in areas some distance from cities such as Beijing, the researchers found that, on average, particulate matter was 1.6 times higher than the amount of reductions seen in the cities, which shows that the country is actually producing more of it than ever. They also found that the lax rules outside of metropolitan areas led to overall emission levels that were 3.6 times higher than they were before the new urban rules were put in place. And they found that overall water consumption was 2.9 times higher as well. They also discovered that occasionally the winds shifted, pushing the pollution from the new manufacturing areas back to the cities, covering them once again with dense clouds of pollutants.

APRIL 25, 2019

Japan creates first artificial crater on asteroid

Japan's Hayabusa2 mission aims to shed light on how the solar system evolved

Japanese scientists have succeeded in creating what they called the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid, a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved, the country's space agency said Tcomes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid early this month to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material, aiming to reveal more about the origins of life on Earth.

Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japanese space agency (JAXA), told reporters they confirmed the crater from images captured by the probe located 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) from the asteroid's surface.

"Creating an artificial crater with an impactor and observing it in detail afterwards is a world-first attempt," Tsuda said.

"This is a big success."

NASA's Deep Impact probe succeeded in creating an artificial crater on a comet in 2005, but only for observation purposes.

Masahiko Arakawa, a Kobe University professor involved in the project, said it was "the best day of his life".

"We can see such a big hole a lot more clearly than expected," he said, adding the images showed a crater 10 metres in diameter.

JAXA scientists had previously predicted that the crater could be as large as 10 metres in diameter if the surface was sandy, or three metres if rocky.

"The surface is filled with boulders but yet we created a crater this big. This could mean there's a scientific mechanism we don't know or something special about Ryugu's materials," the professor said.

The aim of blasting the crater on Ryugu is to throw up "fresh" material from under the asteroid's surface that could shed light on the early stages of the solar system.

The asteroid is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water from some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was born.

In February, Hayabusa2 touched down briefly on Ryugu and fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection, before blasting back to its holding position.

The mission, with a price tag of around 30 billion yen ($270 million), was launched in December 2014 and is scheduled to return to Earth with its samples in 2020.

Photos of Ryugu—which means "Dragon Palace" in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale—show the asteroid has a rough surface full of boulders.

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© 2019 AFP

APRIL 25, 2019
Early melting of winter snowfall advances the Arctic springtime

by University of Edinburgh

Spring plants in parts of the Arctic tundra are arriving earlier than in previous decades, owing to early melt of winter snows and rising temperatures, according to a study led by University of Edinburgh scientists. Credit: Sandra Angers-Blondin

The early arrival of spring in parts of the Arctic is driven by winter snow melting sooner than in previous decades and by rising temperatures, research suggests.


The findings, from a study of plants at coastal sites around the Arctic tundra, help scientists understand how the region is responding to a changing climate and how it may continue to adapt.

Researchers studied the timing of activity in seasonal vegetation, which acts as a barometer for the environment. Changes in the arrival of leaves and flowers—which cover much of the region—can reflect or influence shifts in the climate.

A team from the University of Edinburgh, and universities in Canada, the US, Denmark and Germany, gathered data on the greening and flowering of 14 plant species at four sites in Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

They sought to better understand which factors have the greatest influence on the timing of spring plants in the tundra—temperatures, snow melt or sea ice melt.

Variation in the timing of leaves and flowers appearing on plants between the sites was found to be linked to the timing of local snow melt and, to a lesser extent, temperatures.

Across the tundra, leaves and flowers were found to emerge as much as 20 days sooner compared with two decades ago. Within the same timeframe, spring temperatures warmed by 1 degree Celsius each decade on average, while loss of sea ice occurred around 20 days sooner across the different regions.

Spring plants in parts of the Arctic tundra are arriving earlier 

than in previous decades, owing to early melt of winter snows 

and rising temperatures, according to a study led by

 University of Edinburgh scientists. Credit: Anne D. Bjorkman

Overall snow melt, which advanced by about 10 days over two decades, had the greatest influence on the timing of spring.

The study, published in Global Change Biology, was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Dr. Isla Myers-Smith, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, who took part in the study, said: "In the extreme climate of the Arctic tundra, where summers are short, the melting of winter snows as well as warming temperatures are key drivers of the timing of spring. This will help us to understand how Arctic ecosystems are responding as the climate warms."


Explore further Air temperatures in the Arctic are driving system change
More information: Jakob J. Assmann et al, Local snow melt and temperature—but not regional sea ice—explain variation in spring phenology in coastal Arctic tundra, Global Change Biology (2019). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14639
Journal information: Global Change Biology


Provided by University of Edinburgh