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Articles by Adam Block
Computer Science > Machine Learning
arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.
Computer Science > Machine Learning
arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.
The Blogs: Israel Must Prepare for the “Tucker Administration”
The global diplomatic landscape for Israel has undergone a seismic shift since October 7. The evidence is stark: mass protests in European capitals, Latin American nations severing ties, and international arrest warrants issued for the Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Furthermore, a growing list of Western nations, including Australia, Canada, Spain, Norway, France, Ireland, and the U.K., have abandoned longstanding policy to recognize a Palestinian state.
A Significant Win for ISEA Members:Right-to-Repair Provisions Excluded from FY2026 NDAA
Earlier this week, Congress released the final legislative text for the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Throughout the year, ISEA has closely monitored the bill’s development, as the NDAA has increasingly become a vehicle for federal Right-to-Repair (RtR) proposals. National RtR advocates have continued to push for expanded repair authority for the Department of Defense, framing it as essential to military readiness.
ISEA Calls for Clarity in OSHA’s “Inherently Risky Work” Proposal
Last month, the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) submitted formal comments to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on a proposed rule that could reshape how workplace safety rules apply to “inherently risky” jobs. OSHA’s proposal, Interpretation of the General Duty Clause: Limitation for Inherently Risky Professional Activities, is meant to clarify when employers must protect workers whose jobs involve unavoidable hazards—like stunt performers or athletes.
ISEA Urges OSHA to Keep Safety Color Code Standard
The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) has submitted formal comments to OSHA’s proposed rulemaking published on July 1, 2025, opposing the agency’s plan to rescind the Safety Color Code for Marking Physical Hazards (29 CFR 1910.144) rule. ISEA believes that removing this standard — and related references in industry-specific rules for textiles, sawmills, and shipyards — would compromise worker safety.
Counterfactual learning to rank for utility-maximizing query autocompletion
Conventional methods for query autocompletion aim to predict which completed query a user will select from a list. A shortcoming of this approach is that users often do not know which query will provide the best retrieval performance on the current information retrieval system, meaning that any query autocompletion methods trained to mimic user behavior can lead to suboptimal query suggestions.
Characteristics of Recurrent Visions of the Nonphysical World Among Cognitively Unimpaired Elders of an Ojibwe Tribal Nation
Key Points Question What are the characteristics of Ojibwe culture and spirituality in the context of a standard behavioral neurology evaluation? Findings In this cross-sectional study partnering with an Ojibwe Tribal Nation in Minnesota, 33 cognitively healthy tribal Elders aged 55 years or older were recruited.
Picturing the Heavens
Life on Earth is filled with beautiful things. In Tucson, for example, we enjoy everything from resplendent hummingbirds, to majestic mountains. Nature is much more accessible here compared to many places in the world. However, here is but the tiniest fraction of the Universe. In Southern Arizona, we are blessed with frequent clear skies that allow us to see the stars and other things that lie beyond our blue horizons.
Procedural music generation with Quartz
Video game audio on the downtime screen Hello! I’m Adam Block, a technical sound designer at Epic Games. I’m writing this tech blog to share some ideas and demonstrate a recent implementation my team and I put together in Fortnite using an Unreal Engine subsystem called Quartz. I hope that after reading this you’ll have a better understanding of what Quartz is and how it works, and that you’re inspired to incorporate Quartz into your own projects.
The Sky This Week from March 25 to April 1
Our waning satellite pauses close to several planets and provides dark nights for observing from March 25 to April 1. Friday, March 25 With the Moon a waning crescent, the evening hours are once again yours for deep-sky observing. Let’s start with something easy, coupled with something hard: dwarf planet 1 Ceres and the dark nebula Barnard 19.
3 Stocks To Watch In The Coming Week: Salesforce, Costco Wholesale, Zoom Video
US equity markets are likely to remain during the coming week as investor focus remains squarely on the Russia-Ukraine war which escalated during the weekend, dimming hopes of a negotiated settlement. Still, the posted a weekly gain after some wild swings early last week. Stocks fell sharply on news of the Russian invasion, but later bounced back. The SPX extended that rebound into Friday, rising more than 2% on the final day of trade for the week.
Goodbye, RBG. Goodbye, ACA? The election can determine that | Opinion
Adam E. Block and Whitney Wu-Chu The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sent shockwaves through the legal world and the political world due to the upcoming presidential and congressional elections. Republicans are expected to confirm Amy Coney Barrett as quickly as the Senate rules allow. The new Republican justice will certainly be seated in time to hear California v. Texas, the latest case to challenge the Affordable Care Act.
Goodbye, RBG. Goodbye, ACA? The election can determine that | Opinion
Adam E. Block and Whitney Wu-Chu The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sent shockwaves through the legal world and the political world due to the upcoming presidential and congressional elections. Republicans are expected to confirm Amy Coney Barrett as quickly as the Senate rules allow. The new Republican justice will certainly be seated in time to hear California v. Texas, the latest case to challenge the Affordable Care Act.
COVID-19: As we emerge into a 'new normal,' balance your risks | Opinion
Adam Block and George W. Contreras When lockdown began in March 2020, we believed it was temporary and that, at a point, life would go back to normal. In some areas, such as western Europe and the northeastern United States, the peak of COVID-19 has passed, but there is no treatment, there is no vaccine and the virus lurks around every corner.
COVID-19: As we emerge into a 'new normal,' balance your risks | Opinion
Adam Block and George W. Contreras When lockdown began in March 2020, we believed it was temporary and that, at a point, life would go back to normal. In some areas, such as western Europe and the northeastern United States, the peak of COVID-19 has passed, but there is no treatment, there is no vaccine and the virus lurks around every corner.
Long Island Begins The Reopening Process
After weeks of confusion over guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran took to a podium on Wednesday, May 27 to give out the news that thousands of Long Islanders have been waiting to hear. “Today marks the day that we can finally move forward in getting our people back to work,” Curran said.
A Letter To The Editor Written By Adam Block
After five Meet the Candidates nights I learned one thing: while three of candidates state they are “for change” I am the only one to stand up publicly and state what everyone knows; after 12 weeks of school closure the current online teaching program is inadequate. The 5,300 kids in Port deserve to see their teachers every day, not twice a week. The other candidates say they support “change” but when pressed by moderators all deny anything needs changing.
With COVID-19, Civil Discontent Must Not Lead to Civil Disobedience
People all over the United States are voicing their anger over some of the public health policies that states and local governments are enacting to slow the spread of COVID-19. They are protesting and calling for public demonstrations of civil disobedience. American 19th-century philosopher Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience is one of the great pieces of American political literature.
Weighing the economics, public health benefits of sheltering in place
Imagine trying to hold your breath. Some of us can hold it only for a few moments, others for a bit longer. Now imagine trying to hold your breath as someone starts taking the air out of your lungs. The impulse to breathe becomes much stronger. This is what is happening all over the country as we feel the effects of "sheltering in place." We sit at home watching the stock market fall and companies lay off employees or put them on furlough.
Too Little or Too Late: US Senate Response to Public Health Crises
In a few short weeks, COVID-19 has changed the way we live, travel, work, and interact with each other human beings both in the United States and around the world. But it was only on March 3, when the crisis was well underway with six deaths and 100 confirmed cases in the U.S., that the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) held hearings with experts to understand better the crisis and how to prepare legislative solutions.
r/spaceporn - M101 [4008 x 2560]
SpacePorn is a subreddit devoted to high-quality images of space. As long as the focus of the image is of the stars or related to space in some way then it is allowed. This includes artwork as well as photography.
High Administrative Costs and Low Enrollment Led To the Demise of Startup Insurer Crystal Run
Introduction Identifying the reasons for poor financial performance of health plans is important for startups and health plans expanding their markets and for state and federal regulators who aim to promote competitive markets, for health insurance. This is especially important during a time when 112 members of the House of Representatives have cosponsored HR 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019, which would eliminate health insurers from all U.S. markets.
How to observe galaxies
4) Keep at it. When viewing galaxies, experience at the eyepiece is never more important; what looked to me like an amorphous blob when I first began observing now reveals a wealth of faint details. Here’s something good to know when you’re starting out: When observing galaxies, especially in rich areas such as Coma Berenices and Virgo, check the field of view carefully. Your telescope may reveal galaxies not on your star map. Galaxies emit light from a combination of different types of objects.
How to observe galaxies
Unlike some deep-sky objects, galaxies can be challenging to see. Their light is spread out, and often their details are faint. Nonetheless, beginning sky observers might wonder how objects composed of up to a trillion or more individual suns could be so difficult to see. Of course, the answer is distance. Galaxies are so far away that, except for a few, they appear small and faint. Advanced observers regard observing faint galaxies as a challenge.
WIRED Space Photo of the Day for January 2014
For caption information and links to high-resolution images, please use the full-screen version of this gallery. For more mind-blowing space photos, see the entire WIRED Space Photo of the Day collection.
WIRED Space Photo of the Day for February 2014
For caption information and links to high-resolution images, please use the full-screen version of this gallery. For more mind-blowing space photos, see the entire WIRED Space Photo of the Day collection.
This Week’s Night Sky: Watch Mars Reverse Its Tracks
Lunar Seas. As darkness falls on Wednesday, April 13, look for the moon hanging high in the southwestern sky as it reaches its first quarter phase, with half of its disk visible to us on Earth. With nothing more than your unaided eyes, you should be able to see six dark patches on the lunar surface. These are known as mare, or seas, but they are actually ancient lava plains.
VLA image shows a wave of star birth.
I once saw a caterpillar that looked just like the picture above. And despite the somewhat staggering difference in scale, they have something else in common besides shape: They’re both decent metaphors for life cycles. What you’re seeing in that remarkable shot is the galaxy M82, the host of the recent supernova SN 2014J. This picture was taken before that star blew up, though. M82 is a starburst galaxy, undergoing a huge wave of star birth.
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