Tag Archives: North America

U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and DISA Expand Access to Microsoft Technologies through Cost-Saving Modernization Agreement

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2013Technologyadvanced mobility, africa, air force base, alabama, asia-pacific, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, defense, department of defense, disa, dod, Europe, fort huachuca, gunter annex, information systems agency, insight enterprises, insight public sector, it costs, microsoft corp., microsoft office 2013, microsoft solutions, middle east, mobility, North America, reduce, sharepoint 2013, tim solms, us air force, us army, windows 8

Insight Public Sector selected to deliver licensing agreement aimed at reducing IT costs while offering advanced mobility, collaboration and cloud computing capabilities to personnel.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jan. 4, 2013 — In an effort to modernize technology infrastructure, reduce costs and foster new levels of cross-agency collaboration, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are expanding access to Microsoft solutions by entering into a transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement for enterprise licenses and software assurance. The agreement provides all three organizations with a single vehicle for accessing the latest Microsoft technologies in support of top IT priorities around datacenter consolidation, collaboration, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing and big data.

This is the most comprehensive licensing agreement Microsoft Corp. has ever established with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), covering nearly 75 percent of all DoD personnel. The net new contract was awarded to Insight Public Sector, a division of Insight Enterprises Inc., one of the largest global Microsoft Large Account Resellers. (more…)

UMass Amherst Climate Model is First to Study Climate Effects of Arctic Hurricanes

By Guest PostDecember 31, 2012Environment21st century, alan condron, arctic hurricane, arctic region, arctic seas, barometric pressure, central eye, climate, climate model, climate prediction models, climate scientist, conveyer belt, cyclone, east anglia, England, Europe, forecast climate change, gas exploration, higher resolution modeling, ian renfrew, massachusetts amherst, missing storms, model, North America, north atlantic, norwegian sea, ocean water circulation, oil, oxymoron, polar lows, satellite, thermohaline circulation, thick ice, university, wave

AMHERST, Mass. – Though it seems like an oxymoron, Arctic hurricanes happen, complete with a central “eye,” extreme low barometric pressure and towering 30-foot waves that can sink small ships and coat metal platforms with thick ice, threatening oil and gas exploration. Now climate scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and in England report the first conclusive evidence that Arctic hurricanes, also known as polar lows, play a significant role in driving ocean water circulation and climate.

Results point to potentially cooler conditions in Europe and North America in the 21^st century than other models predict. (more…)

Plumes across the Pacific Deliver Thousands of Microbial Species to West Coast

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Environmentaerobiology, aerosol, air pollution, aircraft, asia, atmospheric particle, bacterial, balloons, biomass, cascade mountains, central oregon, dale griffin, daniel jaffe, david j smith, dilution, DNA, dust, dust plume, earth, ecosystem, fungal, global wind circulation, harmless, hilkka timonen, kevin perry, michael roberts, michele birmele, microorganism, molecular method, mount bachelor, NASA, North America, old classification, pacific ocean, peter ward, plume event, pollutant, traditional paradigm, trans pacific trip, troposphere, university of utah, university of washington, west coast

A surprising number of microorganisms – more than 100 times more kinds than reported just four months ago – are leaping the biggest gap on the planet. Hitching rides in the upper troposphere, they’re making their way from Asia across the Pacific Ocean and landing in North America.

For the first time researchers have been able to gather enough biomass in the form of DNA to apply molecular methods to samples from two large dust plumes originating in Asia in the spring of 2011. The scientists detected more than 2,100 unique species compared to only 18 found in the very same plumes using traditional methods of culturing, results they published in July. (more…)

Asteroid that Killed the Dinosaurs also Wiped out the ‘Obamadon’

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Nature, Scienceage of dinosaurs, alberta, asteroid collision, asteroid strike, bhart anjan bhullar, boundary, canada, carnivorous lizards, cerberophis, cretaceous, dinosaur species, dinosaurs, diversification, ecosystem, edmontosaurus, evolution, extinct lizard, flood, fossils, gracilis, harvard, jacques a gauthier, kill, lizard, mammals, mass extinction, montana, new mexico, nicholas r longrich, North America, obamadon, obamadon gracilis, odon, palaeosaniwa, paleogene, political significance, polyglyphanodontia, slender, snake, species, survivor, swamps, t rex, taxonomy, tooth, triceratops, united states, us president, yale, yucatan peninsula

The asteroid collision widely thought to have killed the dinosaurs also led to extreme devastation among snake and lizard species, according to new research — including the extinction of a newly identified lizard Yale and Harvard scientists have named Obamadon gracilis.

“The asteroid event is typically thought of as affecting the dinosaurs primarily,” said Nicholas R. Longrich, a postdoctoral associate with Yale’s Department of Geology and Geophysics and lead author of the study. “But it basically cut this broad swath across the entire ecosystem, taking out everything. Snakes and lizards were hit extremely hard.” (more…)

2001-02 Drought Helped to Shift Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak into Epidemic

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2012Environment19th century, alpine research, Arctic, beetles, boulder, british columbia, climate, colorado, continental divide, drought, dynamics, epidemic, episode, evan pugh, forest, front range, lodgepole pine, mountain, native insect, new mexico, North America, northern, pine beetle, ponderosa pine, precipitation, rocky mountains, tania schoennagel, teresa chapman, thomas veblen, university, warmer climate, western slope, wyoming

A new University of Colorado Boulder study shows for the first time that episodes of reduced precipitation in the southern Rocky Mountains, especially during the 2001-02 drought, greatly accelerated development of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

The study, the first ever to chart the evolution of the current pine beetle epidemic in the southern Rocky Mountains, compared patterns of beetle outbreak in the two primary host species, the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Teresa Chapman. The current mountain pine beetle outbreak in the southern Rockies — which range from southern Wyoming through Colorado and into northern New Mexico –is estimated to have impacted nearly 3,000 square miles of forests, said Chapman, lead study author. (more…)

NASA Maps How Nutrients Affect Plant Productivity

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2012Environmentamazonia, biogeochemical cycles, boreal, boreal forest, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, data, earth, ecosystem, eleanor blyth, eurasian forest, fertile earth, fertilization, global, grasslands, grayson badgley, greenhouse gas, growth, hawaii, jet propulsion, josh fisher, laboratory, level, maps, migration, model, NASA, nitrogen, North America, north american, nutrient, ozone mapping, palo alto, pasadena, phosphorus, plant, satellite, savannas, shrublands, soil, spectrometer, stanford university, terra spacecraft, terrestrial biosphere, total, trees, tropical forest, validation site, vegetation, vegetation productivity

PASADENA, Calif. – A new analysis led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has estimated how much the growth of plants worldwide is limited by the amount of nutrients available in their soil. The maps produced from the research will be particularly useful in evaluating how much carbon dioxide Earth’s ecosystems may be able to soak up as greenhouse gas levels increase.

A research team led by JPL research scientist Josh Fisher used 19 years of data from NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and international satellites to assess the maximum possible growth of vegetation all over the world based upon available water and light conditions. The scientists then cross-compared that potential maximum with observed vegetation productivity as measured by satellites. This is the first time such an analysis has been conducted. (more…)

MU Students Gain Experience with Advanced Weather Tracking Technology

By Guest PostSeptember 29, 2012Education, Environment, Scienceadvance, atmospheric sciences, brett williams, bridge creek, columbia, data, doppler, dow, dow system, eric brewster, hinkson creek, jason hubbard, job market, kansas city, kayla flamm, map, measure, meteorology technology, missouri, mobile, neil fox, nicole hoban, North America, on, predicting storms, rainfall, raw data, sediment transport, severe, soil erosion, st. louis, stationary, storm research, student, tracking device, university, weather, weather radar, wheels

Students use tornado-chasing technology to research rain’s impact on stream

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With advances in meteorology technology, predicting storms is becoming easier than in the past. While most meteorology students learn about these new technologies in the classroom and don’t get a chance to use sophisticated equipment until they are on the job, a group of University of Missouri students were able to test a mobile weather tracking device, Doppler on Wheels (DOW), made famous by shows such as Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers.

The DOW visiting MU is one of a fleet of radar trucks maintained by the Center for Severe Storm Research. Each radar truck is mounted with a Doppler weather radar dish. The fleet also consists of a support vehicle and three trucks that deploy instruments to track weather patterns in tornadoes and hurricanes. One of the radar trucks was brought to MU so that students could learn about the technology first-hand. (more…)

IBM and Broadridge Study Reveals Financial Markets Firms Challenged to Deliver Innovation and Efficiency

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2012Economy, Technologyapplied insights, broadridge, business services, capital market, center, charles marchesani, customer demand, decision maker, financial solutions, global, hong kong, ibm, it, North America, organizational dna, proxy service, ron lefferts, singapore, united kingdom, united states

Only 1 in 5 firms excels at supporting new regulation and responding rapidly to client demands

Leading firms are rethinking their operations, forming external partnerships

NEW YORK, N.Y. – 21 Sep 2012: A new report released by IBM in collaboration with Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. reveals that increasing regulatory pressures and shifting customer demands are forcing financial markets firms to transform how they operate. Forward-thinking firms are breaking away from the industry’s long-held “not invented here” approach to managing operations to create a more open, agile and customer-focused model that expands the traditional boundaries of collaboration with external partners.

In a survey of 133 senior business executives and top IT decision makers from large and small firms located in the world’s trading centers – the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong – 77 percent cite regulatory requirements and 59 percent point to more demanding customers as the top external market drivers triggering changes in their operating models. Only 22 percent of the firms currently excel at meeting both. (more…)