ShareSaveCommentLeadershipCMO NetworkIndustry Pioneer Alex Lopez Negrete Inducted In AAF’s Hall Of FameByIsaac Mizrahi Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights Isaac Mizrahi writes about multicultural marketing and business.Follow AuthorMar 28 the American Advertising Federation celebrates industry legends by inducting them into its prestigious Advertising Hall of Fame This year's class honorees include Alex Lopez Negrete co-founder and CEO of Lopez Negrete Communications a leading US Hispanic advertising and marketing agency Alex joins a select number of multicultural ad agency executives Alex is one of our industry's most respected leaders and I had the opportunity to chat with him about this recent recognition and his trajectory Below is an edited version of our conversation Isaac Mizrahi - What does receiving this recognition from the AAF mean to you the class of 2025 also includes Linda Boff "…no me la creo…" which loosely translates to "I do not believe it" – and a lot of this has to do with the fact that I put my head down to work forty years ago tried to do meaningful work that elevated the craft of marketing to Latinos in the United States while also elevating the value of this audience in marketers' eyes you're tapped on the shoulder and told that you and your work have been noticed this is not something that I achieved alone I have had a partner by my side every step of the way She has been our CFO and COO from the beginning I realize this is a luxury that very few agency leaders have and that this partnership allowed me the gift of being able to do what I love and be the face of this enterprise If I've made this list – it's mainly because of her it is tremendously meaningful and not an honor I take lightly it serves to help me (us) elevate our game and to keep leading Mizrahi - Tell me when you first realized you wanted to work in advertising Lopez Negrete - The advertising bug bit me from an early age My mother was a marketer and managed all marketing and advertising for Estée Lauder in Mexico such as Don Eduardo Noble of Noble & Asociados I am particularly thankful that my road wasn't directly into advertising per se and that my path took me through media first It was an excellent training ground and a perspective that served me well once I landed in the industry formally Mizrahi - What was the proudest moment of your career Lopez Negrete - There are too many to count It would be disingenuous of me to cite one over the other Suffice it to say that the ones that stick in my mind are those that signal fundamental leaps in the agency's development such as when we were selected by Bank of America to be their agency over 30 years ago — and being the very smallest of all the competing agencies — or when Walmart also gave us the nod after a year-long pitch process and being the only independent agency (that relationship lasted 28 years) they don't minimize the significant wins of Fortune 500 brands such as Hyundai the day Cathy and I took the leap and bought our own four-story was a moment that burned in our minds and hearts Receiving the Premio Ohtli from the government of Mexico — the Premio Ohtli is the highest honor bestowed upon civilians of Mexican descent living abroad for their commitment to and support of the Mexicans and Mexican Americans — it struck a deep chord there are many – and being inducted into the AAF's Hall of Fame will undoubtedly shoot to the top of the list Mizrahi - What was the most significant learning you'd share with someone starting in advertising today we're not saving lives or curing cancer while it is essential to focus on a specific discipline or area do not — forego understanding the big picture of how it all works together to contribute and earn your place at the table and in the conversation Remind yourself that you are one of millions entering this industry and ask yourself: How will this industry be better with you and understand the slim line between good and great Mizrahi - How do you see the current state of multicultural marketing in America Lopez Negrete - Let's talk about the good first have taken center stage as it pertains to the mainstream is impacting the American mainstream like never before if Latinos in America were a stand-alone economy they would represent $3.6 trillion in GDP and be the fifth largest economy globally Bring it down to our industry; we now have the research and the structure to market to these segments — regardless of culture — in the most precise We also have the most prepared generation of Latino marketers our industry has ever seen Hispanic marketing has transcended language and entered an era of unprecedented connection Multicultural marketing and multicultural budgets should lead the way at all-time highs Many marketers across many segments and industries continue to not invest in the opportunity that these segments (particularly the Hispanic segment) represent There are several markets and categories where Latinos should be the FIRST priority and where a Hispanic agency should be the lead agency—yet I haven't seen these many marketers default to simple translation since the 1980s that's why people like me exist in this industry It certainly gives me something to fight for and work towards This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page '#' : location.hash;window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery = location.search === '' && location.href.slice(0 location.href.length - window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash.length).indexOf('?') !== -1 '?' : location.search;if (window.history && window.history.replaceState) {var ogU = location.pathname + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash;history.replaceState(null "\/a-flight-of-empowerment-highlights-work-by-jewish-women-artists\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=QjMytl6WmW3g2uQXqDzo1bWoXSp1uzbd4plL0HbbO_g-1746492279-1.0.1.1-_D7YLUFdfTton7bkYXppRv.6vCvnQmiGf8HeDcrww_A" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null ogU);}}document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(cpo);}()); Of the five senses, sight is generally the most appreciated by human beings, as it allows us to enjoy the beauty of God's creation a priest who became blind due to an illness Fr. Humberto, originally from Irapuato, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico He received priestly ordination on July 27 Due to complications his condition got worse to the point of damaging his retina and causing him to lose his sight completely "I’d been losing my eyesight for nine years and for the last seven years I’ve had no vision at all," he says his life experience has focused him more on the spiritual side "It has made me more sensitive to those who suffer The priest confesses that at the beginning his loss of sight was very difficult for him He was angry and unwilling to submit to God's will “I wouldn’t say that I’ve already overcome this human attitude of aversion towards suffering,” he admits "but we must recognize its divine meaning." looking at his situation coldly and from the human point of view his life has lost meaning "because I have become isolated Sometimes I feel discriminated against by my brother priests "I have won more souls for God without sight he is in charge of a parish and hasn’t been impeded from celebrating Mass He has an assistant who stands next to him during the Eucharist to read from the Missal for him the liturgy team reads the Gospel and he gives the homily And although there are ministers to assist him Umberto understands that many people go through the same suffering as he does He hopes that they will be encouraged by having a priest who shares and understands their experience He concludes by saying that "it’s a very difficult situation as if you had lost a friend or a loved one a person with a disability cannot move forward." Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Ellen Jean Negrete entered into Eternal Life on Sunday She was born on January 27,1949 in St Ellen spent time with her grandparents during summers and joined local summer camp programs She worked on the yearbook at Laboure High School and was lead editor from sophomore year until graduation Ellen joined the Daughters of Charity Convent after graduating high-school and became Sister Ellen She graduated from Marillac College with a BS degree in Nursing in 1973 Ellen Loved working with children in her college years in the convent and spent many hours working in community hospitals as part of her training.  In the 1980s she spent time raising her two children Ellen was very active in the El Paso Symphony Guild and served as president She also served as president of the PTA at Western Hills where her children attended elementary school Ellen had a creative eye and loved flowers She always had the burning desire to help people with her nursing knowledge and decided to return to nursing in 1993 She leaves a legacy of love and healing to the countless children she treated at both Western Hills and Polk Elementary where she served a school nurse until 2018 she was affectionately known as “Nursie Pooh” In 2011 Ellen was named the Region 19 Nurse of the Year by the Texas School Nurses Organization “My prayer is that all children who cross my doorstep know that I care about them and their well-being I call it an open door policy and an open heart philosophy.” Throughout her life everyone who knew Ellen said she was truly an angel and her energetic and gentle manner endeared her to everyone she met Ellen will be so deeply missed by those she left behind as well as her grand puppies Flex and Rocky (She was the best doggie grandma ever) We know that her son Joe is teaching her how to use her new wings The family is beyond grateful for all the calls messages and prayers for our beautiful Ellen She is predeceased by her parents Charles Meyer and Eleanor Meyer niece Christine Engle and stepson Paul Negrete Burial Immediately following at Memory Gardens in Santa Teresa Those who cannot attend in person may join the funeral and memorial services virtually on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/sunsetfuneralhome/ (no account is needed) Services entrusted to Sunset Funeral Homes-West Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Hospice is never an easy topic to deal with but Marriza Negrete is looking to help ease others through the process and to show that hospice care can actually be a valuable choice for their loved ones when the time comes Negrete is the senior account representative for Traditions Health Home Health & Hospice Care where she manages a team to help market the center’s core values and educate physicians Negrete made the choice to work in hospice after it was recommended for her grandmother Her mother thought it was synonymous with giving up and was very apprehensive about it whenever Negrete discussed it with her.  All it took was the right person for that mindset to change Negrete contacted a hospice representative who sat down and spoke with her mother about just how beneficial the care can be The representative also happened to work for her future employer and we did it with our former company name When Negrete saw just how well her grandmother was taken care of and the positive impact it had on her and her family she knew she wanted to give others that same feeling and ended up finding her life’s purpose.   “What was so beautiful about this was I saw firsthand as a family member what my company does for these patients So it was very rewarding to see it from that aspect,” Negrete said. “And then fast forward to when they came to recruit me Though some people might have a negative view on hospice Negrete said a big part in breaking down that stigma is making sure the care center is the right fit for both the person receiving treatment and their loved ones “My favorite part is being able to be that comfort for family being able to educate them into what they think hospice is Negrete said she likes to help educate others on what hospice entails to give them peace of mind knowing they will be in good hands “People don't have the knowledge or the education as to what hospice really does and then when we go in and we tell them their mind is blown,” Negrete said. “It’s this sense of relief My mom or my dad can be super comfortable in our home and they can go on this journey with peace whether it be from a doctor or a family member she and her team make sure to meet everyone involved to walk them through the process. Working in hospice is more than just working with the patient but also with the families to establish that relationship and help them feel confident this is the right decision for their loved one “We do this really in-depth discovery before we say ‘Take me and this is why I want you to sign up for hospice this is why you should.’ I don't start with those; what I start with is Tell me about that.’ I do this because it's such a taboo subject It’s super important to be able to establish a sense of trust and make a connection with the person who you're speaking to,” said Negrete ‘If you do not get the warm and fuzzies from me after talking to me then I am not the company for you.’ Pick someone that you feel in your gut is the right decision to make.” Negrete got to experience that warm and fuzzy feeling herself with her own grandmother and is now honored to be a part of a team that does the same “We're now able to just be a part of something larger and it's very nice to be a part of it. There's so many wonderful things coming to us,” Negrete said those things include giving quality care to people in their time of need and giving them and those around them that warm fuzzy feeling like a comforting blanket to help them along the way Share Good News Contact Us Meet Our Team The San Angelo Lake View High School boys soccer team tied Lubbock Estacado 1-1 in regulation on the road Tuesday night and the Chiefs won the shootout 4-3 to remain in first place in District 4-4A Daniel Ramos scored the Chiefs' goal in regulation Ricky Ramos and Daniel Ramos scored in the shootout Lake View keeper Carlos Alcazar made three saves in the shootout to preserve the victory "It's nice to go on the road and battle back from behind to win," Lake View head coach Kyle Jones said after his team improved to 14-7-2 overall and 6-1 in district "The boys played well and we got more possession in the second half and defensively we were able to make a few adjustments to hold them to just a few shots for the game We're very blessed to have won this game." If the Chiefs win and Estacado beats Snyder it will clinch the 4-4A crown for Lake View Estacado 0The Lake View Maidens improved to 7-0 in District 4-4A after recording a shutout Tuesday night at San Angelo Stadium Jazmyne Flores and Chesney Trevino accounted for the scoring Ariana Rangel had an assist on all five of the Maidens' goals Leila Ramirez played strong defensively to help keepers Alicia Sanchez and Isabella Yanez notch the shutout 7-0 in district) will host Sweetwater at 6 p.m Charles Bryce is a journalist covering sports in West Texas. Send him a news tip at cbryce@gannett.com. 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prepared you for Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX Reveal is public radio’s first one-hour radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting A weekly program presented by the New Yorker magazine’s editor killer beats and the edgiest new talent in storytelling come together for a weekly show that straps audiences into an audio rollercoaster Radiolab is known for its deep-dive journalism and innovative sound design Created in 2002 by former host Jad Abumrad the program began as an exploration of scientific inquiry Over the years it has evolved to become a platform for long-form journalism and storytelling Radiolab is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser Bee sits in her apartment on the North Side She had waited more than five years for this The man who had abused her and another person when they were minors — she a teenager the other person just 5 years old — was finally being sentenced And while Christopher Negrete was given a lesser sentence under a plea deal the woman still spoke of hope in her statement to the judge Addressing “those who have never been heard or believed,” she assured them that “above all else there is such beauty on the other side of all the grief and misery that has been placed at our feet by the people who only wish to hurt us.” The woman — who asked only to be referred to by her first name Bee — said her journey these last few years has been one of “radical acceptance.” was charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault and possession of child pornography He could have been sentenced to over four decades in prison Negrete accepted a plea deal this fall and was sentenced to 28 years While it was not the sentence she expected Bee said she has found solace in the fact that Negrete will not be able to harm anyone else and nothing’s gonna make anyone feel any better,” Bee told the Sun-Times “It’s not gonna take away any of the harm that’s been caused.” In March 2019, Negrete’s girlfriend discovered at least five images of child porn on his phone — including some depicting children younger than 5 and he was charged with possession of child pornography of a person under the age of 13 Bee read the coverage of the charges and went to the police with her own story: Negrete had taken pornographic images and sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager almost 20 years ago Negrete’s former girlfriend also learned he had sexually assaulted her 5-year-old daughter Negrete was charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault and an additional count of child pornography Bee and the others would have to wait five years to see Negrete held accountable then she said she was told a plea deal had been offered but rejected Bee said an assistant state’s attorney called and informed her the plea deal was back on the table and it appeared Negrete was going to accept Bee decided to write a victim’s statement to read in court on the day of the sentencing The other victims in the case provided statements as well she said she was both terrified and excited I felt it was going to be important for myself and my healing closure to be there on that day Bee spoke directly to Negrete and addressed not only how he harmed her as a teenager but also the continued pain she’d experienced over the last five years you have attempted to skirt all accountability and have only deepened the wounds of your survivors and their loved ones,” she wrote “I know that I have been so angry and grief-stricken over the time I have held on to the weight of the harm you’ve caused me for over 15 years now but today I am handing that weight over to you.” Negrete pleaded guilty to a count of criminal sexual assault and two counts of possession of child pornography He was sentenced to 17 years and 11 years in prison Negrete has to serve at least 85% of the first sentence and at least 50% of the second with the 5½ years of credit he already received Negrete could potentially be out of prison in about 14 years Bee initially had mixed emotions about the plea deal but said given the circumstances and all the people involved it was the easiest way to bring the case to a close Bee said she has formed an empowering bond with the others involved in this case She is also motivated to share her story in the hope that it helps other survivors of sexual violence As she wrote in her statement to the judge speaking to fellow survivors: “There is more love and joy on the other side and I really hope you will join me there.” Terms of Use • Privacy Notice • Cookie Policy • Terms of Sale The Santa Monica City Council has asked staff to explore a nighttime curfew along the shoreline after a recent spate of violence has rekindled debate about the safety of the sand during overnight hours. At their Tuesday meeting, Mayor Lana Negrete, along with Councilmembers Jesse Zwick and Natalya Zernitskaya, requested that the City Manager and City Attorney investigate the possibility of establishing nighttime restrictions at Santa Monica State Beach in conjunction with various state agencies that hold sway over the shoreline. “I think it’s time for us to look at a curfew,” said Mayor Negrete, who emphasized that the move comes in response to a disturbing pattern of incidents over the past two years. “We’ve had everything from murders, rapes, and even accidental deaths.” The mayor highlighted particular concerns about beach maintenance workers who rake the sand in early morning hours, noting there have been instances where people sleeping on the beach were accidentally run over by maintenance equipment. She also pointed to a series of recent crimes targeting young women on the beaches. “There’s a saying the police use - ‘nothing good happens after midnight’,” Negrete added. Councilmember Jesse Zwick reinforced these safety concerns, saying that at least two, possibly three individuals had been run over while sleeping on the beach at night. “It’s been quite endemic lately, in a way that’s very troubling and concerning to me,” Zwick said, suggesting that a curfew could be tailored to allow for activities like early morning jogging while still addressing the primary safety issues. The proposal isn’t without precedent as some other coastal cities, like Santa Barbara or Huntington Beach already have rules governing nighttime access. Past attempts for regulation in Santa Monica have been rejected. According to Councilmember Ellis Raskin, the Coastal Commission had previously indicated that a total beach closure would not be permitted. “Personally, as a matter of policy, I’m not in favor of a total blanket beach closure, but there are serious public safety issues that we, I think, are trying to address,” said Raskin, who proposed narrower options that might satisfy the Coastal Commission’s concerns about public access while addressing safety issues. Negrete clarified that the intent isn’t to prohibit public access entirely. “It’s not really a closure,” she said. “The idea is not to not allow public access. Rather, it’s to protect those that are sleeping on the beach. It’s for their own safety to not be run over in the wee hours of the morning.” She also noted that the beach lacks proper lighting at night and that the Santa Monica Police Department can’t patrol the entire beach all night, creating conditions that have contributed to violent incidents. Councilmember Dan Hall expressed support for exploring options while suggesting geographic limitations to any potential curfew, particularly around the Pier where trespassing and unsafe fire use have been reported. “I would like to limit this to our operational needs, to lift our liabilities,” Hall said. “I generally don’t like measures that are simply tools used to make unhoused people feel uncomfortable in the hopes that they’ll go somewhere else. But I trust our staff and ourselves to tailor this in a way that addresses specific safety concerns while maintaining appropriate access to our beautiful coastline.” The Council directed staff to report back with options that balance public safety concerns with the Coastal Commission’s requirements for beach access. No timeline was specified for when these options would be presented to the Council. Copyright © 2025 SMDP. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2025 SMDP. All Rights Reserved. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Volume 17 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1148549 The wet-dog shake behavior (WDS) is a short-duration behavior relevant to the study of various animal disease models no animal behavior detection system has included WDS we present a multi-view animal behavior detection system based on image classification and use it to detect rats’ WDS behavior Our system uses a novel time-multi-view fusion scheme that does not rely on artificial features (feature engineering) and is flexible to adapt to other animals and behaviors It can use one or more views for higher accuracy We tested our framework to classify WDS behavior in rats and compared the results using different amounts of cameras Our results show that the use of additional views increases the performance of WDS behavioral classification we achieved a precision of 0.91 and a recall of 0.86 Our multi-view animal behavior detection system represents the first system capable of detecting WDS and has potential applications in various animal disease models Animal behavior analysis plays an essential role in pre-clinical models investigating the causes of human diseases automating and finding new insights into behaviors is fundamental to accelerating research Machine vision techniques are widely recognized as effective instruments for automating behavior analysis a single view cannot be used to detect all behaviors Although a top view is suitable for analyzing the displacement of a rat in a cage it may not be suitable for observing behaviors that involve detailed limb movements Studying WDS behavior could help us understand animal model diseases and their human equivalents Despite numerous systems developed for animal behavior detection in recent years and the systems fail to incorporate contemporary machine learning techniques that could yield better results and the absence of open-source code prevents community-driven improvements and modifications the cost should be taken into consideration no system has been capable of detecting WDS behavior To address these challenges, this study presents a multi-view supervised machine learning system for animal behavior classification. We introduce a novel multi-view-time fusion architecture. At its core, it relies on a simple image classifier. Before classification and multi-view-time analysis, we use the same approach for background removal as (Meratwal et al., 2022) which involves first using an object localization network that generates a bounding box an image patch is taken according to the bounding box to isolate the subject in the image and remove the background This approach avoids relaying in hand-crafted feature representations like skeletons and reduces the data needed for training The WDS dataset we created is a novel non-human multi-view activity recognition dataset with a practical application Our system can detect the WDS events with a precision of 0.91 and a recall of 0.86 using three cameras Although we limit this study to the WDS behavior our system could be trained to incorporate user-defined behaviors across different animals and for classification tasks in general We hope our system is used to reveal unforeseen features of animal behavior The experiments were conducted in accordance with the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals at the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering of the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Sei#2021-003) The experiments were performed with three young rats aged 4–5 weeks and 104.0−152.5 g (Japan SLC Inc. There were eight to 10 days of adaptation before the experiment and temperature (23 + 1°C) were regulated We administered 0.05% KA (5 mg/kg) intraperitoneally after anesthesia (2.5% isoflurane) using the repeated low-dose protocol (Hellier et al., 1998) The animals were recorded for 1 h immediately after the third KA injection The angle and position of the cameras changed slightly between experiments as the cameras were mounted and dismounted between the different experiments All the cameras were set to a resolution of 1080p at 30 fps The GoPro HERO8 contains three digital lenses; we used the wide digital lens The videos were synchronized using Apple Final Cut Pro Multicam editing workflow The proposed study was conducted using the cloud service Google Colab with a Tesla V100-SXM2−16GB GPU graphics card and an Intel (R) Xeon (R) CPU @ 2.20 GHz hardware configuration Top: the rat being depicted from different perspectives Left bottom: the open source LMT acrylic enclosure Bottom right: GoPro camera attached by a suction cup mount The dataset for machine learning was created using three 1 h recordings after the third KA injection Two recordings were used for the training dataset Four cameras were used in the first recording and three in the second One experiment recorded using three cameras was used for the validation dataset In the three experiments used for this study and 49 WDS events during the hour of high WDS activity after KA administration The duration mean is 0.33 s with a standard deviation of 0.11 s Time-lapse sample frame sequence of WDS behavior recorded in this study (t = 0 s previous to the start WDS behavior This behavior is evocative of the movement seen in dogs For each WDS event, the frames corresponding to that event are annotated as wet-dog shake (WDS); otherwise, the frames are annotated as no wet-dog shake (NWDS). Figure 3A depicts the event annotations in a 2 min sample with the horizontal axis corresponding to time and a spike representing a WDS event There are three annotation types: (A) the rat behavior is labeled at each timestamp (C) cropped image and its corresponding behavior class label We used the cloud services Roboflow and Labelbox for annotating the images Initially, we labeled 744 frames, 672 for training and 72 for validation. The label includes the WDS event annotation and the ROI. The dataset is balanced, as we selected a similar number of images for each class (WDS and NWDS). Although not necessary for object localization, we added frames where the network failed in the classification task. The final dataset contains 1.5 k images for training. Figure 3B illustrates two example annotations for object localization one showing WDS behavior and another NWDS behavior For our framework, we use three networks, as illustrated in Figure 4. The first network NN1, is for object localization, the second network NN2, is for image classification and the third network NN3, is to predict the final score from a feature map that encodes the multiple views as well as time. We use TensorFlow (Abadi et al., 2016) on the Google Colab platform which allows running everything on the cloud if a web browser is available An overview of the method used and the different stages NN1 object localization; NN2 image classification; NN3 predicts the final score from a feature map encoding time and the multi-views Image classification is described as assigning the label from k categories to the image x Here we train a CNN for image classification; two classes are predicted, WDS and NWDS behavior. We use the WDS classification dataset previously described. As the backbone of the classifier, we use MobileNetV2 (Sandler et al., 2018) Employing a separate classifier allows using a higher picture resolution to make predictions as the cropped image is created directly from the image with the original resolution were xV represents a set of images according to the number of views nV Our method uses a score fusion multi-view image classification algorithm. Previous multi-view classification systems that use score fusion employ an aggregation function to predict the final label (Seeland and Mäder, 2021) that predicts the final score; additionally NN2 generates predictions of XV from t−n…t + n as follows: The output of NN2 is a vector of class scores, as illustrated in Figure 5 This approach allows NN3 to use multi-view-temporal information only NN3 needs to be trained if we want to adapt to a new environment Multi-view integration and time series analysis framework NN2 analyses all frames from t–15 to t15 from all camera angles to create a vector map from class scores NN3 generates the final prediction from the vector map The NN3 model architecture as illustrated in Figure 6 begins with an input layer followed by a Conv2D layer with 30 filters and a kernel size of (3 The output is flattened and passed through a Dense layer with 20 units and ReLU activation Batch Normalization and Dropout layers are employed to improve generalization a Dense output layer with 2 units with softmax activation provides classification probabilities for the input data To further refine and eliminate gaps in the results obtained from the network we utilize one median and one minimum filter along with Batch Normalization and Dropout layers The dataset for object detection contains 1572 images the network achieves an average Intersection over Union (IoU) of 0.98 meaning the network can correctly localize the animal in the image The network we use for object localization also produces a classification score; in the validation dataset the precision and recall achieved are 0.79 and 0.52 These results are not enough for our purposes considering that the dataset used for validation is balanced which is not the case in the practical application this network is only used to predict the ROI There are two possible reasons for the low performance in the classification task The first is the low resolution of the cropped area used to predict the class and the second is that the network may need more training data The dataset for image classification consists of 25,549 pictures. For training, 24,920 images are used for training and 629 for validation. The network achieves 92% accuracy in the validation set. Although 92% seems high, in practice, 8% error produces numerous false positives; this is especially problematic as the WDS behavior occupies only 0.38% of the time in our experiments. This point is illustrated in Figure 7 showing the per-frame predictions across the different cameras where many false positives are detected Although image classification has been used successfully in video classification as we only have a few frames to determine the behavior and the network needs to detect the start and the end of the WDS behavior So only using image classification alone is not enough Raw classification prediction in a 2 min video sample The image classification results in Table 1 show the correlation between the predictions in different cameras and the ground truth from a 2 min video sample The camera with the highest score is obtained by the GoPro8 (Pearson’s r = 0.81) Correlation analysis for comparison between different cameras and human labeling Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for one We compare results using different camera configurations to demonstrate whether using multiple views provides performance benefits over using a single view. Table 2 shows the comparison results We observe that precision is high across all camera configurations while recall improves when using more views This confirms the benefits from using additional views Comparison of WDS recall and precision metrics with three different camera configurations in the 1 h validation recording the results are counted on a per WDS event basis where all camera configurations exhibit great precision and recall rises as the number of cameras grow The final prediction of the WDS behavior in a 2 min video sample with different camera configurations In this section, the failure cases are discussed. Upon careful inspection a total of four false positives were observed during the 1 h validation experiment. Figure 10 illustrates these four failure cases The false positives (four in total) during the 1 h validation experiment where the rat exhibits rearing behavior (two cases) and walking behavior (two cases) The false positives in rearing behavior may be attributed to the occasional occurrence of elevation of the forelimb during WDS behavior, which can resemble rearing to some extent as illustrated in Figure 2 To ensure that the model does not consistently confuse rearing behavior with WDS the first 10 min of the 1 h validation experiment were examined Seven instances of rearing behavior were identified none of which were detected as false positives This observation indicates that the model is generally capable of distinguishing between rearing behavior and WDS the final prediction by NN3 is successful in filtering out the noise in all view configurations although the WDS probability was high in the raw classification prediction the probability reaches almost 100 percent showing that the system is capable of distinguishing walking from WDS in most cases Time-lapse of the rat at the 15–17 s mark displaying the rat’s walking behavior a clear pattern could be identified to explain the misclassifications Further investigation and potential refinements to the model may be required to address these instances and improve overall performance The human decision-making process frequently depends on the utilization of visual information from a variety of angles This has inspired the development of machine learning systems that take advantage of multiple views for activity recognition progress in this field has yet to trickle into animal behavior classification and adapt it to its unique challenges namely the lack of datasets and the variety of animals across different species used for experiments we develop a multi-view animal behavior classification system designed to deal with the major challenges unique to animals Separating the object localization task allows training with few labeled data makes it independent to a specific behavior detection task and avoids degrading the image resolution for classification the system can be easily adapted to be used with different amounts of cameras and/or for new environments by only fine-tuning the third network NN3 The system is designed to be easily adapted and used with different animals and other classification tasks while training with little data our system achieved 0.91 precision and 0.86 recall despite the validation 1 h experiment being recorded on a different date and slightly different camera positioning as the cameras were dismounted between the experiments Wet-dog shake behavior can be found in various disease models and as a spontaneous behavior (Wei, 1973; Suemaru et al., 2001; Dickerson et al., 2012; Vuralli et al., 2019). The dataset collected in this work only includes the WDS behavior after the KA treatment of rats (Lévesque and Avoli, 2013) Our method should work with other rat disease models where WDS is present as we could not find studies that suggest WDS locomotion differences between disease models Our system could be adapted to be used for other subjects and other classification tasks, including other animals and behaviors. For example, our framework could be used for pure classification tasks. Multi-view image classification is already used for quality control in malting barley (Dolata et al., 2017) we could use all the frames from the time barley enters the camera field of view until it is no longer visible while being transported in the conveyor belt so discerning the details of self-grooming behavior would be difficult our system could be trained with a better angle view or views that capture self-grooming details and classify each of the five movements involved in self-grooming In our study, we observed that the choice of camera plays a role in the classification performance. As seen in Table 1 the GoPro cameras exhibit higher correlations with human labeling. It appears that although the videos were recorded with the same resolution, the GoPro cameras provide higher image quality compared to the camcorder. In Figure 10 the top right image was captured using the camcorder while the other images were taken with GoPro cameras One of the novel aspects of this work is the use of GoPro cameras in behavioral studies the GoPro cameras were mounted on the acrylic panel using a suction cup mount which allowed for close and adjustable positioning to the subject the camcorder was positioned on a tripod farther away from the subject Future research could explore the impact of camera selection on classification performance in more detail Our system integrates multi-view classification and video classification We offer a novel approach to encode the multiple views and time using a CNN The system does not rely on feature engineering; it uses object localization and image classification networks as its base offering great flexibility and making it easy to adapt to other behaviors and animals or any classification task Our findings demonstrate the significance of observing animal behavior events from different perspectives With the increase in scientists using behaviors in the analysis of disease models of animals (Arai et al., 2021, 2022; Arakawa, 2021; Matsumoto et al., 2022) there is a need for automated video analysis systems This research presents the first system for automatically classifying WDS behavior in rats a behavior relevant to the study of numerous animal disease models we also provide the first wet-dog shake dataset containing more than 10 h of video a novel non-human multi-view dataset for activity recognition with a practical application The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors This animal study was reviewed and approved by the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering of the Kyushu Institute of Technology in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Sei#2021-003) HA carried out the KA injection and recording and reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript This work was supported by the Mexico National Council of Science and Technology CONACYT and also supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers: 16H06534 and 20K20838) The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1148549/full#supplementary-material Abadi, M., Agarwal, A., Barham, P., Brevdo, E., Chen, Z., Citro, C., et al. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Salvador Blanco Negrete, bmVncmV0ZS5ibGFuY283NzFAbWFpbC5reXV0ZWNoLmpw; Hirofumi Arai, YXJhaS5oaXJvZnVtaTU0NUBtYWlsLmt5dXRlY2guanA=; Tomohiro Shibata, dG9tQGJyYWluLmt5dXRlY2guanA= †These authors have contributed equally to this work Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Negrete worked on both the communications and editorial sides of the brand enabling him to witness the ins and outs of creating and communicating some of the most innovative and culture-shifting products in the world first-hand ShareSaveBusinessMediaFearless: How One Couple Launched The Largest Independent, Hispanic-Owned U.S. Advertising AgencyByCourt Stroud Court Stroud writes and teaches about media and entertainment.Follow AuthorNov 20 01:36pm ESTShareSaveThis article is more than 5 years old.Cathy and Alex Lopez Negrete launched their Houston-based advertising agency in 1985 Cathy Lopez Negrete came home to discover the water had been turned off due to lack of payment Alex Lopez Negrete was leaving for an important business meeting when his car was repossessed A week like this one might have derailed many budding entrepreneurs. For the co-founders of Lopez Negrete Communications these tribulations in 1989 were mere bumps on the highway to success The firm has grown into the nation’s largest independent Hispanic-owned and operated full-service advertising and marketing agency It all began when Cathy and Alex met at a record store in Houston the Lopez Negretes talk about overcoming tough times at the start of the business This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity He’d worked for newspapers and radio stations Alex: It was when the oil bust hit Houston so the city was in terrible economic shape We were running a pretty lean family operation already I was running their marketing and ads—even doing some selling for them and training their salespeople I was doing translations for Shell [Oil] and voiceovers for other clients And you started doing ads for the Houston Rockets Alex: Sports accounts are never big accounts but they’re very visible accounts the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Houston by Bill Fogarty and Rich Klein who had Fogarty & Klein at the time They were looking for a Hispanic subcontractor on the pitch They didn't get the business but Bill picked up the phone and called Jim Hine who was running Ogilvy & Mather Houston at the time if you guys don't have a Hispanic partner They're really bright." We had the Metro account for seven years What's the toughest day you remember after launching the company an “I-don't-think-we're-going-to-make-it” day Cathy: I'll never forget my worst day My son Patrick was a baby and had some kind of fever They turned the water off at the house because we hadn't paid the water bill grabbed some pliers and threw the cover off the water thing in front of all my neighbors This is the day that things are going to change." Then Alex had his car repossessed Alex: I was going to a new account pitch and had my portfolio I opened the door and there's the repo man "I'm here to take your car." I gave him my car keys ever think of paying ourselves before we would pay our staff We always came last—that's the way it should be I'm never going to turn my own water on again.” What was the secret to your company’s survival Alex: The secret is something Cathy already mentioned: fearlessness We needed to build this little thing that we had created knocking on a small door is the same thing so why not get a “no” from a big one—or a “yes” from a big one The beginning of conversations with every clients was "How's business?" With Metro "How's ridership?" “Among Latinos it's terrible.” “Well let's begin to figure out why and what can we do about it.” Our focus on our clients' success and how they do business as well as our own fearlessness are two key ingredients the love for our community and the love for our clients Cathy: It makes a big difference how you connect Do you want to hire somebody that's kind of bitchy but has good clients Or do you want to hire somebody you want to talk to everyday Personality and human touches are such an important thing in life Alex: In 1992 when we pitched NationsBank [now Bank of America] we were up against [leading Hispanic ad agency at the time] Sosa and all the biggies We were by far the smallest shop invited to pitch they had this weird thing in the RFP [request for proposal] "The goal is for NationsBank to become the financial institution of choice for Latinos within one year." I picked up the phone and said but what you're asking to be achieved in one year can't We'll be happy to give you a five-year plan but any agency that's telling you this can be done in a year is lying." Then two: The NationsBank team came to Houston and to our little house over on Nottingham "We just walked in and you guys were irresistible We knew we were going to be great partners." And they gave us the business FL - APRIL 27: Alex Lopez Negrete attend the Billboard Latin Music Conference and .. More Awards - day 1 at the Latin Music Marketing Award at Ritz-Carlton Hotel on April 27 What did you first know you were going to survive Alex: You know how they said in the Apollo 11 movie "Failure is not an option." We tore off any kind of rear-view mirror Cathy: You have to be that way as an entrepreneur There's never going to be a moment where you say I can rest now because we've made it." We don't feel that way today You always need to keep moving in order to keep your business alive There's nothing bad enough in business that can make your whole day rotten I sit in my office and can see my staff because we have an atrium It makes me so happy we've been able to help people’s lives The babies we've made happen because of people meeting here All the fun and laughter and everything you can attribute to Alex and me starting this business out of the entryway in our townhouse It just makes me so happy that Alex and I have been able to touch people's lives—and we still do every day I have a very blessed life all the way around Have we been able to live a better life because of the agency it’s really about being able to smile and laugh Alex: We're in the business of making other people successful we've made good things happen for them Cathy: It seems like our job is to fight for the Hispanic consumers because they never quite get enough of their share It makes me happy to see we can create advertising and talk to Latinos the way they should be talked to Some of our dearest friends changed their names from Hispanic names to English-sounding ones because they were embarrassed to even be speaking Spanish It's been a really cool journey to see Latinos more accepted Cathy: But it's so much better than it was in the past Alex: The past few years have been difficult with 30 years of census and directional information it should be “Of course Hispanics should get 20% of the budget!” You're both life mates and business partners Cathy: We've always been respectful of each other's parts of the agencies Alex is in charge of the marketing and the creative I'm on the other side with the HR and the money I'm the product and the relationships Alex: For the entrepreneurs: Do what you love Make sure that you have a differentiation that makes you unique Culture and language are extraordinary differentiators Make sure that you bring your culture and all of yourself to the table Latinos would only bring a part of themselves to the table America is ready for us to take center stage Cathy: The key is you have to be the kind of person that when you wake up every day you have to leave the fear behind and just know that if you do something every day to make your dreams happen Alex: A lot of entrepreneurs wait too long to take their jump because they try to find that perfect moment or have that perfect plan it’s still nice for our consumers to see themselves represented on TV in a respectful way Alex: That we made a difference in a lot of people's lives That we created something that was lasting that we made a difference in how America looks at Latinos ShareSaveThis article is more than 4 years old.Daniel Negrete and Matthew Bruch took big risks to make a documentary about the A-10 Warthog.An A-10 in Afghanistan in 2009 Air Force made an announcement that shocked many airmen The service said it would retire the A-10 Warthog attack planes that had flown top cover for American and allied ground troops tough construction and powerful 30-millimeter gun was designed to fly low and slow and shoot up enemy tanks and soldiers—all while taking a beating A-10s lobbed missiles at Iraqi vehicles during the 1991 Gulf War destroying thousands of them and helping to clear a path for advancing allied tanks When the U.S.-led coalition stormed across the border into Iraq in 2003 firing their missiles and guns to take out Iraqi defenses One A-10 sucked up so much Iraqi gunfire over Baghdad that its hydraulics failed Kim Campbell had to wrestle the plane back to base using only manual controls Warthogs also covered coalition troops in Afghanistan the A-10s didn’t even need to fire a shot to send insurgents running the whine of their twin engines echoing off the mountains the mere threat of violence sufficient to end a fight Special Forces—the men and women on the front line—love the A-10 and the Air Force’s thousands of A-10 pilots and maintainers were justifiably pissed when the Air Force announced the Warthog’s impending retirement which Congressional Republicans had foisted on President Barack Obama as “payment” for lifting the United States’ debt ceiling mandated automatic budget cuts for federal agencies The Air Force took a $10 billion hit from its roughly $150 billion budget Eliminating all 300 A-10s would save $4 billion over five years and billions of dollars more over 20 years F-16s and other planes could fill in for the purpose-built Warthogs “We came very clearly with the conclusion that of all those horrible options the least operationally impactful was to divest the A-10," then-Air Force chief of staff Gen But the Warthog pilots of the 303rd Fighter Squadron disagreed The Missouri-based squadron was in Afghanistan when the Air Force took its A-10-retirement plan to Congress in the spring of 2014 21-minute mini-documentary about Missouri A-10 fliers their tough-as-Hell airplane and the dirty Grunts in the Sky celebrated the A-10—and defended the plane and its operators when they were most vulnerable So much so that they actively suppressed the video A version that appeared online in September 2015 racked up millions of views contributing to a backlash from Congress and the general public that ultimately saved the A-10 came at a high cost to one of the airmen who planned cheat and even risk his life to produce the documentary His teammate Matthew Bruch described having different motivations In co-creating Grunts in the Sky on the 303rd Fighter Squadron’s behalf It’s fair to say the documentary contributed to Negrete’s unhappy departure from the Air Force two years later Bruch by contrast said he suffered no consequences Negrete in mid-2020 finally was ready to talk What follows is a short history of a short documentary about a very important warplane During his enlistment he was stationed in Japan and North Carolina After four years he left the Marines and joined the Air Force Reserve the flying branch allowed Negrete to stick to his specialty The service assigned him to a combat camera squadron in Charleston angular young man arrived in Charleston in 2012 He put in an application for active duty … and got it The Charleston-based 1st Combat Camera Squadron at the time maintained a detachment supporting the war in Afghanistan In the spring of 2014 Negrete finally got his war orders The Air Force was sending him and Bruch to Al Udeid air base Negrete and Bruch would be able to shoot video and photos of Air Force warplanes supporting the troops in Afghanistan Negrete said he found Al Udeid disappointing “It was really slow as far as the assignments and missions going on,” Negrete said “The war was really dragging down in Afghanistan by that point.” The two cameramen tagged along on aerial-refueling missions The tankers refueled A-10s from the 303rd Fighter Squadron as the stubby planes lingered over Afghanistan their pilots waiting for panicked radio calls from “troops in contact.” Bruch would get on the intercom with the Hawg fliers Get their email addresses so he could send them photos at their temporary base at Bagram airfield near Kabul That’s where Bruch got the idea to report on A-10s The 303rd Fighter Squadron’s April-to-October deployment very well could be the last ever for the Warthog closing out 37 years of service for the type “This is the type of historical documentation that I felt was my duty to gather even if for internal use only,” Bruch said The 303rd Fighter Squadron offered to host the airmen Negrete said he sensed the Missouri Hawg pilots were desperate to tell a story that might help to stop the A-10’s retirement “They were eager to get publicity,” Negrete said But Negrete said he suspected the Air Force would never endorse coverage celebrating the A-10 Not when the service was trying to convince Congress that giving up the rugged tank-killers was no big deal A directive “came down from somewhere up top that there were to be no new stories about the A-10 because we don’t want the public getting jazzed about the A-10,” Negrete said So Negrete worked up what he described as a ruse He said he told his bosses he and Bruch wanted to tell the tale of the last A-10 deployment Not because the Warthog was especially important “We were able to get orders to Bagram to film,” Negrete said “The team’s original assignment was to document the end of close air support of NATO forces when the alliance’s ground combat operations ceased in 2014,” an official who was close to the project said on condition of anonymity Negrete and Bruch arrived at the air base ringed by mountains They put us in billeting next to their own pilots … nice accommodations.”  Their hosts showed them around the squadron introduced them to everyone and gave them permission to talk to anyone—and film anything Negrete and Bruch’s job was to shoot photos and video of the squadron at work write print stories and feed all of that material to the Air Force public-affairs apparatus “They wanted our standard multimedia packages for public release,” Bruch said “was something I conceived and began editing on the side.” At this early stage A colonel with the Bagram air wing “wanted to know why there were two combat-camera men on his base filming A-10s.” Negrete said he met with the colonel at the damp Soviet-era air-traffic-control tower that doubled as Bagram’s headquarters The 303rd Fighter Squadron set aside a whole room in their corner of Bagram for Bruch and Negrete Bruch started storyboarding their documentary “How are we going to drive this point home that this aircraft should not be retired?” Negrete said Negrete described himself as “young and rebellious.” Negrete and Bruch shot what footage they could at Bagram Interviews with members of the 303rd Fighter Squadron They fitted pilots with GoPro cameras and taught them how to use the tough little devices footage—whether it was gathered second-hand or with GoPro footage—from the grunts,” Negrete said The Warthog squadron arranged for the airmen to fly to Ghazni and embed with a unit of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division “was all about this project,” Negrete said “He was all about Air Force guys shooting video about how the A-10 should not be retired.”  Negrete joined the paratroopers on several “dismounted” missions “I was specifically given an order by a higher-ranking individual not to go on patrols,” Bruch said “When I asked for a reason why at the time Negrete was on one mission where an A-10 flew low overhead depicting an A-10 firing its cannon at insurgents But there was an infantryman who had recorded a gun-run on his own device “We got everything we needed out of Ghazni,” Negrete said the Air Force still was “in the dark,” Negrete said He and Bruch had crisscrossed Bagram and Ghazni They had spoken to scores of airmen and soldiers and shot enough footage—including combat footage—for a 21-minute documentary Negrete said they did it without anyone in their chain of command realizing what Negrete said were his The official who was close to the project objected to that characterization “There’s a simpler explanation than a complex conspiracy that explains how that project morphed in execution,” the official said “The projected retirement of the A-10 was very much in the news,” the official added “The people interviewed felt strongly about that and they focused their comments on the airplane The combat camera team felt obliged to include those remarks in a rough cut of the video the people interviewed outranked them and the squadron had been extremely supportive of the project.” Morale at the 303rd Fighter Squadron was pretty low saving lives — all while Air Force brass were stomping around Washington talking about the Warthog as though it were disposable Negrete said they cheered up when he and Bruch showed them a rough cut of the documentary “It blew their minds.” While A-10 pilots routinely heard the voices of the ground troops they supported “For the most part they don’t know the faces,” Negrete said Those faces are all over Grunts in the Sky All saying different versions of the same thing “Its mere presence alone is enough to keep the enemy at bay,” Banez explains in one interview Seeing the Hawg pilots’ reactions to the rough cut of the documentary “brought a lot of satisfaction to me and Matt,” Negrete said Negrete and Bruch flew back to Al Udeid to put some polish on Grunts in the Sky Mixing their daily allowance of three shots of liquor apiece into coffee A week late they had something to show their boss Bruch had top billing as producer and editor Negrete was billed as co-editor and videographer He sent the documentary up his chain of command Sholtis seemed to realize he was going to get some push-back from senior officers running interference for the Air Force’s effort to retire the A-10 it remains a powerful piece of work about the aircraft's mission and the bond between air and ground forces that it has helped cement,” Sholtis added which we plan to do sometime in early October after the team returns from their current assignment it could be picked up as part of the argument for preserving the A-10.”  “I'd appreciate you reviewing it within the next couple weeks and let me know if you have any concerns,” Sholtis concluded The opposition apparently was strongest in the office of Welsh Members of the 303rd Fighter Squadron already had other cuts of the documentary Bruch said that in Air Force public affairs it’s standard practice to show a work-in-progress to the subjects of the work “We had no issue handing out copies to anyone who helped us with the project and requested a copy for themselves.” Negrete said he slipped his file—the more-polished cut of the movie—to an officer from the squadron knowing the documentary soon would leak to the public “Are you sure?” the officer asked when he realized what Negrete had given him A year later in September 2015, someone in the A-10 community sent an early version of Grunts in the Sky to former Air Force officer Tony Carr Negrete said his superiors asked him if he knew how Grunts in Sky leaked Bruch said neither he nor Negrete experienced any retaliation “It was quite clear to everyone that the guys involved in this documentary’s creation were just doing their jobs and had no reason to act outside the confines of Air Force directives.” The official who was close to the project challenged the idea that Negrete even needed to pass along a copy of the documentary “The team provided review copies of the rough cut to all involved which was standard practice,” the official said someone was upset and released a copy they had retained Same outcome with no one needing to be a master of subterfuge.” After Welsh repeatedly downplayed the A-10’s capabilities "We have X amount of people and X amount of dollars," Welsh complained "You have X amount of missions and the A-10 is carrying out those missions Warthogs continued flying over Afghanistan and also redeployed to Iraq to support U.S and allied ground forces battling Islamic State Wilson pushed the service to spend billions of dollars replacing worn-out wings on hundreds of Warthogs in theory allowing the type to keep flying into the 2030s A year later the Air Force finally officially released Grunts in the Sky By then leaked versions of the documentary had been in circulation for three years The other armed services—not to mention Congress and the public—would never let the flying branch cut all the A-10s When the Air Force again proposed to retire some A-10s as part of the service’s budget proposal for 2021 it wisely asked to cut just 42 of the roughly 280 planes in the inventory whether Congress would approve the retirements Negrete and Bruch downplayed their role in the A-10’s survival “I would be thrilled to know that top decision-makers saw the documentary and it influenced their decision on the matter,” Bruch said “I think everyone is looking for that type of meaning in their work aside from some hearsay from the A-10 community I’ve seen no real evidence to support the claim that the video helped prevent the A-10 from being retired.” Disillusioned and suffering from post-traumatic stress Enlisted in the North Carolina Army National Guard—his third military branch in a decade Negrete said he’s better now. As a 33-year-old, he looks back on the production of Grunts in the Sky with wonder “It’s hard to say what my rationale was as a younger man,” he said This story has been updated with comments from Bruch and an official who was close to the documentary project as well as to clarify Bruch and Negrete’s respective claims regarding their roles in the production .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Virginia N. Sherry | sherry@siadvance.comSTATEN ISLAND -- When Annadale resident Cesar Negrete drives his immaculate 1978 Lincoln Continental Town Coupe on local roads The 19-foot-long Triple Black car prompts appreciative honks thumbs up and admiring glances everywhere it travels Some fans have propositioned Negrete to sell the car to them but he has politely declined all offers "It's not for sale," he said about the 1978 classic Men of a certain age have asked him if they can photograph their wives in front of the car "My girlfriend loves your car!" one 20-something called out to Negrete recently "It's just amazing," he commented about the reactions "I just bought it because I wanted one It's still my favorite all-time car," Negrete said "I owned an identical one about 32 years ago "I searched and searched for this Lincoln for years on the Internet and finally found it in a barn in Wisconsin," said Negrete who was born and raised in Chicago and made Staten Island his home in 1991 paying the negotiated price and shipping the car to Staten Island and "an 8-track player that still works," Negrete said like it floats and you're on a mattress," he added "And this was the last year with the 460 engine." – in Tennessee – that sells the 1.6-inch whitewall tires for this car," he noted but I had new ones shipped to Staten Island," he said explaining his passion for meticulous upkeep of the vehicle The classic Lincoln was featured on the set of the television series "Gotham" a few months ago Click here for photos of other vintage cars from a 1924 Ford and 1936 Packard to a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am And click here to see the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Seville that we found parked on a New Brighton street earlier this month Do you own a vintage car you'd like to brag about If so, contact this reporter by email (sherry@siadvance.com) or phone (718-816-3987) Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices \n m_gallery = \"1978_lincoln_continental_turns\";\n m_gallery_id = \"16654637\";\n m_gallery_title = \"1978 Lincoln Continental turns heads\";\n m_gallery_blog_id = \"4499\";\n m_gallery_creation_date = \"Sunday 7:44 AM\";\n m_gallery_permalink = \"http://photos.silive.com/4499/gallery/1978_lincoln_continental_turns/index.html\";\n m_gallery_json = \"https://blog.silive.com/photogallery/4499/16654637.json\";\n m_gallery_pagetype = \"embed\";\n m_gallery_type = \"photo\";\n <\/script>\n Gallery: 1978 Lincoln Continental turns heads 2019Photo: Tiffany Sage / Noa Griffel PhotoSave this storySaveSave this storySave“In August of 2015 I threw a joint birthday party with my friend Sandey Kang at Break Room 86 an ’80s-themed karaoke bar in L.A.’s Koreatown,” says Esther Song and Sandey said she had invited three cute boys to introduce me to but you probably won’t marry him.’ Little did she know that I would But their relationship wasn’t without its hiccups who is now the vice president of VIP public relations and partnerships at Tory Burch Rudy proposed two and a half years after the day we met,” Esther remembers the couple went to Napa Valley on their first trip together “We always say that’s where we fell in love,” Esther explains “During the course of our long-distance relationship we still made time to visit Napa as we viewed it as our special place.” So when Rudy planned a trip there in early December of 2017 it wasn’t out of the ordinary—but Esther’s “spidey senses” were buzzing The two had an established routine in Napa They had their favorite hotel (The Meadowood) and wineries they always visit so the first day went according to routine Rudy organized a sparkling wine tasting at 9:00 a.m. followed by a five-mile hike and a late lunch “The whole time I was thinking: Oh my god I hope he doesn’t do it at this tasting because how will I tell my mom we are drinking at 9:00 a.m Oh my god I hope he doesn’t do it on this hike because I am starting to sweat Oh my god I hope he doesn’t do this at lunch because I just ordered ribs.” Just as Esther was starting to feel ready for a nap Rudy announced that they were going to stop by Ovid it sounded like the best way to end the day,” Esther says Just as the light was beginning to dim at sunset right after he placed the ring on my finger I assumed it was to get some wine to celebrate but he brought out our best friends who had flown there to be with us on our special occasion they toyed with the idea of getting married right there in Napa Valley It was where they’d cemented their relationship and his father used to be the CEO of tourism they decided on a destination wedding there instead Rudy’s dad offered up a myriad of venue suggestions but when he mentioned his friend was the general manager of the Rosewood San Miguel de Allende They knew they didn’t want a traditional wedding though “I was looking at tuxedos or for a simple white pantsuit to wear,” Esther explains and that’s when it all changed.” Just like when Carrie Bradshaw was gifted that custom Vivienne Westwood in the Sex and the City movie “I texted Rudy a photo of me in a traditional dress and he loved it because it was so different from my everyday style That’s when we decided to throw a big Korean Mexican ‘Mexi-rean’ fiesta.” bringing the city's total VC backing well above one billion dollars.  And among the city’s treasure trove of tech game-changers many of them are dedicated to the multi-faceted In response to the demands of the digital age marketing agencies are developing new solutions to help brands put their best foot forward whether it be through influencer-led social campaigns or compelling TV spots While creativity is key to catching the eye of potential customers fast-paced consumer culture warrants the need for innovative digital strategies Luckily for businesses in Texas and across the country Houston hosts many marketing experts eager to see companies succeed Here’s a look at 13 marketing agencies in Houston helping brands secure loyal customers — and retain them.  What they do: Founded by Kristy Sexton, Adcetera is an integrated creative services agency that specializes in a variety of marketing strategies The company’s services include integrated marketing Adcetera’s client base spans a wide range of industries including energy In the Pink and Sara Lee Frozen Bakery.  What they do: Established in 2018, 9thWonder is a global strategic marketing and media company The company offers a diverse range of specialties such as brand positioning 9thWonder operates across seven markets including New York Los Angeles International Airport and New Millennium.  What they do: Lopez Negrete is an independent marketing agency that helps brands reach diverse consumers The agency’s suite of marketing services encompasses social media Lopez Negrete’s past work includes TV spots digital banners and social media campaigns Who they work with: Walmart, United Airlines, McDonald’s What they do: Founded in 2010, Blue Sky Marketing offers strategic marketing services designed for the ever-changing digital space The agency specializes in online strategy and implementation Blue Sky Marketing’s client base spans a variety of sectors including real estate home construction and security surveillance Who they work with: Johnson Development Corp Frank’s Americana Revival and Viridian.  What they do: Established in 1987, Patrick Henry Creative Promotions is a full-service marketing and operations agency that focuses on the design implementation and evaluation of beverage programs The agency offers a variety of services including strategy development Patrick Henry Creative Promotions is dedicated to helping businesses in the hospitality industry increase traffic and drive sales What they do: Founded in 2009, Adhere Creative is a full-service digital marketing agency that works primarily with companies from the industrial Adhere Creative’s aim is to build brand awareness increase qualified sales leads and boost sales Effex Management Solutions and Evolve Air.  What they do: Satori Marketing is a full-service marketing agency that specializes in developing integrated campaigns The agency provides a wide range of services such as trade show and event coordination graphic design and social media management Satori Marketing’s mission is to develop a client-focused mindset to boost clients’ bottom line bolster their brand identity and stimulate business REME Homes and Harbor Bridge Project.  What they do: Established in 2011, Kreadiv & Koo Agency offers marketing and branding strategies specifically for education and purpose-based organizations The agency provides a variety of services including market research Kreadiv & Koo Agency’s aim is to help brands curate fan bases and connect more closely with consumers Who they work with: Texas Southern University North Carolina Central and Albany State University.  What they do: TwinEngine is a marketing agency that helps companies refine their brand strategy The agency offers a wide range of strategic and creative solutions such as core selling proposition TwinEngine offers a variety of products including BrandintheBox which is a brand subscription kit that provides actionable tools and insights designed to help clients effectively grow their brands Who they work with: American Cancer Society Tulane University and First Southern Bank.  What they do: Strike Marketing is a full-service boutique marketing agency The agency offers a variety of marketing services encompassing media placement Working with clients from a wide range of industries Strike Marketing is guided by its mission to help clients achieve their goals by delivering creative media and communications plans Who they work with: RediClinic, Houston Zoo, Legacy Community Health, Omni Hotels & Resorts and Google.  What they do: Founded by Mary Shekari, Versa Creative is a marketing and advertising agency that offers various creative strategies The agency’s suite of services includes brand positioning reputation management and outdoor advertising Versa Creative’s client base spans many industries such as finance Who they work with: Neighbors Emergency Center ZT Corporate and Amazing Lash Studio Dallas.  What they do: Established in 2012, Studio Brand Collective is a marketing agency that specializes in branding strategies The agency provides a broad range of services such as brand collateral design Studio Brand Collective’s mission is to align all brand touch points for clients in order to help them achieve full brand potential What they do: Clayive is a digital marketing agency dedicated to transforming brands through positive digital experiences The agency offers a variety of services including SEM Clayive’s aim is to empower people and brands while helping businesses thrive in the digital era Carnegie Mellon University and Pioneer Mutual Federal Credit Union.  Laura Donaldson is a Newsweek Film and TV Reporter (SEO) She has covered shows such as 'The Bachelorette' Laura joined Newsweek in 2022 and has previously worked at Grazia and OK! She is a graduate of Glasgow Caledonian University You can get in touch with Laura by emailing l.donaldson@newsweek.com either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Viewers of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City are convinced Bravo has cut out scenes of Jen Shah and her co-star Danna Bui-Negrete getting into a dramatic argument A clip of the Bravo stars having a heated debate was teased in the trailer for the third season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (RHOSLC) but during Wednesday evening's season finale who was introduced to viewers as a "friend of a housewife" when RHOSLC returned to screens in September 2022 especially if you want some money on your f****** books." Somebody can then be heard gasping in the background as Shah recoils in shock at what Bui-Negrete said to her Judging by the outfits worn by various cast members, the argument took place at RHOSLC star Heather Gay's book cover reveal party for her upcoming memoir Bad Mormon Other scenes from the event were shown on Wednesday's episode however there was no mention of Shah and Bui-Negrete getting into an argument and the previously-teased footage was not aired Shah was seen getting into an argument with another co-star before later walking away and telling the cameras she didn't want to be filmed it's not clear exactly what their argument was about Bui-Negrete's comments from the trailer are likely in reference to Shah's ongoing legal troubles At the time the scenes were filmed, Shah was awaiting trial for conspiracy to commit wire fraud for her involvement in a telemarketing scheme that targeted vulnerable people She pled guilty at the trial in July 2022 and on Friday she was sentenced to six and a half years in prison During her sentencing, Shah, who shares two sons with husband Sharrieff Shah saying she would "work for the rest of [her] life to make it right." Bravo's decision to not air Shah and Bui-Negrete's argument did not go unnoticed by fans who took to social media to question why the scenes were never shown Taking to Twitter one posted: "The tension between Jen and Danna was building all season then production did Danna so dirty by axing this when it would have been a real big moment for her The tension between Jen and Danna was building all season then production did Danna so dirty by axing this when it would have been a real big moment for her, I don’t get it??🤨 #RHOSLC pic.twitter.com/DN1giQmQ5e Where did Danna's iconic scene of her giving it to Jen go Waaaaait. Where did Danna's iconic scene of her giving it to Jen go? Really? #RHOSLC @BravoTV Jen...the scene that had everyone talking about this season tagging the franchise's producer Andy Cohen I’m sorry @Andy but wtf? You all really cut the scene of Danna vs. Jen…the scene that had everyone talking about this season? You all are so unserious. Just cancel the show then. #RHOSLC As a fourth tweeted: "SLC better have BOMB casting for next season And the editors really cut out Danna yelling at Jen SLC better have BOMB casting for next season. And the editors really cut out Danna yelling at Jen? Such a let down of a season #RHOSLC Newsweek has contacted Bravo and RHOSLC for comment viewers saw some of the cast's reaction to Shah's guilty plea Filming for the season had wrapped prior to Shah's plea but the cameras resumed filming for some of the cast to give their views Gay was seen lunching with Lisa Barlow after traveling to New York to support Shah at her 2022 trial, with both ladies expressing how shocked they were that their friend had pled guilty after professing her innocence for so long. RHOSLC returns next week for its reunion episodes Bui-Negrete and the other cast members will go over the events of the season Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all This desire to free the largest possible landscaped area leads us to bet on overlapping the three new constructions needed. Since the accessibility needs, the surface area and the height of each “unit” are different, the resulting building does not spring from a simple overlapping usage, but from a correct and precise “mixture among pieces”. © Marcos MorillaFrom the point of view of the shape, the ¨mixture among pieces¨ was resolved as a single building, blind on the first floor (assembly hall) and completely transparent on the ground floor (canteen with a beautiful view of the gardens and over the gymnasium, both illuminated by daylight); the gymnasium remains hidden in the basement. © Marcos MorillaIn order to avoid problems related to the phreatic level (very frequent in this area of the city) it was considered to raise the ground floor of the building approximately one meter above the natural ground level. This technical response to a problem became a project strategy, by endowing the whole intervention with a solemnity that would otherwise not exist. © Marcos MorillaThe ground floor –canteen– was designed to be opened and directly connected to the large park through a glass wall; therefore, while pupils are eating they can enjoy the vegetation and the natural daylight. This type of wall ensures the gymnasium, with its double height, to be illuminated during the whole day with natural light. It also allows the activities carried out within the gymnasium to be seen from the ground floor (both internally and externally). © Marcos MorillaOn the contrary, the assembly hall needs to be isolated from the outside and to be focused on what occurs internally. That is why it was designed as a golden box, which levitates over the ground floor and encloses an austere and secretiveness inside. Its morphology responds to functional needs. The stalls inclination is expressed outside by a curved lower profile, which qualifies the canteen area by compressing it once getting into the services area. © Marcos MorillaThe skin of the assembly hall was solved by a golden aluminium mesh that changes its colour depending on the way sunlight falls on it. The design alters its density to let in more or less light and the views, according to each case. A big opening south orientated completes the volume of the main façade; it creates a great window for the previous hall of the assembly hall, opened to the Asturian landscape. it´s a well-rounded building which contrastively integrates into the school complex and that is flexible for future requirements that the client may have You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email never underestimate the people reading skills of a man who sticks ink-filled needles into people's skin for hours Negrete inked Styles' arm with the ship that was eerily similar to that of the dude in Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble' video and he insists that the relationship had no heat or sizzle and that Harry's ship was not any sort of tribute to Swift Negrete told The Daily Star "Harry and Taylor didn’t seem in love at all There wasn't a sparkle in Harry’s eye They were kind and respectful to each other but didn't have stars in their eyes." That's certainly an opinionated and subjective point of view. That's how Negrete perceived the relationship, and he could have been picking up on all sorts of clues. However, Haylor could have been behaving in non-PDA fashion when in public and that's what he was zoning in on. You never know ... but it does make those PR set up rumors ring louder Negrete played tattoo chair psychologist even more Harry wasn’t in love and it wasn’t serious for him they weren’t staring into each other’s eyes Taylor came towards the end of his ship tattoo and sat with him but there was nothing magical going on." He also confirmed that the ship was not an homage to Swift's video and she did not influence what he chose "Harry's ship had nothing to do with the guy in Taylor’s music video he didn’t even know about that," the artist said We showed him a book of paintings of English ships He wanted a realistic looking English ship because he misses home and needs to remind himself that he’s homeward bound ‘We’re always on the road but my heart is at home and I want a ship.'" Negrete didn't just espouse about Haylor He shared what Styles is like while getting inked "Harry’s got tattoo fever now," the L.A.-based artist said He wanted Hebrew lettering and came in with his sister’s name written out he was thrilled and said it was very fitting and the right guy was doing it." He also said that Styles "sits really well" during tattoos Anyone who has a tattoo knows that they are agonizingly painful He’s got a lot on the inside of his arm while the ribs are really painful and he’s got a lot there." "You can never have too many tattoos and I think Harry feels the same way I think he was pretty happy with that one." isn't reading the Directioner chatter and media musings about Styles' random Watch the One Direction 'Kiss You' Video Negrete inked Styles' arm with the ship that was eerily similar to that of the dude in Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble' video and he insists that the relationship had no heat or sizzle Negrete told The Daily Star That's certainly an opinionated and subjective point of view. That's how Negrete perceived the relationship, and he could have been picking up on all sorts of clues. However, Haylor could have been behaving in non-PDA fashion when in public and that's what he was zoning in on. You never know ... but it does make those PR set up rumors ring louder