IGIHE

Author: IGIHE

  • Detecting social signals may have affected how we see colors

    The arrangement of the photoreceptors in our eyes allows us to detect socially {significant color variation better than other types of color vision, a team of researchers has found. Specifically, our color vision is superior at spotting “social signaling,” such as blushing or other facial color changes — even when compared to the type of color vision that we design for digital cameras and other photographic devices.}

    “Our color vision is very strange,” says James Higham, an assistant professor in NYU’s Department of Anthropology and one of the study’s co-authors. “Our green receptor and our red receptor detect very similar colors. One would think that the ideal type of color vision would look different from ours, and when we design color detection, such as for digital cameras, we construct a different type of color vision. However, we’ve now shown that when it comes to spotting changes in color linked to social cues, humans outshine the type of color vision we’ve designed for our technologies.”

    The study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, focuses on trichromatic color vision — that is, how we process the colors we see, based on comparisons among how red, green, and blue they are.

    One particularly interesting thing about how our visual system is structured is how significantly it differs from that of cameras. Notably, the green and red photoreceptors we use for color vision are placed very close together; by contrast, the equivant components in cameras are situated with ample (and even) spacing among them. Given that cameras are designed to optimally capture color, many have concluded that their ability to detect an array of colors should be superior to that of humans and other primates — and wondered why our vision is the way it is.

    One idea that has been well-studied is related to foraging. It hypothesizes that primate color vision allows us to detect between subtle shades of green and red, which is useful, for example, when fruit are ripening against green leaves in a tree. An alternative hypothesis relates to the fact that both humans and primates must be able to spot subtle changes in facial color in social interactions. For instance, some species of monkeys give red signals on their faces and on genitals that change color during mating and in social interactions. Similarly, humans exhibit facial color changes such as blushing, which are socially informative signals.

    In their study, the researchers had 60 human subjects view a series of digital photographs of female rhesus macaque monkeys. These primates’ facial color has been known to change with their reproductive status, with female faces becoming redder when they are ready to mate. This process, captured in the series of photographs, provides a good model for testing the ability to not only detect colors, but also to spot those linked to social cues — albeit across two species.

    In different sets of photographs, the scientists developed software that replicated how colors look under different types of color vision, including different types of color blindness, and the type of trichromatic vision seen in many artificial systems, with even spacing of the green and red photoreceptors. Some of the study’s subjects viewed photos of the transformation of the monkeys’ faces as a human or primate would see them while others saw pictures as a color-blind person would and others as a camera would. During this period, the study’s subjects had to discriminate between the different colors being exhibited by the monkeys in the photos.

    Overall, the subjects viewing the images using the human/primate visual system more accurately and more quickly identified changes in the monkeys’ face coloring.

    “Humans and many other primates have an unusual type of color vision, and no one is sure why,” first author Chihiro Hiramatsu of Japan’s Kyushu University notes. “Here, we provide one of the first experimental tests of the idea that our unusual vision might be related to detecting social signals in the faces of others.”

    “But, perhaps more importantly, these results support a rarely tested idea that social signaling itself, such as the need to detect blushing and facial color changes, might have had a role in the evolution or maintenance of the unusual type of color vision shown in primates, especially those with conspicuous patches of bare skin, including humans, macaques, and many others,” concludes co-author Amanda Melin of the University of Calgary.

    Our color vision is superior at spotting "social signaling," such as blushing or other facial color changes, when compared to other types of color vision, including the type we design for digital cameras and other photographic devices. In their study, the researchers had 60 human subjects view a series of digital photographs of female rhesus macaque monkeys, above, whose facial color changes to give social cues.

    Source:Science Daily

  • 5 powerful truths that can change your life

    {What you know is what will empower you; you are bound by what you know, and you can hardly go beyond that.}

    There are some truths some people have come to discover in their life and it’s working for them, and there are truths that others haven’t yet discovered and don’t know the power in it.

    These truths below might sound simple, but they are very powerful when honestly applied:

    {{1. No one owes you anything }}

    Wake up every morning with this mindset that no one owes you anything. Some people limit what they can do by thinking the world is unfair to them and people owe them certain things, but this is untrue. Everything you need to succeed is deep within you, all you need do is reach out within and bring out that inner zeal or fire.

    {{2. You can’t please everyone }}

    Stop living to please people, because you limit yourself when you do this. If you are aiming to please everyone and live the way others want you to live, it’ll be impossible for you to achieve anything great. You can’t fulfil everyone’s expectations; so create your own expectations and try to fulfil it.

    {{3. Everything starts with your mind }}

    Every great thing was first conceived in the mind, formed and then believed that it will become great. Your mind is your most powerful tool; it’s what you conceive in it that will be actualised in your life.

    Positivity and negativity starts from the mind, and it’s the force that can determine just how far you can go.

    {{4. Action is everything }}

    People want the best things, they want to achieve impossible feats and they want to achieve great things in life, but they are afraid of starting; they are afraid of the part called ACTION. Action is very important if you must realise that great dream. Saint Francis of Assisi said: “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

    {{5. Change starts from within }}

    You’re the change that you want to see, you have the power to change everything around you, but the problem lies when you wait for others to change what you should change.

    If you can realise that change starts from within, then you’d go a long way.

    Source:Elcrema

  • Technology which makes electricity from urine also kills pathogens, researchers find

    {A scientific breakthrough has taken an emerging biotechnology a step closer to being used to treat wastewater in the Developing World.}

    Researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) (Ieropoulos & Greenman) have discovered that technology they have developed which has already been proven to generate electricity through the process of cleaning organic waste, such as urine, also kills bacteria harmful to humans.

    Experts have shown that a special process they have developed in which wastewater flows through a series of cells filled with electroactive microbes can be used to attack and destroy a pathogen — the potentially deadly Salmonella.

    It is envisaged that the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology could one day be used in the Developing World in areas lacking sanitation and installed in homes in the Developed World to help clean waste before it flows into the municipal sewerage network, reducing the burden on water companies to treat effluent.

    Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos, who is leading the research, said it was necessary to establish the technology could tackle pathogens in order for it to be considered for use in the Developing World.

    The findings of the research have been published in leading scientific journal PLOS ONE. Professor Ieropoulos, Director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, based in the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at UWE Bristol, said it was the first time globally it had been reported that pathogens could be destroyed using this method.

    He said: “We were really excited with the results — it shows we have a stable biological system in which we can treat waste, generate electricity and stop harmful organisms making it through to the sewerage network.”

    It had already been established that the MFC technology created by Dr Ieropoulos’ team could successfully clean organic waste, including urine, to the extent that it could be safely released into the environment. Through the same process, electricity is generated — enough to charge a mobile phone or power lighting in earlier trials.

    In the unique system, being developed with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the organic content of the urine is consumed by microbes inside the fuel cells, breaking it down and creating energy.

    For the pathogen experiment, Salmonella enteritidis was added to urine flowing through the system, then checked at the end of the process to identify if bacteria numbers had been reduced. Results revealed pathogen numbers had dropped significantly, beyond minimum requirements used by the sanitation sector.

    Other pathogens, including viruses, are now being tested and there are plans for experiments which will establish if the MFC system can eliminate pathogens completely.

    John Greenman, Emeritus Professor of Microbiology, said: “The wonderful outcome in this study was that tests showed a reduction in the number of pathogens beyond the minimum expectations in the sanitation world.

    “We have reduced the number of pathogenic organisms significantly but we haven’t shown we can bring them down to zero — we will continue the work to test if we can completely eliminate them.”

    Professor Ieropoulos said his system could be beneficial to the wastewater industry because MFC systems fitted in homes could result in wastewater being cleaner when it reaches the sewerage system.

    He said: “Water companies are under pressure to improve treatment and produce cleaner and cleaner water at the end of the process. This means costs are rising, energy consumption levels are high and chemicals that are not good for the environment are being used.”

    Enterobacteriaceae: Large family of Gram-negative bacteria that includes many of the more familiar pathogens, such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli.

    Source:Science Daily

  • 11 ways you fail as a husband

    {It’s not enough to call yourself a husband; being a husband comes with a lot of responsibilities, and your ability or inability to play this role well is what will lead to the success or failure of the relationship.}

    It’s not enough to get married and bear the title of a husband, these roles are very important and if you fail in the roles mentioned below, you might be failing as a husband.

    {{1. Not taking care of your wife }}

    A husband ought to take care of his wife, and any husband who fails in doing so is blatantly failing in his role. If you don’t take care of her, who should? This is the foundation of where being a good husband starts from.

    {{2. Not giving her enough attention }}

    A woman feeds off attention, and the number person she needs attention from is her husband. If you can’t give that woman attention, then you shouldn’t marry her, because you fail as a man when you don’t give your wife attention.

    {{3. Being too busy for her }}

    Bills must be paid and work must be done; they are very important. But in all, your wife should be part of your life no matter how busy your schedule is. Of course, she’d understand when she knows you’re working hard for the family, but this will only happen when you put her in the picture. A message, a call, spending time with her when you can, showing her that you care and telling her everything, is a good way to do this. When you succeed in doing this, she’d be a more understanding wife.

    {{4. Not listening to her }}

    Your wife is your companion, and if you don’t talk to your companion, I wonder who you’ll talk to. Tell that woman everything she needs to know and don’t stop at that — listen to her too. Any man who doesn’t listen to his wife is failing as a husband.

    {{5. Not making her feel important }}

    Your wife ought to feel loved and cherished; you should make her feel important and you should treat her like you value her. If you fail in doing these, then you are failing as a husband.

    {{6.You tend to make her sad }}

    A lot of women cry day and night and feel sad because of the kind of treatment they get from their husbands; if you are among the men who make their women sad, then you are failing in your role as a husband.

    {{7. You disrespect her voice and her body }}

    A woman has a voice and a say in the marriage, but a lot of men tend to disrespect that; they feel being a man is all about respect and authority. Disrespecting your woman’s voice just highlights your failure as a man, and those who go as far as hitting their women and doing all manner of things to their women’s body don’t even deserve that woman in the first place.

    {{7. Priority }}

    When you married her, you swore to make her a priority. Those vows you say during marriage are more than just words, and when you go against those vows, it simply implies you are are not a man of your words. A good husband makes his wife a priority.

    {{8. Making her feel alone }}

    One terrible experience most women suffer in their marriage is a feeling of isolation. Some men choose to get bored of the marriage and abandon the emotional needs of the woman. Making your woman feel miserable doesn’t in any way make you a good husband.

    {{9. You cheat }}

    I’m sure you saw this coming, didn’t you? But it’s the truth. Cheating on your wife is an unfair thing to do; it’s against the vows you swore, it’s against the promises you made and it’s an act of wickedness.

    {{10. Not apologizing
    }}

    A man who doesn’t apologise when he’s sorry is taking the marriage to doom, and this is what a lot of men do. Apologising doesn’t make you weak, rather it showcases your strength as a man. It won’t take anything from your marriage, rather it’ll solidify it. If you do something wrong, never fail to apologise for it.

    {{11. Not getting close enough to her }}

    Your wife should be your best buddy; if there’s anyone that you should rely on, trust and be dedicated to — it’s your wife. You ought to spend time with her and understand her needs as a wife and a woman. She should be your everything and you should know everything about her. You fail as a husband if you don’t get close enough to your wife.

    Have you been failing as a husband?

    Source:Elcrema

  • Nursery blast kills seven in China’s Xuzhou

    {At least seven people killed, 59 wounded in explosion at nursery in Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu, state media reports.}

    At least seven people were killed and 59 others wounded in an explosion at a nursery in eastern China, state media reported.

    The blast occurred as children were being picked up from school in the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu province on Thursday, police said.

    Mobile phone camera footage posted on the website of the official People’s Daily newspaper showed more than a dozen people lying motionless in front of the nursery’s steel sliding gate.

    The force of the blast tore the clothes off some of the people lying on the ground beside pools of blood.

    One woman was seen clutching her child, who was in tears. The video also showed ambulances arriving and medical personnel wheeling people into an emergency room.

    It was not clear whether the explosion was an accident or was deliberately set.

    The newspaper Xiandaikuaibao on its website cited an unidentified witness as saying the blast appeared to have been caused by an exploding bottle of cooking gas.

    Calls to the kindergarten and local hospitals rang unanswered, AP news agency reported.

    An official at the police station in Fengxian county told AFP news agency that the explosion was under investigation.

    It is the latest tragedy to strike a nursery in China in recent weeks.

    A school bus packed with nersery pupils erupted in flames inside a tunnel in eastern Shandong province on May 9, killing 11 children, a teacher and the driver.

    Officials later said the fire was intentionally set by the driver, who was angry at losing overtime wages.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • ‘Hundred dead bodies’ seen in besieged Marawi

    {Scores of civilians killed in crossfire between army and ISIL-linked group in three weeks of fighting, politician says.}

    A Philippines politician said residents fleeing besieged Marawi City have seen about 100 dead bodies in an area where the army and ISIL-linked fighters have clashed in the last three weeks.

    Zia Alonto Adiong, a local politician who is helping with relief efforts in Marawi, told reporters on Thursday that 500-1,000 people were still trapped in the city, located on the southern island of Mindanao.

    “Dead bodies, at least 100, are scattered around the encounter area,” Adiong said.

    Volunteers have been trying to extricate hundreds of civilians caught in the crossfire via “peace corridors”, Adiong said, but many of those trapped were still opting to hide rather than risk being discovered by the fighters.

    Most residents, however, have run out of food and water, Adiong added.

    Al Jazeera correspondent Jamela Alindogan said residents who initially fled and wanted to return to the city were being stopped by military forces.

    “Martial law is being imposed here and across the entire island of Mindanao. Anyone is subject to investigation, even children,” Alindogan said.

    The black flags of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) were flying over several government buildings in Marawi City, she added.

    “I lived here since I was 12,” said Elvira Sacot, who was forced to flee Marawi. “It hurts me to leave everything behind. But it is more painful to stay. I don’t think I’m coming back.”

    Meanwhile, a senior member of the ISIL-linked group was arrested by the military near the coastal city of Cagayan de Oro, some 100km north of Marawi.

    According to military spokesperson Jo-Ar Herrera, one of the seven Maute brothers, Mohammad Noaim Maute, was arrested at a checkpoint just after dawn.

    The Maute group, led by two of Mohammad’s brothers, has been at the forefront of the vicious battle with security forces for Marawi City since May 23.

    Mohammad, an Arabic language teacher, is the suspected bomb-maker for the group. He was holding a fake student card of the Marawi-based Mindano State University when stopped at a checkpoint.

    Most of the Muate brothers are believed to be in Marawi. Their parents have been taken into custody last week in separate cities.

    The military said 290 people have died in over three weeks of fighting, including 206 fighters, 58 soldiers and 26 civilians.

    The city of 200,000 has been largely abandoned due to the fighting, which has seen the military relentlessly bomb areas held by the fighters, with residents fleeing to nearby towns.

    Hundreds of civilians are trapped between the army and ISIL-linked fighters in Merawi

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s wife shot dead

    {The estranged wife of incoming Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has been shot dead two days before his inauguration.}

    Lipolelo Thabane, 58, was travelling home with a friend when both women were shot by an unknown assailant, the police say.

    The police add the motive is unknown and an investigation is continuing.
    The couple had been living separately since 2012 and filed for divorce which hasn’t been granted yet.

    BBC southern Africa correspondent Karen Allen reports that neighbours claim there had been an incident earlier in the week when a group of unidentified men were spotted hammering on the First Lady’s door.

    She won a high court battle against her husband to secure the privileges of a First Lady, instead of Mr Thabane’s youngest wife, Liabiloe, reports the AFP news agency.
    Mr Thabane is now living with a third wife.

    Samonyane Ntsekele, the secretary general of Mr Thabane’s All Basotho Convention party, told AFP that the prime minister was devastated by the shooting.

    “Everyone is traumatised by these developments,” he said.

    The election took place earlier this month and was the third election in three years.

    There is a bitter power-struggle in the country and Mr Thabane still has enemies in the military, our correspondent adds.

    His inauguration is still expected to take place on Friday.

    Lipolelo Thabane was going through a prolonged divorce

    Source:BBC

  • India ministry mocked for ‘appropriating’ Spain border

    {Twitter users are ridiculing India’s home ministry for using a picture from Morocco’s border with a Spanish territory to highlight its work.}

    Alt News website reported on Wednesday that the ministry used the picture in its annual report to show that it had installed floodlights in border areas.

    But the website said the picture was taken in 2006 by Spanish photographer Javier Moyano of the Ceuta enclave.

    The ministry has reportedly ordered an inquiry into the “embarrassing gaffe”.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced similar online mockery in the past for using wrong or photo-shopped pictures in official press releases and reports.

    India’s state-run Press Information Bureau in 2015 tweeted an obviously edited image of Mr Modi surveying deadly Chennai floods.

    In the latest gaffe, the home ministry included the picture in its report which was published on its website.

    After Alt News reported the error, many Indians took to Twitter to mock the ministry.

    The NDTV website reported that Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi had demanded an explanation from officials.

    “If it’s a mistake by the ministry, we will apologise,” he said.

    The ministry has been installing floodlights in border areas to check smuggling and infiltration.

    In its annual report, the ministry said it had floodlit 647km (402 miles) of India’s border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

    Officials said it was unclear how a wrong picture made its way into the annual report.

    Alt News said the picture was taken by Spanish photographer Javier Moyano in 2006

    Source:BBC

  • Children raped in DRC militia violence: UN

    {The United Nations has documented dozens of cases of serious child abuse including rape and kidnap in five days of violence by Congolese militias, it said Wednesday.}

    The UN’s mission in Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUSCO, said it had recorded 62 cases of “serious” child abuse by armed groups in the violence-wracked east, and by followers of slain militia leader Kamwina Nsapu in the country’s centre, between June 5 and 9.

    “The fate of child victims of armed conflict in the DRC remains a permanent concern,” MONUSCO spokesperson Theophane Kinda told reporters in Kinshasa.

    Kinda said that among others, the UN had documented “25 cases of child kidnap and 16 cases of the recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed groups” in both parts of the country.

    “A total of 19 cases of rape and sexual violence perpetrated against underage girls have been identified,” he added.

    The UN has repeatedly deplored the abuse of children’s rights in vast, unstable DRC- particularly in the east, which has suffered more than 20 years of armed conflict, fuelled by struggle for control of lucrative mineral resources as well as ethnic and property disputes.

    Since last September, the central Kasai region has also been rocked by a violent tribal uprising led by followers of Nsapu, who was killed in a military operation in August after rising up against the government.

    That violence has left hundreds of people dead – including two UN investigators in March – and forced 1.3 million others to flee their homes.

    The UN has accused the Kamwina Nsapu rebels of a string of atrocities, while also accusing the Congolese army of disproportionate use of force.

    The European Parliament on Wednesday demanded an international investigation into the Kasai violence, in a bid to “make sure that the perpetrators of these massacres account for their actions”.

    European lawmakers said UN experts should be part of any investigation team, saying in a resolution that they were “deeply concerned by the deterioration in the political, security and humanitarian situation” in DRC.

    Last week UN children’s charity Unicef estimated that more than 150 000 children were either partially or completely unable to attend school because of the fighting in Kasai.

    AFP

  • Al-Shabaab claims Mogadishu hotel attacks

    {Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the combined attack on Mogadishu restaurants that claimed at least 18 lives on Wednesday evening.}

    Al-Andalus, a broadcaster run by the jihadist group, made the announcement soon after the twin attacks on Pizza House and Posh Treats.

    {{Explosives }}

    The attack began when a car packed with explosives was rammed against the entrance to the popular Pizza House before several gunmen forced their way in while firing shots.

    It happened as customers were having the Iftar, meals to break their day-long fast in the holy month of Ramadhan.

    Adult Muslims refrain from partaking food and drinks from dawn to dusk during Ramadhan.

    A special anti-terrorist security unit, the Gashaan, arrived at the scene soon after and countered the attackers, whose number was not clear.

    Dozens of people were evacuated from Pizza House and Posh Treats restaurants.

    Posh Treats suffered extensive damage and loss of lives, but it was Pizza House that bore the brunt of the twin attacks.

    {{4 fighters}}

    Police officers from Hodon District, where the attack took place, said the Gashaan exchanged fire with the Al-Shabaab fighters inside Pizza House for several hours till 6:30am on Thursday.

    The scene of the attack was later cordoned off by security forces, with only ambulances allowed entry to evacuate the wounded people and remove dead bodies.

    Internal Security ministry spokesman Mohamed Ahmed told the media on Thursday that 18 civilians and four of armed assailants died.

    Since the start of Ramadhan, the Somali government has been keeping a tight security campaign involving more than 5,000 soldiers, police and other agents in Mogadishu.

    “Tonight’s assault indicates that the government’s promised stabilisation campaign has failed,” boasted the al-Andalus Radio.

    Volunteers carry a stretcher with a body bag from the site of an attack at the Pizza House restaurant in Mogadishu on June 15, 2017.

    Source:AFP