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Transactional Memory: An Idea Ahead of Its Time

By Guest PostApril 10, 2012Science, Technologyamherst, ars technica, blue gene, brown university, buzz, computer, computer scientist, computing technology, core processor, eliot moss, hardware architecture, hardware computing, haswell, ibm, maurice herlihy, mike cohea, parallel processor, q supercomputer, richard lewis, transactional memory, university of massachusetts

Nearly 20 years ago, two Brown University computer scientists were working on a largely theoretical problem: How could multiple parallel processors make changes to shared resources safely and efficiently? Their proposal — transactional memory — is sparking fresh interest as a new generation of processors seeks improved power and speed.

In 1993, Maurice Herlihy and a colleague published a paper on transactional memory — a new, clever tactic in computing to deal with handling shared revisions to information seamlessly and concurrently. Few noticed.

Nearly 20 years later, transactional memory is an idea that’s now the rage in hardware computing, and Herlihy, computer science professor at Brown University, has morphed into a prophet of sorts, a computing pioneer who was far ahead of his time. Intel recently announced that transactional memory will be included in its mainstream “Haswell” hardware architecture by next year. IBM has adopted transactional memory in the Blue Gene/Q supercomputer. The original paper by Herlihy and Eliot Moss has been cited more than 1,300 times. (more…)

The Weird World of “Remote Heating”

By Guest PostApril 10, 2012Sciencejoule heating, remote heating, remote joule heating

UMD Researchers Discover Nanoscale Phenomena with Potential for Computer Speed Advances

College Park, Md.– A team of University of Maryland scientists have discovered that when electric current is run through carbon nanotubes, objects nearby heat up while the nanotubes themselves stay cool, like a toaster that burns bread without getting hot. Understanding this completely unexpected new phenomenon could lead to new ways of building computer processors that can run at higher speeds without overheating. (more…)

Release of New 4G Phones a Milestone for Windows Phone, Nokia Partnership

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Technologynext generation, nokia lumia launch, nokia microsoft partnership, titan device, windows phones

AT&T today launched two new 4G LTE-capable Windows Phones – the sleek, award-winning Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II. The launch is an important milestone for partners Microsoft and Nokia, and an AT&T spokesman said the Lumia 900 will be a centerpiece of its spring advertising campaign

REDMOND, Wash. – April 9, 2012 – AT&T today launched two new devices, the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II, the first Windows Phones available on the mobile operator’s speedy 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network. (more…)

IBM and ZSE Create Virtual Green Highway for Electric Vehicles

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Technologyaustria, bratislava, central europe, CO2, ecogrid eu, edison, ekz, electric vehicles, electricity, emission, energy grid, evs, green highway, guido bartels, ibm, slovakia, switzerland, transportation system, vibrate, vienna, zapadoslovenska energetika, zse, zse green highway

*E-Mobility Project Identifies EV Charging Station Options between Two Cities*

Armonk, NY and Slovakia – 09 Apr 2012: IBM today announced it has teamed with Západoslovenská energetika, a.s. (ZSE), the largest distributor and supplier of electricity in Slovakia, on a smart energy “feasibility” study that will help prepare the capital city Bratislava for electric vehicles (EVs).

Using e-mobility technology, the study will help identify the possibilities of connecting two neighboring metropolitan areas – Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria with a “green” highway. This highway will interconnect the two cities with a network of public charging stations for electric vehicles. (more…)

Which Plants Will Survive Droughts, Climate Change?

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Environmentagaves, alahee, cacti, california, carbon dioxide, cell level loss, chaparral shrubs, China, christine scoffoni, climate change, desert plants, drought tolerance, ecosystems, extinction, faith inman narahari, hawaiian drought, lawren sack, megan bartlett, photosynthesis, plant species, psydrax odorata, sandalwood, santalum paniculatum, stiff cell wall, stomata, sunflower, tropical botanical gardens, turgor loss point, turgor pressure, xishuangbanna, yuccas, yunnan

New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Droughts are worsening around the world, posing a great challenge to plants in all ecosystems, said Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the research. Scientists have debated for more than a century how to predict which species are most vulnerable.

Sack and two members of his laboratory have made a fundamental discovery that resolves this debate and allows for the prediction of how diverse plant species and vegetation types worldwide will tolerate drought, which is critical given the threats posed by climate change, he said. (more…)

Internet Use Promotes Democracy Best in Countries That Are Already Partially Free

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Politics, Technologyafrobarometer, arab world, asia, asian barometer, autocratic regime, democracy, democratic revolution, elizabeth stoycheff, erik nisbet, frequency, internet, internet use, katy pearce, Kenya, mobilize citizen, mozambique, ohio state university, political change, political regime, pro democratic attitude, senegal, singapore, sociodemographic factor, sub-saharan africa, Tanzania, uganda, zambia

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Although use of the internet has been credited with helping spur democratic revolutions in the Arab world and elsewhere, a new multinational study suggests the internet is most likely to play a role only in specific situations.

Researchers at Ohio State University found that the internet spurs pro-democratic attitudes most in countries that already have introduced some reforms in that direction. (more…)

Images Capture Split Personality of Dense Suspensions

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Sciencedna microarray, drop forms, heinrich jaeger, jeffrey morris, marc miskin, mathematical model, nozzle diameter, particle, phenomena, steve koppes, university of chicago, viscosity, viscous, viscous liquids, viscous mixture, zirconium dioxide

Stir lots of small particles into water, and the resulting thick mixture appears highly viscous. When this dense suspension slips through a nozzle and forms a droplet, however, its behavior momentarily reveals a decidedly non-viscous side. University of Chicago physicists recorded this surprising behavior in laboratory experiments using high-speed photography, which can capture action taking place in one hundred-thousandths of a second or less.

UChicago graduate student Marc Miskin and Heinrich Jaeger, the William J. Friedman and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor in Physics, expected that the dense suspensions in their experiments would behave strictly like viscous liquids, which tend to flow less freely than non-viscous liquids. Viscosity certainly does matter as the particle-laden liquid begins to exit the nozzle, but not at the moment where the drop’s thinning neck breaks in two. (more…)

Sediment Chemicals in Coastal Rivers Overall Lower in U.S. than Worldwide Averages

By Guest PostApril 8, 2012Environmentcoastal rivers, sediment chemicals, sediment erosion, sediment load, suspended sediment

Almost all the sediment-associated chemical concentrations found in 131 of the nation’s rivers that drain to the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts are lower than worldwide averages, according to a new study by the USGS. These coastal rivers are a significant pathway for the delivery of sediment-associated chemicals to the world’s coastal zones and oceans. (more…)

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