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IBM Commits $1 Billion to Fuel Linux and Open Source Innovation on Power Systems

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2013Technologyaustin, big data, brad mccredie, cloud, ecosystem skills, Europe, fuel linux, ibm, ibm power7, jeopardy game, linuxcon conference, new orleans, new york, open source innovation, power systems, prototype, texas, watson

NEW ORLEANS, LA – 17 Sep 2013: At LinuxCon 2013 today, IBM announced plans to invest $1 billion (USD) in new Linux and open source technologies for IBM’s Power Systems servers. The investment aims to help clients capitalize on big data and cloud computing with modern systems built to handle the new wave of applications coming to the data center in the post-PC era.

Two immediate initiatives announced, a new client center in Europe and a Linux on Power development cloud, focus on rapidly expanding IBM’s growing ecosystem supporting Linux on Power Systems which today represents thousands of independent software vendor and open source applications worldwide. Specific details of both initiatives include: (more…)

SMART scholar

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2013Education, Environmentaccretion, brandon boyd, christopher sommerfield, coastal marshes, department of defense, doctoral work, dod, dredging operations data, drone, factors, lake pontchartrain, lidar, louisiana state university, map making technology, new orleans, oceanography graduate student, plant growth, rising sea level, sediment flow, sedimentation, shore erosion, smart scholar, sophisticated, university of delaware, vicksburg, way of life, wetland research

Oceanography graduate student lands scholarship supporting wetland research

Growing up along Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Brandon Boyd spent a lot of time hunting for waterfowl and fishing for speckled trout in marshes and swamps. There, wetlands are a way of life.

“Ever since I was in high school, I knew I really wanted to do something to help protect wetlands,” said Boyd, a graduate student in oceanography in the School of Marine Science and Policy within the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. (more…)

Navigate America’s Major Rivers Without Getting Wet

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2013Environmentamerica, downstream, higher elevations, major rivers, mississippi river, navigate, new orleans, online map service, streamer, streamflow gaging station, streams, surface waters, U.S. Geological Survey, united states, upstream, web connection

Have you ever dropped a stick into a river and wondered where it might go if it floated all the way downstream? Now you can trace its journey using Streamer – a new on-line service from the National Atlas of the United States^®.

Streamer is an online map service that lets anyone trace downstream along America’s major rivers and streams simply by picking a point on a stream. Streamer will map the route the stream follows. (more…)

Keeping beverages cool in summer: It’s not just the heat, it’s the humidity

By Guest PostMay 31, 2013Environmentbathrooms, beverages, climate change, climate scientists, cloud formation, condensation, cool in summer, dale durran, dargan frierson, dhahran, heat transfer, humid day, humidity level, latent heat, near freezing temperature, new orleans, north Carolina, physics today, saudi arabia, stella choi, steven brey, summer temperature, university of washington, weather condensation, wilmington

In spring a person’s thoughts turn to important matters, like how best to keep your drink cold on a hot day. Though this quest is probably as old as civilization, University of Washington climate scientists have provided new insight.

It turns out that in sultry weather condensation on the outside of a canned beverage doesn’t just make it slippery: those drops can provide more heat than the surrounding air, meaning your drink would warm more than twice as much in humid weather compared to in dry heat. In typical summer weather in New Orleans, heat released by condensation warms the drink by 6 degrees Fahrenheit in five minutes. (more…)

Invasive Crazy Ants Are Displacing Fire Ants, Researchers Find

By Guest PostMay 18, 2013Nature, Science300 pound gorilla, ant species, argentine ant, arthropod species, austin, brackenridge field laboratory, college, crazy ants, ecologically dominant, ecosystem, ed lebrun, florida, Houston, invasive crazy ants, natural control, natural sciences, new orleans, northern argentina, nylanderia fulva, omnivorous, rasberry crazy ants, southern brazil, southern hemisphere, southern louisiana, southern mississippi, tawny crazy ants, united states, university of texas, videos on youtube

AUSTIN, Texas — Invasive “crazy ants” are displacing fire ants in areas across the southeastern United States, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. It’s the latest in a history of ant invasions from the southern hemisphere and may prove to have dramatic effects on the ecosystem of the region.

The “ecologically dominant” crazy ants are reducing diversity and abundance across a range of ant and arthropod species — but their spread can be limited if people are careful not to transport them inadvertently, according to Ed LeBrun, a research associate with the Texas invasive species research program at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in the College of Natural Sciences (more…)

Commentary: Fiery Cushman: Morality of the NY Post subway photo

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2012Media49th street, brown university, catastrophe bond, category 3, david pizarro, ethical constellation, fiery cushman, financial transaction, freelance photographer, hurricane, ki suck han, misfortune, moral judgment, moral question, natural disaster, new orleans, new york, new york post, newspapers, people, photo, profit, psychologist, psychology, q train, subway tracks, tragedy, twitterati, uncomfortable, yoel inbar

A freelance photographer happened to be on the scene in New York when one man pushed another onto the subway tracks. The New York Post ultimately ran a photo on its front page, sparking widespread outrage. Based on his research, Brown University psychologist Fiery Cushman suggests that what makes people uncomfortable about the photo may be the idea of profiting from tragedy.

When tragedy occurs, who may profit? Newspapers around the country announced the tragic death of Ki-Suck Han, the man pushed in front of a New York subway car on Monday. Quickly, however, attention turned to an element of the news reporting itself. On the controversial front cover of the New York Post on Tuesday, a full-page photo showed the train hurtling toward Han. Dramatically captured by a freelance photographer while events unfolded, the photograph ran under the headline: “Pushed onto the subway track, this man is about to die.” (more…)

State-Mandated Planning, Higher Resident Wealth Linked to More Sustainable City Transportation

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2012Environmentanna mccreery, columbus, ecosummit 2012, environmentally friendly, income, index, las vegas, los angeles, metropolitan area, new orleans, ohio, per capita, pittsburgh, population density, public transit, seattle, socioeconomic factor, solo commuter, span, state university, sustainability, time, transportation ecoefficiency, transportation practice, transportation system, US, wealthier

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Transportation practices tend to be more environmentally friendly in wealthier metropolitan areas located within states that mandate comprehensive planning, new research suggests.

The study involved an examination of 225 U.S. metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2008 to gauge how sustainable their transportation practices were and determine what kinds of socioeconomic factors appeared to influence those practices. (more…)

UA Studies Social Dynamics in Post-Katrina New Orleans

By Guest PostMay 9, 2012Economycultural fabric, ethnographic study, french quarter, hurricane katrina, krewes, liz warren pederson, market economy, melanie wallendorf, michelle weinberger, natural disaster, new orleans, post katrina, private party, social dynamics

Gifting during Mardi Gras in New Orleans fostered social cohesion, researchers found in a study.

In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, the focus is on physical repair and reestablishment of the market economy.

“But the moral economy – the relationships between people – also needs repair. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, residents’ sense of New Orleans as a connected community was damaged,” said Soldwedel Professor of Marketing Melanie Wallendorf of the University of Arizona Eller College of Management. (more…)

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