eSports research earns WSU grad student an
industry award
By Kara McMurray, WSU College of Education
4/23/2018
PULLMAN,
Wash. – If a couple of fellow students had not been goofing on in a class that
Hank Evans was taking as a prerequisite in his master’s program at Washington
State University, he may not have become interested in his latest research
topic.
Calling it
a “passion project,” Evans described that he and his advisor, Yong Chae Rhee,
became interested in studying eSports when he saw some students spending their
time during class secretly watching eSports on a laptop.
“I became
curious about why people watch and play eSports,” Evans said. “I didn’t
understand it.”
That
curiosity led to research, and that research has now led to the award for the
best student research paper at the Sport Entertainment Venues of Tomorrow
(SEVT) conference, an award normally reserved for doctorate-level students.
Evans is studying for his masters in sport management and is set to graduate in
May.
Momentum
plus passion
“I think I
got lucky,” Evans said of the award. “The area I was researching is a really
hot topic right now, so I think it had momentum behind it. Also, it’s a passion
project, and when you can take that into it, the quality of the work is a
little higher.”
When Evans
decided to submit his paper to the conference, he didn’t set his hopes high,
but at least aimed to be able to present.
“I
thought, ‘if I can even do a presentation, it would be a big deal.’ To be a
finalist and to be able to present, that took me off guard,” he said. “The
research got a lot more serious then. It was the first time anyone in our
department had gone for an award like that.”
What
motivates eSports enthusiasts
The
research largely centered around why people watch and play eSports, and focus
groups were convened to learn what motivates people to watch or not to watch
eSports.
“eSports
is a growing field. Traditionalists don’t look at it much, but the younger
crowd is interested it,” Evans said. “Kids don’t play baseball outside anymore.”
Evans said
he has come to learn that eSports is “a lot like a traditional sport,” except
that it is available all day, every day. He has also learned that there are a
lot of parallels between eSports and traditional sports.
Promising
future
“I didn’t
have high hopes for it when I came in, but I’d really like to continue doing
the research,” he said. “I think getting in now would be like buying into early
Apple.”
Predicting
that eSports will be a future Olympic sport, Evans said the research he and
Rhee have conducted is the front running research in the field right now. He
said he excited to see where the research goes, as well as where the sport
goes.
“I don’t
think it will ever totally replace sports, but I’m calling it now. In 2024,
we’re definitely going to see it in the Olympics for sure. I think by 2022, but
I think 2024 is the safer bet.”
Evans said
he is working on writing the research into an article that he hopes becomes
widespread.
“It’s
going places,” he said. “This is going to be my ‘hello world’ moment.”
:::::::::::::::
Refrigerating
honey bees to fight mites, colony collapse
By Scott
Weybright, WSU College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences
4/23/2018
PULLMAN,
Wash. – Saving honey bees is easier when varroa mite infestation is reduced.
WSU researchers are hoping mid-season hibernation can help in the fight against
the mighty mites.
Varroa
mites are pests that weaken bees’ immune systems, transmit viruses and siphon
off nutrients. They’re a huge factor in colony collapse around the country.
“Most
treatments only kill varroa on adult bees, and are generally only effective for
three days,” said Brandon Hopkins, assistant professor of entomology and
manager of the WSU bee program. “But a lot of mites live in the brood, which
are under a wax cap that treatments can’t touch. Those bees hatch out and are
already afflicted.”
Currently,
treating for mites requires three treatments over a 21-day period to make sure
you treat all the new bees that come out infested with mites.
These
treatments are difficult and expensive because beekeepers must treat all their
colonies on a specific schedule. It’s very labor intensive to treat thousands
of colonies by hand three times at precise timing cycles, Hopkins said.
Cold
storage
Bees don’t
truly hibernate, but they do change their behavior in winter. Queens stop
laying eggs, so no new ‘brood’ is created at that time.
Last
August, WSU researchers put 200 honey bee colonies into refrigerated storage.
This is a time when bees are still active, but have finished making honey for
the season, and there are no crops that require pollination. It’s also when
beekeepers normally do a round of mite treatments.
By placing
colonies in refrigerators, the queen stops laying new eggs, which stops the
production of brood. When the bees come out of refrigeration, there is no
‘capped brood’.
At that
point, Hopkins and his team apply a varroa treatment on the adult bees.
The
initial results were overwhelmingly positive. Researchers found an average of
five mites per 100 bees on the control colonies (not refrigerated) one month
after the normal three-cycle mite treatment.
The
refrigerated colonies had an average of 0.2 mites per 100 bees one month after
the single mite treatment.
“That’s a
significant decrease,” Hopkins said. “Refrigeration is expensive, so we need to
do more work to prove the cost is worth it for beekeepers, but we’re really
excited so far.”
Additionally,
the infestation levels varied tremendously from colony to colony in the control
samples. That’s because of the difficulty in treating colonies consistently
over three cycles. The colonies that had the refrigeration treatment had
consistent mite numbers with little variation.
After
hearing about this research, a few beekeepers approached the WSU scientists
about doing a similar round of refrigeration in the early spring. Most
commercial beekeepers in the U.S. take their colonies to California for almond
pollination in February and March. But there’s a time gap between the end of
the almond pollination season and the start of pollination season in the northwest.
“Beekeepers
generally have two periods of time for mite treatments, before the bees make
honey and after,” Hopkins said.
Once bees
have mites, the infestation increases during the pollination and honey
production months.
“But if
they can start with low mite numbers, the bees are healthier during the honey
production period,” Hopkins said. “A lot of varroa damage comes while the bees
are making honey.”
Calculated
risk with 100 colonies
This
spring, Belliston Bros., a commercial Idaho beekeeper, donated 100 honey bee
colonies to do a refrigeration study just like the one done in August last
year.
“It’s a
big risk for them,” Hopkins said. “But if it works, beekeepers would have
significantly better varroa control while using fewer chemicals. And they’ll
have better colony survival during the following pollinating season. It’s a win
all-around.”
Nobody
really knows how bees will react to being put back into their winter mode in
what is normally the middle of their active season, he said. But that’s what
science is all about. And if this works, it could be a major and
environmentally sound victory in the great varroa mite battle that beekeepers
have been waging for decades.
“We’re
hopeful,” Hopkins said. “We won’t have results back for several months, but
we’re excited we may have a way to help beekeepers keep their colonies strong
and stable.”
::::::::::::
CUB open
24 hours during dead and finals weeks
April 23,
2018 from WSU Insider
The CUB is
open 24 hours a day now until May 4 during dead and finals weeks and will host
multiple de-stress events for students.
More info
here:
::::::::::::::::::::::
FOOTBALL: Nnamdi
Oguayo responds to challenge from Washington State’s defensive coaches
Sat.,
April 21, 2018, 10:53 p.m.
By Whitney
Ogden
S-R of
Spokane
Washington
State coaches tried a new strategy for pushing Nnamdi Oguayo to new heights –
they demoted him.
Earlier in
the spring, Oguayo was shoved down to third-team defensive line, a move that
took him and the rest of the team by surprise.
“When I
saw my name third, something’s got to be off,” he said. “… I’m not going to lie
to you, I felt disrespected at first because I thought I contributed a lot to
the team.”
Oguayo has
been one of WSU’s more productive defensive linemen throughout the last two
seasons. In 2017, Oguayo started on the defensive line in six games and
appeared in 11. He made 34 tackles, including four sacks.
In his
first active season in 2016, Oguayo recorded 39 tackles, including four sacks,
and led the team with nine special-teams tackles. He had one of his best
performances against Arizona, finishing with a season-high five tackles and three
sacks.
Defensive
coordinator Tracy Claeys said on Saturday that the decision to demote Oguayo
wasn’t a tool for motivation.
“It wasn’t
planned,” Claeys said. “It’s more of a position chart it’s not really a depth
chart, so we repped three groups a long time. But as you rep three groups, the
ones who get better obviously get more. It’s whoever is productive and he
definitely has improved his production quite a bit.”
But on
Thursday, defensive line coach Jeff Phelps admitted there was some thought put
into the demotion. Phelps said he wanted to see how Oguayo would react to being
shoved to the third line on the depth chart and if it would provide any kind of
push through the spring.
“He’s at
the top of his game and we’d like for him to understand that being at the top
of your game doesn’t mean that you can slow down. You have to find a new
ceiling. You have got to keep climbing,” Phelps said. “I knew he was hungry to
get to that slot, I know he’s a competitor, I know he can handle it. And we
wanted to see how he would respond and he responded very well.”
In
Saturday’s Crimson and Gray scrimmage game, Oguayo was back on the first-team
defense, helping Crimson’s pass rush to three tackles and a “tap sack.” He said
his rise back up in the depth chart has served as motivation to keep pushing
himself heading into the upcoming season.
“I
appreciate what I have a little bit more,” he said. “My job could be gone any
day.”
:::::::::::::::::::
First ever
CougsFirst! show in Spokane a hit
By Kevin
Dudley Apr 22, 2018, 12:30pm PDT
Share Coug
Center
CougsFirst!,
the nonprofit business networking organization founded by WSU alumni, held its
first ever Spokane trade show last Thursday, and it was a big success.
I’d never
been to the Seattle shows, but I heard good things about them. It only made
sense that the organization held an event in Spokane. And what better time to
do it than during Crimson and Gray Week, two days before the spring game?
The show
kicked off with a keynote address from WSU President Kirk Schulz, who talked
for close to an hour to a standing-room-only meeting room at The Davenport
Grand Hotel. Schulz gave a mini State of the University Address, touting the
University’s successes and talking about its challenges and the road ahead.
After the
keynote, the doors to the trade show opened, where 48 businesses and
WSU-affiliated programs boasted their products and services to about 500
attendees. Five of those 48 offered wine, beer or cider samples, so attendees
were treated well, let me tell you.
As I
walked lap after lap around the room, I was impressed seeing so may WSU
alumni-owned and WSU-supporting businesses. CougsFirst! exists to connect Coug
supporters to Coug-owned and Coug-supporting businesses, and the trade shows in
Seattle and Spokane shows accomplish that.
CougCenter
was a proud Gray Sponsor for the show. Mark your calendars for March 20, 2019,
as CougsFirst! returns to the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.
The show hopes to return to Spokane next April, with a date and location TBD.
Kudos to
the CougsFirst! team and the Spokane organizers for a great show!
More From
CougCenter
::::::::::::::::::
WSU
Cougars Football: What we learned at WSU’s 2018 Spring Game
By Kevin
Dudley Apr 22, 2018, 6 am PDT
Coug
Center
Good
morning Coug fans. Today is a good day because we get to dissect a WSU football
game. Sure, it was just the annual spring scrimmage with a jumbled lineup. But
it’s still a football game.
As always,
we begin with the caveat that while it’s cool and fun to watch college football
this time of year, the spring game is not exactly the best evaluation
opportunity. Rosters aren’t normal, some starters rest, the play calling isn’t
as robust as a regular season game, and the approach by the coaching staff is
presumably to do some experimenting from time to time.
Also, the
defense never blitzed yesterday, and only sent three or four guys at a time.
So with
that out of the way, let’s take a look the pluses, minuses and the unknowns of
the 2018 Spring Game.
Pluses
Kyle Sweet: The senior insider receiver had
himself a day. Sweet hauled in eight catches for 138 yards, and that all may
have come in the first half, as I joined many others in heading back to the
tailgating lot, so correct me if he played at all in the second half. He didn’t
grab a touchdown but he helped move the chains. Sweet is the most experienced
receiver on the team, and he could go out with a bang.
Trey Tinsley and Anthony Gordon: Tinsely
definitely looked like the no. 1 guy we’ve been hearing about. His 213 yards
passing and three touchdowns look good, but don’t get too excited just yet,
because the defense was very vanilla. Gordon looked decent, and he had the
deeper receiving corps, too.
Tay Martin: Yeah, he had four catches for
52 yards and a touchdown, but did you see his block early in the scrimmage on
Travell Harris’ big gain? Harris gets the stats there, but Martin made it
happen.
Rodrick Fisher: My favorite moment of the
scrimmage was when Fisher brought in a TD pass from Tinsley early in the
scrimmage. The Spokane-area kid scored in a stadium where he’s scored countless
times before, and seeing him in a Cougar uniform after what he’s been through
is awesome. Good on you, Rodrick.
Brandon Arconado hurdles Skyler Thomas: Hey,
that’s Boobie’s move.
Dezmon Patmon: I recall Patmon bringing in
a nice TD pass at last year’s spring game and thinking he was going to be
something special last season. He was serviceable in 2017, though he had a case
of the dropsies from time to time. Patmon played well yesterday and had a nice
juggling catch for a TD over Marcus Strong. Patmon is a big dude, and WSU needs
him to find that next level, as they say (what does that even mean?).
Max Borghi: Or is it Bergie? Glenn Johnson
kept pronouncing it Bergie during the game, making me wonder where he got his
pronunciation guide. Borghi looked good overall. I was eager to see him after
seeing some highlights from prior spring practices and while he didn’t take
over the scrimmage, he did his job and did it well.
The Weather: The wind was kind of a drag
outside the stadium, but the field is set below ground level, so the wind
inside was hardly noticeable. The sun was out too, which is a miracle because
most people around these parts recently started to believe that the sun would
never show itself in Spokane again.
The Crowd: Mike Leach’s first spring game
brought about 14,000 people to Albi Stadium, thanks to the excitement of having
him be our head coach and the 85-degree weather. If you expect that many to
show up to a scrimmage, you’re fooling yourself. WSU says 5,927 showed up
yesterday, which seems about right. That’s a great crowd for this kind of game,
if you’re asking me (you weren’t). Also, enjoy the game being in Spokane while
you can, because Albi Stadium might be (finally) demolished or downsized in the
coming years.
Minuses
The Secondary: Did you notice all the
pluses revolved around the offense? New defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys has
said the secondary needs to improve immensely between now and Labor Day
Weekend. After viewing yesterday’s scrimmage, I can see why. The six WSU QBs
combined for 634 yards passing and six touchdowns. Tinsley, Gordon and Cammon
Cooper—the QBs with the most playing time—combined for 507 of those yards. It
should be noted that Hunter Dale did not play, so far as I could tell.
The Running Game: 24 caries for 25 yards,
with 23 of those yards coming on three carries by Clay Markoff, who is actually
a fullback. We have a fullback again!
Unknowns
Cammon Cooper: I had Cooper in the “minus”
category for a bit, but then I felt like I was being too harsh. Yea or nay?
Anyway, he finished 12-of-18 for 120 yards and a touchdown, which looks good on
paper. He seemed a bit indecisive, but remember: he should be getting fitted
for a tux this time of year. A good summer and a good year dominating Thursday
Night Football might do him well. Mike Leach obviously wanted to get him plenty
of playing time, as he played for both teams throughout the scrimmage. He has
two QBs ahead of him right now, and presumably a third when Gardner Minshew
arrives. If Cooper plays next season, either something went horribly wrong or
he had a monster summer and fall camp. Stay tuned.
The Offensive Line: This is one of the biggest
question marks heading into next season, and we weren’t able to get any real
answers yesterday, although the first and second teams played together, due to
a lack of linemen. Usually the linemen are jumbled, but not yesterday. They
protected the QBs pretty well overall, but they didn’t face a formidable pass
rush. I won’t draw any conclusions from that just yet.
The Kicking Game: It definitely looks like
Jack Crane is the no. 1 kicker right now, though he missed his first field goal
in a scrimmage this spring. We didn’t see any punts, unless they came after
halftime. So I guess that mean’s #neverpunt is going to really be a thing this
fall, no?
The
Biggest Plus of Them All
I’m still
the rookie on the CougCenter writers crew, but hanging out with Jeff, Michael,
Scott, Brian and PJ Friday night and Saturday was a ton of fun. I live in
Spokane so going to the spring game is really easy. They came from Seattle and
Florida. Florida! For a scrimmage! That’s dedication.
It was a
busy time for WSU in Spokane with the various events throughout the week,
including the first ever CougsFirst! show in town (more on that later today).
The spring game with the CougCenter crew was a great way to wrap it up.
Oh, and
the Crimson beat the Gray 34-24, apparently.
::::::::::::
It is NFL
Draft week
By Mark
Sandritter Apr 23, 2018, 5am
Coug
Center
After a
long NFL Draft season full of mock drafts, scouting combines, pro days and
more, the NFL Draft is almost finally here. The draft will begin on Thursday in
Dallas and it appears multiple Cougars will hear their names during the three
days.
The latest
mock drafts are flying around fast and furious. So let’s see where the Cougs
are landing.
==NFL
Rough Draft
— Luke
Falk, 4th round
— Cole
Madison, 6th round
— Hercules
Mata’afa, 7th round
==CBS
Sports
— Luke
Falk, 4th round
— Cole
Madison, 5th round
— Hercules
Mata’afa, 5th round
==NFL.com
— Cole
Madison, 3rd round
— Hercules
Mata’afa, 4th round
— Luke
Falk, 5th round
— Frankie
Luvu, 5th round
If the
mock drafts are accurate, it would appear Luke Falk, Cole Madison and Hercules
Mata’afa will all be drafted. Likely somewhere in the middle-to-late rounds.
This is the first I’ve seen Frankie Luvu’s name pop up, but he has to be on the
radar as well. Cody O’Connell didn’t make it into this batch of mock drafts,
but he’s also been mentioned before.
Now the
question is how accurate are these mock drafts. We’ll find out later this week.
……………….
At WSU,
sometimes appropriate tech bests high-tech
Sat.,
April 7, 2018, 6 a.m.
By Sue
Lani Madsen
Spokane
S-R
Walk into
The Spark on the WSU Pullman campus and it’s clearly all about high-tech high performance.
The newly
opened four-story building on the south side of campus is touted as a digital
classroom hub, an all-disciplines teaching facility with a “network of flexible,
technology-enabled learning environments.” Classrooms have the latest in what
used to quaintly be called “audiovisual equipment.”
Lectern-mounted
computers communicate wirelessly with ceiling-mounted projectors splashing
digital presentations across interactive whiteboards. WSU calls it a
state-of-the-art facility, and as an adjunct faculty member assigned to Room
327 for spring semester, I agree.
Except for
the restrooms.
Flushing
by hand isn’t a surprise, we’re used to compensating for auto-flush toilets
that don’t, but faucet handles seem of an age with slate chalkboards. If you
want soap, pump it yourself. Pull your own paper towels, and as many as you
need to get the job done. No motion sensors or high-tech, high-velocity hand
dryers. Given the automation in the rest of the building, the all-manual
restrooms stand out like a Model T at a Tesla convention.
The “why”
question has been nagging me all semester. In a high-tech building, why doesn’t
the high-tech touch every space? The answer is the difference between high-tech
vs. appropriate tech. Cost, environmental impact and function are the
variables.
Depending
on electricity rates, hot-air hand dryers come out as a wash on both life cycle
cost and environmental impact compared to miserly, motion-sensitive towel
dispensers. Whether we’re waving our hands attempting to coax out a second
paper towel or rubbing them in a blast of hot air before drying on our pants,
function doesn’t favor the technology. The latest high-tech, high-performance,
cold-air high-velocity dryers work better and use less energy but are more
expensive to install. Old school, low-tech, low-construction cost won.
Part of
the reasoning behind The Spark’s manual washrooms is most motion sensors
require batteries. It’s partly the environmental cost of producing and
disposing of batteries, a challenge also facing practical electric vehicles.
It’s mostly the labor to keep up the replacement schedule. WSU maintenance
staff said they do have some sensor-driven devices in Beasley Coliseum, but it
takes a huge quantity, described by a source as producing “half a 55-gallon
trash can full of AA batteries after one change-out.”
WSU
maintenance staff experimented with “solar” recharged faucet sensors, letting
the room lights do the recharging in a typical windowless restroom in their own
building. It worked great, except the lights were automatically turned off by a
motion sensor overnight and the faucets didn’t work in the morning.
Faucets
can be hard-wired to avoid batteries, but repairs are costly. Dave Gebhardt,
director of operations for the Spokane Public Facilities District, said “some
replacement solenoids are more expensive than just buying a whole new faucet.”
Old school isn’t an option for the SPFD. They need automatic faucets to thwart
youngsters who think plugging the drain and flooding the room is a great joke.
Fortunately, The Spark has a more mature population of users. Faucet handles it
is.
But what
about those auto-flushing toilets? Those must be good for the environment,
right? Not necessarily. The primary advantage is supposed to be hygiene,
although anyone who’s had the toilet flush while sitting on it might dispute
the hygiene argument. Most studies found no water savings for comparable
low-flow manual toilets, mostly due to the “phantom flush” problem. Controlling
the phantoms requires a different human attitude about maintenance.
Humans and
high-efficiency buildings is the subject of a research project by Julia Day,
assistant professor at the WSU School of Design and Construction. Day’s
scholarly paper, written in collaboration with William O’Brien from Carleton
University in Ottawa, Ontario, examined how humans behave in the latest
high-tech, high-performance buildings.
Researchers
looked beyond the quantitative data showing poorer than expected energy use and
found many examples of human creativity outwitting sensors to triumph over
technology. The conclusion: Focusing on high-tech without a human touch fuels
frustration instead of productivity.
Turns out
The Spark’s manual restrooms are high performance after all.
#
