Zombie Crowdsourcing

You’re in a room; zombies all around. Get out quickly! But which exit?

Welcome back. Were you aware that last winter, while I was still settling into our new apartment in Wisconsin, the Science Museum in London (the one across the pond) was holding a 3-day event to explore the science of consciousness?

Had I been over there, I doubt that subject would have gotten me out of my door. But then I read that the event was designed to surprise and fascinate while exploring consciousness and the scientific and social implications of a zombie attack! And that the event, ZombieLab, featured over 15 interactive experiences, demonstrations, experiments and a live criminal trial--of a zombie.

Preparedness poster from Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
 (www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm)

Is that a way to communicate science or what? 

Video Game Research

This all came to my attention because one of the interactive experiences, a video game to outrace a horde of zombies, was actually a recently published crowdsourcing study of building evacuation behavior designed by researchers from the University of Essex. (For a review of crowdsourcing, check my blog post, Crowdsourcing for Science.)

ZombieLab attendees who played the game saw an overhead view of simple outlines of part of a building layout--one room within a larger room. The inner room had lots of little open circles, each representing a zombie, and two doorways, one on each side.

The player’s avatar was a filled-in dark circle that could be maneuvered with a mouse through the building. By “outrace a horde of zombies,” I didn’t mean escape. Sadly, it was too late. The player’s avatar was already a zombie.

Playing the Game

For the initial step, players moved their avatars from the outer corridor into the inner room, choosing the route and doorway. Once the avatar was comfortably inside amongst its fellow zombies, the action began.

The players had to get their avatars out of the room, back to the starting point, where a target (undefined) was waiting, and to get there as quickly as possible. To make it interesting, the other zombies were milling about as zombies do or trying to get out of the room, sometimes bunching up at one or the other doorway.

Building Evacuation Behavior

Player tallies over the three days showed no doorway preference for getting their avatars out of the room until the players were challenged to beat the fastest time. When stress levels increased, players were more likely to exit via the same doorway they used to enter the room, even if that doorway was more crowded with zombies. The study found no herd behavior; players did not tend to follow other members of the crowd.

Although they recognized the limitations of extrapolating from a video game simulation, the investigators judged that, under higher stress levels, evacuees from a building will be more likely to use known exit routes and less willing to adapt their choice of route.

Wrap Up

The study also found that female and older players seemed to have longer reaction times. The age effect makes sense, but I wouldn’t go very far with the female thing. Those females who stepped forward to play the game may not have devoted as much of their lives to playing video games as their male counterparts (I can only hope), yet most probably know more about getting in and out of shopping malls and the like.

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S.

-Science Museum press release on ZombieLab event:
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/about_us/press_and_media/press_releases/2013/01/zombielab.aspx
-Crowdsourcing research report in Animal Behaviour:
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.05.025
-Examples of write-ups on the research report:
positronicdistillation.com/2013/07/11/the-crowd-behaviors-of-zombies/
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130708103202.htm

Eyespots Photo Addendum

How presumptuous of me to state in last Friday’s blog post, Fish Eyespots, that I was sure you’d seen butterfly or moth eyespots! To atone I’ve borrowed a handful of examples of eyespots from various websites.

Automeris moth (www.loujost.com)

Buckeye butterfly (www.insects.org)

Peacock butterfly (urbanbutterflygarden.co.uk/)

Owl butterfly (www.rainforestcruises.com)

Meadow brown butterfly (www.cumbria-butterflies.org.uk)

Emperor moth (devonmoths.org.uk/)

Owlet moth (multiple websites)

Some butterfly and moth caterpillars,
like this spicebush swallowtail
caterpillar, have amazing eyespots.
(multiple websites)

Fish Eyespots

Welcome back. Do you have tropical fish as pets? Although Godzilla, my wife’s algae-eating pleco, was unquestionably the most engrossing pet I’ve ever encountered and left notes about to our pet sitter (Time for Non-Furry Pets), I’m not a big fan of fish as pets. Most are beautiful, relaxing and boring.

Plus, when I was an unwitting grad student, I had the experience of minding two goldfish for a weekend for a neighbor’s young kids. The fish expressed their resentment at being left behind by trying to leap out of the bowl then dying. (Who knew fish weren’t fond of chlorinated water from the tap?) Goldfish are hard to match on short notice.

Anyway, I think tropical fish are magnificent in the wild or even in appropriately huge, balanced aquariums. Occasionally I also find research on tropical fish that I think is interesting. A recent study from Australia’s James Cook University, with contributions from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, is downright intriguing.

Eyespot Research

I’m sure you’ve seen butterflies or moths that have eyespots, those eye-like markings on their wings. Eyespots can be found throughout the animal kingdom--mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects and even fish. 

Ambon damselfish; note eyespot
on dorsal fin, near tail. (Photo from
Indonesian Biodiversity Research
Center website, www.ibrc-bali.org/)

This latest effort to understand the significance of eyespots experimented with juvenile Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, which usually lose the eyespots on their dorsal fin as they mature.

The researchers released test damselfish into a tank where the fish could see and smell--but not be attacked by--predatory fish, while control damselfish were either isolated from other fish or exposed to non-predatory herbivores.

Predator-Induced Changes

Compared to the control fish, after only six weeks, the test damselfish grew deeper (taller) bodies--growing too big to get jaws around is a common prey response; they adopted more conservative, less active behaviors (you won’t notice me); and what is thought to be a new finding, they developed larger eyespots accompanied by stunted growth of their real eyes.

The investigators postulated that having a larger eyespot near the tail and smaller eyes on the head would confuse a predator about the damselfish’s direction of escape in addition to producing a less catastrophic result if the eyespot rather than the head were attacked.

And that’s what seemed to occur when the control and test damselfish were released into a natural environment. Some 40% to 50% of the control fish became fish dinner within 48 hours; yet nearly 90% of the test fish were still swimming around after 96 hours.

Wrap Up

Depending on your family status or taste in cinema, you may be wondering if there is any relationship between damselfish and the star of the movie, Finding Nemo. I’ve checked the entertainment sources and can report that, although the fish who played Nemo is a clownfish or anemonefish, he’s in the same family, Pomacentridae. Small world isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by.

P.S.

- Research report on Nature website: www.nature.com/srep/2013/130725/srep02259/full/srep02259.html
- Examples of articles on the work; these from ScienceDaily and Discovery:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130819102728.htm
news.discovery.com/animals/damselfish-eye-confuses-130729.htm
- Wikipedia write up on eyespots:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyespot_(mimicry)
- Background on damselfish:
www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=802
australianmuseum.net.au/Ambon-Damsel-Pomacentrus-amboinensis-Bleeker-1868/

Photo Interpretation Addendum

My inability to determine much by studying the photograph in last Friday’s blog post, The House in the Photograph, belies my experience at photo interpretation. One of the courses I taught for years was essentially an image analysis course focused on environmental applications. I was asked to develop the course to complement other courses in our Remote Sensing curriculum.

On the first day of class, when students were still shopping for electives, I would tell them everything about the course--how great it was, the schedule of topics, my expectations, grading etc, and I’d show at least these four 35 mm slides to give them a taste.

Although I let the direction and depth of image analysis vary each year with the students’ freewheeling identifications and interpretations, with or without voting, you might like to see how you would have fared. (Information about each photo is at the bottom.) Would you have wanted to come back for more?

Tell me everything about the scene and
 support your analysis with what you see.

You struggled with the first photo,
but this one will make you feel cuddly.
Tell me everything about the scene.

Uh-oh. This one is tough. Again, tell
me everything about the scene.

This one should be easy. Fill in all
the (who, what, where, when) blanks.

Photo 1: A bus stop, Philippines, 1971. Identifying the buses, signs, activities, dress and wet streets narrow the location. When enterprising students moved closer to the screen, they could read the orange display sign on the bus front, “Divisoria,” adding Spanish (or Tagalog) to the mix and leading to comments about image resolution.

Photo 2: A panda, Beijing Zoo, 1982. Identifying the panda and structure narrows the location to a zoo. Studying the people and dress, and knowing which zoos have pandas, might take you further.

Photo 3: A formally dressed, elderly woman, holding a basketball, Philippines, 1972. The woman’s dress appears Spanish; the banana leaf on the right suggests it’s subtropical or tropical. Having seen the bus stop photo, students usually guessed the Philippines. But the basketball didn’t fit and wasn’t readily identified. Once identified, it did lead to fun interpretations.

Photo 4: Man, woman and dog in temperate zone, winter setting, 1970. Everything in the photo was familiar to most of the students, leading to speedy answers; e.g., snow and vegetation point to temperate zone, car and fashions (woman’s bell-bottom pants) suggest approximate date. But students always guessed married couple, which wasn’t the case; they were only friends. Interpretations are indeed interpretations; identifications can take you only so far.

The House in the Photograph

Welcome back. How well do you rate as a listener? I’m terrible with directions or stories or peoples’ anything if I only hear them. I usually do better if I see it, whatever it is, but I still needed seven months to notice a photograph hanging on our bedroom wall.

Hand-colored version of our bedroom
photograph. Rovilla Griffith Botteen (left)
and Fred Botteen’s mother in front of
“Mabel’s house,” ca 1900-1910.

My wife Vicki took care of the apartment’s wall hangings before I arrived. Most are fine-art photographs taken by my daughter Rachel. The photograph in the bedroom was very old and of a house with two women in front, one blurred. When I asked Vicki who was in the photograph, she knew only that it was Mabel’s house.
 
Photo Sleuthing
 
I, of course, dove in to investigate. OK, it wasn’t much of a dive. Shortly after I asked, Vicki dug up three other old, mounted photographs of people at the house. These had names on the backs: Rovilla and Fred Botteen, Rovilla and Albert H. Griffith, and James Lewellyn’s children.

Given the names, I found ample information online, and Vicki’s father was a source of fact and rumor. Unlike my own family tree, it would probably be relatively easy to fill in every blank if I weren’t content with the highlights, which took me from our bedroom to a museum collection of Lincoln memorabilia.  

Mabel and Bill

Mabel lived and, in 1990, died in the house in the photograph, yet Vicki’s parents had purchased the 160 acre farm years earlier from Mabel and her husband William (Bill) A. Griffith, who predeceased her by over a decade. Their daughter has since passed away.

Regardless of Bill’s success as a farmer prior to the sale, Mabel brought home a paycheck. She commuted daily to town, where she was employed as a bookkeeper.

Rovilla Griffith Botteen and Fred Botteen in
front of “Mabel’s house,” ca. 1900-1910.

Bill had inherited the farm from his parents, Albert and Myrtle, who had inherited it from Albert’s parents, William and Rovilla. Fred Botteen entered the picture (literally) in 1898 by marrying Rovilla, widowed in 1897, the year of Fred’s divorce from a woman absent from the photographs.

Albert and Myrtle

Albert H. Griffith graduated Ripon College in the Class of 1898. (Nearly half of the graduates were women!) At some point after his father William died, Albert split the farm, married Myrtle and moved into a house on the 80 acres across the road from the house in the photograph, then occupied by his mother Rovilla and her new husband Fred. 

Albert became a renowned scholar of Abraham Lincoln. In 1930, he sold his Lincoln memorabilia collection, which included tons (really) of periodicals, for the new Lincoln Museum of Fort Wayne, Ind. That museum closed in 2008; its holdings were transferred to a consortium of the Indiana State Museum, Allen County Public Library in Fort Worth and Indiana Historical Society.

Albert (left) and Rovilla Griffith, standing
with children of James Lewellyn in front
of “Mabel’s house,” 1888.

I didn’t follow up on Fred, but after Rovilla died in 1928, Albert and Myrtle remained in the house across the road. When their son Bill married Mabel, Albert allowed them to share his and Myrtle’s house, but he wouldn’t let anyone occupy the house in the photograph. The house sat empty for 20 years until Myrtle then Albert died, and Bill and Mabel moved in.

Wrap Up

Vicki loved Mabel’s house, especially the setting. When Vicki took me to see and consider the house for a future home, it had been empty for several more years and was showing signs of vandalism. Since we were living far away, retirement undefined, and since the house needed untold fixes, I didn’t encourage Vicki’s dream.

Now that we’ve retired, it’s too late. The house in our bedroom photograph, the house that Albert H. Griffith, born 1871, labeled his “childhood and boyhood home” on each photograph, was destroyed by a volunteer firefighter arsonist.

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S.

Rather than cite online cemetery records and the like, I’ll focus on Albert H. Griffith and the Lincoln collection.
- Ripon College Archives Class of 1898 (may need to copy and paste URL): http://content.mpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/Ripon/id/328/rec/10
(Ripon, Wis., now a city of fewer than 8000 people, was the birthplace of the Republican Party in 1854.)
- Article on Griffith in Wisconsin State Journal, 1924: www.wisconsinhistory.org/wlhba/articleView.asp?pg=1&id=2378&hdl=&np=&adv=yes&ln=Griffith&fn=Albert&q=Rev.&y1=&y2=&ci=&co=&mhd=&shd=
- Paper on Lincoln read by Griffith at a 1931 conference, from Wisconsin Magazine of History: www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4630866?uid=3739256&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102566524327
- Report of the “Eight Collections of the Lincoln Museum,” 1931: www.archive.org/stream/eightcollections01linc/eightcollections01linc_djvu.txt
- Write up on Lincoln Museum and its closing from Everything Lincoln website: www.everythinglincoln.com/acrossamerica/LincolnMuseumFtWayne.html
- Newspaper article on 2008 transfer of Lincoln Museum collection, The State Journal-Register, Springfield, Ill. www.sj-r.com/news/x1720692299/Lincoln-collection-to-remain-in-Indiana
- The Lincoln Collection in Indiana described on the Allen County Public Library website: www.acpl.lib.in.us/LincolnCollection/

Bluebird Nesting Box Addendum

In last Friday’s blog post, Bluebird Nest Watch, I introduced Frank Zuern, whose many accomplishments include designing one of the more successful bluebird nesting boxes. (They also attract chickadees and wrens.)

Frank’s box is notable for its horizontal form, simulating a broken, hollow tree branch; its minimal rise in interior temperature above the outside temperature (other boxes have experienced major losses during heat waves); and its vertical baffle. Nearly all bluebirds build their nests behind the baffle, away from the entrance hole, to reduce the nest’s vulnerability to predators.

Today’s photo addendum focuses on the box with more of Vicki’s excellent photos. (Thanks again, Vicki.)

Frank is explaining bluebird habits and habitats
 and his bluebird nesting box design.

An often-used nesting box. The entrance hole is on the left.
Nearly all bluebirds build their nest on the right, behind the
vertical baffle. Note the many holes for ventilation, and the
hinged side for monitoring and cleaning the box.

Frank is removing the screws that hold the hinged side closed.

This nesting box has an old bluebird nest behind the baffle (right)
and spillover nesting material near the entrance hole. To avoid a
predator (e.g., raccoon) reaching in and blocking the entrance with
the spillover material, the box must be monitored and spillover
removed. If a new nest is found between the baffle and entrance,
it must be moved behind the baffle after the eggs are laid.

Removing the spillover material uncovers the
vent holes in the bottom of the nesting box.

Frank Zuern’s Nesting Box Design Dimensions (inches)
(refer to photos)

Roof:  8 x 24 x 3/4
Floor:  3-1/2 x 15-3/4 x 3/4
Sides:  5-1/2 x 18 x 3/4 (one side hinged at bottom)
Front:  3-1/2 x 5 x 1-1/2 (thicker wood against predators)
Back:  5-1/4 x 3-1/2
Vertical baffle:  2-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 3/4
Entrance hole: 1-1/2 diameter
Vent holes: 1/2 diameter (see photos for side and floor pattern)

Post is approximately 5-1/2 feet tall. Current design uses a steel fence post within a downspout or PVC pipe (smooth exterior for snake prevention). A wood mounting board, 2-1/2 in x 18 in x 3/4 in, attaches to the unhinged side of the box and slips into the downspout, so the box rests on top of downspout.

While Frank is continually improving the design, a box attributed to him that’s available online has significant design weaknesses. Frank had no patent.

P.S.

Frank would be delighted to communicate with any interested birders or birdwatchers, especially about bluebirds and his nesting box. Please contact me (retirednw@gmail.com) and I’ll forward your note to Frank, who does not have easy access to email.

Bluebird Nest Watch

Frank Zuern stopping to check one
of the 40 nesting boxes he's placed.

Welcome back. Early one morning a few weeks ago, my wife Vicki drove off with Frank to watch him check some of his bluebird nesting boxes (aka, birdhouses). He’s got them all over the place. 

They tromped through the fields, but this wasn’t another of Vicki’s tick-gathering projects. Whenever you’re with Frank, it’s a learning experience. (Many thanks to Vicki for all of the photos in this post.)

Frank examining an empty nesting box.

Frank Zuern

Although Frank is in his mid-80s, he’s yet to slow down. He was an elementary school teacher and principal. For something like 13 years, he also served as Director of Outdoor Education for the local school district, arranging programs and speakers, lecturing and leading groups into the field (e.g., Sullivan’s Woods, a warbler hotspot).

Oh darn! This nesting box
had a Tree Swallow’s nest.

An ardent conservationist, Frank loves just about anything he can find outdoors. He’s active in the local Audubon Society and especially partial to bluebirds.   

Bluebirds

I’ve nothing against bluebirds; I’m leery of bluebirders. I spent most of my life in Upstate New York, away from large urban areas. The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) was the state bird, which is reasonable since it’s good looking and sounding, is everywhere from spring through fall, and puts on a great show capturing earthworms.

House Sparrow’s eggs to be
removed along with the nest
from a bluebird nesting box.
This non-native bird
slaughters native species.

In 1970, however, the poor, unsuspecting robin was forced to abdicate, pushed aside by devotees of the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). Prior to the bluebird’s coronation, I had never seen one in New York. After it nested on the state bird throne, I did see one…once. At least I think it was a bluebird.  

Here in Wisconsin, they knew enough to keep the robin as the state bird, chosen originally by school children; but they did start worrying about bluebirds. Breeding Bird Surveys were showing steep losses in bluebird population caused by agricultural practices, especially spraying and spreading of DDT; competition from House Sparrows and European Starlings; severe weather and loss of habitat and nesting sites.

Finally! A bluebird
nest in a nesting box.

In the mid-1980s, special efforts began to restore the bluebird population. It wasn’t just Frank. The Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin was organized. 

Frank’s Bird House 

Among the restoration activities was a program to install artificial nesting boxes in prime locations. Different designs were and still are recommended and thousands have been placed. They seem to be working.

Bluebirds’ nests are remarkably neat. Old
nests should be removed to encourage new
nests and limit parasites. (More about
monitoring the box in the next post.)

Based on his observations and research, Frank came up with his own design. It’s one of the more successful nesting boxes. I’ll get into it, so to speak, next Tuesday. I hope you’ll be back. 

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S.

North American Bluebird Society: www.nabluebirdsociety.org
Bluebird Restoration Assoc. of Wisconsin: www.braw.org
Cornell Ornithology Lab’s Nest Watch: www.nestwatch.org
Saving Birds Thru Habitat: www.savingbirds.org/

Race Tracks Photo Addendum

After successfully negotiating the roundabouts of last Friday’s blog post, Driving in Circles, I knew I was ready for the real thing. Wisconsin has a boatload of paved and dirt oval race tracks as well as drag strips and road courses strategically disbursed around the state. Here’s a sample, all DigitalGlobe images from Yahoo! Maps.

Wisconsin International Raceway,
Kaukauna, Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

Madison International Speedway,
Oregon, Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

Sugar River Raceway, Brodhead, Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

Road America, Plymouth, Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

Wilmot Raceway, Wilmot, Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

Crandon International Off Road Raceway,
Crandon, Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

Great Lakes Dragaway, Union Grove,
Wis. (@2013 DigitalGlobe)

P.S.

2013 map of tracks: www.racingin.com/track/map.aspx?s=WI
2007 list of tracks: www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/WI/