[Talk] ML Tlachac — Bots and Bias: Technology Acceptance and Digital Depression Datasets - The University of Rhode Island

Authors: Alan Li, Ved Chirayath Laboratory for Advanced Sensing, NASA Ames Research Center. Recently, there has been increased interest in monitoring the effects of climate change upon the world’s marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs. These delicate ecosystems are especially threatened due to their sensitivity to ocean warming and acidification, leading to unprecedented levels of coral bleaching and die-off in recent years. However, current global aquatic remote sensing datasets are unable to quantify changes in marine ecosystems at spatial and temporal scales relevant to their growth. We at LAS are directly addressing this challenge through recent UAV imaging campaigns directed towards coral reefs, utilizing a new algorithm known as Fluid Lensing capable of removing optical distortions caused by the fluid surface to produce cm-scale resolution imagery of benthic cover. Taking these data products, we were able to generate highly detailed and accurate maps of coral cover and morphology breakdown utilizing MAP estimation, with error rates of 5% and 8% , respectively.

Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 959 on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Today’s Strands theme was tricky. It helps to be a runner. Read on for all the answers.

A supply-chain attack involving ConnectWise’s cloud services has exposed Microsoft 365 customers to unauthorized application access, with researchers reporting successful sign-ins across 173 partner and customer tenants. The incident centres on credentials associated with ConnectWise Cloud Backup, formerly SkyKick, and raises concerns about attackers exploiting permissions already entrusted to business software. ConnectWise has confirmed unauthorized access to application identities within its Cloud Backup environment. In an October 17 update on its service-status page, the company said it was shutting off application access, interrupting customer backups while investigation and remediation continued.

You once played Basil Fawlty in an amateur student production of Fawlty Towers at Queen’s College in Melbourne. How amateur was your Basil Fawlty moustache? It was terrible. It was real but it was definitely coloured in – I still have holes in my beard. I’d also shaved my head, so if you look at the early promo posters, you can clearly see I’m wearing a wig. Our theatre was closed so we had to perform in a circus tent in the middle of winter, on an oval in the university grounds, which was all very Fawlty Towers. I’ve always loved comedy. I didn’t really do anything serious until drama school. I always thought there might be a good spin-off with Sauron and Celebrimbor as an odd-couple situation. You play Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Tolkien wrote that Sauron “represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible”. What do you consider wholly evil? A complete disregard for the feelings and wellbeing of other people, to put it simply. It’s the intention, I think. I have horrible flashbacks to playing Aussie rules when I was about 17. I thought people were being quite evil to me at the time.