Africa's World Cup:critical reflections on play, patriotism, spectatorship, and space

Africas World Cup: Critical Reflections on Play, Patriotism, Spectatorship, and Space focuses on a remarkable month in the modern history of Africa and in the global history of football. Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann are well-known experts on South African football, and they have assembled an impressive team of local and international journalists, academics, and football experts to reflect on the 2010 World Cup and its broader significance, its meanings, complexities, and contradictions. The World Cups sounds, sights, and aesthetics are explored, along with questions of patriotism, nationalism, and spectatorship in Africa and around the world. Experts on urban design and communities write on how the presence of the World Cup worked to refashion urban spaces and negotiate the local struggles in the hosting cities. The volume is richly illustrated by authors photographs, and the essays in this volume feature chronicles of match day experiences; travelogues; ethnographies of fan cultures; analyses of print, broadcast, and electronic media coverage of the tournament; reflections on the World Cups private and public spaces; football exhibits in South African museums; and critiques of the World Cups processes of inclusion and exclusion, as well as its political and economic legacies. The volume concludes with a forum on the World Cup, including Thabo Dladla, Director of Soccer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Mohlomi Kekeletso Maubane, a well-known Soweto-based writer and a soccer researcher, and Rodney Reiners, former professional footballer and current chief soccer writer for the Cape Argus newspaper in Cape Town. This collection will appeal to students, scholars, journalists, and fans. Cover illustration: South African fan blowing his vuvuzela at South Africa vs. France, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, June 22, 2010. Photo by Chris Bolsmann.

A multimedia indexing and retrieval framework for multimedia database systems

The main challenges of multimedia data retrieval lie in the effective mapping between low-level features and high-level concepts, and in the individual users' subjective perceptions of multimedia content. ^ The objectives of this dissertation are to develop an integrated multimedia indexing and retrieval framework with the aim to bridge the gap between semantic concepts and low-level features. To achieve this goal, a set of core techniques have been developed, including image segmentation, content-based image retrieval, object tracking, video indexing, and video event detection. These core techniques are integrated in a systematic way to enable the semantic search for images/videos, and can be tailored to solve the problems in other multimedia related domains. In image retrieval, two new methods of bridging the semantic gap are proposed: (1) for general content-based image retrieval, a stochastic mechanism is utilized to enable the long-term learning of high-level concepts from a set of training data, such as user access frequencies and access patterns of images. (2) In addition to whole-image retrieval, a novel multiple instance learning framework is proposed for object-based image retrieval, by which a user is allowed to more effectively search for images that contain multiple objects of interest. An enhanced image segmentation algorithm is developed to extract the object information from images. This segmentation algorithm is further used in video indexing and retrieval, by which a robust video shot/scene segmentation method is developed based on low-level visual feature comparison, object tracking, and audio analysis. Based on shot boundaries, a novel data mining framework is further proposed to detect events in soccer videos, while fully utilizing the multi-modality features and object information obtained through video shot/scene detection. ^ Another contribution of this dissertation is the potential of the above techniques to be tailored and applied to other multimedia applications. This is demonstrated by their utilization in traffic video surveillance applications. The enhanced image segmentation algorithm, coupled with an adaptive background learning algorithm, improves the performance of vehicle identification. A sophisticated object tracking algorithm is proposed to track individual vehicles, while the spatial and temporal relationships of vehicle objects are modeled by an abstract semantic model. ^

The Security Challenges for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games

Brazilians greeted the long-awaited decision of making Rio de Janeiro the host of the 2016 Olympic Games with tremendous exhilaration. Although Rio’s fantastic natural beauty certainly added to its attraction in hosting the games, its alarming rates of urban crime and violence largely associated with drug trafficking immediately triggered worldwide criticism, and put at issue its ability to guarantee the security for the games. Brazilians have been vying for a position as an emerging global economy and understand the importance of the Games for international prestige. This makes the stakes very high when hosting the Olympic Games in the wake of the 2014 Soccer World Cup, which will also be held in Brazil. This paper explores these criticisms and assesses Rio’s ability to prepare for this important event. The paper further explores the consensus that Brazilians will be more equipped to address actions taken by organized crime capable of affecting the Olympic Games than to face a terrorist attack. Brazil – and Rio – does not figure in the “terrorism map” as a region particularly linked to terrorism. Aside from uncorroborated suspicions of activities by terrorist organizations on the Tri-Border region (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay), Brazil does not elicit many concerns regarding terrorism.1 Yet, there is no way to guarantee that terrorist organizations will not try to make use of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games to advance their agenda. This being in mind, Rio and Brazil in general face a long road ahead to prepare, prevent, protect and respond to a possible terrorist attack during the 2016 Olympics. It is clear that prevention and preparation towards potential threats to the Games must necessarily include cooperation and exchange of best practices with other countries. 1 U.S. Department of State has confirmed that this area may have been used to transport weapons and conduct financial affairs in the past. This type of activity has been made more difficult with the fortification of border controls in more recent times.

Managua Relief

Bob del Toro, Dianne Haley and Others with Toys for Managuan Relief. On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum 887-3400. april 30, 1973. Cutlines: More than 350 dozens of various balls, skate boards and games were recently purchased by the Student Governance Committee of Florida International University for the young people of Managua, Nicaragua who not only do not have enough toys but are unable to attend schools which are closed. Left to right are, Bob del Toro, Dianne Haley, Chairman of the Student Governance Committee, Hialeah Councilman Jack Weaver of the Hialeah-Managua Sister City Committee, Barbara O'Nan and Margaret Klein.

Managua Relief

On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum From: City of Hialeah Publicity Bureu. 401 1/2 East 1st Ave. Hialeah, Fla. 887-3400. april 30, 1973. Cutlines: Florida International University students recently raised more than $ 1,000 for more than 300 dozens toys and balls for the youngsters of Managua, Nicaragua. With the balls above are shown student Committee members and oficials of the Hialeah-Managua Sister City Committee, left to rigth: Bob del Toro, Sister City Committe president Raymond R. Schultz, Student Governance Committee chairman Dianne Haley and Hialeah City councilman Jack Weaver.

Managua Relief

On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements by organizations were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum From: City of Hialeah Publicity Bureu. 401 1/2 East 1st Ave. Hialeah, Fla. 887-3400. april 30, 1973. Cutlines: Skate boards, paddle balls and flying saucers were among the big shipment of toys which was recently dispatched to Managua, Nicaragua by students of Florida International University through the Hialeah-Managua Sister Committee. Examining the toys above are, left to right: Margaret Klein, Hialeah councilman Jack Weaver and Barbara O'Nan.

Managua Relief

On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum

Managua Relief

On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum

Managua Relief

On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum

Managua Relief

On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum

Managua Relief

The Miami News. Mon., March 19, 1973. Managuan Relief. Miami News Staff Photo by George Kochaniec. Raymond and Connie Schultz with toys. (Back) "Focuses on kids" article On December 23, 12:29 a.m. local time in Managua, Nicaragua, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred. The earth caused widespread damage among Managua, the capital city. In Managua, 5,000 residents were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. In Miami, residents and relief organizations focused on helping children. Wife of General Arturo Somoza pleaded on efforts on gathering sporting goods and toys for Managua’s young people. Relief committees purchased 230 dozen balls – basketball, rubber, and volley, soccer, and others. Nearly $500 came from students in Hialeah High School. Jump ropes and jacks were donated from a sorority at Florida International University. Arrangements were made to bring 44,000 pounds of baby formula and canned meat and 13,000 pounds of medicine. Many of Miami’s corporations, associations, and residents contributed to the Managuan Relief effort. Source: The Miami News, March 19, 1973 by Lynn Feigenbaum

Operacionalização do processo de treino no futebol feminino:situações de bola parada no meio campo ofensivo

Relatório de Estágio apresentado para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desporto com especialização em Treino Desportivo – Futebol

Expertise sportive et entraînement perceptivo-cognitif de l’athlète

Pour être performant au plus haut niveau, les athlètes doivent posséder une capacité perceptivo-cognitive supérieure à la moyenne. Cette faculté, reflétée sur le terrain par la vision et l’intelligence de jeu des sportifs, permet d’extraire l’information clé de la scène visuelle. La science du sport a depuis longtemps observé l’expertise perceptivo-cognitive au sein de l’environnement sportif propre aux athlètes. Récemment, des études ont rapporté que l’expertise pouvait également se refléter hors de ce contexte, lors d’activités du quotidien par exemple. De plus, les récentes théories entourant la capacité plastique du cerveau ont amené les chercheurs à développer des outils pour entraîner les capacités perceptivo-cognitives des athlètes afin de les rendre plus performants sur le terrain. Ces méthodes sont la plupart du temps contextuelles à la discipline visée. Cependant, un nouvel outil d’entraînement perceptivo-cognitif, nommé 3-Dimensional Multiple Object Tracking (3D-MOT) et dénué de contexte sportif, a récemment vu le jour et a fait l’objet de nos recherches. Un de nos objectifs visait à mettre en évidence l’expertise perceptivo-cognitive spécifique et non-spécifique chez des athlètes lors d’une même étude. Nous avons évalué la perception du mouvement biologique chez des joueurs de soccer et des non-athlètes dans une salle de réalité virtuelle. Les sportifs étaient systématiquement plus performants en termes d’efficacité et de temps de réaction que les novices pour discriminer la direction du mouvement biologique lors d’un exercice spécifique de soccer (tir) mais également lors d’une action issue du quotidien (marche). Ces résultats signifient que les athlètes possèdent une meilleure capacité à percevoir les mouvements biologiques humains effectués par les autres. La pratique du soccer semble donc conférer un avantage fondamental qui va au-delà des fonctions spécifiques à la pratique d’un sport. Ces découvertes sont à mettre en parallèle avec la performance exceptionnelle des athlètes dans le traitement de scènes visuelles dynamiques et également dénuées de contexte sportif. Des joueurs de soccer ont surpassé des novices dans le test de 3D-MOT qui consiste à suivre des cibles en mouvement et stimule les capacités perceptivo-cognitives. Leur vitesse de suivi visuel ainsi que leur faculté d’apprentissage étaient supérieures. Ces résultats confirmaient des données obtenues précédemment chez des sportifs. Le 3D-MOT est un test de poursuite attentionnelle qui stimule le traitement actif de l’information visuelle dynamique. En particulier, l’attention sélective, dynamique et soutenue ainsi que la mémoire de travail. Cet outil peut être utilisé pour entraîner les fonctions perceptivo-cognitives des athlètes. Des joueurs de soccer entraînés au 3D-MOT durant 30 sessions ont montré une amélioration de la prise de décision dans les passes de 15% sur le terrain comparés à des joueurs de groupes contrôles. Ces données démontrent pour la première fois un transfert perceptivo-cognitif du laboratoire au terrain suivant un entraînement perceptivo-cognitif non-contextuel au sport de l’athlète ciblé. Nos recherches aident à comprendre l’expertise des athlètes par l’approche spécifique et non-spécifique et présentent également les outils d’entraînements perceptivo-cognitifs, en particulier le 3D-MOT, pour améliorer la performance dans le sport de haut-niveau.

Multi-View Weighted Network

Extensive investigation has been conducted on network data, especially weighted network in the form of symmetric matrices with discrete count entries. Motivated by statistical inference on multi-view weighted network structure, this paper proposes a Poisson-Gamma latent factor model, not only separating view-shared and view-specific spaces but also achieving reduced dimensionality. A multiplicative gamma process shrinkage prior is implemented to avoid over parameterization and efficient full conditional conjugate posterior for Gibbs sampling is accomplished. By the accommodating of view-shared and view-specific parameters, flexible adaptability is provided according to the extents of similarity across view-specific space. Accuracy and efficiency are tested by simulated experiment. An application on real soccer network data is also proposed to illustrate the model.