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The Digital Scholarship Lab at River Campus Libraries used a program called DaVinci
Resolve to help process surviving 9.5 mm footage of Tokkan Kozo, a 1929 Japanese
silent film, for viewing as a Digital Cinema Package.
New digital technology helps University researchers
restore Japanese silent film
Tokkan Kozo is a 1929 Japanese silent film inspired by a classic O. Henry short
story about a child kidnapping gone comically awry. The film was believed lost until
partial 9.5mm versions surfaced in 1988 and again in 2015.
Now, the surviving footage of Tokkan Kozo can be seen as an English language Digital
Cinema Package (DCP), thanks to a collaboration involving Josh Romphf and Clara
Auclair at the Digital Scholarship Lab at River Campus Libraries; Joanne Bernardi,
professor of Japanese and film and media studies; the George Eastman Museum; and
the Toy Film Museum in Kyoto, Japan.
The restored film’s U.S. premiere will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4 at the George
Eastman Museum’s Dryden Theatre, along with another film (Passing Fancy, 1936) by the
same director, Yasujiro Ozu.
Tokkan Kozo was screened for the first time recently at the Pordenone Silent Film
Festival in Pordenone, Italy. Bernardi also gave a talk about the film and its collaborative
restoration.
“We were able to make the DCP here at the University of Rochester because Josh and
Clara are both graduates of the Selznick Graduate Program in Film Preservation,”
Bernardi says. The collaborative graduate program with George Eastman Museum is
housed in the English Department.
DCP is a relatively new technology that emerged about 2010. It “has become the
standard for film distribution since the industry has moved away from 35mm film
projection,” writes Romphf, a programmer with the Digital Scholarship Lab. A DCP is
less expensive to produce, and the footage does not become worn like 35mm film
after repeat showings.
“In its simplest form . . . a DCP could be seen as the digital version of a 35mm film print,”
Romphf notes. “Its main advantage is that you can present it to theaters to enable them to
project it via a digital projector.” (Read more here.)
Nonetheless, “the whole project was especially complicated because the film was on an
unusual 9.5mm format used for home entertainment in the late 1920s through the
1930s,” Bernardi writes. “Films on this format can only be projected at the festival as a
DCP or blown up to 35mm film, which is more expensive.”
“This is the first time the University was represented with a contribution to this festival’s
programming, thanks to the Digital Scholarship Lab,” Bernardi says. She also credited a
mobility travel grant from the AS&E’s Dean of Research office. The grant enabled her
to visit the Toy Film Museum — where the original 9.5mm film used in this restoration is
housed — to translate the intertitles. In silent films, intertitles are pieces of filmed, printed
text that are edited into the footage at various points to help tell the story.
Tokkan Kozo (A Straightforward Boy), was Ozu’s second movie featuring six-year-old
Tomio Aoki, whose “headstrong mischievousness brought him fame as a child actor,”
Bernardi writes in notes for the festival. As in O. Henry’s tale, Aoki’s character proves
altogether too much for his kidnappers to handle.
Bernardi has had a decades-long interest in uncovering a side of Japan that few
Westerners knew about — a cosmopolitan, modernizing nation that was already
making its mark in film and experiencing a boom in tourism well before World War
II.
Bernardi has documented this with hundreds of early 20th Century postcards, films,
brochures, advertisements, and other objects now on display at an interactive and
multimedia online archive and research project also developed with the help of the
Digital Scholarship Laboratory. “Re-envisioning Japan: Japan as Destination in 20th
Century Visual and Material Culture” uses travel, education, and the production and
exchange of images and objects as a “lens to investigate changing representations of
Japan and its place in the world in the first half of the 20th Century.“
Warner School dean chosen
Anand R. Marri, vice president and head of outreach and education at the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York and professor of social studies and education (research) at
Teachers College, Columbia University, has been named dean of the Warner School of
Graduate Education and Human Development. Rob Clark, University provost and
senior vice president for research, announced Marri’s appointment, which will begin on
Jan. 1 with a five-year term.
A search committee led by School of Nursing Dean Kathy Rideout and including faculty
members and leaders in education and human development conducted a national search
to identify the school’s new dean and successor to Raffaella Borasi, who has served as
Warner School dean for 18 years. Borasi is continuing on at Warner as founding
director of the new Learning in the Digital Age Center.
Marri’s academic research focuses on economic literacy, civic and multicultural
education, teacher education, and urban education and has appeared in many leading
education journals.
He has received over $5.5 million in grants from individuals and organizations such as
TC Trustee Joyce Cowin, Carnegie Corporation of New York, New York State Education
Department, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the U.S.
Department of Education, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He
served as one of the authors of The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for
Social Studies State Standards, first published in 2013 as the guide for states to upgrade
their social studies standards and for practitioners to strengthen their social studies
programs. Marri was also an author in Teaching the Levees A Curriculum for Democratic
Dialogue and Civic Engagement (Teachers College Press, 2008.)
Read more here.
Congratulations to . . .
Kara Bren, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Robert Boyd, a professor at
the Institute of Optics, who have been named fellows of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They are among 416 members of the association
being recognized for their “efforts toward advancing scientific applications that are
deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.”
Bren has helped advance the understanding of how changes in a protein’s
structure can alter its function, how proteins transfer electrons, and how these
processes can be manipulated for various applications. “It’s nice to know that the
work I’ve done is recognized as being significant by this broader scientific society,” Bren
says. “It not only brings more visibility for me, but for the department and University.”
Boyd is known for his pioneering work in nonlinear optical interactions and
nonlinear optical properties of materials. Boyd says he is “quite pleased” at being
named an AAAS fellow. “It means that one has achieved recognition even outside of one’s
narrow discipline.”
Read more here.
Hoque explores lie-detecting technology with ECASE
award
Imagine if lie-detecting apps became widely available on everyone’s phones or
computers. Merely by processing a video of what you are saying to someone – by
analyzing your facial expressions, body movements, auditory details, and the semantic
content of your speech — the apps could accurately predict if you are lying or telling
the truth about who you voted for or about your sexual orientation.
“What will that do to society?” asks Ehsan Hoque. “What will it do to our relationships?”
So, even as the assistant professor of computer scientist creates ground-breaking
computer technology to detect lies for a host of beneficial medical and public safety
purposes, he also wants to help ensure the technology is used constructively — and
ethically.
He will further explore both the technology and its proper use with a $1 million Early
Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (ECASE-ARMY) from the Army Research
Office (ARO). ECASE awards are the highest honor bestowed by the ARO to outstanding
scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.
The technology Hoque hopes to develop with this award builds upon his lab’s recent work
on understanding deception based on facial and verbal cues. Applications include:
improved security screening of passengers in airports,
helping medical practitioners realize whether patients are hiding suicidal symptoms,
new ways for law-enforcement agents to assess risk when engaging in selfdefense,
helping individuals with autism realize when they are being manipulated or
deceived.
With the new award, Hoque and his lab will develop machine learning algorithms that
could make the interrogations and interviews used in these settings more objective.
Often an interrogation starts with general questions to establish rapport. “How someone
answers in the rapport-building phase could influence how the interviewer looks at that
person when the important, relevant questions are asked in the subsequent phases,
biasing the interviewer’s ability to tell if someone is lying or telling the truth,” Hoque says.
“So, imagine as I’m interviewing you, I have a computer that is helping me out, that can
treat each phase as unique and objective,” Hoque says. “We can build algorithms to
help quantify some of nuances that an interviewer might miss – subtle
inconsistencies among facial cues, what is said, how it is said.”
At the end of each phase, the algorithm, trained with reinforcement learning, would
recommend whether it has “seen” enough to recommend going to the next phase or
whether additional questions should be asked.
The interviewer is still in charge, still making the decisions, Hoque emphasizes, but “the
algorithm is providing independent, quantifiable metrics, so that the interrogators
can further quantify their decisions. It adds objectivity and transparency to the
interrogation process.”
Greater objectivity could benefit both the interviewer and the person being interviewed,
especially in security and law enforcement settings, he says.
Read more here.
Introducing a new faculty member
Christopher P. Heuer, who joins the Department of Art and Art History as an associate
professor, specializes in the early modern art of the Atlantic world. He is the former
senior lecturer at the Williams College Graduate Program, where he also directed the
research and academic program at the Clark Art Institute. Until 2014, he was an assistant
professor of art and archaeology at Princeton University, where he helped to design and
inaugurate Princeton’s interdisciplinary doctoral program in the humanities. Before that, he
was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University.
Heuer’s 2009 book, The City Rehearsed (Routledge), examines the relationship
between architecture, urbanism, and iconoclasm during the Reformation. His current
research reflects an interest in landscape, ecology, and performance. A new book,
Into the White: The Renaissance Arctic, the End of the Image, is scheduled to appear with
MIT University Press/Zone Books in spring 2019. The study explores the poetics of the
extreme north in the European imagination before 1600. Most recently, he is coeditor
(with Rebecca Zorach) of Ecologies, Agents, Terrains, which appeared with Yale
University Press in August 2018. He remains a founding member of the media collective
Our Literal Speed.
He received his PhD in the history of art from the University of California, Berkeley (2003).
Initiative advances clinical research training
The Development, Implementation, and Assessment of Novel Training in Domain-based
competencies (DIAMOND) is a collaborative effort by Rochester, the University of
Michigan, Ohio State University, and Tufts University to provide high quality,
accessible, competency-based training for individuals conducting clinical trials.
Through the DIAMOND Portal, clinical researcher professionals can access training and
assessments for workforce development, and collaborate with peers with the same goals.
The portal also connects users with an electronic portfolio service to help them manage
their professional careers. Learn more.
SAC incubator grants available
Research teams are encouraged to apply for a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
Incubator award from the School of Medicine and Dentistry. The award, which provides
up to $125,000 per year for two years, fosters the establishment of extramurally
funded, nationally recognized centers of excellence in biomedical research.
Proposals must involve a team of two or more co-principal investigators, and a multiPI leadership plan is required. View details and application instructions and the SAC
Incubator Program RFA.
Submit letters of intent/initial abstracts by 8 a.m. Wednesday, January 2, 2019.
Contact Anne Reed for more information.
Environmental health science pilot funding available
Pilot funding from the Medical Center’s Environmental Health Science Center (EHSC)
supports projects relevant to the theme of “Environmental Agents as Modulators of Human
Disease and Dysfunction.” Applicants are encouraged to use emerging technologies
(CRISPR, next generation or single cell RNA sequencing, big data initiatives, etc.)
and use the unique core facilities of the EHSC.
Applicants may request a maximum of $30,000 for the duration of one year and must
hold a tenure-track faculty position. Applications from new investigators collaborating with
existing EHSC faculty are encouraged.
For this round only, there is no abstract phase. Forms and guidelines can be found on
the Environmental Health Sciences Center web site. Send applications to Pat NoonanSullivan by Monday, January 14, 2019.
Wilmot Cancer Institute solicits grant applications
The Wilmot Cancer Institute (WCI) is soliciting cancer research grant applications for new
collaborative studies targeting future MPI R01, P01, and U01 grant funding from the
National Cancer Institute. This Request for Applications is designated to support basic,
translational, or clinical cancer research projects.
The award provides $100,000 for one year, but funding for a second year of support
may be obtained on a competitive basis.
Preference will be given to projects proposed by WCI members or associate
members aligned with the WCI Core Research Programs: Hallmarks of Cancer, TumorMicroenvironment, and Cancer Control and Survivorship.
Applications are due January 15, 2019, and should be submitted electronically to Pam
Iadarola, research administrator, at Pamela_Iadarola@urmc.rochester.edu. Questions
should also be directed to her.
Keynote speakers, documentary featured at World AIDS
Day symposium today
The World AIDS Day Scientific Symposium from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today includes two
keynote speeches, a documentary about the University’s artist-in-residence, and a poster
session.
The symposium is hosted by the Center for AIDS Research.
Keynote addresses at 10 a.m. by Marguerita Lightfoot (“Prevention in the Digital Age:
Tech, Text, and Thrive”) of the University of California/San Francisco and at 12:30 p.m.
by Douglas Nixon (“Retroviruses Rule?!”) of Weill Cornell Medical College will be in the
Class of ’62 Auditorium. So will a special 1:30-2 p.m. showing of a documentary
about Charmaine Wheatley, artist-in-residence, who shares intimate moments with
people affected by HIV through watercolor portraits that capture their image, thoughts,
and challenges.
A poster session will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Flaum Atrium.
Read more at the CFAR events page.
Upcoming PhD dissertation defenses
Brian Shen, chemical engineering, “Surface-Initiated Polymerizations for Electrochemical
Energy Storage Applications.” 2 p.m., December 4, 2018. Wegmans 4506. Advisor: Wyatt
Tenhaeff.
Chen Braun, pharmacology, “Chronic PKC-beta-II activation inhibits IKs channel
membrane localization via phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate: Implications for Long-QT1
treatment. 9 a.m. December 5, 2018. Auditorium K-207 (2-6408), Medical Center. Host:
Coeli Lopes.
Christopher Kovacs, microbiology and immunology, “Defining Functional Roles for the
Rhamnose-glucose Polysaccharides of Streptococcus mutans.” 1 p.m. December 7, 2018.
Upper Adolph Auditorium (3-7619), Medical Center. Host: Robert Quivey.
AnnaLynn Williams, epidemiology, “Inflammation and Cognitive Function in Chronic
Lymphocytic Leukemia Survivors.” 1 p.m. December 7, 2018. Helen Wood Hall 1W509.
Host: Edwin van Wijngaarden.
Aditi Murthy, microbiology and immunology, “Impact of tumor hypoxia on immune
response: Implication for radiotherapy and anti-tumor immunity.” 10 a.m. December 12,
2018. Auditorium K-307 (3-6408), Medical Center. Host: Edith Lord.
Mark your calendar
Today: Jennifer Kyker, an associate professor of music in the School of Arts & Sciences
and an associate professor of ethnomusicology at the Eastman School of Music, and
Emily Sherwood, director of River Campus Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Lab, will talk
about “Building Sekuru’s Stories” at noon in the Humanities Center, Conference Room D.
Lunch is provided. The project is a multimedia ethnographic archive focused on the
musical life of Sekuru Tute Chigamba, a renowned performer of the Zimbabwean mbira
dzavadzimu.
Today: Annual CFAR World AIDS Day Scientific Symposium. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Keynote
addresses at 10 a.m. by Marguerita Lightfoot, professor of medicine at the University of
California in San Francisco, and at 12:30 p.m. by Douglas Nixon, professor of immunology
in medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, plus special 1:30-2 p.m. showing of a
documentary about Charmaine Wheatley, artist-in-residence, who shares intimate
moments with people affected by HIV through watercolor portraits that capture their
image, thoughts, and challenges — all in Class of ’62 Auditorium. Poster session 11 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. in Flaum Atrium. Read more at the CFAR events page.
Dec. 5: Phelps Colloquium series: Ajay Kuriyan, assistant professor of ophthalmology,
“The Bionic Eye, Computer Vision, and Drug Discovery: The Gamut of Retina Research.”
Kara Bren, professor of chemistry, “Making Fuel and Fertilizer from Sun, Air, and Water.”
4 p.m. Feldman Ballroom Douglass Commons. Register here. Questions? Contact Adele
Coelho or call 273-2571.
Dec. 10: Deadline to apply for Humanities Center internal fellowship for fall 2019 or
spring 2020, for a tenured associate professor in the humanities or humanistic
social sciences who will use the time at the Center to complete a second book.
Projects must address the theme of “communities,” broadly understood. Applicants
should follow the guidelines here.
Dec. 14: 6 p.m. deadline to apply for travel reimbursement awards of up to $1,000 (one
for clinical research and one for basic sciences research) to support a School of Medicine
& Dentistry medical student, graduate student, postdoctoral trainee, clinical resident,
and/or clinical fellow to attend national or international meetings at which they will present
their research and make professional connections. For questions, email Amy Blatt or call
585-275-4912. View the full RFA.
Jan 2.: Letters of intent/initial abstracts due by 8 a.m. for Scientific Advisory Committee
(SAC) Incubator award from the School of Medicine and Dentistry to foster the
establishment of extramurally funded, nationally recognized centers of excellence in
biomedical research. View details and application instructions and the SAC Incubator
Program RFA. Contact Anne Reed for more information.
Jan. 14: Applications due for pilot funding from the Environmental Health Science Center
to support projects relevant to the theme of “Environmental Agents as Modulators of
Human Disease and Dysfunction.” Forms and guidelines can be found on the
Environmental Health Sciences Center web site. Send applications to Pat NoonanSullivan.
Jan. 15: Deadline to submit cancer research grant applications for new collaborative
studies targeting future MPI R01, P01, and U01 funding from National Cancer Institute.
Applications should be submitted electronically to Pamela_Iadarola@urmc.rochester.edu
at the Wilmot Cancer Institute. Questions should also be directed to her.
Jan. 24: Phelps Colloquium Series: Donald Hall, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean
of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences & Engineering, “Looking Beyond Our Horizons:
Interdisciplinary Education and Civic Responsibility.” Pablo Sierra Silva, assistant
professor of history, “Pirates, Captives, and the Digital Archive: Researching Afro-Mexican
History in the 21st Century.” 4-5:30 p.m. Feldman Ballroom, Douglass Commons. Register
here. Questions? Contact Adele Coelho or call 273-2571.
Please send suggestions and comments to Bob Marcotte. You can see back issues of
Research Connections on the Newsletters website.
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