Wednesday, November 27, 2019

New Snapchat patent scores emotions through selfies

New Snapchat kapitnspatent scores emotions through selfiesNew Snapchat patent scores emotions through selfiesWhen you post a selfie on Snapchat in the future, you could be giving up more than just what you look like. According to an August patent granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and first identified by Business Insider, you could one day be giving up what you feel.Snap Inc patent monitors how people are feeling through social mediaHow good of a time are you having at the concert? Snap Inc wants to find out. Its patent seeks to determine the mood for a crowd through the selfies being posted and the messages being shared within Snapchat. The mood detector would analyze the various faces in the images so that it can determine an aggregate mood for the group of people. Yur half-hearted smile in a group selfie would be graded accordingly. In some cases, the patent states that this technology could better than people at determining how happy you are in a photo. Tech nological advances in facial recognition allow an image processing system to determine an emotion of a user based on an image of the users face. In some scenarios, an image processing system may be more sensitive than a human, the patent states.In one of the illustrated figures, a woman is posting a selfie with other women in the woods and their smiles are graded Happy 7, Happy 4, Happy 3, Happy 1. Through location data and other signals from people at the event, the patent technology said it could determine the mood of a public event. In one illustrated figure, there are people listening to a man on a podium give a speech. From the phones they are holding in their hands, we see their emotion scores to hearing the speaker sortiment from Happy 7 to Sad 2.Whats the point of this emotion surveillance? Snapchat posts can be made to disappear, but the data within them could be made to live on for an event promoter to analyze. One commercial use for the patent could be to charge clients m oney for access to this mood detector third party entity can be charged per location of use of the mood detection system and/or for exclusive or partially exclusive, use of the aggregate mood level, the patent states.A patent does not mean it will lead to commercial use, but Snaps focus on facial recognition analysis does offer insight into what our selfies can unexpectedly reveal to the social media companies we post them on. Its one more reminder of the personal data we give up about ourselves when we post our bodies and faces on social media.

Friday, November 22, 2019

7 Tips for Setting Career Goals for the New Year

7 Tips for Setting Career Goals for the New Year7 Tips for Setting Career Goals for the New YearThe New Year is always a time of new beginnings, a time for a change, and a time for setting goals. Its the time of year when many people start thinking about looking for a new job or initiating a career change. In fact, January is the busiest job searching month of the year. If youve been thinking about switching up your career, this is among the best times to do it. The New Year Is a Good Time for a Change For those who are contemplating a job or career change, the arrival of the New Year presents the perfect opportunity to reflect on your past experience and think about which direction you might want to take in the future. Even better, employers are hiring, and job opportunities are plentiful. If youve been thinking about shifting gears, you should know that you arent alone. On average, fruchtwein peoplechange jobs10 to 15 times during their working life, so you dont have to stay on a career path thats not right for you. There are many practical reasons you might feel the need to stay in an unfulfilling job, but one key reason is the lack of a clear plan for an alternative career. Clarifying your career objectives, and thinking about whatcareer pathyou would like to be on, can provide the impetus and momentum for you to make the change to a mora rewarding career. Think of the New Year as a time to make a fresh start, and then take advantage of that energy. Here are some activities to help you to establish new career goals. Top 7 Tips for Setting Career Goals for the New Year 1. Inventory Your Skills.Review your work, volunteer, extracurricular, and academic history to identify activities or elements of your past roles that you found energizing or enjoyable. What did you like the best? Inventory the skills which you have enjoyed using. Heres alist of required skillsfor many different types of jobs. Develop a preferred skills list of six to nine skills or ac tivities that you would like to utilize in a new career. 2. Engage in Career Research.The more you learn, the easier it will be to make decisions and set goals for yourself. Start to read about careers of interest by browsingwebsitesor publications at your local bookstore or library. Identify two new careers to research each week, and keep a diary of your interest in each. Measure the careers against yourpreferred skills list. For those fields with a genuine appeal, compile a list of questions to research so that you can fully appraise the suitability of that career for you. 3. Check Out What Your Friends Do. Do you have friends with jobs that sound like something you might be interested in? Activate your curiosity about the work lives of people in your social network. Think about the roles of colleagues, suppliers, or clients that might be a good fit for you, and interview them about the nature of their work.Share your skills list with them, and ask for help brainstorming career op tions that might be worth considering within their sector. Ask your contacts for introductions to people they know who are in fields that interest you, and inquire about the possibility of meeting for aninformational interview. 4. Set Up a Job Shadow (or Two). Set up somejob shadowingopportunities with contacts in fields of interest during your vacation time to gain more concrete exposure to the field. It will give you real-life exposure to what the occupation is really like. 5. Volunteer to Gain Experience.If possible,look for volunteer positionswithin your chosen field. For example, if you are considering geriatric social work, help out at a senior center. If you are in school, unemployed, or working at home, consider a part-time internship in your target field. Besides helping others, youll get some relevant experience to add to your resume. You might even be able to turn your volunteer position into a job. 6. Go (Back) to School.If interesting options require further education, take aclass online to boost your career skills, consider earning a certificate in a career that interests you to boost your employability, review the offerings of local colleges, or consider taking a course at a local community college or adult education center to get a feel for your field of interest. Schedule meetings with faculty chairs from relevant departments to learn more about how the program might work for you. Completing a degree mid-career may seem daunting, but with the right support from family and friends,it can be feasible. 7. Contact Your College.If you need further help, contact your alma mater (or an area college career office) for a referral to a localcareer counselor. For most people, career focus wont come as an epiphany from soul searching in isolation, but rather through active engagement with career resources and people in the work world. So why not start the New Year off with an active campaign to find some new career options?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Equine Pedigree Analyst Job Description

Equine Pedigree Analyst Job DescriptionEquine Pedigree Analyst Job DescriptionEquine pedigree analysts are advisors that plan breedings for the horses owned by their clients. Duties Equine pedigree analysts evaluate potential matings between specific sires and dams, presenting their clients with specific recommendations on how to improve the next generation of their bloodstock. Pedigree analysts meet with clients, research pedigrees, assess progeny reports, evaluate horses in person to gauge their physical characteristics and write reports that explain the reasons for their recommendations in detail. Pedigree analysts may interact regularly with clients including owners, broodmare managers, stallion managers, farm managers, and other industry professionals. A large part of their work is conducted in an office setting, though some traveling to view horses in person at the farm is not unusual. Career Options A large percentage of equine pedigree analyst positions are concerned with the analysis of horse involved in the Thoroughbred breeding industry, though there are certainly opportunities to be found working with other horse breeds as well. Many pedigree analysts do choose to specialize in one or two breeds in which they have expert knowledge. Pedigree analysts may work on a freelance basis, as part of a bloodstock agencys staff, for large breeding farms, or for pedigree analysis corporations (such as TrueNicks or Equineline). They may also write pedigree analysis books or submit articles for publication in industry journals. Education andTraining While no specific degree is required to secure a position as a pedigree analyst, most successful professionals in this field have extensive equine industry experience. A degree in genetics, biology, equine science, or animal science would add strength to a candidates resume. Computer skills are increasingly important, including word processing and database skills. Practical experience working with horses i s also a big plus for those seeking entry to this field, so equine internships may prove a solid form of training as well as provide a valuable way to network with industry professionals. Equine pedigree analysts must have a good working knowledge of equine breeding and genetics including areas such as line breeding, inbreeding, the heritability of desirable traits, pedigree nicks, prominent sire and dam lines, market trends, and successful progeny wertmiger zuwachs records. Pedigree analysts must also have a good eye for conformation, and be able to take into account the ways that certain physical traits from particular sire lines or broodmare families may be expressed in the resultant offspring. Salary Yearly compensation for equine pedigree analyst positions can vary greatly based on the specific industry in which an analyst works (i.e. racing or show breeding), the geographic area in which they work, years of experience, number of matings planned per breeding season, and the ir reputation in the industry. The most successful analysts will be those that have developed a strong client base over the years, with a solid record of recommending pairings that result in foals able to perform at a high level. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track pedigree analysts as an individual category in their salary surveys, but similar areas that they do track include categories for animal scientists and biological scientists. According to the latest information collected by the BLS salary survey, the zentralwert annual wage for all animal scientists was $58,250 in May of 2010. The lowest 10 percent of all animal scientists earned less than $33,980 per year, while the highest 10 percent of all animal scientists earned more than $117,150 per year. The BLS cites a similar median annual wage of $68,220 for all biological scientists, with earnings ranging from less than $38,780 for the lowest 10 percent in the field to more than $102,300 for the top 10 percent in the field. Career Outlook Growth patterns for the field of equine pedigree analysis should fall between the growth rates of the similar occupational categories of animal scientists and biological scientists. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment survey, career opportunities for the category of animal scientists and other agricultural scientists are projected to grow at a rate of approximately 13 percent from 2010 to 2020. This rate of growth is slightly higher than the average rate for all positions monitored in the BLS employment survey. Employment for the category of all biological scientists is expected to grow at a much swifter rate of 21 percent over the same period, which represents a much higher rate than the average for all positions surveyed. Individuals with extensive experience and industry connections will continue to enjoy the best job prospects in this field.