Guest Post – Page 581 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

New IBM Flex Systems Allow Clients to Build Larger Clouds in Smaller Data Centers

By Guest PostAugust 6, 2013Technologybuild larger clouds, cloud environments, computational algorithms, double dense, ibm flex systems, libra internet bank, romania, sdn, smaller data centers, x222 system, x86 technology

Mobile Flex System Manager helps clients to monitor and control their systems from any location using smartphones or tablets

ARMONK, N.Y. – 06 Aug 2013: IBM today unveiled a number of major additions to its Flex System portfolio. The offerings combine the latest server technology with new virtualization, networking and management tools, allowing clients to consolidate their existing IT infrastructures and reduce operating costs. This will help clients use smaller data center environments to quickly deploy, manage and secure increasingly larger clouds.

Today’s announcement comes at a critical time, as organizations look to consolidate their existing data centers and shift greater workloads to the cloud. In fact, one study has determined that by 2014, businesses will have migrated more than 62 percent of their existing database workloads to the cloud. [1] (more…)

One Tree’s Architecture Reveals Secrets of a Forest, Study Finds

By Guest PostAugust 6, 2013Naturebranching architecture, branching pattern, secrets of forest, tree architecture, tree branching patterns

Behind the dazzling variety of shapes and forms found in trees hides a remarkably similar architecture based on fundamental, shared principles, UA ecologists have discovered

Researchers in the University of Arizona’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology have found that despite differences in appearance, trees across species share remarkably similar architecture and can tell scientists a lot about an entire forest.
(more…)

Sea level rise: New iceberg theory points to areas at risk of rapid disintegration

By Guest PostAugust 6, 2013Environmentantarctic ocean, Antarctica, catastrophic breakup, catastrophic disintegration, coast, diverse calving patterns, glacier geometry, greenland, helheim glacier, ice shelf, iceberg calving, jakobshavn glacier, jeremy bassis, larsen b, new iceberg theory, new model, physics, pine island glacier, rapid disintegration, risk, sea-level rise, thwaites, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR — In events that could exacerbate sea level rise over the coming decades, stretches of ice on the coasts of Antarctica and Greenland are at risk of rapidly cracking apart and falling into the ocean, according to new iceberg calving simulations from the University of Michigan.

“If this starts to happen and we’re right, we might be closer to the higher end of sea level rise estimates for the next 100 years,” said Jeremy Bassis, assistant professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences at the U-M College of Engineering, and first author of a paper on the new model published in the current issue of Nature Geoscience. (more…)

Ecological forces structure your body’s personal mix of microbes

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2013Health, Sciencebacteria, body, chronic digestive inflammation, computer model, ecological forces, elhanan borenstein, energy metabolism, environmental conditions, fungi, genetics studies, habitat filtering, human microbiome, infection, injury, microbes, nutrient, roie levy, species interaction, toxins, university of washington

Environmental conditions have a much stronger influence on the mix of microbes living in various parts of your body than does competition between species. Instead of excluding each other, microbes that fiercely compete for similar resources are more likely to cohabit in the same individual.

This phenomenon was discovered in a recent study of the human microbiome – the vast collection of our resident bacteria, fungi, and other tiny organisms. (more…)

Study Identifies Deepwater Horizon Debris as Likely Source of Gulf of Mexico Oil Sheens

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2013Environmentbp, chemical makeup, chris reddy, christoph aeppli, coast guard, cofferdam, dave valentine, deepwater horizon debris, deepwater horizon rig, drilling operations, environmental, fingerprint, gas chromatography, gcxgc, gulf of mexico, industrial chemicals, legal concerns, macondo well, matthias kellermann, oil samples, oil sheens, olefins, preliminary data, real world problem, robert k nelson, source, study, synthetic hydrocarbons, technique, two dimensional, ucsb, united states, university of california, whoi

A chemical analysis of oil sheens found floating recently at the ocean’s surface near the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster indicates that the source is pockets of oil trapped within the wreckage of the sunken rig. Both the Macondo well and natural oil seeps common to the Gulf of Mexico were confidently ruled out.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) used a recently-patented method to fingerprint the chemical makeup of the sheens and to estimate the location of the source based on the extent to which gasoline-like compounds evaporated from the oil sheens. The study was published online in Environmental Science & Technology. (more…)

Evolution picks up hitchhikers

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2013Scienceandrew murray, bacteria, bioinformatics, daniel rice, data analysis, david botstein, Environment, evolution, fittest, functions, genetic hitchhikers, genome, gregory lang, harvard university, hitchhikers, michael desai, mutation, princeton university, resist chemotherapeutics, resistance to antibiotics, survival, tumors

In a twist on “survival of the fittest,” researchers have discovered that evolution is driven not by a single beneficial mutation but rather by a group of mutations, including ones called “genetic hitchhikers” that are simply along for the ride. These hitchhikers are mutations that do not appear to have a role in contributing to an organism’s fitness and therefore its evolution, yet may play an important role down the road.

Researchers from Princeton University found in a study of 1,000 generations of adaptation in 40 yeast populations that about five to seven specific mutations, rather than just a one, are needed for an organism to succeed. The knowledge of how mutations drive evolution can inform our understanding of how tumors resist chemotherapeutics and how bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics. The study was published July 21 in the journal Nature. (more…)

Researchers Build 3-D Structures Out of Liquid Metal

By Guest PostAugust 4, 2013Science3d structures, biomolecular engineering, collin ladd, component, droplets, gallium, indium, john muth, ju hee so, liquid metal, liquid metal alloy, michael dickey, north Carolina, polymer template, printing technology, room temperature, state university, substrate, three dimensions

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed three-dimensional (3-D) printing technology and techniques to create free-standing structures made of liquid metal at room temperature.

“It’s difficult to create structures out of liquids, because liquids want to bead up. But we’ve found that a liquid metal alloy of gallium and indium reacts to the oxygen in the air at room temperature to form a ‘skin’ that allows the liquid metal structures to retain their shapes,” says Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work. (more…)

Questions for Jack Mustard: Helping to shape a new Mars rover

By Guest PostAugust 4, 2013Science2020 mission, brown university, carbon compounds, curiosity, exist on mars, geological sciences, human spaceflight, jack mustard, life on mars, mars 2020, NASA, new generation, new mars rover, planet, resources on mars, science definition team, signs of life, Technology

In 2020, a new-generation Mars rover will land on the Red Planet and gather much more detailed data than Curiosity, which is on Mars now. NASA revealed details about the new rover at a news conference Tuesday, July 9, 2013. Brown University’s Jack Mustard chaired the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — NASA unveiled details about a new rover proposed to land on the surface of Mars in 2020. The details came in the form of a 154-page document prepared by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, which was tasked with recommending scientific objectives of the mission. (more…)

Author Archives: Guest Post