Algeria declared its independence from France in 1962. Since then, Islamist parties and armed groups have made up the major opposition to successive Algerian governments. Between 1991 and 1999, civil strife between violent Islamist extremists and security forces plagued Algeria and claimed over 150,000 lives. The majority of those killed were civilians. Despite the brutality of that conflict, conservative Islamism still holds appeal for many in Algeria. The Algerian government's attempts at reconciliation in 1999 and again in 2005 have aided the decline of violent extremist groups but have unwittingly legitimated and empowered political Islamism. Both Islamism and Salafist Islam rose in the Algerian political sphere, with Islamist parties multiplying and gaining parliamentary seats in national elections. While these parties have of late declined in stature and appeal, as evidenced by their dwindling power and dismal electoral results, Islamist ideas and underlying social conservatism nonetheless remain widespread throughout the country.
The exact numbers of armed Islamist militants operating in any country are difficult to discern. Algeria is no different, and estimates vary from around 300 and 1,000.1 Many of these militants shift their affiliation between more established groups and splinter groups in the region—of which al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is one of the most significant.
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in Algeria was a militant organization that focused on waging jihad against the Algerian government and trying to implement sharia there.2 In 2006, the GSPC merged with al-Qaeda and in 2007, it renamed itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). AQIM follows GSPC's basic tenet of resisting the Algerian government, but now as a part of al-Qaeda's global network rather than a solely domestic organization.3 Since the rise of the so-called Islamic State in 2013, AQIM has competed with it for influence in the Maghreb-Sahel region. However, AQIM has retained its hegemony in the area.
By 2013, the number of victims of terrorism from disparate armed groups had decreased substantially, with 30 to 40 a month–a considerable drop from the 1990s, when the number had reached 1,000 per month.7 In 2015, 62 terrorist attacks took place, resulting in several dozen victims.8 Security forces were quite successful in 2016 as they neutralized 350 terrorists, of whom 125 killed and 225 arrested.9 Generally, Algerian security forces do not reveal the names of the groups that carry out these terrorists attacks; both AQIM and the so-called Islamic State have claimed responsibility for some of their operations. Other, smaller armed groups also claim responsibility for the sporadic attacks, but it is not clear how realistic the existence of these groups is. With the exception of AQIM, the current extremist groups operating in Algeria have limited means, no popular support, and little impact.
An analysis of the security situation in Algeria indicates that the threat of AQIM has diminished inside Algeria, in large part due to the security forces' efforts. However, the threat of AQIM and other jihadist groups operating at Algeria's southern borders remains as potent as ever and represents great concern for various countries in and outside the Sahel region. The communiqués of the Ministry of Defense are primary indicators of the considerable decline of terrorism in the country. The head of AQIM, Abdel-Malek Droukdel, who operated out of the mountains of Kabylia for more than 15 years, has allegedly fled to neighboring Tunisia15to avoid death or capture in Algeria. Furthermore, most of the militants arrested in recent years are well over thirty-years old, indicating that many groups are struggling with recruitment. (Though AQIM leaders hope that the defeat of the Islamic State, despite its rivalry with AQIM, may provide some new recruits).16 Most militants no longer carry the heavy weapons that were available following the collapse of the Qaddafi regime; many only have access to shotguns and a few AK-47s.17 The Algerian military has cut off the supply networks that terrorist groups had used to equip their troops. Algerian security forces are today not only adequately equipped in counterterrorism operations, but they have reconciled with the population, which has become averse to terrorism, having suffered from a decade of bloodshed.
ISIS militants have made many attempts to infiltrate Algeria through the Tunisian western border, but there too the Algerian army has repeatedly repelled or killed those militants. IS has repeatedly sought to establish a presence in Algeria; however, the military has successfully countered emerging IS cells.18 Jihadism in Algeria is no longer what it was in the 1990s, when its thousands of troops were supported by the population and when there existed a huge pool of young people to join the multitude of groups, such as the GIAs, the AIS, and the GSPC (now AQIM). These groups or IS do not have any support among the population anymore. Today, it is difficult to imagine IS, an alien organization, coming to Algeria to recruit young people to join jihad. True, the civil war in Libya has worried Algerian officials, which explains their mediation efforts to bring about a political solution, which would in turn help in eliminating the terrorist threat. Algerians have feared a spillover effect; thus, they have secured their border with Libya and assisted Tunisia in doing the same. In Libya, ISIS no longer represents the threat it once did (2016-2017), although the return of ISIS troops from Iraq and Syria, where they have suffered defeat, has caused understandable concern.
The emergence of Islamist political parties in Algeria is a comparatively recent phenomenon.19 Religious political parties only became legal after the regime consented to political liberalization, prompted by bloody riots in October 1988. Most of the Islamist parties born in the period between 1989 and 1991 emerged out of a heterogeneous Islamist movement that took root in the 1960s. The most powerful and radical of them was the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), banned in March 1992 following its overwhelming victory in the first round of the legislative elections the previous December. Notwithstanding FIS' popularity (it won overwhelming victories in the 1990 municipal elections and in the 1991 legislative elections), its impressive organization, and its capacity to mobilize large segments of society, authorities banned the group because of its radical ideology and the threat it purportedly posed to the state and society. Although the FIS is defunct today, its influence has not completely vanished. Some of its members joined the still-legal Islamist parties and/or voted for them during elections, while others joined the multitude of armed groups that have fought the state since the 1990s.
Today, numerous legal Islamist parties remain active on the national political scene, including the Movement for Society and Peace (MSP), the Movement for Islamic Renaissance (Nahda), and its offshoot, the Movement for National Reform (MRN), and the recent ones legalized on the eve of the May 2012 legislative elections, namely, the Party for Liberty and Justice (PLJ), the Front for Justice and Development (FJD—El Adala), the Front for New Algeria (FAN), and the Front for Change (FC).20 All endorse the eventual application of sharia law. However, unlike the FIS, which wished to implement it immediately, these parties (the MSP in particular) seek a gradual implementation of Islamic principles.
The MSP, the largest legal Islamist party in Algeria, was created in 1990 as the Movement for Islamic Society/HAMAS, but changed its name to conform to the 1996 constitution, which forbade religious political expression. The group belonged to the "presidential alliance," a conservative mixture of nationalist, Islamist, and technocratic parties. In early January 2012, the MSP withdrew from the presidential alliance, and pulling its four ministers out of the government. In March 2012, the MSP, with El Islah and Ennahda, formed the Green Alliance. The three parties ran on the same ticket in the country's subsequent legislative election. However, the Green Alliance did quite poorly in the 2012 legislature, garnering only 48 seats out of an expanded field of 462.
Nahda split in 1999 when its charismatic founding leader, Abdallah Djaballah, created yet another party, the Movement for National Reform (MRN or Islah). The MRN did very well in the 2002 local elections, coming in ahead of both the MSP and Nahda, after which it demanded a ban on the import of alcoholic beverages in 2004. However, Djaballah did quite poorly in the 2004 presidential election, receiving only 5 percent of the votes.21 The party has undergone further crises, and it is not clear what influence either Nahda or MSN now have—for, like most Algerian political parties, the fate of the parties is often tied to the individual that founded them. In the 2007 legislative election, the two parties garnered only five and three parliamentary seats, respectively. These parties did not gain many votes in the legislative election in May 2017. Indeed, in the legislative elections of May 2017, the Islamic Movement coalition ranked third with 33 out of 462 seats, a score that indicates some stagnation when compared to the results they obtained in 2012.
In addition to these party splits, there has been an unmistakable rise of quietist Salafists who refuse to partake in political life, considering it anathema, a 'bid'a (heretical innovation). Although they do not represent a threat to the incumbent regime, they have nevertheless ascertained their presence in many mosques throughout the country. They do represent a challenge to the MSP because of the uncompromising nature of their discourse. While this state of affairs is favorable to the regime, as it plays Islamists against one another, large segments of society resent the growth of quietist Salafism; they see the conservative ideas of quietist Islamists as a potential danger.
Islam in Algeria is not simply the main religion of the population; it constitutes the primary foundation of identity and culture. Islamic beliefs and practices regulate social behavior and, largely, govern social relations. While the socioeconomic failure of the 1980s provided a trigger for the emergence of Islamism in Algerian society, its doctrinal aspects derive at least in part from the crisis of identity generated by 132 years of colonial rule. France's brutal colonialism served to undermine the principal local religious institutions: mosques and religious schools were turned into churches or even bars, religious lands were expropriated, and Islamic culture was openly held up to be inferior to Christian/Western civilization. Because French colonialists treated the native population and values with contempt, the overwhelming majority of Algerians turned to Islam to establish their cultural identity. The country's nationalist movement itself, though secular, used Arab-Islamic values as symbols for popular mobilization against colonialism. Contemporary Islamists often claim that they are the legitimate offspring of that effort.
Therefore, while it is hard to gauge the present popularity of Islamism as a social and political movement, what is certain is that the institutional parties as well as the armed groups have lost the appeal that they had had throughout the 1990s and even in the early 2000s. One can advance four reasons for such decline: 1) the legacy of the civil strife which left more than 150,000 dead, mostly innocent civilians, 2) the relative loss of legitimacy on the part of armed groups like the GIAs and AQIM, which resorted to barbaric methods to impose their will upon the population; the methods were criticized by the leadership of Al-Qaida central itself because those methods could alienate the population and lose its support 3) the relative success of the 2005 National Reconciliation, which led to the surrender of thousands of armed militants and the extension of amnesty to numerous Islamists, and, 4) general disappointment with Islamist political parties, which are perceived as opportunistic and self-serving.
In 1989, Algerian authorities, in violation of a constitution that forbade the existence of parties based on religion, legalized the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a radical Islamist party. A front made up of a variety of forces, including alumni of the Afghan jihad, the FIS eventually became one of the most potent force against the state. In June 1990, the government organized nationwide municipal elections, the first pluralist elections in the country, and then cancelled the second round 1991 elections when it appeared that the FIS would win overwhelmingly. It cancelled the election, claiming that the victory of the FIS would have ended the democratic process altogether. The government banned the FIS shortly thereafter—and imprisoned its leaders—, which resulted in a crisis of the state. The civil strife that ensued not only pitted the security forces against armed groups but also spilled over to ravage the civilian population, notably in the horrible collective massacres of 1997 and 1998.
Aware of the near-collapse of the state and its institutions, civilian and military authorities took measures to safeguard the state. The first action was to remove elected Islamist officials from the municipalities and replace them with state-appointed officials. Armed Islamists eventually assassinated many of those replacements. The state also decided to arm thousands of people, many of them unemployed youths, throughout the country to serve as auxiliary forces for regular troops. These security agents, known as gardes communaux [municipal sentries], played a critical role in fighting Islamist insurgents, especially in the suburbs.
The Algerian government cooperates closely with the governments of countries in the Sahel, such as Mali and Niger, in its counterterrorism efforts. The most noteworthy pursuit is its participation in the U.S.-led Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Partnership to fight terrorism in the Maghreb-Sahel region. Algeria has also sought to create a quasi-collective security community with the Sahel states, namely, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger to counter the terrorist threat in the region.37 Unfortunately, the fragility of those states undermined the potential capabilities of the General Staff Joint-Operations Committee (CEMOC) and the Algiers-based Joint-Intelligence Centre (CRC).38 However, like other initiatives in the region, CEMOC is a rather ineffective alliance due to the lack of trust among the members, as well as foreign interference. In December 2017, French president Emmanuel Macron added a military component to the G5, which regroups Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Algeria has refused to join because it sees it as foreign interference in the region. Most analysts agree that the G5 might fail not only because it needs substantial funding (it is not United Nations-supported grouping) but also because Algeria, a key player in the Sahel, is absent from it.
A war has been ongoing in northern Mali since January 2013, and Algeria has played a small but significant role. It has allowed French warplanes to overfly its territory to dislodge AQIM and other groups from the cities they had occupied hitherto. It likewise has closed its long border with Mali, to prevent jihadists from fleeing the conflict and seeking refuge on Algerian territory. Algeria has also helped broker a deal between the various Tuareg factions and between those factions and the central government in Bamako.39 In July 2015, the Tuareg factions and Bamako signed a peace deal; the deal so far has been unsuccessful. Peace has not been restored and the groups continue their activities because of the persistent absence of the state in the north of the country,40 and despite France's presence. Furthermore, Algeria is helping Tunisia protect its borders against assaults from ISIS and has deployed thousands of troops along both its Tunisian and Libya borders.
Indeed, Algeria has sealed military border areas (Libya, Niger, and Mali), adding more observer stations along the Tunisian and Libyan borders.41 After the attack against the gas plant in 2013, the authorities have since fortified the oil and gas installations, imported sophisticated aerialbased surveillance technologies and greatly improved the country's communication systems.42 Overall, Algerian authorities have taken serious measures to counter terrorism, enacting a multitude of laws and erecting safeguards to thwart the reemergence of jihadism inside Algeria's borders.
Morocco has continuously accused Algeria of not cooperating on counterterrorism initiatives in the Sahel. Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita stated during a meeting of the G5 that the "Sahel is not the preserve of anyone,"43 suggesting that Algeria cannot exclude Morocco from being a player in the Sahel. Algerians, for their part, argue that events in the Sahel should be the responsibility of the Sahelian states, and that Moroccan is not a Sahelian state.44 This reflects the enduring rivalry between Algeria and Morocco since their independence from colonial France.45 However, there is some cooperation between the two countries against terrorism. For instance, as mentioned above, both participate in the US-led Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership as well as in the Global Forum on International Terrorism. Furthermore, Algerian authorities have informed their counterparts about Moroccans seeking to join ISIS in Syria. Algerian security forces repatriated these would-be jihadists to Morocco. One argument Algerian officials make in private is that Algeria guarantees Morocco's security at no cost to Morocco and at a great expense to Algeria, which has deployed thousands of troops to thwart the threats coming from the Sahel.46 No matter the public mutual recriminations, both cooperate, albeit at a minimum, when it comes to their common security.
Algeria watchers wonder what the succession to the ailing Bouteflika would mean for Islamism and counterterrorism in the country. In view of the tragedy that Algeria underwent in the 1990s, it is certain that there will be little or no change to the current security policy, which consists of an implacable war on the jihadists while focusing on development and programs of deradicalization to prevent the youth from succumbing to the influence of jihadi ideology. Counterterrorism has in fact become one of the components of Algeria's foreign policy. Non-violent, domesticated Islamism will remain part of the societal evolution that Algeria has witnessed in recent decades. Short of a cataclysmic ideological break—similar to what might be happening in Saudi Arabia—Algerians will continue to view social conservatism, rightly or wrongly, as part of their identity. However, the reminiscences of the 1990s will likely prevent the conversion of this social conservatism into jihadism.
1Author's interview with Algerian senior military officers, Algiers, January and September 2016. See also, Hebba Selim, "Des chiffres très précis sur le nombre de terroristes en Algérie: 304 dont 73 à Jund Al-Khilafa (Journal)," HuffPost Algérie, May 3, 2016, http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2016/05/03/terrorisme-effectifs-aqmi-jound-al-khilafa_n_9826062.html.
2 Zachary Laub and Jonathan Masters, "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)," Council on Foreign Relations, March 27, 2015, http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations-and-networks/al-qaeda-islamic-maghreb-aqim/p12717.
3 Zachary Laub and Jonathan Masters, "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)," Council on Foreign Relations, March 27, 2015, http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations-and-networks/al-qaeda-islamic-maghreb-aqim/p12717.
4 Djallil Lounnas and Yahia H. Zoubir, "L'Algérie face à l'arc des menaces: Quelle stratégie?" Stratégie et Sécurité (forthcoming16); Stefano Maria Torelli, "Jihadism and Counterterrorism Policy in Algeria: New Responses to New Challenges," Terrorism Monitor, Volume 11, Issue 19, October 7, 2013, https://jamestown.org/program/jihadism-and-counterterrorism-policy-in-algeria-new-responses-to-new-challenges/.
5 "In Amenas inquest: British victims of Algeria attack," BBC News, November 28, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29127935.
6 R.P., "Deux militaires et un civil tués--L'inquiétant faux barrage de Aïn Defla," El-Watan, November 16, 2016, http://www.elwatan.com/actualite/l-inquietant-faux-barrage-de-ain-defla-16-11-2016-332966_109.php.
7 A.F., "Me Merouane Azzi à propos du dossier Réconciliation Nationale: 'Le nombre de victimes du terrorisme décroît,'" Liberté (Algiers), March 4, 2013, http://www.liberte-algerie.com/actualite/le-nombre-de-victimes-du-terrorisme-decroit-120259 .
8 "Country Reports on Terrorism 2015," United States Department of State, June 2016, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/258249.pdf.
9 El-Djeich, No. 641, December 2016, p. 20, available at: http://www.mdn.dz/site_principal/sommaire/revue/images/EldjeichDec2016Fr.pdf.
10 "Bilan opérationnel 2017-Résultats probants dans le combat antiterroriste," El-Djeich N° 654 (Janvier 2018), p. 22.
11 Mohamed Ben-Ahmed, "Details of the surrender of terrorists in northern Mali and Libya," Elkhabar (Algiers), 20 January 2018, http://www.elkhabar.com/press/article/132201/تفاصيل-استسلام-إرهابيين-في-شمال-مالي-وليبيا/.
12 Mohamed Mokeddem. Al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique-Contrebande au nom de l'islam (Algiers: Casbah Editions, 2010), esp. 37-68.
13 Brisard, "Terrorism Financing in North Africa"; "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Africa-to-Europe Narco-Trafficking Connection," Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor 8, iss. 43, November 24, 2010, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=37207.
and its implications for EU Programming," CT Morse Counterterrorism Monitorism, Reporting and Support Mechanism, 2 April 2017, https://icct.nl/publication/examining-the-nexus-between-organised-crime-and-terrorism-and-its-implications-for-eu-programming/.
16 "Al-Qaida Is Trying to Recruit Algerians to Strengthen Its Strongholds After ISIS Collapse," Echoroukonline, 19 January 2018, https://www.echoroukonline.com/ara/articles/546432.html.
17 Author interviews with Algerian officials. Furthermore, the communiqués of the Algerian Ministry of Defense reveal that the type of weapons the security forces have seized do not include heavy weaponry. Algerian TV and the Military magazine, Eldjeich, frequently publish pictures of the weapons the security forces uncover or capture during their unrelenting operations.
19 Yahia H. Zoubir, "Islamist Political Parties in Contemporary Algeria," in Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi', ed., The Contemporary Arab Reader on Political Islam (London: Pluto Press/University of Alberta Press, 2010).
20 Ahmed Aghrout and Yahia H. Zoubir, "Algeria: Reforms without change?" In, Yahia H. Zoubir and Gregory White, North African Politics: Change and Continuity (London & New York: Routledge, 2016), pp. 145-155.
21 For a detailed analysis, see Yahia H. Zoubir and Louisa Dris-Aït-Hamadouche, "L'islamisme en Algérie: institutionnalisation du politique et déclin du militaire," Maghreb-Machrek no. 188 (Summer 2006), 63-86.
22 Louisa Aït-Hamadouche and Yahia H. Zoubir, "The Fate of Political Islam in Algeria," in Bruce Maddy-Weitzman and Daniel Zisenwine, eds., The Maghrib in the New Century-Identity, Religion, and Politics (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2007), 103-131.
23 Saïd Boucetta, "Après L'abdication des Tunisiens, l'effacement des Marocains et la dérive des Turcsles islamistes algériens dans la galère," L'Expression (Algiers), November 5, 2016, http://www.lexpressiondz.com/actualite/253382-les-islamistes-algeriens-dans-la-galere.html.
24 The results of the 2012 local elections are available in "Elections locales : le ministère algérien de l'Intérieur rend public les résultats de chaque parti," SIWEL, December 1, 2012, http://www.siwel.info/Elections-locales-le-ministere-algerien-de-l-Interieur-rend-public-les-resultats-de-chaque-parti_a4325.html.
25 Yahia H. Zoubir and Ahmed Aghrout, "Algeria's Path to Political Reforms: Authentic Change?" Middle East Policy, 19, No. 2, (2012): 66-83.
26 Ahmed Aghrout and Yahia H. Zoubir, "Algeria: Reforms without change?" North African Politics: Change and Continuity, New York, 2016, 145-155.
27 Rachid Tlemçani, "Les islamistes échappent aujourd'hui à tout contrôle institutionnel ou partisan," El Watan (Algiers), April, 23, 2009 , http://www.elwatan.com/Les-islamistes-echappent-aujourd.
28 For an analysis of the decline of the Islamists in elections, see, M. Kebci, "Ils ne cessent de perdre du terrain : L'irrésistible déclin des islamistes," Le Soir d'Algérie, 8 January 2018. http://lesoirdalgerie.com/articles/2018/01/08/article.php?sid=240&cid=2.
29 See, Louisa Dris-Aït-Hamadouche, "Régime et islamistes en Algérie: un échange politique asymétrique?" Maghreb-Machrek (Paris) no. 200 (Summer 2009), 43.
30 Graham Fuller, Algeria: The Next Fundamentalist State? (Santa Barbara: RAND, 1996).
31 Yahia H. Zoubir and Louisa Aït-Hamadouche, "Penal Reform in Algeria," in Chris Ferguson and Jeffrey O. Isima, eds., Providing Security for People: Enhancing Security through Police, Justice and Intelligence Reform in Africa (London: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform, 2004), 75-84.
32 Abbas Aït-Hamlat, "Terrorisme au Maghreb-Al-Qaîda menace et l'UE resserre l'étau, " L'Expression (Algiers), September 24, 2008, http://www.lexpressiondz.com/article/2/2008-09-24/56544.html.
33 See "Lutte contre le financement du terrorisme et le blanchiment d'argent. La fin du secret bancaire pour l'argent suspect," Le Quotidien d'Oran, January 8, 2003; See also Algeria's National Report, "Mise en œuvre de la Résolution 1373 (2001) Adoptée par le Conseil de Sécurité des Nations-Unies le 28 septembre 2001," which describes at length the actions taken by the Algerian government to implement UN Resolution 1373 on terrorism. See also Yazid F. "Algérie: Le Gouvernement durcit la législation sur les changes, " Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances, Cellule nationale du traitement des informations financières, September 13, 2010, http://www.centif.ci/news.php?id_news=67.
34 "Country Reports on Terrorism 2015," United States Department of State, June 2016, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/258249.pdf.
35 Souhil B. "Bilan de la réconciliation nationale-7500 terroristes ont bénéficié des dispositions de la charte, " El Watan (Algiers), October 4, 2010, http://www.elwatan.com/actualite/7500-terroristes-ont-beneficie-des-dispositions-de-la-charte-04-10-2010-93047_109.php.
36 United States Department of State, Country Reports on Terrorism, 2016, https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2016/272232.htm#ALGERIA.
37 Yahia H. Zoubir, "The United States and Maghreb-Sahel Security," International Affairs 85, no. 5 (Fall 2009), 977-995.
38 Yahia H. Zoubir, "The Sahara-Sahel Quagmire: Regional and International Ramifications," Mediterranean Politics, 17:3 (November 2012), 452-458.
39 See, "Accord pour la paix et la réconciliation au Mali issu du processus d'Alger," http://photos.state.gov/libraries/mali/328671/peace-accord-translations/1-accord-paix-et-reconciliation-francais.pdf. See also, Benjamin Roger, "Accord d'Alger pour la paix au Mali : le plus dur reste à faire,"Jeune Afrique, 1 July 2015, http://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/241413/politique/accord-dalger-pour-la-paix-mali-le-plus-dur-reste-a-faire/.
44 Interviews with Algerian security and diplomatic officials.
45 See, Yahia H. Zoubir, "The Algerian-Moroccan Rivalry: Constructing the Imaginary Enemy," in William Thompson and Imad Mansour, Eds. Shocks and Rivalry in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington, DC. Georgetown University Press, forthcoming. See also, Yahia H. Zoubir, Yahia H. Zoubir, "Algerian-Moroccan Relations and Their Impact on Maghrebi Integration," Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, Fall 2000 (2001), pp. 43-74. Although this latter article is old, the core arguments have remained virtually intact.
46 Author's interview with high-level officials in Algeria and abroad in 2016 and 2017.


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text:
IAS Exam
GS Writing Challenge: 22nd July, 2017
Updated : Jul 22, 2017, 11:00
By : Atul Roy
GS1: How do you explain the statistics that show that the sex ratio in Tribes in India is more favourable to women than the sex ratio among Scheduled Castes ?
GS2: Discuss the impediments India is facing in its pursuit of a permanent seat in UN Security Council.
GS3: To what factors can the recent dramatic fall in equipment costs and tariff of solar energy be attributed? What implications does the trend have for the thermal power producers and the related industry?
GS4: There is a disaster-prone State having frequent landslides, forest fires, cloudbursts, flash floods and earthquakes, etc. Some of these are seasonal and often unpredictable. The magnitude of the disaster is always unanticipated. During one of the seasons, a cloudburst caused devastating floods and landslides leading to high casualties. There was major damage to infrastructure like roads, bridges and power generating units. This led to more than 100000 pilgrims, tourists and other locals trapped across different routes and locations. The people trapped in your area of responsibility included senior citizens, patients in hospitals, women and children, hikers, tourists, ruling party's regional president along with his family, additional chief secretary of the neighbouring State and prisoners in jail.
As a civil services officer of the State, what would be the order in which you would
rescue these people and why? Give justifications.
UPSC & State ServicesGeneral
Jul 22UPSC & State Services
Atul RoyCommunity Head, UPSC

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tufts removes portraits of past university presidents because they're too white
Ben Zeisloft, Campus Reform March 26, 2021
[Ed. – How white is too white?]
Part of Tufts University's multimillion-dollar antiracism plan involves replacing eleven portraits of the school's former presidents with exhibitions about underrepresented communities.
According to a letter from Tufts University President Tony Monaco, the school will spend $25 million to "advance equity, inclusion, healing, and justice" in its community and alumni networks. Various student and faculty contributors crafted five final reports that detail recommendations to address institutional racism at the university.
The Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution initiative was announced by Monaco in the summer of 2020. The initiative pledged to "find and eradicate any structural racism at Tufts and to take the steps necessary to become what every member of our community would view as an antiracist institution."
Among the five reports is a thirty-page document about the role of public art exhibitions in promoting diversity.
Open thread (3/26/21)
Oakland, Calif. to send out $500 checks to poor families, provided they are not white


Your taste buds will be delighted with the various choices for a superb Las Vegas Asian restaurant that range from family-friendly to trendy and with cuisine that boasts flavor from around many Asian countries. Diners looking for something unique that mixes Mexican along with Korean specialty dishes should try Soho Sushi Burrito and the mixture of flavors will surprise you at KoMex Fusion. Family-style casual dining can be found at the Island Style Restaurant where you will find Hawaiian, Chinese as well as Korean cuisine and the Biwon Korean BBQ and Sushi Restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat option. The Q Bistro is inexpensive with a lively atmosphere and District One brings Vietnamese fusion food to the table. For upscale trendy chic try the Gangnam Asian BBQ Dining and TAO Asian Bistro mixes aesthetics with superb dishes, while Andrea's offers a social scene second to none with innovative fusion cuisine.
When you are looking for an upscale Las Vegas Asian restaurant that combines chic with great tasting cuisine that is inspired from many Asian countries then you need try Andrea's. Located within the Wynn Encore, the restaurant brings an eclectic atmosphere with a sleek interior overlooking the Encore Beach Club which is perfect for socializing and enjoying a tantalizing dinner. The establishment packs the flavor from numerous Asian countries into fusion cuisine that is unique and will leave your taste buds smiling. Specialty items that have been consistent crowd pleasers include the miso black cod, steamed sea bass, a black truffle fried rice and the wagyu beef sliders melt in your mouth. Vegetarians will find a nice menu with tofu bowls featuring impossible hamburger which actually bleeds. There is also fresh sushi available with the Hamachi sashimi and the lobster roll being favorites.
If you are interested in finding a Las Vegas Asian restaurant that combines the flavors of Vietnam with many different countries then you should try District One. Located along South Jones Boulevard, this trendy establishment has a modern hip interior and draws a younger crowd for both lunch as well as dinner. The flavors found in the food are distinct and if you are a pho addict then the big bone soup as well as the oxtail pho are must eat items. But there is more here to enjoy than pho like the garlic noodles, the steak and eggs with a delicate fish sauce, the double down (just think short ribs) and the coconut pork belly as well as a variety of vegetarian options. If you are looking for a late night happy hour with small plates and drink specials this restaurant would fit into your plans.
The TAO Asian Bistro is an ideal Las Vegas Asian restaurant for diners looking for a spiritual adventure while eating innovative cuisine that mixes the flavors of China, Japan and Thailand. Located at the Venetian within the Grand Canal Shoppes, the interior of this restaurant is tranquil with a 20-foot Buddha statue, koi ponds as well as Samurai swords on the wall and boasts a spiritual dining attitude for dinner. Once inside you can order from the sushi bar before continuing on your journey that will delight your taste buds. Outstanding dishes that highlight the flavors of the region include a Wasabi crusted filet mignon, the lobster pad Thai, a miso glazed Chilean sea bass and the crispy orange chicken are all great dishes. Diners looking to attend the TAO Nightclub after eating should take advantage of the 3-course package deal which includes entrance to the club.
The Gangnam Asian BBQ Dining is a perfect Las Vegas Asian restaurant for diners looking for authentic Korean BBQ with quality meats and consistent service. Located on Paradise Road, the establishment has a casual upbeat atmosphere with in-table grills and is open for lunch and dinner. The restaurant offers an a la carte menu which features combination packages which seem to be the favorites here. These packages include specialty items like oysters, fried calamari as well as dynamite shrimp for starters with traditional dishes such as bulgogi, pork belly and galbi are pleasers. The banchans served before and during the meal are nice with the kimchi being tasty. For dessert the banana tempura and lava cake will have your taste buds dancing. Happy hour is a good here with drink specials such as 50% off beer pitchers and specialty drinks.
If you are interested in finding a hip Las Vegas Asian restaurant that won't break the bank then you should eat at Q Bistro. Located along South Jones Boulevard, the restaurant has a modern Asian decor that is pleasing to the senses with K-pop playing in the background and is open for dinner. The menu concentrates on Korean cuisine with a new twist as well as traditional comfort food. All meals are served with complimentary banchan dishes and traditional dishes worth noting are galbi, bibimbap, the pork hock plate of pig's feet as well as the spicy rice cakes. Innovative items such as the bulgogi pizza, stir fried squid/pork belly and the spicy chicken cheese buldak bring flare to the menu. The real standout here is the fried chicken wings with a choice of several sauces which complement the crispy chicken with tang and zest.
If you are searching for an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) Las Vegas Asian restaurant that boasts a menu with Korean BBQ as well as sushi then the best place to eat is the Biwon Korean BBQ and Sushi Restaurant. Located on West Sahara Avenue, the restaurant has a simple Asian themed interior with in-table grills and is open for lunch as well as dinner with a late night special that is ideal for partiers. Once inside you have the option of a la carte menu or the 1.5-hour AYCE Korean BBQ, sushi that you can combine which gives you a choice of 214 items. The Korean BBQ includes complimentary banchan and items such as spicy short ribs, brisket, ribeye, pork belly and beef tongue. On the sushi side there are eight styles of rolls that range from traditional to shrimp tempura to sushi burritos to spicy or non-spicy.
When you want to eat the best mixture of Korean and Mexican flavors in mouthwatering dishes then a superb Las Vegas Asian restaurant for you to try is KoMex Fusion. Located on North Decatur Boulevard, this casual establishment has a simple decor and cooks everything to order for lunch as well as dinner. The concept is based on quick service that combines the flavors from South of the Border with Korean dishes that are innovative and tasty. Once here you will be surprised with specialties such as the bulgogi cheesesteak torta sandwich, bulgogi tater tots, kimchi fried rice and musubi with a spam or pork belly option. Fusion tacos are another standout at this restaurant and the fusion tostada has appeared on the Food Network. A bonus at this family-owned establishment is a 5% discount if you pay in cash.
When you want to eat something fast and innovative then an ideal Las Vegas Asian restaurant for you is the Soho Sushi Burrito. Located along West Sahara Avenue, this restaurant combines the best of Japanese and Mexican foods into an outstanding grab-n-go item. Fashioned after a Subway or Chipotle style restaurant this quick service place is open for lunch and dinner. There are eleven signature burritos on the menu which concentrates on fresh or cooked fish along with traditional sauces and wraps them up in a flour/wheat tortilla, soy paper or seaweed. You also have the option to customize your own burrito with the many flavors available and vegetarians have several choices including bowls. Standout burritos include 3 amigos, angry tuna as well as the twin dragon and the house made taro chips with cheddar cheese sauce are a must try.


Drawing on our 10+ years' experience in the TMT sector, iResearch's Investment Advisory serves institutional investors with a broad spectrum of services including fundamental research on both listed and unlisted target companies, commercial due diligence, market scan, and M&A target screening and support. For projects involving listed companies, we are also able to provide on-going tracking and custom company-specific equity research. Our research scope covers market competition landscape research, performance check on target companies, benchmarking analysis, competitiveness analysis of target companies and market growth potential research.


Born on Long Island, Andrew Chapin grew up reading Ray Bradbury, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain and dreaming of one day being a published author himself. While he worked on various fiction projects, he never considered nonfiction until he arrived at Fairfield University in the fall of 2005.
It was there that he developed a zest for news and feature writing and it was also there that he met John Tartaglio for the first time. In 2010, John offered Andrew the break he was looking for–a chance to develop a book about John's life, an idea that eventually spawned From Tragedy to Triumph.
Andrew completed his MSEd in adolescent English education at Iona College and teaches middle school English at Thornton-Donovan School in New Rochelle, NY. Recently, he married the love of his life and is currently seeking representation for his new adult novel KNOWING WHEN YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO GROW UP.
Thankful for the family and friends who have enabled him to pursue his passion, Andrew looks forward to the boundless possibilities that lie ahead.


text:
The Plan Orozquista was issued by Mexican revolutionary General Pascual Orozco on 25 March 1912.  It is sometimes called the Plan of the Empacadora, since it was signed in a cotton factory. In it, Orozco repudiated the government of Francisco I. Madero, which he charged had betrayed the Mexican Revolution.

Background

Orozco along with Pancho Villa had defeated the Federal Army in the Battle of Ciudad Juárez, which pushed Porfirio Díaz to resign as president and go into exile. Madero signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, which called for an interim government, new elections, and the retention of the Federal Army, which Orozco's forces had just defeated.  Revolutionary forces were demobilized.  Once Madero was elected President in October 1911, he did not move on land reform, which had been one of the promises in his 1910 Plan of San Luis Potosí.  Emiliano Zapata rebelled against Madero in November 1911, issuing the Plan of Ayala. By March 1912, Orozco himself rebelled against Madero.  His plan brought together armed forces in Chihuahua, which posed a significant challenge to Madero. Madero initially sent General José González Salas to put down the rebellion. Ehen he failed after a military disaster, González Salas committed suicide. Orozco issued his plan on the same day as the general's suicide.  Madero then sent General Victoriano Huerta to suppress the rebellion.  The plan is lengthy compared to Madero's Plan de San Luis Potosí, with over 35 separate articles. The plan was prefaced by a bitter denunciation of Madero, who had dismissed Orozco's contribution to the Revolution and sidelined him once he was elected president. Orozco's biographer Michael C. Meyer sees the Plan as "highly significant" for addressing socio-economic issues.  The is published in English translation.

The Plan
Article 1 is brief, stating "The initiator of the Revolution, Francisco I. Madero, falsified and violated the Plan of San Luis Potosi."  Articles 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 denounce Madero and his family for malfeasance and an alleged alliance between the U.S., Wall Street bankers, which "placed the destiny of the Fatherland [patria] in the hands of the American government…."  Historian Alan Knight considers the anti-Americanism in the Plan as "the stock-in-trade not only of Mexican polemicists (of different hues), but also of a good many Americans too," continuing "Orozquistas [did not] display strong or consistent hostility to American interests."
Article 9 sums up Orozco's position regarding Madero. "Because of the above-mentioned indiscretions and crimes, Francisco I. Madero and his accomplices are declared traitors to the Fatherland and outside the law."  Article 10 challenges the election of 1911, which he calls fraudulent. Article 10 says "the election for the presidency and vice presidency are considered null and void. As a consequence, Francisco I. Madero is not recognized as president nor José María Pino Suárez as vice president."

Article 12 repudiates any concessions and contracts of Madero, his family, and  his allies and calls for their confiscation.

Articles 13 and 14 promise that existing  civil authorities will remain in place, so long as they support the Revolution and withdraw support from Madero.

A series of articles deal with the structure of the political system.  Article 16 repudiates personalism and explicitly does not name a provisional or interim president, rather than Orozco as author of the plan naming himself in that role. Article 16 calls for the abolition of the office of vice president. Article 17 lays out the transition following the Orozquistas' presumed victory.

Article 32 calls for the complete nationalization of the railways. This was in process under the Díaz regime.

Article 33 calls for the replacement of personnel for Mexicans in private companies and equal pay for Mexicans and foreigners. This is reminiscent of the Liberal Party Program of 1906.

Article 34 seeks to "improve and raise the conditions of the working class", outlining in five sub-articles the abolition of company stores [tiendas de raya]; wages to be paid in cash not company scrip; limitation on number of hours worked; prohibition of labor for children under age 10 and limitation of hours to those age 10-16; increase in daily wages; demands for hygienic conditions in factories that "guarantee the health of the workers."

Article 35 deals with the agrarian problem, which "demands the most careful and violent solution," laying out seven principles for achieving that. 1. Recognition of property rights of those occupying land peacefully for 20 years; 2. Revalidation and improvement of land titles; 3. "Lands seized by despoilment will be returned"; 4. "Uncultivated and nationalized land throughout the Republic will be redistributed." 5. Expropriation of land from large landowners who do not keep land under cultivation, "The land thus expropriated will be partitioned to improve intensive agriculture." 6. The government will float an agricultural bond to pay for expropriated lands; 7. The establishment of a regulatory law for land reform.

The Plan ends with rhetorical flourishes urging Mexicans to join the defense of institutions and "withdraw recognition of the government of an ominous man [Madero] who is carrying the country to ruin and slavery. Your heroism and discipline in the last contest won you the admiration of the world: If the chivalrous spirit in your souls evokes scruples about having to shoot fellow Mexicans, we ask that you bear in mind that this is a true fight of emancipation.

Impact of the Plan
In Chihuahua Orozco was already a hero for his role in the Mexican Revolution. His repudiation of Madero's government in early March 1912 attracted men willing to follow his lead. The articulation of the plan laid out what he was fighting for, giving followers an understanding of what they were fighting for.  Orozco's issuing of a formal plan gave Orozco and his movement put Madero's government on notice about Orozco's specific personal and political grievances against Madero.  Orozco had hoped other northern states would rally to his plan, but only Chihuahua did, but some 5,000 men answered his call to arms and posed a huge challenge to the new and weak Madero government.  Orozco's rebellion was ultimately suppressed by General Victoriano Huerta and the Federal Army, but Madero's government and hold on power was undermined by this challenge from a revolutionary hero.

See also
Mexican Revolution
Plans in Mexican history

References

Further reading
 Christiansen, Paige W.. "Pascual Orozco: Chihuahua Rebel." New Mexico Historical Review 36, 2 (1961), 97-120.
Meyer, Michael C. Mexican Rebel: Pascual Orozco and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1915. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1967.

1912 in Mexico
Mexican Revolution
Plans in Mexico

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Israel Folau: Catalans…
Israel Folau: Catalans Dragons release dual-code Australia international
Catalans Dragons have agreed to release dual-code international Israel Folau from his contract, allowing him to resume his career in Australia.
The 32-year-old centre had announced his intention to join Queensland-based side Southport Tigers last month.
Queensland Rugby League refused to ratify the move because he was still contracted to his Super League club.
Folau signed an extension with Catalans for 2021 but the club has agreed to release him with immediate effect.
Catalans had initially been considering legal action, with the French side club's football manager Alex Chan saying last month he was "shocked" by news of Folau's bid to make a playing return in Australia.
But they have now decided to end his contract with immediate effect after Folau told Catalans of his intention to stay in Australia for "a personal family situation".
Folau, whose brothers play for Southport, joined the Dragons in 2020, making 15 appearances.
He previously played in the NRL for Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos from 2007-10, before switching to Aussie rules and then rugby union.
Folau was sacked Rugby Australia in 2019 for making homophobic comments and he returned to rugby league in 2020.
Tags: sports
US Open 2021: Play suspended because of...
Sarah Storey says her 17th Paralympic gold...
Manchester United 4-0 Everton: Troubling afternoon for...


All Peoria homes currently listed for sale in Peoria as of 04/18/2019 are shown below. You can change the search criteria at any time by pressing the 'Change Search' button below.
"Call to set appt for private interior showing*Stunning *Custom built 5,502 sq. ft home with immense upgrades that sits elevated on a Cul-de-sac lot w/ a 360 degree Mountain/Golf/Clubhouse views * Prestigious guard gated luxury community of Blackstone at Vistancia in Peoria, AZ & Award winning golf course*Blackstone Country Club*Backyard Paradise *stunning views *beautiful pool w/ rock slide* Travertine flooring/3 of the bedrooms have private baths/Travertine showers/Custom faux painted walls & "


text:
package ru.job4j.config;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.authentication.builders.AuthenticationManagerBuilder;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.builders.HttpSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.EnableWebSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter;
import org.springframework.security.crypto.password.NoOpPasswordEncoder;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.EnableTransactionManagement;

/**
 * Web Security Configuration.
 */
@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity
@EnableTransactionManagement
public class WebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
    /**
     * current user information.
     */
    @Autowired
    private MyUserDetailService myUserDetailService;

    /**
     * authorization by current user.
     * @param auth - Authentication Manager.
     * @throws Exception - exc.
     */
    @Autowired
    public void configureGlobal(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth) throws Exception {
        auth.userDetailsService(myUserDetailService);
    }

    /**
     * access configure.
     * @param http - HttpSecurity.
     * @throws Exception - exc.
     */
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http
                .authorizeRequests()
                .antMatchers("/admin").hasRole("ADMIN")
                .antMatchers("/").hasAnyRole("ADMIN", "USER")
                .and()
                .formLogin()
                .and()
                .httpBasic()
                .and()
                .csrf().disable();
    }

    /**
     * encoder.
     * @return - instance.
     */
    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
    @Bean
    public static NoOpPasswordEncoder passwordEncoder() {
        return (NoOpPasswordEncoder) NoOpPasswordEncoder.getInstance();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Julian Colbus on 4th June 2017
Cozmo, Anki's latest robot toy, is a smash hit. Since its US release in October 2016, it has amassed over a thousand reviews on its Amazon product page, averaging four-and-a half stars. But robotic toys have been around for years, so what's so special about Cozmo? Well – a lot. Throughout several interviews with composers Gordy Haab, Brian White and Brian Trifon as well as sound designer Ben Gabaldon, we learned about their approach to creating the audio for Cozmo. Today, we're going to introduce you to some of Cozmo's sound design secrets – if you'd rather learn about its soundtrack, stay tuned for our next Cozmo article!
So what exactly is Cozmo? At first glance, Cozmo is a toy for children (and grown-up children) that moves around exploring by itself and reacting to its environment. It can play some neat mini-games against its owner, which all revolve around the three "power cubes" it ships with. Its A.I. is stored on an external device, i.e. a phone or tablet, which is connected to it via WiFi. Cozmo expresses a wide range of emotions with its cute screen-face, its voice and a variety of different moves it can perform. During the experience, Cozmo plays noises from its built-in speaker while its music soundtrack plays on the mobile device in the background. When Cozmo gets tired, it automatically returns to its charger.
Is it a toy? Is it a game? No, it's Cozmo!
But what is Cozmo from a sound designer's standpoint? Yes, robotic toys have been around for years, but Cozmo not only comes with its own soundtrack and tons of additional sound effects but also a voice capable of expressing a wide variety of emotions. When first approaching the creation of Cozmo's voice, Ben Gabaldon told us, he tried to go about it like he would about a video game: "I did that with Cozmo, I walked in, I started a spreadsheet within the first two weeks, and I was like: 'Here's basically the assembly line that we're going to need, and I'll start creating the content and we'll stick in the animations and it'll just work.'" But very soon he realized: "Making a robot connect to you emotionally is definitely not just making sound effects."
"It seems like everybody else hears a robot, but I just hear me"
At that point, Anki had already been looking for a voice actor to provide the base material for Cozmo's voice for a while. Gabaldon surprisingly ended up filling that role after joining the project as a senior sound designer: "We needed to get a demo out there for investors, so I needed to get something. So I just got a little RØDE microphone and just started saying really weird stuff into it." Sounding distinctly robotic and at the same time organic and full of character was a big challenge, but at the end, Gabaldon achieved just that, manipulating his voice with one specific signal chain.
Anki's Sound Designer Ben Gabaldon enjoying a fine glass of water. (Photo Credit: Ashley Coull from designingsound.org)
The first problem with "just making sound effects", he learned, was that the individual situations Cozmo would react to were far too specific, which resulted in equally specific animations. Cozmo just wouldn't come to life with a repertoire limited to five "happies", five "sads" and five "excitings". So Gabaldon tried to set up a modular system that would function almost like a language, recording certain syllables and trying to reassemble words from them. But even this approach turned out not to be accurate enough to express Cozmo's emotions. As an example, Gabaldon named Cozmo's reaction to when it gets an upgrade: "So he needs to be curious with what's happening to him, he needs to be surprised that it happened to him, and he needs to be impressed. So what's been kind of cool is that it started off really generic and now it's specifically 'Cozmo loses this game round 2'. He has a specific animation for it." So Gabaldon started recording individual sounds for each animation. However, due to the complexity of the signal chain, it was extremely hard to tell which emotion a certain input would end up sounding like after being processed. Gabaldon had to do a short "study", recording 30 different syllables and listening to the respective results. Using his findings as a starting point, he started building up a library of Kontakt instruments containing all the different emotions: "So everything Cozmo ever says is something that's been recorded, edited and keymapped and saved as its own unique instrument for every possible mood or thing that he says. So if I need to call up something to fit a new animation, I've got 30 takes keymapped with pitch-control map on my controller."
Digital evolution
Like any software, Cozmo's app can and will be updated in the future. Since all the content, including the A.I., animations, and audio, is actually stored on the mobile device, Cozmo will be evolving constantly, learning new moves, games and words to express himself. For the 2016 Christmas update, Gabaldon said, "we introduced all kinds of new features. I have lots of new sounds, I've taken all of the stuff that I didn't like, I remixed it – and it's just an app update." This provides a huge advantage, giving Anki the possibility to gather data and react to how their clients actually make use of Cozmo. Gabaldon will try to further develop Cozmo's "language": "I want him to sound like he's really thinking in his own language and he has a lot of thought process going on behind the scenes. And continue to develop what sounds like a language to him and actually have some consistency behind it." The updates will also provide a possibility to refine Cozmo's emotional reactions. Although it already reacts differently to a wide variety of situations, its' emotions mostly don't carry over from one moment to the next – something Gabaldon is ready to tackle in the future: "If you drop him off the table and you pick him up, he can be in a bad mood. And I want him to reflect that more clearly – and not just, you know, be back to being happy and picking up his cubes."
"Hello, Dave."
As if all this work to create Cozmo's voice hadn't been enough, the creators at Anki decided it would be really cool if Cozmo could say its owner's name. They included a facial recognition software giving Cozmo the ability to store several people's faces and their names in its memory. However, so far all the processing of Gabaldon's voice happened before the files were actually loaded into Cozmo. To avoid pre-recording every name in existence, Cozmo's creators had to come up with an alternative method. The audio programmers implemented a basic text-to-speech function, and Gabaldon was tasked with re-creating his signal chain – but now in real-time, within Cozmo's software: "Anything you type into the app, if it's your name, if it's sentences, if it's whatever it is that gets typed into the app, it actually generates a WAV file that, if you heard the source material, is a deep man's voice [when read by the text-to-speech software]. I have to real-time process that through Wwise so that it kind of fits the register of Cozmo." So far, so good – but the more accurate this imitation of Cozmo's voice got, the less comprehensible the words became. Since Cozmo usually uttered robot-gibberish, its original voice wasn't up to the task of pronouncing actual human words. "So, yeah, I got it sounding pretty good where it really sounded like Cozmo's voice, but what happened is: We put it in a room, and it's supposed to be a really cool moment. Cozmo sees your face, he studies it, and he'll say the word that you typed in, but if people don't recognize their name, the whole moment is lost." Thus, the processing had to be done a little differently after all, but that is hardly noticeable.
Servos and screen sounds
Apart from its voice, vivid eyes and animations, Cozmo expresses itself with additional sounds accompanying its' actions, including even the tone of the servos: "If you have voice-over for every single thing he does, it totally gets old. So the other system I wanted to build is subtlety where he has, like I said, a whole suite of sounds for just his screen. And same with servos. So if he moves and he sees a block and he gets excited, he's going to vocalize, but when he begins moving toward that block, I wanted servo-sounds to support that he's in a good mood, he's happily moving towards it." To achieve that, Gabaldon had to work with and against Cozmo's "natural" sounds: "Cozmo is inherently kind of noisy, and that's always been a challenge. So when he moves, there are real servo sounds." Ultimately, what the user ends up hearing is a mixture of both Cozmo's servos and supporting servo sounds from its speaker.
When asked about the future of toys like Cozmo, Gabaldon said that A.I. would probably be a big part of toys. "And what we're trying to do at Anki is just to stay ahead of that curve and be the leader for the next version of each intelligent toy. Overdrive [Anki's latest product before Cozmo] kind of instigated a lot of other companies wanting to do A.I. cars, and it's just going to keep going."
Whether or not you agree, the signs for a huge public interest are there, given Cozmo's success within the first couple of months. With Augmented Reality applications simultaneously on the rise, the possibilities for future A.I.-driven toys seem almost limitless. And if other toy companies care about their sound design as much as Anki does, the future of toys may well be the future for many sound designers and composers as well.
Read also: Dirk Ehlert on the creative process behind his solo album Elements
Posted in:Features
Tagged in:Ben Gabaldon, Interviews, Sound Designer
Posted by	Julian Colbus
Freelance composer, producer and sound designer at Mediacracy Music.
Sebastian Pecznik on working with live musicians on film scores
Dirk Ehlert on the creative process behind his solo album Elements
Krakow FMF 2017: Interview with Brian Tyler
The Neverending Story Live in Concert at the Krakow Film Music Festival
New Release: Once Upon a Time in Venice by Jeff Cardoni
Soundtrack Review: Michael Giacchino – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)


text:
MSU students and professor publish research internationally
Morehead State Professor of Biology Dr. Janelle Hare and a group of student researchers published articles in two academic journals in 2020, exploring gene damage in a drug-resistant pathogen.
Students involved in the research were Jordan Carrington, a 2019 biomedical science graduate from Somerset; Megan Peterson, a 2020 graduate with a Master of Science in Biology from Wallingford; and 2020 Craft Academy graduate Kevin Johnson from Rush. Their research involves the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, and its response to hybrid proteins. Articles were published in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology and the Microbiology Society's journal, Microbiology.
The article in Microbiology, co-authored by Hare and Peterson, identified that two proteins, not just one, cooperated to control the response to DNA damage that bacteria can make. This helps them stay alive after exposure to certain chemicals or radiation.
The article in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology was first-authored by MSU post-doctoral research associate, Dr. Deb Cook, who worked with Hare in mentoring Carrington and Johnson. It tested whether the two proteins that cooperate to control the DNA damage response (UmuDAb and DdrR) directly touch each other to achieve this control. Hare and her team did not find evidence that they did so but found that each of the two proteins can bind to themselves in groups of two. This is common in proteins that bind to DNA to control its use.
The work Hare, Cook, and their students did sheds light on how the DNA damage response system in bacteria can result in bacteria gaining resistance to antibiotics. Not only does the research have important medical ramifications, but it also helps students gain valuable skills.
"It teaches the students the importance of the scientific method and quality control," Hare said. "It also gives them a real-world view of how the information they learn in the classroom each day is gained—through experimentation."
Hare added she and her students are proud of their contributions to the scientific community.
"We feel proud of our work, because not all manuscripts are accepted for publication. It is a lot of work and it can be hard to move through the peer-review process. But sharing our work with the larger scientific community is the final goal of any research project, so it feels good to have completed that step," she said. "I also hope that their experience boosts their confidence on a personal and future professional level, to know that what they do is important and relevant."
Morehead State offers numerous research opportunities for students in every major. Our Undergraduate Research Fellowship program allows students to participate in academic research with a faculty member as early as their freshman year. Students in the program will have the opportunity to present their research at regional, national and international conferences and publish it in academic journals.
To learn more about research opportunities at MSU, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/undergraduateresearch.
For information about programs in MSU's Department of Biology and Chemistry, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/biochem, email bioc@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2945.


text:
Mary Sherman
MARY SHERMAN is an artist and the director of the artists-run TransCultural Exchange, which she founded in Chicago in 1989. She also teaches at Boston College and Northeastern University and, in 2010, served as the interim Associate Director of MIT's Program in Art, Culture and Technology. Additionally, for two decades, while pursuing her career as an artist, she worked as an art critic for such publications as The Chicago Sun-Times, The Boston Globe and ARTnews. She has received numerous grants and awards, including three Fulbright Senior Specialist Grants and been an artist-in-residence at such institutions as MIT and the Taipei Artist Village. Her own works, which push the definition of painting into the realm of space and sound, have been shown at numerous institutions, including Montreal's International Digital Art Biennial (BIAN), Taipei's Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing's Central Conservatory, Shangha's Zendai MoMA, Trondheim's Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Science and Technology, Seoul's Kwanghoon Gallery, Nantes APO-33 and New York's Trans Hudson Gallery.
www.marysherman.org
Mitgewirkt bei: NORM IST F!KTION #4/3: Neujahrsempfang


text:
Jerup ist ein Dorf mit  Einwohnern (Stand  ) etwa 12 Kilometer nordwestlich von Frederikshavn in Dänemark. Es liegt direkt am Kattegat und ist umgeben von einer Heidelandschaft. Jerup ist Teil der Kommune Frederikshavn in der Region Nordjylland.

Das Dorf entwickelte sich durch den Bau der Bahnstrecke Frederikshavn–Skagen und des benachbarten Staatsgefängnisses.

Sehenswert ist die Kirche von Jerup.

Einzelnachweise

Weblinks
 Webpräsenz der Gemeinde (dänisch)

Geographie (Frederikshavn Kommune)