Tag Archives: nsf

Taking ‘Multi-Core’ Mainstream

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2013Technologyadvanced, agency, algorithms, automatic, automatic parallelization, complexity, computer programmers, defense, environments, fundamental issues, harnessing, independent core, inputs, john cavazos, lane mclaughlin, lehigh university, loops in parallel, machine code, michael spear, modern software, multicore computer environments, multicore computer processors, new algorithms, nsf, open source software, parallel code, parallel programs, parallelization, parallelization techniques, pi, power, principal investigator, profile driven, projects, prototype, research, smart, software developers, source code, speculative parallelization, techniques, tool, ud professor, university of delaware

UD professor works to overcome challenges in harnessing power of multicore computer processors

Computer processors that can complete multiple tasks simultaneously have been available in the mainstream for almost a decade. In fact, almost all processors developed today are multicore processors. Yet, computer programmers still struggle to efficiently harness their power because it is difficult to write correct and efficient parallel code.

According to the University of Delaware’s John Cavazos, to effectively exploit the power of multi-core processors, programs must be structured as a collection of independent tasks where separate tasks are executed on independent cores.

The complexity of modern software, however, makes this difficult. (more…)

Changing Climate, Not Tourism, Seems to Be Driving Decline in Chinstrap-Penguin Populations

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2012Environmentadelie, antarctic peninsula, antarctic science, antarctic site inventory, antarctic treaty nations, asi, baily head, breeding population, changing, chevy chase, chinstrap colony, chinstrap penguins, chinstrap population, climatic condition, data, deception island, gentoo penguins, heather lynch, high resolution, michael polito, national science foundation, nsf, oceanites, penguin dynamics, penguin population, polar programs, ron naveen, satellite imagery, Southern Ocean, steven forrest, stony brook university, temperature, thomas mueller, tinker foundation, tourist location, united states, warm

High-resolution satellite imagery aids in study

The breeding population of chinstrap penguins has declined significantly as temperatures have rapidly warmed on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to researchers funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The study indicates that changing climatic conditions, rather than the impact of tourism, have had the greatest effect on the chinstrap population.

Ron Naveen, founder of a nonprofit science and conservation organization, Oceanites, Inc., of Chevy Chase, Md., documented the decline in a paper published in the journal Polar Biology. Naveen and coauthor Heather Lynch, of Stony Brook University, are researchers with the Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI). (more…)

What Will You Do If an Earthquake Hits?

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2012Environmentaftershock, california, california drill, canada, central virginia, concept, earthquake, earthquake risk, east coast, fault, great shakeout, greg anderson, Japan, large earthquake, magnitude, mark benthien, material, mid atlantic, nsf, potential loss, region, san andreas, scec, seismic zone, shakeout scenario, territories, tremor, US, usgs, washington d.c., website

Join the Great ShakeOut on October 18, 2012, to prepare

The Central Virginia Seismic Zone, it’s called, and it sometimes shakes everything in sight.

As long ago as 1774, people in central Virginia felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from intermittent larger ones. A magnitude 4.8 quake happened in 1875.

Then last year, on August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 quake hit the same region. Several aftershocks, ranging up to magnitude 4.5, occurred after the main tremor.

Will there be another such quake in the mid-Atlantic region? (more…)

Researchers Share Surprising Discovery about Coral Reef Ecology

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Environment, Natureacidification, algae, algal symbionts, american samoa, climate change, coastal development, coral reef, coral species, coral tissue, david garrison, DNA, ecology, endosymbionts, environment disturbance, environmental change, environmental stress, french polynesia, functional ecosystem, future, generalists, global stressors, hawaii, himb, hollie putnam, host, manoa, moorea, nsf, ocean acidification, photosynthesis, pollution, prediction, reef corals, ruth gates, skeletal growth, skeletons, soest, stresss, symbiodinium, taiwan, temperatures, theory, threat, tissue sample

Researchers at the UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) made a discovery that challenges a major theory in the field of coral reef ecology.

The general assumption has been that the more flexible corals are, regarding which species of single-celled algae (Symbiodinium) they host in coral tissues, the greater ability corals will have to survive environmental stress. In their paper published August 29, 2012, however, scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at SOEST and colleagues documented that the more flexible corals are, the more sensitive to environment disturbances they are. (more…)

NSF’s South Pole Telescope Discovers a Galaxy Cluster Creating Stars at a Record Pace

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2012Scienceantarctic program, Antarctica, big bang, black hole, blanco 4 meter, bradford benson, chandra, Chile, cmb, cosmic microwave background, earth, energy, galaxy cluster, hubble fellow, john carlstrom, light year, magellan telescope, michael mcdonald, NASA, national science foundation, nsf, phoenix cluster, radiation, radio telescope, south pole telescope, spt, spt clj2344-4243, sunyaev zeldovich, sz effect, university of chicago, xray observatory

Researchers say Phoenix Cluster activity may cause scientists to rethink how galaxies evolve

A National Science Foundation-funded radio telescope in Antarctica has found an extraordinary galaxy cluster that may force astronomers to rethink how galaxy clusters and the galaxies that inhabit them evolve.

The galaxy cluster was discovered some 5.7 billion light years from Earth by the 10-meter wide South Pole Telescope (SPT) located at NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, which is funded by NSF’s Office of Polar Programs. (more…)

Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2012Environmentadam huxtable, amala mahadevan, atlantic ocean, biological pump, bjarni saemundsson, carbon dioxide, climate, climate on earth, CO2, craig lee, diatoms, don rice, eddies, emily kallin, eric d asaro, fossil fuel, global carbon cycle, holiday fireworks, mary jane perry, michael ohmart, microscopic plants, modulate, north atlantic bloom, not sunlight, nsf, ocean physics, oceanic cycling, oxygen, photosynthesis, physical biological model, phytoplankton, research vessel, silica, sun, surface warming, university of maine, university of washington, us beachgoers, whirlpools, whoi, zooplankton

Ocean eddies help jump-start plankton blooms that spread across hundreds of square miles

On this July 4^th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea toward the north, the Atlantic Ocean’s own spring and summer ritual unfolds. It entails the blooming of countless microscopic plants, or phytoplankton.

In what’s known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first “greening,” then “whitening” the sea as one or more species take the place of others.

What turns on this huge bloom, what starts these ocean fireworks? Is it the Sun’s warmth? (more…)

Water in a Changing World

By Guest PostJune 25, 2012Entertainment, Sciencealgal blooms, biogeochemistry, cancer causing byproduct, carbon, changing world, chesapeake bay, climate change, delphis levia, disinfection, experimental watershed, fair hill, forest canopy, groundwater level, high frequency data, natural ecosystem, nitrogen, nitrogen cycling, nsf, season, shreeram inamdar, soils, stream runoff, university of delaware, water, water quality, watershed hydrology, watersheds

Experimental watershed provides new insights, rich educational experience

Six years and about 4,000 water samples later, an outdoor experimental watershed laboratory established by University of Delaware faculty members Shreeram Inamdar and Delphis Levia at Fair Hill, Md., is now producing valuable data and novel insights into how water and chemicals move through the forest canopy, soils and watersheds, and how future climate change may impact or alter such responses.

Inamdar, associate professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, has investigated the role of soils, streams, and watersheds in leaching water and nutrients, while Levia, professor in the Department of Geography, has studied the interactions of atmosphere and the forest canopy in leaching water and nutrients. Together, they have provided a complete picture of watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry. (more…)

Cosmic Ray Mystery

By Guest PostApril 19, 2012Scienceactive galaxies, Antarctica, array of detector, australia, bakhtiyar ruzybayev, barbados, belgium, black hole, canada, charged particle, chris elliott, cosmic ray, cosmic ray protons, data, density of radiation, detector, earth, energy, fermi satellites, fireballs, francis halzen, gamma ray bursts, Germany, ghostly nature, glacial ice, grbs, greg sullivan, icecube, icetop, james roth, Japan, katie shirey, NASA, national science foundation, neutrinos, new zealand, nsf, production, proton, pyramid of giza, south pole, Sweden, swift, switzerland, telescope, thomas gaisser, universe, university of delaware, university of wisconsin, US

Massive detector homes in on cosmic ray production

IceCube, an international collaboration involving University of Delaware scientists, is shedding new light on cosmic ray production.

Although cosmic rays were discovered 100 years ago, their origin remains one of the most enduring mysteries in physics. Now, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive detector in Antarctica, is homing in on how the highest energy cosmic rays are produced. (more…)