HPC in the News
DOE to Build Supercomputers for ORNL and LLNL
The U.S. Department of Energy today unveiled plans to build two GPU-accelerated supercomputers — expected to deliver at least three-times greater performance than today’s most powerful system — which will move the world closer to the long-held goal of exascale computing. The supercomputers, to be installed in 2017, will be based on next-generation IBM POWER servers with NVIDIA Tesla GPU accelerators and NVIDIA NVLink high-speed GPU interconnect technology. The “Summit” system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will be capable of delivering 150 to 300 peak petaflops, and be used for open science. Delivering performance well in excess of 100 peak petaflops, the “Sierra” system will be a key element of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s national nuclear security mission. They will be considerably faster than the U.S.’s current speed champ, Oak Ridge’s “Titan,” which delivers 27 peak petaflops, as well as the world’s fastest, Tianhe-2 at China’s National Super Computer Center, in Guangzhou, which delivers 55 peak petaflops. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/doe-build-two-supercomputers-national-labs/.
Tapia 2015 Registration is Now Open
Registration is now open for the 2015 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference, scheduled for February 18-21, 2015 in Boston, Mass.
The goal of the Tapia Conferences is to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities to:
- Celebrate the diversity that exists in computing;
- Connect with others with common backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, and gender so as to create communities that extend beyond the conference;
- Obtain advice from and make contacts with computing leaders in academia and industry;
- Be inspired by great presentations and conversations with leaders with common backgrounds.
This year’s conference theme is Diversity at Scale as the Tapia Conference celebrates efforts to move diversity in all aspects of computing beyond conversation and study into full practice and implementation. As a community, we recognize that we must scale our diversity efforts to fully utilize computing to address the larger problems faced by today’s society. For more information and to register, please visit http://tapiaconference.org/registration/.
ORNL to Acquire New Supercomputer
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) has signed a contract with IBM to bring a next-generation supercomputer to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The OLCF’s new hybrid CPU/GPU computing system, Summit, will be delivered in 2017. Summit will provide at least five times the performance of Titan, the OLCF’s current leadership system, for a wide range of scientific applications. The hybrid system will support DOE’s Office of Science in its broad science and energy mission, addressing the most challenging and impactful science problems for government, academia, and industry. To read further, please visit http://www.ornl.gov/ornl/news/news-releases/2014/oak-ridge-to-acquire-next-generation-supercomputer.
Scale-out NAS Becomes More Popular for HPC
InsideHPC.com
Scale-out NAS (Network Attached Storage) is very well suited for applications that require high throughput and I/O – such as those in energy, finance, government, life sciences, manufacturing, media, and university research. Deploying large-scale NAS systems has traditionally presented challenges for technical workloads. As previously noted, once the system capacity is reached with traditional scale-up deployments, an upgrade or additional storage island is required. Scale-out storage architectures have become more popular in recent years as a solution to scale-up challenges. The scale out approach eliminates the limitations of traditional scale up architectures and certain inefficiencies such as “forklift upgrades” when a larger system is required. With a scale out approach, it’s possible to start with a small node and independently scale both bandwidth and capacity as required. To read further, please visit http://insidehpc.com/2014/10/scale-out-nas-hpc/.
Cray Launches Hadoop into HPC Airspace
HPCWire.com
There has been little doubt that the convergence of traditional high performance computing with advanced analytics has been steadily underway, fed in part by a rush of new tools, frameworks and platforms targeting the big data deluge. And when one thinks about the old guard of supercomputing, Cray is one of the first vendors to come to mind, although they’ve been steadily ramping up efforts to mesh into the broader world of enterprise systems with their own slant on the big data phenomenon. First came the company’s Urika graph analytics appliance just a little over two years ago, which has powered everything from large-scale life sciences applications to the big leagues. As of this morning, Cray will be adding a second machine to their lineup of big data-geared systems with the Urika-XA platform—a Cloudera-based Hadoop appliance, which happens to sport some of the best the HPC world has to offer in terms of hardware. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/2014/10/15/cray-launches-hadoop-hpc-airspace/.
Towards Big Data Computing at Extreme-Scales
CCCBlog.org
Former Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Computing Innovation Fellow (CI Fellow), Dr. Ioan Raicu, now an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and a research faculty member in the Math and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, focuses on the relatively new distributed systems paradigm called Many-Task Computing (MTC). MTC aims to bridge the gap between two predominant paradigms, namely High-Throughput Computing (HTC) and High-Performance Computing (HPC). His work has focused on defining and exploring both the theory and practical aspects of realizing MTC (with special emphasis on data-intensive computing) across a wide range of large-scale distributed systems, ranging from many-core systems, clusters, grids, and clouds to supercomputers. To read further, please visit http://www.cccblog.org/2014/10/15/towards-big-data-computing-at-extreme-scales/
SC14 News
NASA to Highlight Mission Advances Enabled by Supercomputers at SC14
From our home planet to the far reaches of space, NASA will highlight science and engineering mission advances enabled by agency supercomputers at SC14. Inside the NASA exhibit, presenters will unveil on a 10-foot-wide hyperwall stunning new high-definition movies showing:
- Unprecedented global maps of the ocean and sea-ice incorporating four years of observational data to address questions such as how our ocean takes up and releases heat;
- A massive two-year “Nature Run” simulating Earth’s weather at local scales much finer than the highest-resolution global weather models that will help NASA design new satellite instruments;
- Computational analysis supporting acoustic testing to ensure a safe lift-off for the Space Launch System, NASA’s next heavy-lift rocket for deep space exploration; and
- The most realistic galaxy simulations ever produced, giving us a better understanding of cosmic mysteries including how dark matter behaves and how black holes evolve.
For more information about NASA’s SC14 exhibit, visit: http://www.nas.nasa.gov/SC14/
HPC Call for Participation
CALL FOR PAPERS: 2015 IEEE Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (FedCSIS)
September 13- 16, 2015 - Lodz, Poland,
Paper Submission Deadline – April 24, 2015
The FedCSIS Multiconference consists of Events (conferences, symposia, workshops, special sessions). Each Event may run over any span of time within the conference dates (from half-day to three days). The FedCSIS Events provide a platform for bringing together researchers, practitioners, and academia to present and discuss ideas, challenges and potential solutions on established or emerging topics related to research and practice in computer science and information systems. For more information, please visit https://fedcsis.org/.
Upcoming Workshops, Conferences and Webinars
ICDCN 2015 - 16th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking
January 4-7, 2015 - BITS Pilani Birla Goa Campus, India
ICDCN is a premier international conference dedicated to addressing advances in Distributed Computing and Communication Networks, which over the years, has become a leading forum for disseminating the latest research results in these fields. ICDCN 2015 will be hosted by BITS Pilani Birla Goa Campus. ICDCN 2015 will be organized in two tracks: Distributed Computing and Networking, and will comprise a highly selective technical program consisting of refereed concise papers, panel discussions as well as focused workshops on emerging topics. Call for Papers provides more details. Conference proceedings will be published in the ACM Digital Library. . For more information, please visit http://www.icdcn.org/.
STACS 2015 - 32nd Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science
March 4-7, 2015 - München, Germany
STACS is an academic conference in the field of computer science. It is held each year, alternately in Germany and France, since 1984. Typical themes of the conference include algorithms, computational and structural complexity, automata, formal languages and logic. For more information, please visit http://www14.in.tum.de/STACS2015/.
ICC - IEEE International Conference on Communications
June 8–12, 2015 - London, ENGLAND
Registration Deadline – May 15, 2015
The IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) will be held in London, UK from 8-12 June 2015. Themed “Smart City & Smart World,” with its proximity to London’s Tech City, the fastest growing technology cluster in Europe, this flagship conference of IEEE Communications Society will feature a comprehensive technical program including twelve Symposia and a number of Tutorials and Workshops. IEEE ICC 2015 will also include an exceptional Industry Forum & Exhibition program including business panels and keynote speakers. We invite you to submit your original technical papers, and industry forum, workshop, and tutorial proposals to this event. Accepted and presented papers will be published in the IEEE ICC 2015 Conference Proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore®. For more information, please visit http://icc2015.ieee-icc.org/.
Research News From Around the World
Earth’s Magnetic Field Could Flip Within a Human Lifetime
UC Berkeley
It’s not as bizarre as it sounds. Earth’s magnetic field has flipped – though not overnight – many times throughout the planet’s history. Its dipole magnetic field, like that of a bar magnet, remains about the same intensity for thousands to millions of years, but for incompletely known reasons it occasionally weakens and, presumably over a few thousand years, reverses direction. Left to right, Biaggio Giaccio, Gianluca Sotilli, Courtney Sprain and Sebastien Nomade sitting next to an outcrop in the Sulmona basin of the Apennine Mountains that contains the Matuyama-Brunhes magnetic reversal. A layer of volcanic ash interbedded with the lake sediments can be seen above their heads. Sotilli and Sprain are pointing to the sediment layer in which the magnetic reversal occurred. (Photo by Paul Renne). Now, a new study by a team of scientists from Italy, France, Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrates that the last magnetic reversal 786,000 years ago actually happened very quickly, in less than 100 years – roughly a human lifetime. To read further, please visit http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/10/14/earths-magnetic-field-could-flip-within-a-human-lifetime/.
Superconducting Circuits, Simplified
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Computer chips with superconducting circuits -- circuits with zero electrical resistance -- would be 50 to 100 times as energy-efficient as today's chips, an attractive trait given the increasing power consumption of the massive data centers that power the Internet's most popular sites. Superconducting chips also promise greater processing power: Superconducting circuits that use so-called Josephson junctions have been clocked at 770 gigahertz, or 500 times the speed of the chip in the iPhone 6. But Josephson-junction chips are big and hard to make; most problematic of all, they use such minute currents that the results of their computations are difficult to detect. For the most part, they've been relegated to a few custom-engineered signal-detection applications. To read further, please visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141017111125.htm.
New Records Set for Silicon Quantum Computing
University of New South Wales
Two research teams working in the same laboratories at UNSW Australia have found distinct solutions to a critical challenge that has held back the realization of super powerful quantum computers. The teams created two types of quantum bits, or "qubits" -- the building blocks for quantum computers -- that each process quantum data with an accuracy above 99%. The two findings have been published simultaneously today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "For quantum computing to become a reality we need to operate the bits with very low error rates," says Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, who is Director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at UNSW, where the devices were made. "We've now come up with two parallel pathways for building a quantum computer in silicon, each of which shows this super accuracy," adds Associate Professor Andrea Morello from UNSW's School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications. To read further, please visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141012134851.htm.
Taking the Census, With Cellphones
Science
A new study by Belgian researchers, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that big data analytics can turn cellphone records into highly granular population density data. Geographers and data scientists from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Université Catholique de Louvain obtained aggregate, anonymized call records from major cell carriers in France and Portugal. The data, containing records on more than a billion calls, included information such as the originating and receiving phone towers, call length, and user identifier. The researchers used the call records to develop a model for estimating population density around every cell phone tower, accounting for variations in phone usage in high- versus low-coverage areas. The model revealed several clear, if not terribly surprising, trends in population dynamics: holidays saw the cities largely empty out, with tourist destinations such as Disneyland Paris and coastlines seeing a population boom. To read further, please visit http://news.sciencemag.org/math/2014/10/taking-census-cellphones.
Dundee University Eye Test Could Identify Alzheimer's
University of Dundee researchers have developed Vampire, software that can identify the warning signs associated with the early stage of Alzheimer's disease. Previous research suggests that changes in the patterns of ocular veins and arteries can be linked to other diseases, such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. "If you can look into someone's eyes using an inexpensive machine and discover something which may suggest a risk of developing dementia, then that's a very interesting proposition," says University of Dundee professor Emanuele Trucco. The researchers will compare measurements of thousands of images with medical histories stored at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital to determine if a relationship can be established. "The Vampire software interface allows researchers to take these measures repeatedly, reliably, and efficiently even when working with a large number of images," Trucco says. Meanwhile, the Dementias Platform UK is bringing together researchers and drug development companies to discuss better diagnosis initiatives, treatments, and understanding of its progression. To read further, please visit http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/scotland/dundee-university-eye-test-could-identify-alzheimer-s-1.649011.
Black Man in the Lab
Chronicle of Higher Education
African-American men have seen their rates of participation in STEM fields double by some measures over the last 20 years. The proportion of black men holding STEM Ph.D.s, for example, doubled over that period. However, this doubling was from 1 percent to 2 percent, an increase that can easily be seen as more discouraging than encouraging. The reasons for this are many, start early in life, and compound from there: African-American men are more likely to born into poor communities lacking access to high-quality education and more likely to be surrounded by violence. They also face powerful negative stereotypes that dog them through all levels of education, stereotypes that are reinforced by the low achievement rates they help to create. Efforts have long been underway at the national level to combat those achievement rates and increase African-American men's participation in STEM fields. The National Science Foundation, for example, has provided nearly $400 million in research funds since 1998 to better understand the problem and develop strategies to help African-American men succeed in STEM fields. However, many African-American Ph.D. holders say that one simple way to improve participation in the STEM fields is to accentuate the positive, focusing on success stories rather than narratives of struggle and failure. To read further, please visit http://chronicle.com/article/Black-Man-in-the-Lab/149565/.
Educator News and Opportunities
Anne Condon: Computer Scientist. Passionate Academic. Triathlete.
Tech Republic
Women were far more well represented in computer science when Anne Condon first decided in high school the subject sounded interesting, despite never having used a computer. Decades of theoretical computer science work later, Condon, who now serves as head of the computer science department at the University of British Columbia, is dedicated to helping young women find their way in the field. Condon joined the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in 1994 and for three years before her term ended in 2007, she headed a project to encourage undergraduate women to pursue computer science by matching them with research mentors. "Ever since then I've been eager to find ways to convince women to pursue research careers," said Condon. She is continually researching ways to make computer science curricula more accessible and attractive to female students. To read further, please visit http://www.techrepublic.com/article/anne-condon-computer-scientist-passionate-academic-triathlete/.
Programming Computers in Everyday Language
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Computers speak a language of their own. They can only be programmed by those, who know the code. Computer scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are presently working on a software that directly translates natural language into machine-readable source texts. In this way, users may generate own computer applications in a few sentences. The challenge to be managed is that people do not always describe processes in a strictly chronological order. A new analysis tool developed by KIT researchers serves to automatically order the commands in the way they are to be executed by the computer. "We want to get away from complicated rules for users -- this is what programming languages are -- towards smart computers that enter into a dialog with us," says Mathias Landhäußer, scientist of KIT's Institute for Program Structures and Data Organization (ITP). So far, programs can only be controlled by language, if they are designed accordingly by the manufacturer. An example is the sending of short messages via a smartphone. The KIT computer scientists are presently working on a software that installs a language interface for any type of programs. Users are enabled not only to open, but also to operate their apps by spoken commands. The scientists have already successfully incorporated such an interface in an application controlling the heating system, illumination, and windows of smart houses. To read further, please visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141013090227.htm.
STEM and HPC Innovators Launch Community Effort to Foster Entrepreneurship
At the annual Supercomputing ’14 conference being held here this week, the first community effort focused on STEM and HPC Entrepreneurship is to be launched at a conference that brings together prospective entrepreneurs with some of the industry’s most celebrated experts and practitioners. Dubbed StartupHPC, the community aims to foster entrepreneurship by providing its growing membership with advice through community discussion boards and educational services, access to world-class expertise via conferences, meet-ups, and advisory board services, and support infrastructure through member organizations.StartupHPC’s inaugural conference features an all-star roster of speakers and panelists that includes CEOs, CTOs, Founders, senior executives, serial entrepreneurs, attorneys, marketers, journalists, and industry analysts. Sharing first hand experiences and advice will illuminate the requirements for, and the practical paths towards, the successful creation and growth of startups. Agenda, registration and membership information is available at the StartupHPC community portal, which can be found at http://www.startuphpc.com/.
Museum of Tolerance Grants Available for Educators
The Museum of Tolerance has announced it has grant funding to help pay for the cost of professional development for Educators who are interested in:
- Creating a positive and inclusive school climate: Best suited for educator teams; including teachers, classified staff, administrators, counselors, etc. This program could include content on cultural proficiency; addressing equity, bullying prevention, restorative justice, hate and bias; and leadership development.
- Curriculum Transformation through a Social Justice Lens: Best suited for classroom teachers this program could focus on Common Core, teaching the history of the Holocaust, thematic model lessons, service learning, and media literacy.
Issues of social justice engage students through self-reflection, critical thinking and social action planning. Students may use social justice as a focus for solving problems through the development of mobile apps or websites. Programs are offered in 1 or 2-day formats. Lunch and materials are included. Partial travel reimbursement and hotel accommodations are available for out of town groups. For more information, contact Museum of Tolerance staff by phone at: 310-772-7620 or by email at: educators@museumoftolerance.com.
Help Celebrate CS Education Week
December 8-14, 2014
The CS10K Community is a proud supporter of this year’s Computer Science Education Week (#CSEdWeek14) scheduled for December 8-14, 2014. We invite all members of the CS10K Community to organize events in your area to inspire K-12 students to take interest in computer science.
Thank you in advance for helping us to celebrate #CSEdWeek14.
National Robotics Initiative
Proposal Deadline – January 14, 2015
The goal of the National Robotics Initiative is to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people. It will development the next generation of robotics, to advance the capability and usability of such systems and artifacts, and to encourage existing and new communities to focus on innovative application areas. For more information, please visit http://www.cccblog.org/2014/10/17/nsf-cise-funding-opportunities/.
Major Research Instrumentation Program
Proposal Deadline – January 22, 2015
The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation’s institutions of higher education, not-for-profit museums, science centers and scientific/engineering research organizations. The program provides organizations with opportunities to acquire major instrumentation that supports the research and research training goals of the organization and that may be used by other researchers regionally or nationally. For more information, please visit http://www.cccblog.org/2014/10/17/nsf-cise-funding-opportunities/.
2015 Alan Shepard Technology in K-12 Education Award
Application Deadline - January 16, 2015.
Do you know K-12 teachers or district-level administrators who are making a difference in education through the use of technology? Recognize their achievements by nominating them for the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award. The Astronauts Memorial Foundation, in partnership with NASA and the Space Foundation, will recognize the accomplishments of one outstanding individual and his or her contributions to lifelong learning through the application of technology in the classroom or in the professional development of teachers. Technology personnel and K-12 classroom teachers who have demonstrated exemplary use of technology to enhance learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, are eligible for this award. School principals, superintendents or associate superintendents may nominate eligible candidates. The award will be presented in April 2015 at the Space Foundation's 31st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Applications and more information are available online at http://www.astronautsmemorial.org/alan-shepard-award.html .
Student Engagement and Opportunities\
Khan Academy Offers Advice on How to Get into College
Khan Academy has created resources to help students and parents navigate this challenging process of college admissions. These resources include video interviews and conversations with successful students from all walks of life and admissions officers and counselors at some of the nation's top schools. Online resources can never be as good as a great mentor. However, we hope that we can help students get a solid start and to provide teachers, parents and counselors with a useful tool to help the students in their lives. For more information, please visit https://www.khanacademy.org/college-admissions?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=All%20Users&utm_campaign=College%20Admissions%20Announcement&utm_content=Final.
2015-16 Virginia Space Grant Consortium Graduate STEM Research Fellowship
Application Deadline - February 9, 2015
The Virginia Space Grant Consortium's Graduate STEM Research Fellowship Program provides fellowships of $6,000 in add-on support to graduate students to supplement and enhance basic research support. The objective of this science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, research fellowship opportunity is to encourage talented individuals to pursue careers in STEM industries that support NASA's mission. Participants in the Graduate STEM Research Fellowship Program must take part in an active faculty‐mentored research experience that aligns with the aerospace sector and meets NASA's mission. Awards are made annually and are renewable for one year for students making satisfactory academic and research progress. For more information about this opportunity and to apply online, visit http://vsgc.odu.edu/sf/gradfellow/. Please email any questions about this opportunity to kmanning@odu.edu.
2015-16 Virginia Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate STEM Research Scholarship
Application Deadline – February 9, 2015
The Virginia Space Grant Consortium is offering undergraduate research scholarships of up to $8,500 to encourage talented individuals to conduct research in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, or STEM, fields. These one-year awards are nonrenewable and based on student academic merit, quality of the research proposal and alignment of research with the goals of NASA and the aerospace sector. Underrepresented minority students, female students and students with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and enrolled at one of the five Virginia Space Grant member universities: The College of William and Mary, Hampton University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. For more information, visit http://vsgc.odu.edu/sf/undergrad/. Please email any questions about this opportunity to rkashiri@odu.edu.
2015 BEYA Student Leadership and Scholarship Awards Ceremony|
February 5-7, 2015 – Washington, DC
Submission Deadline- December 7, 2014
Do you know an outstanding college student who should be honored at the upcoming 2015 BEYA Student Leadership Awards Ceremony during the 29th BEYA STEM Conference? BEYA STEM is currently looking for students who have gone above and beyond their education commitment in science, technology, engineering or math. Students who are selected as winners will be recognized at the BEYA STEM Global Competitiveness Conference on a national platform in front of their peers and STEM professionals. Students will also be published in a national publication. Nominations are being sought in a variety of categories, including leadership, research, community service, academic achievement and athleticism. For more information and to nominate a peer, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2015BEYAStudentLeadership. 0
Supercomputing in Plain English Webinar Series: Spring 2015
Begins Tuesday, January 20, 2015 – 2:30pm ET via video conference
Tentative topic list includes:
- Overview: What the Heck is Supercomputing?
- The Tyranny of the Storage Hierarchy
- Instruction Level Parallelism
- Stupid Compiler Tricks
- Shared Memory Multithreading (featuring OpenMP)
- Distributed Multiprocessing (featuring MPI)
- Applications and Types of Parallelism
- Multicore Madness
- High Throughput Computing
- Accelerators: Number Crunching in Your Graphics Card
- Grab Bag: Scientific Libraries, I/O Libriaries, Visualization
Registration is free. To register, please visit q http://www.oscer.ou.edu/education.php.
Physics Girl Explains Why the Earth is Flat
Published on Nov 11, 2014
Cosmic inflation is a theory that was proposed in the 1980s by cosmologist Alan Guth to answer some of the most fundamental questions of the origins of our universe. It also solved the Horizon Problem and the Flatness Problem. To view the video, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUsOWtxKKA.
Faculty Opportunities
| CISE-MPS Interdisciplinary Faculty Program in Quantum Information Science
Full Proposal Deadline – February 2, 2015 |
The CISE-MPS Interdisciplinary Faculty Program in Quantum Information Science is designed to promote research in the area of Quantum Information Science (QIS) by providing resources to allow QIS researchers and researchers from the CISE or MPS disciplines to actively engage in joint research efforts, addressing problems at the interface between the mathematical and physical sciences and computer and information sciences through long-term visits to a host institution. For more information, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15512/nsf15512.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click.
Hack the Gender: Women's Hackathon Aims to Show Young Women a Future in Tech
West Virginia University's Reed College of Media and PBS MediaShift recently hosted the "Hack the Gender: A Women's Hackathon on Wearables," an event focused on how women and the media can play a role in the development of wearable technology. The event marked the launch of the school's new media innovation lab and emerged from the school's focus on wearable technology, its role in reporting, and vice versa. "Wearables pose a real opportunity for women to get in on a conversation from the very beginning, before the market is saturated, and before the major players have been established," said Maryanne Reed, dean of Reed College of Media. To read further, please visit http://www.techrepublic.com/article/hack-the-gender-womens-hackathon-aims-to-show-young-women-a-future-in-tech/.
Computational Science News of Interest
What Does an Idle CPU Do?
In the last post I said the fundamental axiom of OS behavior is that at any given time, exactly one and only one task is active on a CPU. But if there’s absolutely nothing to do, then what? It turns out that this situation is extremely common, and for most personal computers it’s actually the norm: an ocean of sleeping processes, all waiting on some condition to wake up, while nearly 100% of CPU time is going into the mythical “idle task.” In fact, if the CPU is consistently busy for a normal user, it’s often a misconfiguration, bug, or malware. Since we can’t violate our axiom, some task needs to be active on a CPU. First because it’s good design: it would be unwise to spread special cases all over the kernel checking whether there is in fact an active task. A design is far better when there are no exceptions. Whenever you write an if statement, Nyan Cat cries. And second, we need to do something with all those idle CPUs, lest they get spunky and, you know, create Skynet. To read further, please visit http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/what-does-an-idle-cpu-do/.
Stanford Libraries Unearths the Earliest U.S. Website
Stanford Libraries has launched Stanford Wayback, a customized version of an open-source platform that enables long-term access to archived Web assets. The Stanford researchers identified the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which was created in 1991, as the earliest known website in the United States. "Thankfully, a handful of staff at SLAC who worked on the early Web fortuitously saved the files, along with their timestamps, associated with the first and several subsequent versions of their website," says Stanford Libraries Web archiving service manager Nicholas Taylor. Stanford Wayback brings early websites back to life, as well as thousands of historical SLAC Web pages and related Web assets from 1991-1999, providing users with a snapshot of the Web's evolution. To read further, please visit http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/october/slac-libraries-wayback-102914.html.
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