DeMarco: Did big bucks make?LA a contender?

Skyrocketing payroll will put tremendous pressure on team to succeed

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Los Angeles Dodgers signed?right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke?to a six-year, $147 million deal in December.

OPINION

By Tony DeMarco

NBCSports.com contributor

updated 7:46 p.m. ET Dec. 12, 2012

Tony DeMarco

Are the Los Angeles Dodgers really the legitimate World Series title contenders their skyrocketing payroll demands they be?

They've spent about $650 million in the last seven months, and some time in the near future, will make Clayton Kershaw the highest-paid pitcher in history.

Last week, they dropped just over $200 million on Zack Greinke and Korean left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin.

The record-setting payroll number is heading well north of $200 million for the 2013 season, probably landing in the $220-225 million range.

Considering they finished 86-76 and missed the playoffs by only two games in 2012, the Dodgers likely have bought their way back into the post-season. After all, unlimited resources may not win titles, but almost always put you in position to get there.

But how far above 90 regular-season wins ? and how deep into the post-season ? the Dodgers might go in 2013 will in part be a function of what currently are a series of question marks.

And arguably the biggest one of those remains an absolute mystery: How will the clubhouse respond to an inordinate amount of scrutiny headed its way, beginning on day one in Camelback Ranch? As for the roster: As it's presently constituted, the rotation lines up this way:

Kershaw, Greinke, Josh Beckett and Ryu, and a four-for-one proposition complicated by the health issues of Chad Bilingsley and Ted Lilly that could leave Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang in key roles again.

You could make legit cases for the Nationals, Giants and Reds (counting Aroldis Chapman) as having equal or better projected rotations. Possibly the Phillies, too, assuming Roy Halladay is something very close to his 2002-2011 self again and a quality fifth starter is added.

Nothing wrong with the Kershaw/Greinke 1/1A pairing, which could post a combined 10 WAR. Kershaw has put up back-to-back 6.4 and 6.3 numbers, and Greinke peaked at 10.1 in his dominant 2009 Cy Young Award season before slipping into the 3.2-3.4 range in two of the last three seasons.

Beckett ? as he did last August and September ? should continue to benefit from facing NL lineups, and several starts in the California parks. But Ryu comes with mixed reviews attached, Billingsley didn't pitch after Aug. 24 and Lilly, 36, made only eight starts in 2012 ? none after May 23. So the idea that Kyle Lohse or Anibal Sanchez could end up in Don Mattingly's rotation has at least some merit.

But since the latest health reports on BIllingsley and Lilly are encouraging, the likelier scenario is the Dodgers heading into spring training with the current cast, and making a deal only if/when the health uncertainties are removed, leaving themselves with a potential sixth starter serving as a long man.

The bullpen also has a health uncertainty in Kenley Jansen, who's dealing with heart issues, but is expected to face no limitations in the spring. And that needs to be the case, because he's an important piece at the back end along with Brandon League.

The rest of the cast likely will include familiar faces Ronald Belisario, Javy Guerra, Matt Guerrier, Scott Elbert, Paco Rodriguez. But this may not even be the best bullpen in the NL West.

What the Dodgers get out of Carl Crawford is another major uncertainty. Although Crawford is projected to be ready for Opening Day, counting on a significant contribution from him after an Aug. 13 Tommy John surgery, a wrist surgery last spring, and back-to-back off seasons is a stretch.

If he can do it, he's Comeback Player of the Year material. But there could be at least some left field at-bats to spread among Jerry Hairston Jr., Skip Schumaker, another veteran right-handed bat to-be-acquired, and possibly highly regarded prospect Alex Castellanos.

The bigger issue is a quality leadoff hitter other than Crawford. The role likely would fall to second baseman Mark Ellis, Hairston or Schumaker when in the lineup. And the vulnerability to left-handed pitching of both Crawford and Ethier could become problematic.

But with full seasons from Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez ? as well as Matt Kemp, who played only 106 games in 2012 ? the Dodgers should be able to improve on their 2012 run total of 637. Maybe that's why they haven't made a bigger offensive splash, preferring to drop big dollars into Greinke and Ryu and League.

Defensively, they're a bit of a mixed bag. But playing Ramirez at shortstop figures to cost them.

Far from an All-Star-at-every-position ideal, far from even a settled roster ? what do you expect for $200-million-plus these days?

? 2012 NBC Sports.com? Reprints

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'Too absorbed' with his celebrity?

HBT: We?ve noted all the back and forth between R.A. Dickey and the Mets. It?s a hard negotiation. The part that tickles me the most is where, yesterday, the Mets made it clear that they were not pleased by Dickey going after the Mets in the press. Because they?d never do that, right?

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50181714/ns/sports-baseball/

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Protein strongest just before death

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered a protein that does its best work with one foot in the grave.

The study, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, focuses on the nontraditional lifestyle of Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor proteins, which could lead to new ways to treat cancer.

"Retinoblastoma proteins are unique in that they use controlled destruction to do their jobs in a timely but restrained fashion," said Liang Zhang, a lead author and MSU cell and molecular biology graduate student. "This is an unusual way for proteins to act."

As an organism grows, proteins essential for fueling its prosperity typically toe a tight line, performing their jobs at the right place and time. If these proteins go rogue, disasters such as cancer can result.

Retinoblastoma proteins, which could be labeled as rebellious ?as opposed to rogue, perform acts of valor rather than destruction. And just like fireworks, they save their best work for the finale.

Proteins' lifecycles end with degradation, and like most living things they become weaker and less efficient at their jobs near the end of their lives. For Retinoblastoma proteins, however, their destruction is linked to their ability to efficiently control excessive cell growth.

Using the fruit fly Drosophila, MSU researchers isolated the specific region that controls the protein's ability to degrade. Strikingly, this is the same region the protein uses to hit its stride and exert its full power to suppress genes related to unrestrained cell growth. Other categories of genes, such as those linked to cell death, may not be influenced by this specific region that controls degradation. This sheds light on a single mechanism that controls both living and dying at the genetic level.

Identifying this mechanism in fruit flies could be beneficial to humans. David Arnosti, MSU biochemist and director of MSU's Gene Expression in Disease Development initiative, noted the genetic similarities between humans and Drosophila, describing fruit flies as "resembling little people with wings."

"By revealing the molecular details about the regulation of the fly Retinoblastoma protein, we can start to understand the possible roles of the human counterparts in cancer," he said.

###

Michigan State University: http://www.newsroom.msu.edu

Thanks to Michigan State University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125906/Protein_strongest_just_before_death

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Food you Believed to be Italian but it's Actually Not | Pimsleur ...

You are here: Blog ? Italian ? Food you Believed to be Italian but it?s Actually Not

Pimsleur Approach ? December 12, 2012 ? Italian ? Comments (0)

Every time somebody talks with you about Italy, you can rest assured that sooner or later you?ll end up chatting about food. Italian food is known to be one of the nicest in the world, and who doesn?t know about staples like Alfredo Sauce, Pepperoni Pizza or Chicken Parmesan?

Everybody seems to believe that such plates are the quintessence of Italian cuisine? But are they Italian for real??To tell the truth, an Italian would just blink in surprise, and tell you that he never heard about such things!

Pepperoni Pizza

When ordering a pepperoni pizza, you know you will get a pizza topped with hot salami. But what do Italians actually mean with the word ?peperoni?? This word indicates a vegetable, not a hot sausage! So if you order a ?pizza ai peperoni?, what you?ll get is pizza with red or green peppers. But you probably want to look out for something like ?pizza con salame piccante?. And you thought pizza was a safe thing.

Spaghetti with Meatballs

The most classic Italian style pasta?or not? Of course, you can find some similar dishes in Italy ? more commonly, meat sauces like Rag? go with egg pasta like tagliatelle or fettuccine! Pasta with big meatballs is actually much rarer than you?d think, as pasta is usually served as a first course and meat as a second course.

?

Carbonara with Cream

Now, things gets serious with Pasta alla Carbonara. While it?s absolutely normal that everyone has their own preferences and even that every family may have its own recipe, no Italian in their wits would add cream or white sauce to Carbonara. And that?s it. No discussions allowed. The real Italian Carbonara has no cream in it whatsoever.

Italian Salad Dressing

Ah, the salad dressing galore. How could you skip Italian dressing, that delicious mixture of vinegar, lemon juice, oil, herbs and peppers? Interestingly enough, if you ask an Italian about it, he?ll be totally clueless. Enough said! In Italy, no dressings on your salad ? oil, salt and vinegar is the way.

?

Garlic Bread

Another faux-Italian recipe. Of course, Italian bread comes in hundreds of different types and shapes; it can be sprinkled with seeds, olive oil, salt, herbs; it can contain nuts and olives; and every region has its own typical bread. But garlic bread is not really a classic in Italy. Especially not with pasta and not as an appetizer. It?s just not Italian.

?

Chicken Parmesan

Let?s set the record straight. A normal Italian, when hearing the word ?parmigiana?, will think about mouthwatering fried eggplants with tomato, parmesan, herbs and mozzarella, all layered like lasagna. No one would connect it with chicken breast slices! In fact, chicken parmesan was actually created outside Italy, and it?s virtually unknown in the peninsula. Try to talk about it to an Italian, and watch his or her slightly horrified reaction.

Alfredo Sauce

While it?s true that Mr. Alfredo invented a certain butter sauce in his restaurant in Rome in the early Nineties, no Italian would know what you?re talking about! No restaurant, except maybe for the very, very touristic ones, will have ?fettuccine Alfredo? on its menu ? that?s because it?s a dish so simple that no one would ever order it in a restaurant. In fact, it?s what Italians call ?pasta in bianco? (lit. white pasta), and it?s what they prepare when one feels under the weather.

Macaroni and Cheese

An Italian would be a bit perplexed about the good, old mac and cheese. In fact, even its name can sound a bit too vague to Italian ears (what kind of cheese, exactly? What kind of pasta?) And how about what this dish looks like? You will not find macaroni and cheese boxes in Italian supermarkets. It may actually have an Italian origin, but no mac and cheese in Italy.

Italian Wedding Soup

You had it at least once in your life, right? That light, clear vegetable soup with meat that is served in many Italian restaurants. As nice as it can be, you?ll never find it in a restaurant in Italy. Sorry!

?

Stuffed Pizza Crust

You can travel Italy from North to South and vice versa, you will not be able to find a pizza place that sells pizza with a stuffed crust. You?ll simply not find it, that?s all? because you guessed it?It?s not an Italian thing.

?

Spaghetti Bolognese

Sorry, but there?s nothing like Spaghetti Bolognese in Italy. What you know is a tomato sauce with meat that really is very far away from the real thing, which is simply known as Rag? and it?s used to dress egg tagliatelle, not spaghetti.

?

Last but Not Least ? A Small List of Italian No-No?s!

Cappuccino during or after meals ? Cappuccino and similar milk/coffee concoctions tend to be consumed in the morning. No one would get a hot chocolate or a cappuccino as a drink for lunch, for example. An espresso coffee is a different story altogether ? any time is good for that little hot cup.

Pasta or rice as a side dish ? While traveling, it?s quite common to find that pasta is served as a side dish ?this happens in many European countries. When in Italy, you?ll never see anything like that, because pasta and rice are usually seen as first course material. Rice can also be used to prepare cakes and desserts, though.

Pesto in your sandwich ? Italians commonly use pesto as a sauce for their pasta, but they wouldn?t really use it instead of mayo or any other spread in a sandwich. Even if they may even admit it tastes good! The same goes for pesto on your pizza. It?s a no-no.

Chicken Pizza or Pineapple Pizza ? Italians simply do not get meat on their pizza. You may find prosciutto, but that?s it. No chicken, no veal, no beef. The same goes for fruit like pineapple ? is your favorite Italian restaurant offering you Hawaii Pizza? Well, just know that?s not Italian for sure.

Pasta swimming in the sauce ? While many Italians like their pasta well seasoned, this doesn?t mean it has to be a plate full of sauce with some pasta in it! It?s quite the contrary!

Now that you know what?s common in Italy and what?s not, you?re definitely ready to order!

(All images via Wikipedia.)

Source: http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/blog/italian/food-you-believed-to-be-italian-but-its-actually-not

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Oregon mall shooting appears to be lone, random rampage

CLACKAMAS, Oregon (Reuters) - A masked gunman who opened fire in a crowded Oregon mall in the middle of the holiday shopping season, killing two people and wounding a third before taking his own life, appears to have acted alone in a random rampage, police said on Wednesday.

Investigators identified the man behind Tuesday's shooting as Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, who they said had no significant criminal history and acted without any obvious warning, though his Facebook page indicated an affinity for guns and alcohol.

Roberts' page on the social media site lists "shooting" as one of his interests but offers no clues that he may have been preparing for a shooting spree.

"I'm the conductor of my choo choo train," he wrote on the site. "I may be young but I have lived one crazy life so far. My friends are my family and I don't think that will ever change."

Portland-area television station KGW published on its website a note of apology it attributed to Roberts' mother, Tami Roberts, saying she had "no understanding or explanation" for his behavior, adding that it was "so out of his character."

The weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, which the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said was stolen the day before from an acquaintance of the killer.

Roberts was also believed to be carrying several fully loaded ammunition magazines when he walked into the Clackamas Town Center in the Portland suburb of Happy Valley and moved swiftly to a food court to start shooting, authorities said.

Two people were killed - Steven Mathew Forsyth, 45, of suburban West Linn, a father of two who owned a business in the mall, and Cindy Ann Yuille, 54, of Portland.

Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was wounded but managed to stagger away from the food court to the lower level of the mall, where she was found. She was in serious condition in an Oregon hospital.

But the carnage likely was limited because the gun jammed, although the suspect managed to get it working again before he moved downstairs and shot himself, Sheriff Craig Roberts told a news conference.

He also said the casualty count was curtailed because the estimated 10,000 shoppers in the mall "kept a level head" for the most part in swiftly leaving the building.

MOTIVE UNCLEAR

Authorities said they remained baffled about what prompted the violence, the latest in a spate of U.S. gun rampages this year including a deadly July shooting at a midnight screening of a Batman film in Colorado that killed 12 people.

Sergeant Adam Phillips, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said investigators were not aware of any signs that Roberts was preparing to act as he did.

"Every indicator is that he acted solely alone in carrying out this heinous and tragic crime," he said.

Detectives contacted several members of the suspected gunman's family as they began their investigation, but authorities gave little information about Roberts' personal background, employment history or education.

A photograph of Roberts displayed by police showed a young man with longish, straight black hair, a light mustache and goatee, and ring-sized discs in each of his pierced earlobes.

Roberts' Facebook page offered few additional insights into the man suspected in the murderous rampage.

He described himself in a brief biography as "a bit of an adrenaline junkie," and as "a pretty funny person that takes sarcasm to the max." Professing an independent streak, Roberts said: "I'm the kind of person that is going to do what I want."

He starts out jokingly introducing himself as "Jake and I'm an alcoholic," then goes on to write that in addition to "hanging out with my friends" he likes to "maybe get a little drunk every now and then."

His profile includes a snapshot of a person firing a pistol at two outdoor targets, though the face is not visible because the photo was taken from over the subject's shoulder.

In addition to "shooting," he lists river rafting and camping among his interests. He also counts the cable television dramas "Dexter," about a serial killer, and "Breaking Bad," about a high school teacher who becomes a methamphetamine kingpin, among his favorites, along with "South Park."

(Additional reporting by Chris Francescani in New York and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oregon-mall-shooting-appears-lone-random-rampage-001125018.html

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HSBC to pay record $1.9 billion to settle money laundering case

HSBC avoided a damaging legal battle Tuesday by agreeing to pay $1.9 billion to settle a US money laundering probe. The HSBC settlement will be the biggest penalty ever imposed on a bank.?

By Pete Yost,?Associated Press / December 11, 2012

In this July 2012 file photo people walk past a logo of HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong . HSBC, the British banking giant, will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States, a law enforcement official said Monday Dec. 10, 2012.

VIncent Yu/AP/File

Enlarge

HSBC?avoided a legal battle that could further savage its reputation and undermine confidence in the global banking system by agreeing Tuesday to pay $1.9 billion to settle a U.S. money-laundering probe.

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Europe's largest bank by market value will pay the biggest penalty ever imposed on a bank after facing accusations it transferred funds through the U.S. from Mexican drug cartels and on behalf of nations such as Iran that are under international sanctions.

It's the latest scandal to hit banks over recent years since the financial crisis started in 2008. Hours earlier, Standard Chartered PLC, another British bank, signed an agreement with New York regulators to settle a money laundering investigation involving Iran with a $340 million payment.

"These banks are operating in an environment where you can't afford to have uncertainty attached to your name, and they are dependent on confidence from their investors," said Sabine Bauer, director of financial institutions at Fitch Ratings. "And that makes them keen to get past such events very quickly and settle."

Despite the high price of the settlement, markets greeted the?HSBC's?swift agreement.?HSBC?Holdings PLC's share price in London was trading 0.2 percent higher at 642 pence. Standard Chartered's was flat at 1,498 pence.

Analysts said two British-based banks will be able to absorb the cost of the settlements.

According to Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood, the penalties are equivalent to around 9 percent of each company's 2012 pretax profits.

"The certainty is clearly welcome and helps to draw a line under the situation," said Greenwood. "In terms of knock-on effects, we think it is likely to lead to higher ongoing compliance costs and perhaps some minor loss of business in the U.S, but nothing that will be particularly material to either company."

Banks are facing greater scrutiny since the financial crisis. A string of banking scandals have highlighted lax oversight and a culture of arrogance and entitlement.

Money laundering by banks has become a priority target for U.S. law enforcement. Since 2009, Credit Suisse, Barclays, Lloyds, and ING have all paid big settlements related to allegations that they moved money for people or companies that were on the U.S. sanctions list.

HSBC?conceded that its anti-money laundering measures were inadequate and that it has taken big steps in beefing up its controls. The bank also said it has reached agreements over investigations by other U.S. government agencies and expects to sign an agreement with British regulators shortly.

"We accept responsibility for our past mistakes," said?HSBC?Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver. "We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again."

A U.S. law enforcement official said the sum?HSBC?was paying would include $1.25 billion in forfeiture ? the largest ever in a case involving a bank ? and $655 million in civil penalties.

Under what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement, the financial institution will be accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act, the official said. The source spoke only on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak about the matter on the record.

In return for being spared prosecution,?HSBC?said it would continue to strengthen its compliance policies and procedures. Its performance will be evaluated by an independent monitor over the 5-year term of the agreement with the Department of Justice, which has used such arrangements in cases involving large corporations, notably in settlements of foreign bribery charges.

"The?HSBC?of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes," said?HSBC's?Gulliver. "Over the last two years, under new senior leadership, we have been taking concrete steps to put right what went wrong and to participate actively with government authorities in bringing to light and addressing these matters."

Last summer, a Senate investigation concluded that?HSBC's?lax controls exposed it to money laundering and terrorist financing.

In regard to?HSBC?and Mexico, the Senate investigative committee reported that in 2007 and 2008?HSBC?Mexico sent about $7 billion in cash to the United States. It said such a large amount indicated illegal drug proceeds.

HSBC?affiliates also skirted U.S. government bans on financial transactions with Iran and other countries, according to the report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. And?HSBC's?U.S. division provided money and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh thought to have helped fund al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, the report said.

The report also blamed U.S. regulators, claiming they knew the bank had a poor system to detect problems but failed to take action.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman, cited instances in which?HSBC?had promised to fix deficiencies after being sanctioned by regulators but failed to follow through.

Levin also said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. agency that oversees the biggest banks, tolerated?HSBC'sweak controls against money laundering for years and said agency examiners who had raised concerns were overruled by their superiors.

HSBC, which had a 2011 net income of $16.8 billion and operates in about 80 countries, has grown quickly in recent years by acquiring banks around the world that became its affiliates. Its far-flung affiliates operated with a degree of autonomy that left top bank officials with less than full authority and control, experts say. Each affiliate had its own officer to oversee compliance with laws to prevent money laundering.

Nigel Morris-Cotterill, head of the Anti Money Laundering Network, a consultancy, said international banks face conflicts between laws and regulations in different countries.

"There are times when the lines are blurred, when you're not clear exactly where the edge is," he said. "If you step over the edge you get slapped, but often you don't know where the edge is."

On Monday,?HSBC?announced that Robert Werner, a former head of the Treasury Department agencies responsible for sanctions against terrorist financing and money laundering, is taking a new position in?HSBC?as head of group financial crime compliance and group money-laundering reporting officer. Werner has been head of global standards assurance since August.

In January,?HSBC?hired Stuart Levey, a former Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, as its chief legal officer. And a former policy adviser in the Obama administration, Preeta Bansal, in October became?HSBC's?global general counsel for litigation and regulatory affairs.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ZgsFnpA8Kr4/HSBC-to-pay-record-1.9-billion-to-settle-money-laundering-case

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TACC develops visualization software for humanities researchers

Public release date: 11-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Faith Singer-Villalobos
faith@tacc.utexas.edu
512-232-5771
University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin has released MostPixelsEver: Cluster Edition, an open source software tool that allows researchers, especially those in the humanities, to create interactive, multimedia visualizations on high resolution, tiled displays like TACC's Stallion, one of the highest resolution tiled displays in the world at 328 million pixels.

"The goal is to make visualization tools easier for humanities researchers to use," said Rob Turknett, digital media, arts and humanities coordinator at TACC. "The proliferation of digitized textual, visual and aural resources is a great boon for the humanities, offering opportunities for new kinds of scholarship, but it also brings a new complexity."

Supported by a startup grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities titled "A Thousand Words: Advanced Visualization for the Humanities," the software is based on a language called Processing, a programming toolkit that makes it easier for people to create visualizations.

"As the amount of cultural data that scholars work with increases, it becomes crucial to visualize that data on a sufficiently high resolution display," Turknett continued.

"Conventional display resolutions simply aren't keeping pace with this explosion of online cultural data to be explored."

The work borrows ideas from a library called Most Pixels Ever by Daniel Shiffman at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. However, Shiffman's version was not well-suited for tiled cluster displays, according to Brandt Westing, technical lead on the project and manager of the TACC/ACES Visualization Lab (Vislab).

"We re-wrote the software from scratch to work on any type of composite display from laptops to the highest-end visualization clusters and tiled displays."

Visualization clusters and tiled displays allow small groups of people to collaboratively explore large amounts of data and many types of visualizations, including: high resolution imagery (satellite, aerial photography, scientific instruments); high resolution movies (hi-res animations, time-series simulation results); 2D information display (maps, charts, graphs, data, text); and 3D visualization (complex geometries, interactive exploration of 3D datasets).

"Most of the tools that exist for these displays are developed by and for scientists, yet there are many researchers from the humanities and arts who want to do visualization," Turknett said.

"The software that we've developed is part of an effort to make advanced visualization systems more accessible to people who may not have a deep technical background."

Jason Baldridge, an associate professor in the Linguistics Department at The University of Texas at Austin, researches a wide range of problems involving the connection among language, computation, geography and time. His research has the potential to improve a variety of applications based on natural language processing and text analytics that are widely used to analyze unstructured data.

"We're awash in very large collections of text and we simply cannot read through all of them," Baldridge said. "We need improved tools for exploring text collections so people can find interesting patterns, and this new software developed by TACC can help us accomplish this goal."

Baldridge's current project involves analyzing a collection of several hundred texts from the Civil War.

"Using the new software on TACC's Stallion, we're parallelizing the computations to do visualizations and view an enormous amount of data at once, both of which are incredibly useful in exploring the output from our models and applications." For example, Baldridge uses the software to identify text passages from memoirs that are connected to a particular city and time.

"And, because they connect language to the real world, they lend themselves to novel visualizations that illustrate the geographical and historical context of text collections and language use," Baldridge said.

Tanya Clement, an assistant professor at the School of Information, builds tools for scholars who analyze literary texts. "Humanities researchers have not had access to large data sets until recent decades. It's essential for humanities scholars to be involved in the creation of new software and tools so the concerns of the community are reflected," Clement said.

###

Both Baldridge and Clement collaborated with TACC on the project.

MostPixelsEver: Cluster Edition is already in use at two other institutions: The University of Texas at El Paso and The University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for Simulation Visualization and Real-time Prediction.

MostPixelsEver: Cluster edition is open source and available for download: http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/tacc-software/most-pixels-ever-cluster-edition

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 11-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Faith Singer-Villalobos
faith@tacc.utexas.edu
512-232-5771
University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin has released MostPixelsEver: Cluster Edition, an open source software tool that allows researchers, especially those in the humanities, to create interactive, multimedia visualizations on high resolution, tiled displays like TACC's Stallion, one of the highest resolution tiled displays in the world at 328 million pixels.

"The goal is to make visualization tools easier for humanities researchers to use," said Rob Turknett, digital media, arts and humanities coordinator at TACC. "The proliferation of digitized textual, visual and aural resources is a great boon for the humanities, offering opportunities for new kinds of scholarship, but it also brings a new complexity."

Supported by a startup grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities titled "A Thousand Words: Advanced Visualization for the Humanities," the software is based on a language called Processing, a programming toolkit that makes it easier for people to create visualizations.

"As the amount of cultural data that scholars work with increases, it becomes crucial to visualize that data on a sufficiently high resolution display," Turknett continued.

"Conventional display resolutions simply aren't keeping pace with this explosion of online cultural data to be explored."

The work borrows ideas from a library called Most Pixels Ever by Daniel Shiffman at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. However, Shiffman's version was not well-suited for tiled cluster displays, according to Brandt Westing, technical lead on the project and manager of the TACC/ACES Visualization Lab (Vislab).

"We re-wrote the software from scratch to work on any type of composite display from laptops to the highest-end visualization clusters and tiled displays."

Visualization clusters and tiled displays allow small groups of people to collaboratively explore large amounts of data and many types of visualizations, including: high resolution imagery (satellite, aerial photography, scientific instruments); high resolution movies (hi-res animations, time-series simulation results); 2D information display (maps, charts, graphs, data, text); and 3D visualization (complex geometries, interactive exploration of 3D datasets).

"Most of the tools that exist for these displays are developed by and for scientists, yet there are many researchers from the humanities and arts who want to do visualization," Turknett said.

"The software that we've developed is part of an effort to make advanced visualization systems more accessible to people who may not have a deep technical background."

Jason Baldridge, an associate professor in the Linguistics Department at The University of Texas at Austin, researches a wide range of problems involving the connection among language, computation, geography and time. His research has the potential to improve a variety of applications based on natural language processing and text analytics that are widely used to analyze unstructured data.

"We're awash in very large collections of text and we simply cannot read through all of them," Baldridge said. "We need improved tools for exploring text collections so people can find interesting patterns, and this new software developed by TACC can help us accomplish this goal."

Baldridge's current project involves analyzing a collection of several hundred texts from the Civil War.

"Using the new software on TACC's Stallion, we're parallelizing the computations to do visualizations and view an enormous amount of data at once, both of which are incredibly useful in exploring the output from our models and applications." For example, Baldridge uses the software to identify text passages from memoirs that are connected to a particular city and time.

"And, because they connect language to the real world, they lend themselves to novel visualizations that illustrate the geographical and historical context of text collections and language use," Baldridge said.

Tanya Clement, an assistant professor at the School of Information, builds tools for scholars who analyze literary texts. "Humanities researchers have not had access to large data sets until recent decades. It's essential for humanities scholars to be involved in the creation of new software and tools so the concerns of the community are reflected," Clement said.

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Both Baldridge and Clement collaborated with TACC on the project.

MostPixelsEver: Cluster Edition is already in use at two other institutions: The University of Texas at El Paso and The University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for Simulation Visualization and Real-time Prediction.

MostPixelsEver: Cluster edition is open source and available for download: http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/tacc-software/most-pixels-ever-cluster-edition

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/uota-tdv121112.php

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