Guest Post – Page 553 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

UT Austin Anthropologists Confirm Link Between Cranial Anatomy and Two-Legged Walking

By Guest PostOctober 3, 2013Scienceafrican apes, anatomist raymond dart, anthropology researcher, austin, australopithecus africanus, bipedal, bipedal fossil species, bipedal mammals, bipedal postures, brain size, characteristic, chimpanzees, chris kirk, difference, direct link, eastern gray kangaroo, egyptian jerboa, foramen magnum, four legged postures, gabrielle russo, human ancestor, human evolution, sahelanthropus tchadensis, skull, spinal cord, university of texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Anthropology researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have confirmed a direct link between upright two-legged (bipedal) walking and the position of the foramen magnum, a hole in the base of the skull that transmits the spinal cord.

The study, published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, confirms a controversial finding made by anatomist Raymond Dart, who discovered the first known two-legged walking (bipedal) human ancestor, Australopithecus africanus. Since Dart’s discovery in 1925, physical anthropologists have continued to debate whether this feature of the cranial base can serve as a direct link to bipedal fossil species. (more…)

Legacy Soil Pollution: Higher lead levels may lie just below surface

By Guest PostOctober 3, 2013Environmentanalysis of data, andrea burdon, childhood lead poisoning, concentration, environmental contamination, higher lead concentration, kim boekelheide, lead contamination, lead exposure, lead hazard, lead level, legacy soil pollution, marcella thompson, neurobehavioral, neurodevelopmental consequence, old water tower, ridoh, site, site 19, southern rhode island, surface, westerly

A study of data from hundreds of soil samples taken around six old water tower sites in southern Rhode Island finds that even when lead levels on the surface are low, concentrations can sometimes be greater at depths down to a foot. The findings inform efforts to assess the effect of lead paint from old water towers on surrounding properties.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A newly published analysis of data from hundreds of soil samples from 31 properties around southern Rhode Island finds that the lead concentration in soil at the surface is not always a reliable indicator of the contamination a foot deeper. The study, led by Brown University Superfund Research Program researchers at the request of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), informs ongoing efforts to assess the impact of the state’s legacy of lead-painted water towers. (more…)

Weltklimarat IPCC – Report zum Zustand des Weltklimas

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2013Environmentar5, arktis, botschaft, climate change, deutschland, energiepolitik, klima, klimaforscher, klimawandel, kohlenstoffdioxid, matthias meissner, meeresschutzexperte, regine guenther, stephan lutter, stockholm, weltklimarat ipcc, weltklimas, wwf

Rekordtemperaturen und Überschwemmungen – Superlative in immer kürzeren Intervallen. Und der Mensch hat das zum größten Teil selbst zu verantworten.

Die Fakten sprechen eine deutliche Sprache: Die Erde erwärmt sich weiterhin in einem rasanten Tempo und die Meeresspiegel steigen stärker an als bisher prognostiziert. Das besagt der jüngste Report des sogenannten Zwischenstaatlichen Ausschusses für Klimaänderungen (IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), der am Freitag, dem 27. September in Stockholm veröffentlicht wurde. (more…)

Scaling Up Personalized Query Results for Next Generation of Search Engines

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2013Technology8gb machine, ambient query context, frequent click pattern, haizhou fu, hyeongsik kim, jaguar speed, jaguar supercomputer, kemafor anyanwu, north Carolina, personalized search results, search engine, state university

North Carolina State University researchers have developed a way for search engines to provide users with more accurate, personalized search results. The challenge in the past has been how to scale this approach up so that it doesn’t consume massive computer resources. Now the researchers have devised a technique for implementing personalized searches that is more than 100 times more efficient than previous approaches.

At issue is how search engines handle complex or confusing queries. For example, if a user is searching for faculty members who do research on financial informatics, that user wants a list of relevant webpages from faculty, not the pages of graduate students mentioning faculty or news stories that use those terms. That’s a complex search. (more…)

Researcher controls colleague’s motions in 1st human brain-to-brain interface

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2013Sciencealex dadgar, andrea stocco, brain computer interface, brain interfacing, bryan djunaedi, chantel prat, dev sarma, duke university, eeg, electrodes, electroencephalography, electroencephalography machine, harvard researchers, joseph wu, magnetic stimulation, matthew bryan, rajesh rao, skype connection, Technology, transcranial magnetic stimulation, university of washington, video game, vulcan mind meld

University of Washington researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of a fellow researcher.

Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, Rajesh Rao sent a brain signal to Andrea Stocco on the other side of the UW campus, causing Stocco’s finger to move on a keyboard. (more…)

Battling brain drain: Training doctors in Ethiopia

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2013Healthafrican nations, brain drain, ethiopia, ethiopian doctors, health care crisis, medical talent

ANN ARBOR — Brain drain is so severe in Ethiopia that the nation’s health minister has complained there are more Ethiopian doctors in Chicago than in his own country. (more…)

India’s Daily Readership of Online News and Information Jumps 34 Percent in the Past Year

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2013Technologycomscore mmx service, daily readership, India, india today group, indian express group, information, jagran sites, navbharat times, ndtv, news publishers, oneindia, online news, punjabkesari

Times of India Leads Online News Ranking, While Also Generating Significant Traffic from Abroad

New Delhi, 1 October 2013 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report highlighting online news readership in India based on data from its comScore MMX service. The report showed that there has been significant growth in daily readership of news and information content in the past year, with an increase of 34 percent to 9.4 million average daily visitors to the category. (more…)

Establishing World-Class Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring in Okinawa

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2013Environmentacoustic doppler current, amber york, carbon, coral reef ecosystem, diversity, endemic species, energy, environmental impact, glenn mcdonnald, indian ocean, Japan, liquid jungle lab, ljl, monitoring, motobu peninsula, ocean circulation, oceancube, oist, okinawa, okinawa institute, oshima cubes, pacific, panamanian isthmus, pattern, plankton, profiler, scott gallager, whoi

Enduring two typhoons over a three-week period in August, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers, working in partnership with the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), have successfully deployed an OceanCube Observatory System in waters off Motobu Peninsula, Japan — a biodiversity hotspot that is home to ecologically significant coral reefs. The observatory system enables real-time monitoring of temperature, salinity, and other chemical, biological and physical data critical to understanding the health of and changes in the coral reef ecosystem.

Okinawa is situated at the northernmost end of the border between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. The coral reefs there support the highest diversity of endemic species, plants and animals in the world. These coral reefs are also economically valuable, generating as much as 3 trillion yen ($30 billion) globally, and 250 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in Japan. (more…)

Author Archives: Guest Post