fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Data-informed Design to reduce uncertainty
Tags: Product Design, User Testing, Product, Design, Data

While every company works in a different way and have access to different amount and type of data, in this article I will share the philosophy that we follow at Docplanner when providing solutions to our users.

Data-driven vs. Data-informed Design

The Data-driven Design approach refers to making design decisions based solely on quantitative data. While there are a lot of benefits to following this approach, some limitations should also be considered.

For example, you could end up throwing away some good design solutions that resulted as a failure from a data point of view. Or you could be loosing completely the connection with the reality and design improvements only to move the number up in the short term without thinking long term.

The Data-informed Design approach has a subtle but crucial difference. I think it could be considered an evolution of the Data-driven approach. It is more flexible and adds qualitative data (human inputs), instinct, and experience to the quantitative (data inputs) mixture. The combination of all these factors is the superpower that every product designer should willing for.

“Design helps us know the possible; the world as it might be. It’s a mechanism for exploring, evaluating, and shaping the future.” ~ Karl Fast

The Importance of Human Inputs

Our mission is clear and bold: “Make healthcare more human”. The focus on people is an essential part of our company. Observing the user to understand why, how, when and where they use our product is crucial; it provides us great feedback to constantly improve our product.

Forgetting or skipping the user inputs is more common than you might think. When the time is short or the pressure to release something is high or when we think we already know the users, here is where the biggest design mistakes happen and where we design something beautiful that doesn’t improve the user’s life. These type of mistakes are expensive in terms of time and money for the company and result in a decreasing level of trust in the design role.

No matter how much expert knowledge and experience you have, you can’t know everything.

At Docplanner we have a UX research team that is focusing on providing strategic researches and insights on user problems. This helps us to make better design decisions and it’s our starting point when we approach any kind of problem.

Although our UX research team is in close contact with our users to provide us valuable insights to rely on, we, as product designers, should also look to have direct contact with the users. I believe this is essential to create a connection with them and better understand their needs. That’s why we always get as close as possible to the users, having in person meetings with doctors and clinic managers, doing usability testing sessions, collecting and analyzing feedback, etc.

The goal of every product designer is to solve real user problems, this is why, acquiring and analyzing user inputs becomes a fundamental part of your design process.
2017
By: Winnie Lim
Tags: Self Love, Existentialism, Purpose, Life, Self

The past year, I gradually lost interest in everything I once cared for. The U.S. elections had only accelerated the inevitable process. I thought I was falling into some deep bottomless pit as I no longer knew what to live for. It turns out even if I had time on my side, all the love I can possibly have in the world, I still didn’t feel like living. I write this not with sadness, but with a certain peace in my heart.

I used to believe that all I needed to do was to find the right work, the right people, the right set of circumstances, the right purpose. I feel like I have lived through a lot of the seemingly right conditions in life and yet at the deepest core of my soul I still knew.

Maybe in trying to search for the right conditions, I had neglected the fact that I needed to become the right person for myself.

In 2017, I just want to have the courage to stop abusing myself, that is all. I am not sure how many times I have chosen to: put myself in disempowering situations, exert my health as though it is unbreakable, mould myself into what people want out of me, make unrealistic demands on myself. I have an unending martyr complex even though I can’t even save myself much less anyone else, and I say really terrible things about myself in my own head. I emotionally and mentally abuse myself even as I am on an experimental sabbatical. Deeply entrenched behavior doesn’t change just because I am free of traditional employment.

Our shadows follow us everywhere. I want to be brave enough to see them.
Cryptocurrency Trading FAQ
Tags: Blockchain, Crypto, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

The basics of the basics, and an infographic.

What are altcoins?

Altcoin is a shorter name for alternative cryptocurrency. Altcoins can be called all cryptocurrencies that are not bitcoin.

Why do you trade altcoins?

Altcoin markets experience bigger swings that bitcoin markets, both the potential profits and losses are higher than in unleveraged bitcoin trading. Trading altcoin markets denominated in bitcoin is also a good way for bitcoin supporters to earn more bitcoins.

Where to buy altcoins with cash?

The most common way is to buy bitcoin, monero or ethereum for cash and exchange these for the altcoin of your choice.

Bitcoin can be bought anonymously for cash on localbitcoins.com, monero on moneroforcash.com and ethereum on localethereum.com. These cryptocurrencies can be further exchanged via shapeshift.io or on an exchange such as Binance where no ID verification is necessary.

Where to buy altcoins with fiat?

If you already have more than 10,000 USD worth of crypto, you can sign up at Bitfinex or EthFinex.

Other reliable places to buy altcoins for USD or EUR are Bitstamp, GDAX and Kraken. More here

Bonus

As for the legacy: 62 Big Moments in Bitcoin History [infographic]

The biggest heists, the craziest price actions and the most important government statements regarding Bitcoin — right here.
Space Traveler
By: Loukia Nikolaou
Tags: Loss, Poetry, Fathers Day, Father And Daughter, Grief And Loss

Space Traveler

A poem about dealing with the loss of a loved one

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash

In a dark space, up in the sky

I see you-

Floating around.

Ceaselessly spinning in your new reality

Neglecting the laws of humanity

Above all cruel inhumanity.

Twirling around unpolluted sceneries,

The stars around you like diamonds,

Are shining only for you.

But how could they ever compare to

your laugh and your smile-

Making them weak in comparison.

Because your light is too bright

This world could not keep up.

Your face took a grey hue when we said goodbye to you.

But now it’s shining in silver

Like the moon,

Like the universe all around.

I see it guiding me like a map to your light.

Your embrace is what has kept me sane,

Your words allowed me to dream.

So how am I supposed to fly

When the sky suddenly, unexpectedly

ripped the wings off my back.

I look up in that dark sky to find you there,

My wings on your back,

My angel above.

I might not believe in God, or angels and demons,

But your presence undeniably lives on

All around me

In the trees, in the sky, in the water, in the wind.

In my heart.

The one I wish I could give to you

The one you lost too soon.
An interesting thing happened after I told my son that I’m not proud of him
By: Lukasz Laniecki
Tags: People, Parenting, Children, Parents, Family

The day before yesterday my son asked me and my wife if we’re proud of him.

He volunteered that he’ll read a text in English (not his mother tongue) in front of his class.

I immediately told him that no, I’m not proud of him. I did it as promptly and (maybe even automatically) as 99 % of parents in this world tell their children that yes, they are proud of them.

Everybody is always proud of their people (when someone from their clan did something praiseworthy or had some kind of achievement), I said.

That irritates me so much.

Screw that!, I thought to myself. It’s such a cliché!

Someone did something which we approve of or like, we say We’re proud of you, this person hears these five magic words and is glad that we’re glad. And it means that he or she scored some points. The position of this person improved (if only for a short while).

What a nonsense!

Why do we automatically say that we’re proud of them? Because we’ve learnt (by watching others) that it’s the thing people say to members of their families when there is a success or when we’ve noticed a behavior which most people approve of.

It’s the same thing with the most stupid question people ask their children — What do you want to be when you grow up? Everybody asks this stupid question without giving it much thought (actually any thought), because that’s what adults always ask children.

Pure inertia. Pure stupidity.

Then (after I told him that I’m not proud of him) an interesting thing happened. I was forced to think about what I really felt and why. It wasn’t easy, figuring it out. I realized how much easier those clichés make our lives.

Had I behaved like an automaton and say to him immediately Yes, I’m proud of you (like 99% of parents) then I wouldn’t have had any problem with that. I would have sent him a clear message (something he probably expected after hearing thousands of times how everybody is proud of their people — in movies, songs, school, on the street, from members of his family, neighbors and other adults). We would have used a code, so to speak. Our exchange would have been predictable and smooth.parent

We are not fucking automatons! I, for one, refuse to be one.
Colors And Traits
By: Randy Shingler
Tags: Poetry, Diversity, Sexism, History, Racism

Human diversity, core of life’s richness

Different colors with own distinct traits,

Africans, Asians, Europeans, Americans

Complete equality received in God’s sight

No discrimination by race or nationalities.

Important contributions they all make,

Talented gifts without any boundaries

Wrapped in love from creation’s source,

Only other humans want to discriminate

Trying to assert some tribal superiority.

Racism and sexism are human creations

Gender discrimination, only by weak men

Women exerting equality anew every day,

Racism, a historical blight on civilizations,

Centuries of acceptance and accelerations.

Morally and spiritually, so wrongfully based,

All beings are entitled to acceptance and love

Human strength in broad diversities we share,

Colors and traits, sacred natures of humanity.
The repeating lesson from my #Velocity2017 training
By: Marcus Blankenship
Tags: Management, Leadership, Productivity, Software Development, Startup

Last week my wife, Amy, and I ran fifteen technical leaders through two days of leadership simulations, evoking laughter, conflict and even a few tears. The situations may have been fake, but the emotions were real.

In fact, the simulation was so real that people started cheating. In fact, one participant cornered me in the hallway and asked, “Look, I gotta know. Are you really this clueless or is this part of the simulation?” I was shocked!

From our half-day simulation, we found dozens of lessons about…

Collaboration practices

In-group and out-group dynamics

Giving feedback

Gender dynamics

False collaboration tactics

Faux management

Company politics

The chaos that comes with change

The effects of working under pressure

Afterward about half the class individually approached us asking if we do this for their in-house teams. We answered, “Yes, we do. What did you learn that you’d what to share with your team?”

Time and again we heard the same thing: The incredible importance of context and communication with your team, especially when teams work in silos.

So, now I need to ask ya, “How well do you communicate context to your team?”

In the real world, it’s hard to know because people might not tell you. Instead, they just tell you “Everything is fine.”

In a simulation, it’s safe to talk about it during the debrief, and be honest when things do go right.

Ok, talk with your team. Ask them how things can be better in the area of context and communication.

But be prepared, because some of them might just tell you. ;)
С ума схожу и тихо млею.
By: Orion Nebula
Tags: Music, Baroc

in Eudaimonia and Co
Doubt: The forgotten skill of the future
By: Peter Sainsbury
Tags: Personal Development

We’re so used to outsourcing our thinking to others that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to really understand something from all perspectives. We’ve forgotten just how much work that takes. The path of least resistance, however, is just a click away. Reading headlines and skimming the news seems harmless, but it is harmful because it makes us over-confident — in our investments, our political views and other aspects of our lives too.

Doubt is needed as an antidote to this. In Svend Brinkmann’s excellent book “Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze”, Brinkmann rages against the craze for certainty that modern life demands and suggests that doubt is not just a luxury, but a necessary skill that we all should start to develop:

In essence, certainty is necessarily dogmatic, whereas doubt has an important ethical value. How do I figure that out? Well, certainty’s “I know” easily leads to blindness — especially when you know that it’s best to say yes. Doubt on the other hand leads to openness, to other ways of acting and new understandings of the world. If I know, I don’t need to listen. But if I’m in doubt, other people’s perspectives are endowed with greater meaning.

Doing your own research is the first step in bringing doubt into your daily life. It will feel uncomfortable, it will feel tiring, it will feel like its a waste of time…at least at first. But by reading widely, in your own area of interest but across different disciplines you will be much more comfortable in expressing your view, where there is evidence to back up a particular viewpoint, and where there is not.

Remember, the insights of the future will come from those who are able to understand how the picture fits together, how developments in one part of the world will affect something on the other side — something that to everyone else feels at first to be completely unrelated.

Open your mind to new possibilities. Be doubtful.
When to hire an agency for your software development?
By: Wojciech Polak
Tags: Business Strategy, Business, Business Development, Startup

When to hire an agency for your software development?

Hiring developers in-house or outsourcing? Know your domain, before diving deep into the development.

Hiring designers and developers in-house has some undisputed benefits: you build your company’s culture, the communication is easier, and you have their knowledge and expertise at hand to resolve issues, all in real-time.

But there’s also an option B: hiring an external agency.

Slack, Alibaba, Skype, GitHub, and now even Google: they all outsource some of their design and development. But how to tell it’s the right fit for your case?

1. You need top talent for your project. But do you need it all the time?

One thing is clear: you need people to deliver the best design and development work for your product. But, especially at the beginning, do you need them all the time?

Juggling responsibilities of your already hired team may sound exciting and stimulate their growth (at first), but even the best ones out there will have some trouble switching roles constantly, and be sure it can affect their morale.

Early-stage startups and newly launched projects will have times when they need to put their full focus on development. But a quick fast-forward to the future, they suddenly need to move their resources to something else (marketing, sales) for the best cost optimization.

For your in-house team, it may mean wasted potential, a growing debt or even lay-offs. But when you outsource, it’s just a reduction of your team size to fit your current needs.

Agencies do not develop products and then disappear in a classy Celebrity Comet NEOWISE way. They’re also able to do the maintenance work of your app or platform. This usually involves dealing with day-to-day minor tweaks and emergency bug fixes, so you don’t need to worry about being left in the dark with no clue what to do next.

2. You need an experienced team. And fast.

Hiring an experienced team is no easy task. It may take months rather than weeks. In the Nordics, an effective IT recruitment of a Senior Developer may take up to 9 months. Andfor fast-moving companies and startups time costs not only money but their time-to-market.

Established agencies hire top talent. To stay on top of things in a quickly moving environment, they have to prove their expertise to the world. The fast pace of working allows them to approach your project efficiently: they roll up their sleeves and get to work.
The Unbearable Racism and Privilege of “Influencers”
By: Matthew Woodall
Tags: Life, Privilege, Culture, Racism, Social Media

There is a phenomenal amount of racism and privilege embedded in influencer culture, something that I wasn’t even aware of until a few months ago. It was then that I stumbled upon a video of the world’s largest elephant toothpaste experiment.

I’m going to start by saying that this is one of the safer stunts that I’ve seen an influencer pull. This chemical reaction is relatively safe (though the individual chemicals are not) and doesn’t have a lasting effect on the environment.

The walls and furniture are another story, though…we’ll get there in a minute.

The very first thing that came to mind as I watched this is the huge amount of privilege that these influencers had just to be able to make this video.

A house overlooking a valley in what appears to be California. A glass railing around the porch. Available money to be able to purchase all of the supplies needed. Multiple cameras to record the experiment with — including a drone.

Then there’s the number of people involved, the free time required to review and edit hours of footage, and the equipment to assemble it all. This isn’t some guy with an iPhone, this is a professional production. This took a lot of money. Not to mention the amount of money it takes to casually shrug off the destruction of furniture and the stains on the walls. It also took a huge amount of racism and white privilege to pull off.

Let’s start with the 35% Hydrogen Peroxide. Here, in Canada, that product is restricted and must be tracked and reported under federal legislation. It’s in the Restricted Components Regulations of the Explosives Act.

That’s the same place as Ammonium Nitrate and other explosive components. The fact that they were able to buy that much 35% Hydrogen Peroxide should have raised red flags all over the place.

Could you imagine what would have happened if a black or indigenous person of colour tried to make that purchase? Or someone of middle-eastern descent? They wouldn’t have made it out of the store before being swarmed by the cops.
¿Qué tienen en común el diseño centrado en el usuario y una candidatura presidencial?
By: Martín Thompson
Tags: Campañas Políticas, Product Design, Usuarios, Design, Presidencia

We specialize in end-to-end development of high impact products, providing technological solutions to start-ups and companies that are seeking to innovate and need support in developing their ideas.

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Unwitnessed Love
By: Jessica Lee Mcmillan
Tags: Loneliness, Poetry, Haiku, Love, Beauty

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Better Late Than Never
By: Mahmud Ahsan
Tags: Mobile App Development, Self Improvement, Android App Development, Money, iOS App Development

Better Late Than Never

Curiosity is more important than being smart

Once a senior brother told me, “Better late than never”. This is one of the very life-changing proverbs for me. After I graduated in Computer Science in 2008, I have been started my career as a PHP-based web application developer. In 2010, there were some iPhone apps developing craze. Actually, it started several years before 2010. But I got some curiosity in 2010 to learn and develop apps on the iOS platform.

It was not an easy way to start. I purchased a used mac laptop and an iPod Touch 2nd generation. Though I knew C and C++ very well, Obj-C was a new language for me as well as iOS application development. But if you have a serious passion, you can master anything. I started learning application development as a hobby besides my full-time web development based job.

In the first six months, I was able to publish 2 iOS apps, those got some few downloads and zero profit. But day by day I was learning and got some ideas to develop. Soon I was getting to earn money by selling apps and from mobile advertising. This inspired me and I continuously upgrading my applications with new features. In 2011, I quit a full-time job and became a full-time indie app developer.

Now 2015, after 5 years of my mobile apps career I can proudly say myself that:

Better late than never. Why?

I developed along with some graphic design help from my wife, and sometimes with freelancers, and published over 60+ apps in apple app store and 25+ apps in the Google Play store

In these 5 years, 9+ million apps downloaded from Apple App Store

Over 10 million advertise impression served by all of our free apps each month

End of 2013 Apple selected one of our app Arabic Dictionary for day 9, 2013 gift in Arabic Speaking Countries

Some of our apps are ranked top 50 in many App Stores.

And in terms of revenue, I earn over 4x than I used to work as a web developer

So I started as a hobby but got much profit and success in the mobile platforms. I love computer programming and developing software is my passion. My love, passion, and hard-work made me a successful indie mobile app developer. I still remember that some people told me in 2010, it's late to start developing apps on the iOS platform and getting profit. But I didn’t listen to them and became serious about it.

My advice to other fellow developers is that, if you got interested in something like Android, Windows, or iOS app development, don’t listen to others about profit, money, etc. Try to be master on one platform, learn, and develop apps.

There is always some room that you can improve in existing apps or you can innovate something new. Soon or later you’ll get success, believe me!

Always remember, “Better late than never”.

Without hard working you can’t achieve anything in life unless you’re exceptionally lucky or got by inheritance.

Thank you for reading my story.
Science Made Simple #1: Do you have a forgetful child?
By: Cassie Lee
Tags: Dads, Parenting, Children, Education, Digital Mums

Every day we prompt ourselves with reminders to carry out important tasks.

The act of remembering to carry out a task or action at a future point has been coined prospective memory by psychologists. Despite our best efforts, sometimes we need a little prompt or a reminder — whether it be a note in our calendar or an alarm on our smartphone.

Young children can also be forgetful.

Telling your child not to forget something can feel like an all too familiar routine. The importance of using strategies to compensate for memory failure becomes increasingly important as a child grows older as they encounter a number of environments.

For instance, doing chores at home, or remembering several instructions given by their teacher and completing work by deadlines at school.

A recent study by Australian researchers looked into children’s awareness of of their cognitive limits and if they knew to use reminders for themselves to compensate for this.

Children aged 6 to 13 years were required to remember one or three future actions in a computer game with an option to use a reminder.

The results of this study and previous studies, highlight that children as young as 3 are aware that memory will let them down in cognitively demanding tasks.

While children of all ages in this study recognized that a greater number of actions would be more difficult to remember, surprisingly only older children aged 9–10 years knew to use a cue to remind themselves.

This is supported by other research that shows children only compensate for their memory failures around 9–10 years. In this case, there appears to be a gap between what children know about their cognitive limitations, and use of active strategies they use to keep themselves from forgetting.

So, what does this mean for our children? It may mean that nagging them not to forget their lunch box or their permission slip may not be the best way to tackle this issue.

How can we help our children?

By making using our environment and creating external reminders that can be triggered when they need it the most, we can offload some of the things they need to remember.

· Set visual reminders — timetables for homework chores, visual reminders of daily activities i.e. such as items to pack in their bag for school. Reminders can be strategically placed such as behind the bedroom door or in the kitchen.

· Place important items within your child’s eye line, such as leaving your child’s lunchbox out on the kitchen bench before school.

· Checklists — For little ones who aren’t reading yet, picture items can substitute written words)
The Truth is Often Crucified Between Two Opposing Sides
By: Daniel Esparza
Tags: Christianity, Religion, Christian, Religion And Spirituality, Spiritual Growth

The two thieves

There is a passage in the Bible that illustrates this in dramatic fashion.

Christ is crucified between two thieves on Mount Golgotha.

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. — Luke 23

Christ represents the Truth while the two thieves represent two opposing sides — positive and negative.

This allegory is easily seen within ourselves.

The Masculine and the Feminine

With our masculine and feminine energy.

Please note that positive and negative do not correlate to feminine and masculine. There are a seemingly infinite amount of possible dualities in the world that have nothing to do with each other. Just like left/right, down/up, hot/cold which have nothing to do with each other but are all dichotomies.

A man might believe he is to be as masculine as possible because its what society tells him a man should be. But in doing this he denies the feminine elements within his psyche.

By favoring the masculine and denying the feminine he is denying a very real part of himself resulting in the crucifixion of his true self — or the most complete version of himself.

The same happens when a woman favors her feminine aspects over her masculinity.

No person is 100% masculine and no woman is 100% feminine. This is a tragic misunderstanding. We need to remember that masculinity is not synonymous with the male and neither is femininity with the female.

Every human is born with a rich mix of the two.

And true power lies within the conjunction of the two forces working together.

Intuition and Logic

The same is seen with the two powerful forces of intuition and logic.

If we favor our logic over our intuition then we will forever be stuck within the confines of our conscious thoughts and our creativity will be limited.

But if we favor our intuition over our logic then we will never have a well thought out plan for ourselves and will be wandering through life with no real aim.

We must then assume that the most optimal point of operating is somewhere in the middle. We must navigate through life using both our intuition and our logic together.
My emails module
Tags: Email, Python, Logging, Python3, Libraries

When this code is executed, after all methods and (global) module-level attributes are define, main() function is called with args=None.

On lines 44–46 I’m making temporary logger initialization, when all logs with level INFO and above are redirected to stderr, all warnings are redirected to stderr. This will be effective till we’ll parse log’s configuration and reinitialize logger. This is done, in order to see log’s output, especially warnings. See Integrating Python’s logging and warnings packages for more details.

On line 48 we makes relative path to file to work.

On lines 50–53 we’re parsing configuration files. See My major init_app_conf module for details.

On line 55 we’re passing it to _log_config() function. Their we’re poping general.log part from the dict config and we’re calling logging.config.dictConfig() to reinitialize logger. We’re initializing (global) module-level attributes logger (standard logger) emailLogger (this logger will be used to send e-mails; this has configuration in logger.emails in configuration file above). At the end we’re pretty-print parsed configuration. Uncommented line uses ymlparsers.as_str() as convenient method to print logger configuration to the logger. Commented-out line us pretty-print pprint module (it is available in standard Python). It has caveat, though.

Note: Actual type is OrderedDict and not dict, but it is mainly for historical reasons… Side note: Up to (not included) Python 3.6 the order in which key/value are stored was undefined. In Python 3.6 it was stated that this is implementation detail of CPython (and best practice is not to relay on this behavior). Started from Python 3.7 dictionary order is guaranteed to be insertion order. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/58676384/1137529 for the differences between dict and OrderedDict .

https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/my-parser-module-429ed1457718

pprint was written way before 3.6. In order to produce consistent result, it sorts out dict by key. I have found this unappropriated, I want to see the configuration in exact same order as it defined in the configuration file. In Python 3.8, however, you can specify sort_dicts=False in order to disable this sorting functionality. So, if you’re using Python 3.8 or above this will also works.

On line 39 we just remove general.log from parsed result. You can change remove this line, if you want to keep log configuration.

On lines 56–57 we’re calling run() inside EmailStatus context-manager function where actual business logic should be put. I will get back to EmailStatus below.

On line 20 we’re logging “run()” message to regular log.

On line 21 we’re buffering “Start-Python Process” message in our emailLogger .

On line 22 we just get our application configuration for the usage in the application code.

On lines 23–24 we’re simulating some computation, buffering in the emailLogger our progress.

On line 26 we’re buffering “Done Successfully — Python Process” message in our emailLogger .
Public opinion or the people, processing information
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Comics, Cartoons, Media, Graphic Design, Illustration

Did you find this article interesting?

If you liked it and if you feel like it, leave some claps to help whoever wrote it to pay his Lamborghini Urus.

Thank you!
Machine Learning and Plastic Surgery
By: Jon Kanevsky, Md
Tags: Plastic Surgery, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Health, Big Data

The following is from a press release on my recent publication on the applications of machine learning in plastic surgery. Full article available here.

With an aim to improve patient outcomes and medical care, researchers continue to explore the use of machine learning.

Considered a subfield of artificial intelligence, machine learning could be a way to handle the growing volume of electronic data information present in the healthcare industry. The May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), provides an overview of machine learning and a glimpse of how it could contribute to advances in plastic surgery.

“Machine learning has the potential to become a powerful tool in plastic surgery, allowing surgeons to harness complex clinical data to help guide key clinical decision making,” Jonathan Kanevsky, MD Plastic Surgery resident of McGill University, Montreal, and colleagues say in a media release from Wolters Kluwer Health. “They highlight some key areas in which machine learning and Big Data could contribute to progress in plastic and reconstructive surgery.”

Machine learning uses historical data to create algorithms with the ability to acquire knowledge, according to Kanevsky and colleagues in the release. Examples of successful machine learning include the IBM Watson Health cognitive computing system and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program used by the American College of Surgeons.

AI can be used to classify skull abnormalities in infants. Click here for the video

The authors believe plastic surgery can also benefit from “objective and data-driven machine learning approaches” and hope to apply machine learning with the ASPS’s Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons’ database.

Five areas show particular promise in improving efficiency and outcomes in the industry. These areas include burn surgery, hand and peripheral nerve surgery, microsurgery, craniofacial surgery, and aesthetic surgery.

AI could be used for the automatic quantification of the surface area of a burn

Another application of machine learning could be in the area of plastic surgery training, but the authors stressed computer-generated algorithms will not replace the human eye.

AI could be used to classify and quantify facial features to assist in aesthetic and reconstructive facial surgery.

“These are tools that not only may help the decision-making process but also find patterns that might not be evident in analysis of smaller data sets of anecdotal experience,” Kanevsky and co-authors conclude, per the release. “By embracing machine learning, modern plastic surgeons may be able to redefine the specialty while solidifying their role as leaders at the forefront of scientific advancement in surgery.”
Light at the End
By: Terry Mansfield
Tags: Light, Poetry, Haiku, Life, Poem

Hi! I’m Terry Mansfield and I Specialize in Eclecticism

Here are some things about me you probably don’t know (and maybe don’t even care to know; sorry about that).
SUMMERTIME IN NEW JERSEY ~ A Photo Essay By Katie Case
By: Mike Decastro
Tags: New Jersey, Photography, Summer

Photo courtesy of Katie Case Photography.

In New Jersey, the first week of June serves as a powerful light switch, suddenly turned ‘on’. A beaming light shines and alights our awareness that suddenly it is summer. It is as if, until that switch is turned on, we do not allow our collective conscience the luxury of contemplating the reality of summer.. and then suddenly, all at once, we do.

Photo courtesy of Katie Case Photography.

There is a kind of nervous anticipation which is well-defined, depending on what chapter you are on in life. Young families are busy securing camp placement and recreation program spots. Millennials are busy as they organize the squad and lock down Jersey Shore summer houses. Jersey Shore locals begin their summer grocery shopping & dining schedule which is timed around the kinetic energy of Benny crowds. And kids know that there is no school.. and no desks.. and no rigid schedule dictating their every minute.. Freedom!

Photo courtesy of Katie Case Photography.

Photo courtesy of Katie Case Photography.

In summer, most of New Jersey seems to shed their September-through-May energy and opt for a summery dialed down version of themselves. Maybe that’s connected to the shedding of clothes and socializing in the sun outside, rather than inside by the glow of computers and the tellie.
GameStore Jackpot Tournament: 5 Fruit
Tags: Gamestore, Gaming, Cryptocurrency, Tournaments

Would you like another chance to win $$s in VRA? We’ve picked the incredibly addictive 5 Fruit game for our next Jackpot Tournament.

4 Day tournament with 10 winners!

We’re giving you another 4 day Jackpot Tournament to run from Thursday 16th July 8pm (UTC) until Monday 20th July 8pm (UTC). There will be 10 winners with prizes to be:

The Tournament

Players can enter at any time during the tournament period.

Don’t forget, the more players that join the tournaments; the larger the Jackpot! All Jackpots are displayed in credits and 1 credit is worth $0.02.

Please note that you will need to pay for entry each time you play in the tournament. 1 game credit is worth $0.02

Feedback:

Thank you to everyone who has given us their feedback and suggestions. Your ideas are valuable and help us to improve our Jackpot Tournaments each week. Keep them coming in via the GameStore questionnaire form and GameStore Telegram Group.

Entry Criteria:

Register on GameStore

on GameStore Must have an active GameStore subscription or buy a subscription with VRA using your VeraWallet

or buy a subscription with VRA using your VeraWallet Have a VeraWallet registered to the SAME email address as your GameStore registered email. Failure to have the same email address for both the VeraWallet and GameStore means disqualification!

Please note that you will need to pay for entry each time you play in the tournament. 1 game credit is worth $0.02

Winners and Prizes

The winners will be the top 10 names on the Tournament game leaderboard.

Verasity will be topping up the Jackpots so there will be 10 winners in the tournament:

1st place receives 100% of the Jackpot value in VRA, to be added to their VeraWallet. 1 credit is worth $0.02 .

of the Jackpot value in VRA, to be added to their VeraWallet. . 2nd and 3rd place receive 50% of the Jackpot value in VRA, to be added to their VeraWallets

of the Jackpot value in VRA, to be added to their VeraWallets 4th-10th places receive 10% of the Jackpot value in VRA, to be added to their VeraWallets

Winners will be notified by Verasity, within 3 working days of the tournament end date, and VRA deposited into their VeraWallet email address.

Terms & Conditions

1. Winners will be notified within 3 working days of the end of the tournament.

2. Verasity team has a right to eliminate a competitor if there is evidence of cheating or fraud.

3. Rules of the tournament can’t be changed after the start of the weekly tournament.

4. Every competitor has to join Verasity GameStore Telegram group, follow RJMark and VerasityTech on Twitter.

5. Join the Verasity mailing list

6. Leaderboards will be audited at the end of each tournament.

7. Participants must have an active Verasity GameStore subscription

8. Participants must use the same email address for the GameStore as for their VeraWallet

9. Help & Support is by joining the Verasity GameStore Telegram group

10. Rules can be changed after the end of each tournament

11. Any decisions with respect to Winners/losers will be made by Verasity and are final
BOY TOY
By: Randy Cooper
Tags: Love, Sex, Poetry, Intimately Intricate

source:stokpic

I’m wound up

Relax me

Make me tired

My hair is all curly so it’s ok to scrunch it

Bury your face in it

I want you to pull if you want to

Pound my body with yours

Make me feel you down deep in my soul

Make me scream

Make me beg for more

Fill me with your heart and soul

Make me know how much you love me

Make me know that you are mine
Помощь России в создании El Petro
By: Blockchain Architect
Tags: Crypto

in Eudaimonia and Co
Day 022: Where I Finally Get My Headphones!
By: Nadeem Abdulla
Tags: Headphones, Music, Daily Blog

Also, Trump now rules America…

Anyways..

So, after more than almost 2 months of purchasing the headphones from Massdrop, I finally receive them 2 days back! And the best part is, even though I was charged customs for it, it was way less than what I had expected. Basically I got the headphones at almost 50% than the original price. That’s a steal!

About the sound.. they are amazing! The instruments are so clear and everything sounds so natural that I actually forgot what my previous earphones sound like. These headphones actually need a DAC/AMP combo to play them at their full potential but even without them they sound phenomenal.

The only concern is the fit on my head. It’s a little tighter than what I was expecting but more than that, it’s the earpads that surround the ears completely are causing a little discomfort. Now, I have always used earphones, the in-ear types, all my life, so I am not at all used to big headphones. So, it may be either after using them for a few weeks I may get used to them and they feel comfortable or I may be wearing them wrong. I don’t know but I guess time will tell.

Other updates:

Things are going fine. Really fine. I just finished my new portrait sketch today finally, which I started almost 6 days back. Thanks to me being sleepy and lazy and also my headphones, which I spent whole day listening to, my work got delayed. But it’s ok, I finished it and now I can move forward. Moving forward is the key.

The only thing to work on now is my sleep cycle. It’s really messed up.

I slept till 5pm today.. Yeah..

It is really difficult for me get up in the morning and no, not because I am sleepy. I mean, I am sleepy but I still can get up, always have, but it’s I think it’s because I know my mornings will not be peaceful.

You know how peaceful mornings are really important? It is really important to get up and organize your thoughts before you start work. It is really important to spend some time with yourself before you even have breakfast. This is the kind of morning I would love to have but it’s almost impossible because the day in my house starts early and there’s disturbance everywhere. And that makes me to not get up. I know that’s bad but I’m working on it.

There are many more things I want to talk about and write about. There are many more things that are running inside my head but whenever I think of coming out with them, something stops me. I don’t know what. Maybe the idea that they are too personal and sad? There are many things happening around me I want to complain about, sometimes even scream, but I can’t. Things about how people are, how they treat others, how their thought process is and how people prioritize the wrong people. Everything is related to the people in my family and relatives and talking about them is like giving away family secrets. But I want to talk, I want to say that they are wrong. I guess I’ll have to wait for when the time is right.

Till then, hoping for the best preparing for the worst.

This is Nad, signing off. Have a great day.

Goodnight.
Men Need To Think More About Fertility — Even If They’re Not Considering Fatherhood
By: Hanna Horvath
Tags: Body, Parenthood, Fatherhood, Infertility, Sexism

Men Need To Think More About Fertility — Even If They’re Not Considering Fatherhood

Sperm counts are plummeting yet infertility is rarely considered a men’s issue. Here’s why that needs to change, and how at-home tests may help.

Credit: Christian Darkin/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

One in eight couples struggle to conceive, and in about half of these cases, male infertility is the cause. So why do some men drag their feet when it comes to getting tested?

“It’s the big question,” says Dr. Daniel B. Shapiro, medical director at Reproductive Biology Associates, an in-vitro fertilization clinic in Georgia. “The idea that the male has anything to do with fertility was previously rejected for narrow and selfish reasons — namely, sexism.”

This chauvinistic attitude ends up hurting men’s ability to take their fertility into their own hands. While many couples get tested together, others balk. A 2017 study from the UK followed a small group of men experiencing infertility and found that all of them had delayed seeking professional help, even though they wanted to be fathers.

“It’s about their manhood. I have male patients say to me, ‘I didn’t want to get checked because I didn’t want to know.’”

The men said they didn’t consult healthcare professionals because they had a hard time coming to terms with the idea that their fertility was the problem. “It can be hard to get men to come in and get their semen tested,” says Dr. Sarah Vij, male fertility specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. “It’s about their manhood. I have male patients say to me, ‘I didn’t want to get checked because I didn’t want to know.’”

This mindset can have dramatic consequences. Vij recalls patients waiting months, even years before some men agree to have their sperm tested, costing the couple time, stress, and resources.
Beginning to Look a NOT Like Christmas
By: Mary Holden
Tags: Humor, Covid 19, Song Parody, Christmas Carol, Christmas

Beginning to Look a NOT Like Christmas

…song parody written by a friend who requested anonymity

Christmas…or not…at a shopperless marketplace in Sedona, Arizona. Photo by Mary Holden.

It’s beginning to look a NOT like Christmas

Nowhere can you go

A season of furloughed elves

There’s no toilet paper on the shelves

So what do we do now when we have to go?

It’s beginning to look a NOT like Christmas

It’s not a mild flu

Thousands of families grieve

Anti-maskers say they can’t breathe

Save those few words for when you’re stuck in the ICU

It’s beginning to look a NOT like Christmas

No Black Friday marathon

Reducing our purchasing stress

Packages delivered by UPS

All our shopping now done through Amazon

It’s beginning to look a NOT like Christmas

To the final verse

Complaints, oh we have a-plenty

Here’s to the end of Twenty Twenty

Hoping it can’t possibly get much worse….
The Coronavirus Winners
By: Mark Kelly
Tags: Coronavirus, Politics, Nonfiction, Economics

You read that right. More went to corporations, large and small, than went to direct support of the population. This is why we see the stock markets screaming up while cities are going up in flames.

Who will foot the bill for this largesse towards the corporate sector?

Silly question. The taxpaying consumer always pays in the end. The Federal Reserve has publicly stated that they will print as much money as necessary, unlimited quantitative easing for as long as it is needed.

Much of that newly created money will be used to buy back bonds from banks and other financial institutions, giving them another layer of protection against any adverse consequences of the pandemic or civil unrest.

Any physical cash left over to flood the economy will have the effect of diluting the purchasing power of the money already in consumer pockets and bank accounts.

The man in the street pays once again.