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Microsoft introduces the 4Afrika Scholarship program

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2013Education, Technology4afrika scholarship program, africa, african students, botswana, clinton global initiative, english, international youth day, Microsoft, microsoft 4afrika, microsoft innovation centers, new york university, patrick onwumere, people, Tanzania, tunisia, uganda, united nations, university, young african minds

Part of the 4Afrika Initiative, the program will offer mentorship, training, university-level education and employment opportunities to aspiring African youth.

LAGOS, Nigeria — Aug. 12, 2013 — In recognition of International Youth Day, Microsoft Corp. Monday introduced the 4Afrika Scholarship program, as part of its 4Afrika Initiative, through which it will provide mentorship, leadership and technical training, certification, university-level education, and employment opportunities for promising African students. Mentorship will be provided by Microsoft employees from around the world, and employment opportunities will include internships and both part-time and full-time jobs within Microsoft, as well as with the company’s more than 10,000 partners across Africa.

Through the company’s 4Afrika Initiative and YouthSpark program, Microsoft has committed to helping millions of Africans get critical skills for entrepreneurship and employability. The 4Afrika Scholarship program is one way the company intends to meet that goal, by helping ensure that promising youth have access to the education, resources and skills they need to succeed, regardless of their financial situations. To help redress gender disparity in higher education in Africa, the company is actively encouraging young women to apply. (more…)

Ese’eja Nation

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2013Culture, Scienceamazon basin, Amazon rainforest, anthropological work, cultural mapping project, darlington, Environment, eseeja nation, hadza hunter, hunter gatherer, indigenous peruvian community, infierno, jonathan cox, life can work, palma real, peru, sarah driver, simple lifestyle, sonene, south america, summer scholar, tale, Tanzania, university of delaware, westernized society

UD professor, scholar document culture of Peruvian community

As the elders of a small hunter-gatherer community told the story of how their people came to be, University of Delaware assistant professor of art Jonathan Cox and Summer Scholar Sarah Driver sat and listened, intrigued by the tale.

Over the course of seven days, they learned firsthand about the Ese’eja (ess-a-eha) Nation, a community of three distinct villages living in the remote areas of Infierno, Palma Real and Sonene, Peru. (more…)

Made in IBM Labs: IBM Drives the Future of Renewable Energy with New Wind and Solar Forecasting System

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2013Environment, Technologyacore, analytics, brad gammons, China, clean energy, coal, conventional sources, deep thunder, demonstration project, denmark, dennis mcginn, fossil fuels, future, hyref, labs, made in ibm, natural gas, power grid, prediction, reduce carbon emissions, renewable energy, renewable energy resources, renewable resources, sg jbepc, solar energy, solar forecasting system, vestas wind systems, wind, wind power turbines, zhangbei

Advanced solution combines big data analytics and weather modeling technology to predict output of individual wind turbines

ARMONK, N.Y., – 12 Aug 2013: IBM today announced an advanced power and weather modeling technology that will help utilities increase the reliability of renewable energy resources. The solution combines weather prediction and analytics to accurately forecast the availability of wind power and solar energy. This will enable utilities to integrate more renewable energy into the power grid, helping to reduce carbon emissions while significantly improving clean energy output for consumers and businesses. (more…)

Santa’s workshop not flooded – but lots of melting in the Arctic

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2013Environmentalaskan coast, arctic ice, axel schweiger, canada basin, cracks, holes, jamie morison, melt season, melting in arctic, meltwater, normal cycle, north pole, ocean data, researchers, sea ice, sea ice volume, tracking tool, university of washington

Santa’s workshop at the North Pole is not under water, despite recent reports. A dramatic image captured by a University of Washington monitoring buoy reportedly shows a lake at the North Pole. But Santa doesn’t yet need to buy a snorkel.

“Every summer when the sun melts the surface the water has to go someplace, so it accumulates in these ponds,” said Jamie Morison, a polar scientist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and principal investigator since 2000 of the North Pole Environmental Observatory. “This doesn’t look particularly extreme.” (more…)

First global atlas of marine plankton reveals remarkable underwater world

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2013Naturebacteria, c more, chaetoceros decipiens, climate change, computer model, data for plankton, diazotrophs, foraminifera, global atlas, hastigerina digitata, impact, jellyfish, maredat, marine biodiversity, marine biota, marine plankton, marine plankton diatom, nitrogen fixing bacteria, ocean acidification, ocean field data, predict, scott doney, South Pacific, Southern Ocean, subtropical ocean gyres, whoi, yawei luo

Under the microscope, they look like they could be from another planet, but these microscopic organisms inhabit the depths of our oceans in nearly infinite numbers.

To begin to identify where, when, and how much oceanic plankton can be found around the globe, a group of international researchers have compiled the first ever global atlas cataloguing marine plankton ranging in size from bacteria to jellyfish. The atlas was published on July 19, 2013, in a special issue of the journal Earth System Science Data. (more…)

JILA researchers discover atomic clock can simulate quantum magnetism

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2013Scienceana maria rey, atomic clock, brad baxley, complex quantum system, configuration of electrons, discover, electricity without resistance, electron configuration, exotic material, high temperature superconductors, jila researcher, jila theorist, jun ye, magnetic material, magnetic spin interactions, modeling, neutral strontium atoms, nist, quantum computers, quantum mechanical behavior, quantum simulator, simulate quantum magnetism, spin down state, superposition, university of colorado boulder

Researchers at JILA have for the first time used an atomic clock as a quantum simulator, mimicking the behavior of a different, more complex quantum system.

Atomic clocks now join a growing list of physical systems that can be used for modeling and perhaps eventually explaining the quantum mechanical behavior of exotic materials such as high-temperature superconductors, which conduct electricity without resistance. All but the smallest, most trivial quantum systems are too complicated to simulate on classical computers, hence the interest in quantum simulators. Sharing some of the features of experimental quantum computers—a hot research topic—quantum simulators are “special purpose” devices designed to provide insight into specific challenging problems. (more…)

Two decades of work at Yale prove emotions matter in the classroom

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2013Educationadmissions assessments, australia, center, classroom, connecticut, curriculum, emotional intelligence, emotions matter, England, fran rabinowitz, hamden, italy, john d mayer, marc brackett, peter salovey, program called ruler, spain, work at yale

In August, leaders from more than 50 schools from around the country will gather at Yale to hear a simple but profound message — emotions matter in the classroom.

The training session will be the largest ever held by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, which has built a sophisticated, science-based program that is anchored in the seminal work of now Yale University President Peter Salovey and fellow psychologist John D. Mayer. Less than a quarter century after publication of their paper, “Emotional Intelligence,” 75,000 educators in more than 500 schools in 30-plus states and countries including England, Spain, Italy, and Australia have learned about the key role of emotions in learning and behavior through a program called RULER. (more…)

Oldest European fort in the inland US discovered in Appalachians

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2013Culture, Scienceamerican south, appalachian mountains, appalachians, archaeologist, atlantic coast, carolina piedmont, catawba river, christopher rodning, city of morganton, coastal south carolina, colonial invasion, david moore, de aviles, earliest european fort, England, foothills, fort san juan, full scale, geophysical technique, inland us, jamestown, juan pardo, large scale excavations, latin america, lost colony, magnetometry, mound building mississippian, native americans, oldest european, pat berry, pedro menendez, robin beck, sir walter raleigh, spanish captain, spanish soldiers, team of archaeologists, tulane university, united states, university of michigan, warren wilson college

ANN ARBOR — The remains of the earliest European fort in the interior of what is now the United States have been discovered by a team of archaeologists, providing new insight into the start of the U.S. colonial era and the all-too-human reasons spoiling Spanish dreams of gold and glory.

Spanish Captain Juan Pardo and his men built Fort San Juan in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in 1567, nearly 20 years before Sir Walter Raleigh’s “lost colony” at Roanoke and 40 years before the Jamestown settlement established England’s presence in the region. (more…)

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