Cut-and-paste enters era of augmented reality

by Peter Grad , Tech Xplore


It was in 1901 that an author of children's books imagined an electronic image that could float over people and provide information about them. L. Frank Baum, who a year earlier penned "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," referred to that image as a character marker. In fact, it is the first known reference to what 120 years later would commonly be referred to as augmented reality.

From SnapChat's whimsical face filters to daily evening weather forecast maps on TV, digital overlays upon real world scenes have become ubiquitous.

The pace of advances in augmented reality will only increase in coming months and years.

Some of those advances will be relatively simple. One such example was unveiled last month. Cyril Diagne, a designer and programmer currently in residence at the Google Arts and Culture Lab in Paris, showed that as mundane an operation as cut-and-paste can be turbocharged in the era of augmented reality.

He posted demonstration videos of his smartphone camera process that singles out an object, isolates it from the background and, when pointed to a desktop computer, inserts the image into a document. This is all done in under 10 seconds.

Diagne explained that he utilizes BASNet to trace the outline of an image and smoothly wipe out the background. He uses other image-tracking technology to determine precisely where the phone's camera is pointing.

4/10 - Cut & paste your surroundings to Photoshop
Code: https://t.co/cVddH3u3ik
Book: @HOLOmagazine
Garment: SS17 by @thekarentopacio
Type: Sainte Colombe by @MinetYoann @ProductionType
Technical Insights: ↓#ML #AR #AI #AIUX #Adobe #Photoshop pic.twitter.com/LkTBe0t0rF— Cyril Diagne (@cyrildiagne) May 3, 2020

"This is a prototype that uses the phone camera to capture, extract and paste objects from your surroundings directly to Photoshop," Diagne explained. "Thanks to OpenCV SIFT, an image-tracking technology, the app is able to detect where the phone is pointing at the screen, making it a seamless experience. It's part of a series of experiments I'm doing every weekend to explore how machine learning and AI can help create more digital interactions that are more natural."

His demonstration video shows him pointing his camera at three items in succession—a plant, a book and a blouse—and in each instance pointing the camera at a desktop computer, where each image flies into the document.

Images require 2.5 seconds to capture and 4 seconds to paste.

Other video examples show him capturing still images hanging on a wall transferred to a computer where they initiate video clips, and capturing the logo of hard rock band Iron Maiden on the T-shirt of his wife that, when transferred to the computer, instantly plays "Drifter" from their "Killers" album.

Diagne says there is room for improvement, including a reduction in times needed for transfer. But for now, he offers AR Cut and Paste only as a prototype and has uploaded all details and code on GitHub. A local server must be established to link the smartphone to Photoshop on the desktop computer.

Augmented reality fuels some of the most intriguing apps available today. Aside from its obvious application to innumerable games, it offers many practical uses for personal, educational and commercial needs.

Froggipedia projects a lifelike 3-D frog on any surface you point your camera at, offering a highly detailed—and pain-free—step-by-step dissection, conducted with your fingertip motions. HairStyle Pro captures your image and presents you with hundreds of hairstyles and differing colors precisely positioned over your face (including beards and sideburns for men). YouCam Makeup-Magic does the same for women seeking the perfect shade of cosmetics.

For the craftsmen or craftswoman in the home, AR Measure Kit lets you point your camera at any two targets and returns a precise measurement. If you prefer to purchase ready-made furniture, IKEA allows you to project images of its inventory of furniture and other home accessories right into your living room or kitchen.

And perhaps best of all, with an AR Visualizer, you can check out that Porsche 911 Carrera 4S that you always wanted, listing at a mere $120,600 today, and place its image on your own driveway in front of your home as you select colors, interiors and rim style and then watch the car drive off and down the road.

L. Frank Baum would be impressed.

Explore furtherEngineers develop computerized camera without optics that instead uses an ordinary window as the lens

More information: www.theverge.com/2020/5/4/2124 … world-photoshop-demo

© 2020 Science X Network

Electrical activity in living organisms mirrors electrical fields in atmosphere
by Tel Aviv University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Most electrical activity in vertebrates and invertebrates occurs at extremely low frequencies, and the origin—and medical potential—of these frequencies have eluded scientists. Now a Tel Aviv University study provides evidence for a direct link between electrical fields in the atmosphere and those found in living organisms, including humans.


The study's findings may change established notions about electrical activity in living organisms, paving the way for revolutionary, new medical treatments. Illnesses such as epilepsy and Parkinson's are related to abnormalities in the electrical activity of the body.

"We show that the electrical activity in many living organisms—from zooplankton in the oceans, to sharks and even in our brains—is very similar to the electrical fields we measure and study in the atmosphere from global lightning activity," explains Prof. Colin Price of TAU's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, who led the research for the study, published in the International Journal of Biometeorology on February 8.

Colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Alaska also contributed to the study.

"We hypothesize that over evolutionary timescales living organisms adapted and evolved to actually use the electricity in the environment—global lightning," Prof. Price continues. "This has likely not changed over billions of years and is similar to the evolution of our eyes, which evolved using the sunlight nature gave us."

As living organisms evolved over billions of years, the natural electromagnetic resonant frequencies in the atmosphere, continuously generated by global lightning activity, provided the background electric fields for the development of cellular electrical activity. Prof. Price's research found that, in some animals, the electrical spectrum is difficult to differentiate from the background atmospheric electric field produced by lightning.

"Neither biologists nor doctors can explain why the frequencies in living organisms (0-50 Hz) are similar to those in the atmosphere caused by lightning," adds Prof. Price. "Most of them are not even aware of the similarity we presented in our paper."

"Our review of previous studies revealed that lightning-related fields may have positive medical applications related to our biological clock (circadian rhythms), spinal cord injuries and maybe other bodily functions related to electrical activity in our bodies," says Prof. Price. "The connection between the ever-present electromagnetic fields, between lightning in the atmosphere and human health, may have huge implications in the future for various treatments related to electrical abnormalities in our bodies."

The study comprised a retrospective review of previous studies on the link between lightning-related fields in the atmosphere and human and animal health. "We collected many different studies over the years to build a clear picture of this link," concludes Prof. Price. "Going forward, we need to design new experiments to see how these extremely low frequency fields from lightning may impact living organisms, and to investigate how these fields can be used to benefit us. One new experiment we are now planning is to see how these fields may impact the rate of photosynthesis in plants."


Explore furtherLightning's electromagnetic fields may have protective properties
More information: Colin Price et al, Natural ELF fields in the atmosphere and in living organisms, International Journal of Biometeorology (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s00484-020-01864-6
Journal information: International Journal of Biometeorology


Provided by Tel Aviv University

Yellow-legged gull adapts its annual lifecycle to human activities to get food

by University of Barcelona

The experts warn it is necessary to better know the ecological impact of opportunist species in natural ecosystems Credit: Isabel Afán (EBD-CSIC)

The yellow-legged gull has a high ability to adapt to human activities and benefit from these as a food resource all year. This is stated in a scientific article published in the journal Ecology and Evolution whose first author is the researcher Francisco Ramírez, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona.

Other participants in the study are the experts Josep Lluís Carrasco (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UB); Isabel Afán y Manuela González Forero (Doñana BIological Station, EBD-CSIC); Joan Navarro (Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC)) and Willem Bouten (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands). This research is part of a Talent-Hub project funded by Agencia Andaluza del Conocimiento.

Opportunist species with great spread abilities

The yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) is an opportunist species which feeds from a great range of preys (fish, crustaceans, annellids, organic material from dumping sites, etc.). As part of the new study, experts analysed—with remote monitoring devices—the movement of thirty gulls that nest in the Marismas del Odiel Natural Site (Huelva).

The animals were marked with GPS devices to obtain their location every five minutes for a year, from the moment of breeding—also during winter season—until the next reproductive season. The exact location of each animal enabled experts to identify their use of the land and the relationship with human activity. As a result, the research team could obtain a detailed map of their movements in space and time.

Changes in the eating pattern over the year
The conclusions of the study reveal a tight relation between the space distribution of the gulls and the human-origin resources during the year. "The preferences of the gulls in the use of habitat changed over their annual cycle as a possible response to the restrictions the species suffer over the course of their phenological cycle: physiological restrictions due to the differences of energetic demand of each period, and time restrictions resulting from the fluctuations in the availability of food resources," notes researcher Francisco Ramírez (UB-IRBio). The expert notes that "The extreme ability to adapt allows these species to modify their eating habits and the exploitation of different habitats to manage both limitations."

In the study, the location of the gulls was compared to the information on the occupation of the land obtained in high-resolution databases. The use of information of the satellite sensors—to quantify the intensity of artificial night lights—enabled researchers to relate the habitats of gulls with the close activity to urban sites.

The large potential for spread of these individuals, covering cross-border areas of Spain, Portugal and Morocco during their annual cycle, shows the need for international efforts to limit the availability of human food resources and improve the management of this species.

"The knowledge of behavioural patterns over the year in opportunist species with a wide spread, such the yellow-legged gull, is important in order to assess potential impacts such species can have on the ecosystem," concludes Ramírez.


Explore furtherSeagulls favor food humans have handled

More information: Francisco Ramírez et al, Humans shape the year-round distribution and habitat use of an opportunistic scavenger, Ecology and Evolution (2020). DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6226

Journal information: Ecology and Evolution

Provided by University of Barcelona

Struggles in India, Brazil, US show virus fight far from won

by Chris Blake

Relatives mourn at the roadside while waiting for funerary service workers to pick up of the body of Arlen Laranjeira Bezerra, 39, a victim of the new coronavirus who died after fleeing the emergency room of the Delphina Rinaldi Abdel Aziz Hospital in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Bezerra was admitted to undergo treatment for COVID-19 disease and after escaping from the hospital at dawn, his body was found by family members approximately 200 meters from it. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)

Even as countries moved forward Wednesday with easing their coronavirus restrictions and restarting their economies, a large cluster of infections linked to a market in India and the first lockdown of a major Brazilian city highlighted that the battle against the pandemic was far from won.


In the United States, President Donald Trump emphasized his determination to see a quick return to normalcy with a visit to an Arizona mask factory that was expected to kick off his regular travels as the nation emerges from seven weeks of virus-imposed isolation. The push to ease stay-at-home orders comes even as U.S. infection rates outside the New York metropolitan area are rising.

In India, which partly eased its lockdown Monday, health authorities were rushing to contain an outbreak of the virus at one of Asia's largest markets for perishable goods. The market in the southern city of Chennai, spread over more than 250 acres, had remained open throughout the lockdown and is now tied to at least 1,000 cases.

Another 7,000 people connected to now-shuttered Koyambedu market were being traced and quarantined, a huge task given that the facility is critical to the food supply across Tamil Nadu and neighboring states.

The market cluster contributed to India's biggest single-day increase in virus infections yet, with authorities on Tuesday reporting 3,900 cases and 195 deaths. The health ministry attributed the spike to reporting delays by state governments, but experts remain worried about a potential health catastrophe in a country of 1.3 billion people and a medical system strained even in the best of times.

People wear masks to help stop the spread of coronavirus, while waiting in line to enter a store on Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, a Brooklyn neighborhood with one of the city's largest Mexican and Hispanic communities, Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in New York. The annual street festival parade marking Cinco de Mayo was canceled this year due to COVID-19. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

The capital of Brazil's tropical Maranhão state ground largely to a halt Tuesday, becoming the first major city in the country to enter a lockdown in the hopes of preventing the coronavirus from overwhelming the health care system of one of the nation's poorest states.

Some 1.5 million people in São Luís and three neighboring cities have been confined to their homes, except for a handful of essential tasks. The vast majority of businesses have been shuttered, as have schools and public transport. Parks are closed, and residents cannot go out to exercise.


The decree from the state governor will last 10 days to start and applies to one-fifth the state's population. It comes despite President Jair Bolsonaro's insistence that only the elderly and other high-risk populations should stay home. The president and his followers have repeatedly criticized local leaders who imposed more stringent restrictions in the face of surging coronavirus cases.

President Donald Trump participates in a tour of a Honeywell International plant that manufactures personal protective equipment, Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Phoenix, with Tony Stallings, vice president of Integrated Supply Chain at Honeywell, right and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Elsewhere, Britain's official death toll, at more than 29,000, topped that of Italy to become the highest in Europe and second-highest in the world behind the United States. The official number of dead worldwide surpassed a quarter-million, according to a count by Johns Hopkins' University, though the true toll is believed to be much higher.

On his visit to Arizona, Trump acknowledged the human cost of returning to normalcy.

"I'm not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon," he said.

On Monday, a model from the University of Washington nearly doubled its projection of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. to around 134,000 through early August, with a range of 95,000 to nearly 243,000. Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the institute that created the projections, said the increase is largely because most states are expected to ease restrictions by next week.

Cars and trucks are driven on a relatively empty highway in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Due to the coronavirus a lot less traffic is seen during the day. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Trump, asked about the projections before traveling to Arizona, disputed the accuracy of models in general and said keeping the economy closed carries deadly costs of its own, such as drug abuse and suicide.

New confirmed infections per day in the U.S. exceed 20,000, and deaths per day are well over 1,000, according Johns Hopkins figures. And public health officials warn that the failure to lower the infection rate in places could lead to many more deaths—perhaps tens of thousands—as people are allowed to venture out and businesses reopen.

"Make no mistakes: This virus is still circulating in our community, perhaps even more now than in previous weeks" said Linda Ochs, director of the Health Department in Shawnee County, Kansas.

According to an Associated Press analysis, the numbers show that when the New York metropolitan area's progress against the coronavirus is taken out of the equation, the rest of the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction.

Forensic investigators look at the body of a man infected with the new coronavirus who collapsed on the street and died, according to Police Captain Diego Lopez, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Tara Van Wieren works on a Mother's Day flower arraignment at Relles Florist in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Florists are among the retail businesses that Gov. Gavin Newsom said might be eligible to open before the end of this week under upcoming state guidelines concerning the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

A woman walks in the "Villa 31" neighborhood during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. According to official data, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease in this city's slum have increased in the past week, putting authorities on high alert. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

An Indian traffic police man stops a motorist during nationwide lockdown in Gauhati, India, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. India's six-week coronavirus lockdown, which was supposed to end on Monday, has been extended for another two weeks, with a few relaxations. Locking down the country's 1.3 billion people has slowed down the spread of the virus, but has come at the enormous cost of upending lives and millions of lost jobs. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An employee calls for a client to enter a fast food restaurant, during a government lockdown restricting residents to essential shopping in the mornings in an attempt to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Forensic investigators look at the body of a man infected with the new coronavirus who collapsed on the street and died, according to Police Captain Diego Lopez, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

When the still-locked-down area is included, new infections in the U.S. appear to be declining, according to the AP analysis. It found that the five-day rolling average for new cases has decreased from 9.3 per 100,000 people three weeks ago on April 13 to 8.6 on Monday.

But subtracting the New York area from the analysis changes the story. Without it, the rate of new cases in the U.S. increased over the same period from 6.2 per 100,000 people to 7.5.

While the daily number of new deaths in the New York area has declined markedly in recent weeks, it has essentially plateaued in the rest of the U.S. Without greater New York, the rolling five-day average for new deaths per 500,000 people dropped slightly from 1.86 on April 20th to 1.82 on Monday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the national debate over when to reopen ultimately boils down to the value placed on people's lives.

"The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost—but the higher the human cost, because the more lives lost," he said. "That, my friends, is the decision we are really making."

Work-related PTSD in nurses
by Wiley

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A recent analysis of published studies examined the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among nurses and identified factors associated with work-related PTSD among nurses. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.


For the analysis, investigators identified 24 relevant studies. The researchers found that PTSD is a world-wide issue affecting nurses and that the reported prevalence of PTSD in nurses varied greatly, likely due to different methods of measuring PTSD or its symptoms.

Factors associated with PTSD related to the workplace (such as exposure and organization support), relationships at work and home, the witnessing of suffering, and coping behaviors, among others.

"Through this article, we want to bring attention to the phenomenon of PTSD within the nursing profession. We hope this article brings greater awareness and insight into what nurses might be experiencing," said corresponding author Michelle Schuster, MSN, RN, CPHON, of Boston Children's Hospital. "A better understanding of the factors influencing PTSD can provide insight into ways to potentially mitigate the harmful impact of PTSD in order to promote nurse wellbeing."


Explore further Postcode stress, PTSD seen after unsuccessful resuscitation

More information: Michelle Schuster et al, Post‐traumatic stress disorder in nurses: An integrative review, Journal of Clinical Nursing (2020). DOI: 10.1111/jocn.15288
Journal information: Journal of Clinical Nursing

Spending time in the garden linked to better health and well being
by University of Exeter

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Spending time in the garden is linked to similar benefits for health and wellbeing as living in wealthy areas, according to a new large-scale study.

Research conducted by the University of Exeter and the Royal Horticultural Society charity, published in Elsevier's Landscape and Urban Planning, analysed data from nearly 8,000 people collected by Natural England between 2009 and 2016. The research, conducted with funding from Innovate UK and NIHR, found that people who spend time in the garden are significantly more likely to report general good health, higher psychological wellbeing and greater physical activity levels than those who do not spend time in the garden.

The study found the benefits of gardening to health and wellbeing were similar to the difference in health between people living in the wealthiest parts of the country, compared to the poorest. The benefits applied whether people spent their time gardening or simply relaxing. People who regularly spend time in their garden were also more likely to visit nature elsewhere once a week.

The study also found that people with access to a private garden had higher psychological wellbeing and those with an outdoor space such as a yard were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines. These benefits were in comparison to people who did not have a garden or outdoor space.

Dr. Sian de Bell, of the University of Exeter Medical School, lead author of the study, said: "A growing body of evidence points to the health and wellbeing benefits of access to green or coastal spaces. Our study is one of the largest to date to look at the benefits of gardens and gardening specifically. Our findings suggest that whilst being able to access an outdoor space such as a garden or yard is important, using that space is what really leads to benefits for health and wellbeing."

Dr. Becca Lovell, also of the University of Exeter Medical School and project lead, said: "Gardens are a crucial way for people to access and experience the natural environment. Our new evidence highlights that gardens may have a role as a public health resource and that we need to ensure that their benefit is available equally."

Prof Alistair Griffiths, Director of Science and Collections at the Royal Horticultural Society and co-author on the paper, said: "This work adds to the increasing body of scientific evidence on the health benefits of gardens and gardening. As the current COVID crisis has demonstrated, there's an urgent need to include the provision of private gardens in the planning process to better support the UK's preventative health agenda and the wellbeing of our nation."

There is growing evidence that living in a greener neighbourhood can be good for health and wellbeing, but most research has focused on public green spaces such as parks and playing fields. The current research used data collected by Natural England's Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment Survey, the world's largest survey collecting data on people's weekly contact with the natural world.

Marian Spain, Interim Chief Executive of Natural England, said:

"In these unprecedented times, the government's priority continues to be making sure people stay at home to help protect the NHS and save lives. The benefits of spending time around nature during this time, be that in our back gardens or in local green spaces as part of our daily exercise, cannot be underestimated—and this research shines a light on the impact this has on people's health and wellbeing.

"We know that not everyone has easy access to nature or green spaces, and that's why we've launched our #BetterWithNature campaign to inspire more people to connect with nature safely during this period. Longer term, this campaign aims to bring the benefits of nature to as many people as possible through initiatives like our Nature Recovery Network, which will see more green spaces created near where people live and work."


Explore furtherTwo hours a week is key dose of nature for health and wellbeing

Two hours a week is key dose of nature for health and wellbeing
More information: Siân de Bell et al, Spending time in the garden is positively associated with health and wellbeing: Results from a national survey in England, Landscape and Urban 

Planning (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103836

Robots help some firms, even while workers across industries struggle

by Peter Dizikes, Massachusetts Institute of Technolog

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Overall, adding robots to manufacturing reduces jobs—by more than three per robot, in fact. But a new study co-authored by an MIT professor reveals an important pattern: Firms that move quickly to use robots tend to add workers to their payroll, while industry job losses are more concentrated in firms that make this change more slowly.


The study, by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu, examines the introduction of robots to French manufacturing in recent decades, illuminating the business dynamics and labor implications in granular detail.

"When you look at use of robots at the firm level, it is really interesting because there is an additional dimension," says Acemoglu. "We know firms are adopting robots in order to reduce their costs, so it is quite plausible that firms adopting robots early are going to expand at the expense of their competitors whose costs are not going down. And that's exactly what we find."

Indeed, as the study shows, a 20 percentage point increase in robot use in manufacturing from 2010 to 2015 led to a 3.2 percent decline in industry-wide employment. And yet, for firms adopting robots during that timespan, employee hours worked rose by 10.9 percent, and wages rose modestly as well.

A new paper detailing the study, "Competing with Robots: Firm-Level Evidence from France," will appear in the May issue of the American Economic Association: Papers and Proceedings. The authors are Acemoglu, who is an Institute Professor at MIT; Clair Lelarge, a senior research economist at the Banque de France and the Center for Economic Policy Research; and Pascual Restrepo Phd '16, an assistant professor of economics at Boston University.

A French robot census

To conduct the study, the scholars examined 55,390 French manufacturing firms, of which 598 purchased robots during the period from 2010 to 2015. The study uses data provided by France's Ministry of Industry, client data from French robot suppliers, customs data about imported robots, and firm-level financial data concerning sales, employment, and wages, among other things.

The 598 firms that did purchase robots, while comprising just 1 percent of manufacturing firms, accounted for about 20 percent of manufacturing production during that five-year period.


"Our paper is unique in that we have an almost comprehensive [view] of robot adoption," Acemoglu says.

The manufacturing industries most heavily adding robots to their production lines in France were pharmaceutical companies, chemicals and plastic manufacturers, food and beverage producers, metal and machinery manufacturers, and automakers.

The industries investing least in robots from 2010 to 2015 included paper and printing, textiles and apparel manufacturing, appliance manufacturers, furniture makers, and minerals companies.

The firms that did add robots to their manufacturing processes became more productive and profitable, and the use of automation lowered their labor share—the part of their income going to workers—between roughly 4 and 6 percentage points. However, because their investments in technology fueled more growth and more market share, they added more workers overall.

By contrast, the firms that did not add robots saw no change in the labor share, and for every 10 percentage point increase in robot adoption by their competitors, these firms saw their own employment drop 2.5 percent. Essentially, the firms not investing in technology were losing ground to their competitors.

This dynamic—job growth at robot-adopting firms, but job losses overall—fits with another finding Acemoglu and Restrepo made in a separate paper about the effects of robots on employment in the U.S. There, the economists found that each robot added to the work force essentially eliminated 3.3 jobs nationally.

"Looking at the result, you might think [at first] it's the opposite of the U.S. result, where the robot adoption goes hand in hand with destruction of jobs, whereas in France, robot-adopting firms are expanding their employment," Acemoglu says. "But that's only because they're expanding at the expense of their competitors. What we show is that when we add the indirect effect on those competitors, the overall effect is negative and comparable to what we find the in the U.S."

Superstar firms and the labor share issue

The competitive dynamics the researchers found in France resemble those in another high-profile piece of economics research recently published by MIT professors. In a recent paper, MIT economists David Autor and John Van Reenen, along with three co-authors, published evidence indicating the decline in the labor share in the U.S. as a whole was driven by gains made by "superstar firms," which find ways to lower their labor share and gain market power.

While those elite firms may hire more workers and even pay relatively well as they grow, labor share declines in their industries, overall.

"It's very complementary," Acemoglu observes about the work of Autor and Van Reenen. However, he notes, "A slight difference is that superstar firms [in the work of Autor and Van Reenen, in the U.S.] could come from many different sources. By having this individual firm-level technology data, we are able to show that a lot of this is about automation."

So, while economists have offered many possible explanations for the decline of the labor share generally—including technology, tax policy, changes in labor market institutions, and more—Acemoglu suspects technology, and automation specifically, is the prime candidate, certainly in France.

"A big part of the [economic] literature now on technology, globalization, labor market institutions, is turning to the question of what explains the decline in the labor share," Acemoglu says. "Many of those are reasonably interesting hypotheses, but in France it's only the firms that adopt robots—and they are very large firms—that are reducing their labor share, and that's what accounts for the entirety of the decline in the labor share in French manufacturing. This really emphasizes that automation, and in particular robots, is a critical part in understanding what's going on."


Explore furtherHow many jobs do robots really replace?
More information: This is part 2 of a three-part series examining the effects of robots and automation on employment, based on new research from economist and Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu.



Part 1: techxplore.com/news/2020-05-jobs-robots.html

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.
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Both conservatives and liberals want a green energy future, but for different reasons
by Deidra Miniard, Joe Kantenbacher and Shahzeen Attari, The Conversation

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Political divisions are a growing fixture in the United States today, whether the topic is marriage across party lines, responding to climate change or concern about coronavirus exposure. Especially in a presidential election year, the vast divide between conservatives and liberals often feels nearly impossible to bridge.


Our research examines what people know about the energy sources in use today in the United States, and what types of energy they would like to see the nation using in 2050. Energy connects to many important issues, including climate change, jobs and economic growth, equity and social justice, and international relations. It would be easy to assume that America's energy future is a highly polarized topic, especially when the Trump administration is clashing with many states led by Democrats over energy policies.

However, in a nationwide online survey, we recently found that broad support exists across the political spectrum for a future powered mostly by renewable energy sources. Our work highlights a consensus around the idea that the United States needs to move its entire energy system away from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources.

Assessing perceptions

To explore people's views on energy sources, we conducted an online survey of 2,429 adults across the U.S. Our participants represented a range of political ideologies, with 51% self-identifying as liberals, 20% as moderate and 29% as conservative. To investigate patterns in the data, we analyzed responses based on participants' political ideologies.

Our survey asked people to estimate the shares that various energy sources contributed to all energy use in the United States, including activities like generating electricity, running factories, heating homes and powering vehicles. We asked participants to estimate what percentage of U.S. total energy used came from nine energy sources: coal, oil, natural gas, solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal and nuclear power.


Next we had participants describe what they viewed as an optimal mix of these nine energy sources that they hoped the U.S. would use in the year 2050. We also asked what kinds of policies they would support to move the nation from its current status to the future that they envisioned. In a follow-on study, we are examining how factors such as cost and environmental impact influence people's preferences for one energy source versus others.

Estimations of today's energy mix

We found that our respondents had some misperceptions about where energy in the U.S. comes from. They tended to underestimate U.S. reliance on oil and natural gas and overestimate coal's contribution. We believe Americans may not realize how dramatically electric utilities have switched from coal to gas for power generation over the past decade, and may therefore have dated impressions of coal's prevalence.

Conversely, we found that participants overestimated the contribution of lesser-used energy sources—specifically, renewables like wind and solar power. This pattern may partially be explained by people's general tendency to inflate estimates of small values and probabilities, which has been seen in areas ranging from household energy use and water use to risk of death.

In the case of the U.S. energy system, this bias means that people think our current energy system is greener than it really is, which could reduce the perceived urgency of shifting to lower-carbon sources.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on world governments to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in order to slow climate change – a goal that may not motivate conservative Americans.

Shared goals, divergent pathways

When we asked participants to indicate the amount of each energy source they hoped the U.S. would use in 2050, the broad consensus favored a future in which the nation primarily relied on renewable energy and used much less fossil fuel. Conservatives, moderates and liberals shared this outlook.

Particular preferences for a lower-carbon future varied somewhat by political ideology, but on average all groups supported an energy mix in which at least 77% of overall energy use came from low-carbon energy sources, including renewable fuels and nuclear power.

This bipartisan consensus wavered, though, when we asked participants whether they supported or opposed 12 energy policies—six that would lead to larger roles for low-carbon energy sources, and six that would increase use of fossil fuels.

Liberal participants showed strong support for policies consistent with increased use of low-carbon energy sources, such as providing government funding for renewable energy and subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles. They strongly opposed actions that would increase reliance on fossil fuels, such as relaxing oil drilling regulations or lowering fuel economy standards.

On average, conservative participants supported several policies that favored low-carbon energy use, though not as strongly as their liberal counterparts. Conservatives tended to be closer to neutral or only slightly opposed to policies that promote fossil fuel use.

The sharpest contrast between the two political groups was over building and completing pipelines to move oil from extraction points to refineries in the U.S. Several proposed pipelines have generated intense controversy in the past years. Conservatives generally supported pipeline development, and liberals generally opposed it.

Achieving a low-carbon future

An important argument for transitioning to low-carbon energy sources is to limit climate change to manageable levels. Recent polls show that climate change remains a politically divisive issue, with far more Democrats than Republicans rating it as extremely important to their vote in the 2020 presidential race.

Recent research has shown that both Democrats and Republicans strongly support renewable energy development, but do so for different reasons. Democrats prioritize curbing climate change, while Republicans are more motivated by reducing energy costs. We see these motivations playing out in the real world, where conservative oil-producing states like Texas are experiencing huge booms in renewable energy generation, driven primarily by the improving economics of renewable energy.

Realizing the shared vision of an energy system dominated by renewable energy will mean reconciling partisan differences over how to achieve that future. While there is no single rationale that will convince all Americans to support a transition to low-carbon energy sources, our results are encouraging because we find consensus on the U.S. energy future—everyone agrees that it should be green.


Explore furtherU.S. needs to reduce fossil-fuel dependence, but parties disagree about how to do it
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COOPERATION & MUTUAL AID
Selfishness is not the way forward: Researcher makes the case for shared spectrum

by University of Oulu MAY 5, 2020

Marja Matinmikko-Blue, senior research fellow and adjunct professor from the University of Oulu, Finland. Credit: University of Oulu

"Radio frequencies are a natural resource, and as such, there is fierce competition on who gets to use them. It really is a fight over natural resources, and we must work toward a more fair and sustainable use of the radio spectrum," says Marja Matinmikko-Blue, senior research fellow and adjunct professor from the University of Oulu.


As the mobile telecommunication world is gradually shifting to 5G, the fight over frequencies is going on as strong as ever. Whoever has control of the spectrum will hold on to it and not let others use it, even if they themselves are not using it everywhere. Think of it like this: There is a village, and in this village, there is a farm that has more water than it needs for irrigation. But instead of sharing the water with others who want to grow crops, they keep it to themselves to use at a later time. Sharing water instead of just sitting on it would grow the total yield for the entire village.

Holding two Ph.D.s in telecommunications engineering and in industrial engineering and management, Matinmikko-Blue has been making the case for shared spectrum use for years. She says the opposition to sharing underutilized spectrum is still strong after decades of intensive research on spectrum sharing that would allow wireless systems to operate in the same frequency band following predefined rules and conditions.

"The fact is that for all the G's, they have always wanted to have all the frequencies they can get. 3G, 4G, 5G, it's always the same. The problem is that there are other users on those frequencies already, so what's the solution? Push others out? Or share?" Matinmikko-Blue says.

"Mobile network operators always want more and more spectrum because they see that as being their competitive edge and a way of maintaining their position in the marketplace. They want to restrict competition and keep everyone else out. And there are huge forces at work here, because everyone is vying for the same frequencies. The telecom operators are on one side of it, terrestrial broadcasting or satellite companies on another, and so on."

Matinmikko-Blue is in her early 40s, but has already been working in the field for over 20 years. She first got into telecommunications when she landed a summer job as a student at Nokia and their plant in Oulu, being around network equipment like base stations.

"That was the time when 3G was coming around. I remember being in a training where a tech person explained what's inside these new boxes and how they work. That was the thing that really sparked my interest in this stuff, this hands-on experience. And realizing that Oulu is actually quite the hotspot for telecom, both in research and in industry," Matinmikko-Blue says.


When she got back to her studies, she enrolled in a lot of telecommunication classes, taking the same courses as the electrical engineering students. The ball had started rolling, and she found herself being drawn to a researcher's life. The next major step in her career was as a research scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., where she ended up working for 15 years.

"VTT had a lot of close collaboration with industry and I learned a lot while I was there. I was a young woman in my twenties there, so it was not always easy, but I had a lot of responsibility there, being in charge of projects. I also got involved in a major EU project called WINNER in 2004, with all the big companies in the industry. I was lucky to be 25 years old and being able to work with all these people who had so much more experience than I."

Efficiency, equality, exercising control

Matinmikko-Blue found herself working in close collaboration with industry and regulators on mobile communications spectrum requirements for the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2007 at the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU. Increasingly, she became involved in bridging the gaps between industry, academic research and regulators. In this role she got a call from the University of Oulu and was offered a position there, which was tailored to her expertise.

"It really was a position built around spectrum management, regulation, industry collaboration and research, and everything I was interested in. They had realized that this is a critical part of telecommunications research, seeing how things work in the real world and what are the forces that drive or oppose change," Matinmikko-Blue explains.

And change is something that Matinmikko-Blue believes in strongly. In the future, she wants to see a world where spectrum sharing is the norm, for many reasons.

"It is about efficiency. If there is spectrum that's not being used efficiently, it is a resource that's being wasted. It is also about equality. 5G is happening in the big cities, it's not reaching the rural areas or remote locations. If there was local licensing, smaller stakeholders could set up their own wireless networks to serve less populated areas where operators do not build their networks. And it is also about taking control. Right now, businesses are beginning to look at networks as something they want to have control over and not have to rely on operators to make changes in the quickly changing world," Matinmikko-Blue says.

A turning point in the conversation

Right now, the world is also dealing with the COVID-19 crisis that is affecting everyone. This crisis has also highlighted the need for reliable telecommunication networks. Online teaching is just one example, but it underscores the meaning of connectivity in modern society, and how that connectivity has the power to join people together or separate them.

"If we leave spectrum management, local licensing, sharing of this natural resource to the whims of the marketplace, it will not happen. Not in a world where we still grant exclusive nationwide rights to deploy 5G networks for decades. Money should not be the only yardstick with which we measure success," Matinmikko-Blue muses.

And this concept of allowing different stakeholders to operate their own local cellular networks is picking up momentum. Matinmikko-Blue says that she really felt a change happen in the European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC) that took place in Oulu in 2017.

"At the conference I was in a panel discussion explaining the upcoming 5G spectrum situation and its potential ramifications as well as options in moving forward, and I really felt that it was a kind of a turning point. All these EU representatives and national regulators were attending and they picked up the conversation. Who gets to operate 5G networks? This has been a conversation that has been slow in getting started but is gaining momentum. However, in Finland the operator dominance has continued in 5G and the same auction mechanisms are still used although the spectrum bands have very different deployment characteristics," Matinmikko-Blue says.

Matinmikko-Blue has been putting in a lot of effort to this. She has worked on cognitive radio systems and chaired studies on them at the ITU. She has also led the development of pioneering Licensed Shared Access field trials in Finland using 4G networks and developed local 5G licensing and alternative local operator models. She has been the advocate for pushing stakeholder management perspectives into spectrum discussions to respond to the changing world. As such, she does see encouraging examples of optimizing spectrum use in different countries.

"In the United Kingdom, for instance, the regulatory body is very progressive. If an operator is not utilizing a part of their spectrum, there are mechanisms that allow the band to be put to good use. The UK regulator has been inspired by our studies. In addition to Britain, local licensing has become possible in several other countries in the past few months," Matinmikko-Blue says.

Matinmikko-Blue is also the Research Coordinator of 6G Flagship. Together with 30 international experts, she has been writing a White Paper on the connection between 6G and United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The final paper is out this summer and it is built around the idea that the UN SDGs should drive the development of 6G.

With all of this, Matinmikko-Blue is invested in building a world where flexibility and sharing are a given and where efficient spectrum use is seen sustainable at a societal level. Of course, change happens slowly especially when a major paradigm shift is needed. But technology continues to evolve at an ever faster rate. Just look at where we were ten years ago, where we are now, and think of where we will be in another ten years' time. Especially if we think of the entire village, not just our farm.

Japan computer-savvy teen designs app to fight pandemic

by Yuri Kageyama

In this Dec. 14, 2019, photo released by Syu Kato, Syu Kato takes a selfie in Guam. Curbing the spread of the coronavirus outbreak rests on accurate knowledge of where infected people have been and whom they have come in contact with so they can be tested and treated. Kato, a 16-year-old Japanese computer whiz, has designed an iPhone software application that uses GPS so people can keep their own records of where they've been. (Syu Kato via AP)

Curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic rests on knowing where infected people have been and who they've come in contact with so they can be tested and treated.

Like many teens, 16-year-old Syu Kato loves skateboarding, Bruno Mars and hamburgers. But he's putting his knack for programming to good use. Kato has designed an iPhone software application that uses GPS so individuals can keep their own records of their whereabouts in their mobile phone, to help with such contact tracing.

Called Asiato, for "footprint," the app keeps track of a phone's movements within a distance of 10 meters (33 feet) or more. An English version of the app is available free from the iPhone App Store.

The app works like a diary, but keeps track of locations. To protect privacy, the data is stored in the phone and is not automatically shared.

If a person discovers they have COVID-19, Asiato identifies where they've been in the past several weeks. They would need to reach out on their own to people they may have infected, or inform health authorities if asked.

Under Japan's pandemic state of emergency, citizens are asked, not ordered, to stay home. Keeping track of their movements remains a crucial way to help control the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. It also could be used elsewhere as economies reopen around the world, Kato said.

Kato got an early start in putting his knack for programming to good use. In the fifth grade, he designed a mathematics application to do division that gives the remainder as a number for the answer, not decimal points.

While in sixth grade, he developed a program for writing book reports. The 240 yen (about $2) program simplifies the process and no cheating is involved, he says.

In 2017, Kato won the "super creator" award from the government-backed Mitou Foundation, set up to support innovation, for his DrawCode, which simplifies writing the language for web pages and programs, known as HTML, so children can do programming.

Yu Ukai, who heads the foundation's youth efforts, said he was impressed with Kato's passion and the speed with which he identifies problems and comes up with solutions.

In this Dec. 20, 2018, photo released by Kenichi Kato, Syu Kato poses for a photo in Hawaii. Curbing the spread of the coronavirus outbreak rests on accurate knowledge of where infected people have been and whom they have come in contact with so they can be tested and treated. Kato, a 16-year-old Japanese computer whiz, has designed an iPhone software application that uses GPS so people can keep their own records of where they've been. (Kenichi Kato via AP)

"There are a lot of ways young people like Syu can contribute to society during the pandemic as the crisis reveals many challenges that can be solved using technology," Ukai said.


Kato's new project is setting up a website for restaurants and customers to share menus and other takeout information.

Tokyo and other major cities have Uber Eats and other services. But in places like Hokkaido, northern Japan, where Kato lives, it's harder for people stuck at home to find options for food takeout or delivery. Such a site would also help hard-hit restaurants find customers.

Kato is a digital whiz in what he says is an "analog" family. His parents run a small amusement park and his older brother works there. The downturn in tourism due to the pandemic has devastated the family business.

Plans for Kato to attend school in the U.S. later this year were canceled because of the pandemic and he is studying online. But he hopes eventually to travel overseas and maybe start his own venture.

What draws him to coding is the sheer joy of creation, he said.

"Then if I can also make a bit of money, that would be great," he laughed.

It's tough competing as the little guy against big players, Kato said.

Going after niche needs sometimes fails because you've gone after something too niche, he said.

"It's not enough to be able to program," Kato said. "You have to make it a real product and release it to the world, without giving up, so lots of people can download it and experience it."

© 2020 The Associated Press