HPC in the News
University of Hawaii Puts Cray CS Cluster Supercomputer Into Production
Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. today announced that the University of Hawaii (UH) has put a Cray CS cluster supercomputer into production. The new Cray system is the University’s first centralized high performance computing system, and will be located on the UH Manoa Campus in a new state-of-the-art 8,000 square foot, Silver LEED Certified data center. “The Cray high performance computing system will empower innovative research by enabling cost-effective access to big data capabilities for researchers at UH Manoa and across the State of Hawaii,” said David Lassner, UH President. To read further, please visit http://investors.cray.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=98390&p=irol-newsArticle.
Washington University in St. Louis Receives New HPC Cluster
Advanced Clustering Technologies this week installed a new HPC cluster to meet the current and future high performance computing needs at Washington University in St. Louis. The university supports a large, diverse user community including researchers from disciplines not usually associated with HPC such as Economists and Radiologists. “We needed a heterogeneous mix of hardware to support the wide variety of applications being run on our systems,” said Malcolm Tobias, Systems Manager and Technical Programmer for Washington University in St. Louis. “Like everyone else, we can never have enough fast storage.” Initially, the university envisioned a cluster with 1,000 compute cores, but that plan was cost-prohibitive. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/washington-university-st-louis-receives-new-hpc-cluster/.
MIT Technology Review Publishes List of the 2014 35 Innovators Under the Age of 35
All 35 of these people are doing exciting work that could shape their fields for decades. But they’re solving problems in remarkably different ways. We consider some of them to be primarily Inventors; they’re immersed in building new technologies. Others we call Visionaries, because they’re showing how technologies could be put to new or better uses. Humanitarians are using technology to expand opportunities or inform public policy. Pioneers are doing fundamental work that will spawn future innovations; such breakthroughs will be taken up by tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs, people who are building new tech businesses. To read further, please visit http://www.cccblog.org/2014/12/18/35-innovators-under-the-age-of-35/.
New NIH Big Data to Knowledge Funding Opportunities
Application Deadline – March 17, 2015
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) program has announced two new funding opportunities for FY15 funding.
NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative Research Education: Open Educational Resources for Sharing, Annotating and Curating Biomedical Big Data (R25) RFA-LM-15-002
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This FOA will support development of open educational resources that cover concepts, approaches, relevant use cases and requirements for sharing, annotating and curating biomedical Big Data research resources, for use by librarians and other instructors to train researchers and graduate students for active roles in the connected biomedical enterprise.
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Four to six awards are expected.
For more information, please visit http://bd2k.nih.gov/#sthash.OFbuWZvL.f7v4Rm1j.dpbs. .
NSF Announces New Partnerships for Computer Science Education
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) kicked off Computer Science Education Week today with an event in Washington, D.C., celebrating new commitments and partnerships among the Federal government, school districts, nonprofits, foundations, private industry, and others that will expand access to, and student learning in, computer science and coding at the K-12 levels. NSF Director France A. Córdova joined other federal officials including John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Megan Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, at the event, along with school superintendents, leaders from industry and the computer science (CS) education movement, and CS teachers from across the nation. To learn more, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=133570.
XSEDE Partners and Friends in the News
SDSC/UC San Diego Achieves a Hat Trick with 2014 HPCwire Awards
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has achieved a hat trick in garnering three awards for its university-wide WIFIRE project as part of the annual HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards presented at the 2014 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC14), in New Orleans, Louisiana. SDSC this week received the three awards in three separate categories for the WIFIRE project, the result of a multi-year, $2.65 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a cyberinfrastructure to find ways to more effectively monitor, predict, and mitigate wildfires. To read further, please visit http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR111914_hpcwire_awards.html.
UTK’s Mark Dean Named National Academy of Inventors Fellow
Mark Dean, a professor in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Engineering and an icon in the world of personal computing, has added another title to his already prestigious career: National Academy of Inventors Fellow for 2014. Dean, the Fisher Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, holds three of IBM’s original nine patents for personal computers, including one for the technology that allows multiple devices to be plugged into a computer at the same time. “To have been selected for this and to see some of the other people on their list makes me feel really good,” said Dean, who joins UT Vice Chancellor for Research Taylor Eighmy, a 2013 selection and a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, as NAI fellows at UT. “There are a lot of great people on there, so being selected is an honor.” To read further, please visit http://tntoday.utk.edu/2014/12/16/dean-named-national-academy-of-inventors-fellow/.
UC Berkeley Hosts 24-Hour Social Innovation Hackathon to Fight World Hunger
In late November, 36 people gathered at the University of California, Berkeley to participate in a Social Innovation Hackathon to support Heifer International's global activities to curb hunger. Participants came from the university as well as from across the San Francisco Bay Area, and were divided into groups to strategize, design, and code. Seven teams emerged with working prototypes following the 24-hour hacking marathon. The winning project was an Android app to support program monitoring and evaluation. The app was designed by William Wu and Jiehua Chen of Quantitative Engineering Design, and enables users to collect a standard set of data while in the field and cache it locally on their devices. When the devices detect an Internet connection, the stored information syncs to the database at Heifer headquarters, making data available online in the form of tables and maps to facilitate data analysis and visualization. The app also automatically georeferences and timestamps the data, and supports the inclusion of photos taken in the field. To read further, please visit http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/newsandevents/news/20141202socialinnovationhackathon.
Call for Participation
MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 – Call for Nominations
Nomination Deadline – March 31, 2015
Let us know who you think belongs on the 2015 list of Innovators Under 35. All nominations remain confidential. We will contact the nominee directly to participate in our selection process. If you have questions about filling out this form or about the nomination process, please visit http://www2.technologyreview.com/tr35/nominate.aspx.
Call for Abstracts: CyberGIS as an Engine of Data Stewardship
Submission Deadline – January 7, 2015
Conveners: Dawn Wright, Esri and Joan Maso, European Geoscience Union
This session explores practical approaches for understanding and furthering many aspects of data stewardship such as defining elements of data quality; tracking provenance, workflows, added value, and credit through the data lifecycle; scaling of complex processes; and ultimately making scientific data more broadly available, discoverable, and usable for a larger and more diverse user community. This is explored through the lens of cyberGIS, which has emerged from the realm of the desktop and the isolated, on-premise server to that of more pervasive, distributed computing, including high-performance grid computing and the cloud. Crucial to CyberGIS as an engine of data stewardship is its evolving capability to natively interoperate with a range of data formats, to digest their key metadata and spatio-temporal boundaries, and to expose and disseminate GIS services, data feeds, and related information products such as coastal web atlases. Papers on these GIS topics are welcome. Detailed information on how to submit an abstract can be found at: http://egu2015.eu//abstract_management/how_to_submit_an_abstract.html.
Upcoming Conferencesm Workshops and Webinars
National Center for Atmospheric Research Workshop
January 20-23, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado
Registration Deadline – January 9, 2015
NCL workshops are tailored to students and researchers in the earth sciences who are interested in learning how to use NCL to analyze their data. The workshops are taught by both a scientist and a software engineer, and offer a combination of introductory lectures and hands-on labs. During the labs, the instructors work with students to help them write NCL programs for analyzing their own data. Lecture topics: Overview of NCL, Overview of NetCDF and other data formats, NCL language basics, File input/output, Data analysis, Graphics, NCL website tour. Workshops are generally 3.5 days, with the first three days being lectures in the morning and hands-on labs in the afternoon. The fourth day is an optional morning lab. Local workshops are free. They're usually held at the Corporate Technical Training Center (CTTC) at the Center Green Campus in Boulder. This center provides a computer for every attendee. Space is limited to 16 students. For more information, please visit http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Training/Workshops/#Prerequisites.
Get Schooled on Science Policy: LiSPI
April 27-28, 2015 – Washington D.C.
As part of its mission to develop a next generation of leaders in the computing research community, the Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium (CCC) announces the third offering of the CCC Leadership in Science Policy Institute (LiSPI), intended to educate computing researchers on how science policy in the U.S. is formulated and how our government works. We seek nominations for participants. LiSPI will feature presentations and discussions with science policy experts, current and former Hill staff, and relevant agency and Administration personnel about mechanics of the legislative process, interacting with agencies, advisory committees, and the federal case for computing. For more information, please visit http://www.cccblog.org/2014/11/24/get-schooled-on-science-policy-lispi-call-for-nominations-now-open/.
Research News From Around the World
SDSC to Start Loading the Nodes for its New ‘Comet’ Supercomputer
The result of a National Science Foundation (NSF) award currently valued at $21.6 million including hardware and operating funds, Comet will be capable of an overall peak performance of two petaflops, or two quadrillion operations per second. Comet will join SDSC’s Gordon supercomputer as another key resource within the NSF’s XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment) program, which comprises the most advanced collection of integrated digital resources and services in the world. Researchers can apply for time on Comet and other resources via XSEDE. Comet’s production startup is scheduled for early 2015, to be followed by a formal launch event in the spring. To read further, please visit http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR111414_comet.html.
Large Dark Matter Halos Favor Growth of Larger Early Galaxies
Few scientific questions are as fundamental, or fascinating, as the origin of the Universe. And we can see the early Universe. The farthest galaxies from us are so far away that it takes light rays about 13 billion years to reach us. Our newest telescopes are, in essence, time machines that will see the light that these galaxies created just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Hy Trac of Carnegie Mellon University and Renyue Cen of Princeton University lead a team of cosmologists whose simulations on PSC’s Blacklight supercomputer predict that the largest early galaxies would tend to win a cosmic tug of war in galaxy formation, making it harder for smaller ones to develop. Such predictions help the big-ticket telescopes know what phenomena to look for, making them more productive. To read further, please visit http://www.psc.edu/index.php/biannual-publication-spring-2014/940-cosmic-tug-of-war.
At TACC, Science Powerhouses Unite to Help Search for Gravitational Waves
From 2002 to 2010, hundreds of scientists worked together to bring the experiment to life. It required two gravitational wave observatories, 1,865 miles apart, working in unison: the LIGO Livingston Observatory in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, located near Richland, Washington. LIGO was developed and is managed by Caltech and MIT, and is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Since gravitational waves are expected to travel at the speed of light, the distance between the sites corresponds to a difference in arrival times of about ten milliseconds. By triangulating the signals, this small difference in detection can determine the source of the wave in the sky. To read further, please visit https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/-/science-powerhouses-unite-to-help-search-for-gravitational-waves.
University of New South Wales Researchers Aim to Secure Smartwatches for e-Health
Computerworld Australia
The Australian Research Council has awarded a team of University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers a $322,800 grant to conduct experiments on boosting the security of wearable technology. The researchers aim to develop technology that can be incorporated into wearable fitness devices to make them secure and trusted enough to feed their data into mainstream health systems. In addition, the wearable technology could enable doctors to remotely monitor the health of patients in their homes and provide greater detail about a patient's health to improve diagnosis. "Secure, non-intrusive medical monitoring can offer quality-of-life for millions of patients with chronic conditions or age-related illnesses, while providing critical data for health care providers at dramatically reduced cost," says UNSW professor Vijay Sivaraman. The grant is expected to produce ultra-lightweight algorithms and mechanisms that execute in wearable devices to safeguard the integrity of the data, according to Sanjay Jha, director of UNSW's Cyber Security and Privacy Laboratory. To read more, please visit http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/560816/unsw-researchers-aim-secure-smartwatches-e-health/. .
| Indiana University Study Suggests Encouraging STEM Classes Triggers Interest in College Students It is just as important to help students maintain an interest in mathematics and science as it is to spark that interest, according to new study from Indiana University (IU) researchers. IU professor Adam Maltese and co-researchers Christina Melki and Heidi Wiebke conducted a study of 8,000 college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as in non-STEM disciplines. Most respondents who completed STEM degrees said it was their own passion for the field that was critical to getting them to pursue STEM studies. Twenty-six percent said teachers were their biggest influence, while 34 percent said they cultivated their interest in STEM subjects on their own. Respondents who first became interested in STEM in middle school or later were more likely to complete a degree than those who became interested at an earlier age, and they were more likely to say teachers were their main influence. To read further, please visit http://www.idsnews.com/article/2014/11/study-suggests-encouraging-stem-classes-triggers-interest-in-college-students. |
Alan Turing Institute for Data Science to Be Based at British Library
London Guardian
The collection and analysis of big data will be the prime focus of the new Alan Turing Institute for Data Science, to be located at the British Library in London's new Knowledge Quarter and to be built at a cost of 42 million British pounds, according to chancellor George Osborne. The center is named after the pioneering mathematician credited as the father of modern computing science, who also played a crucial role in the cracking of the Enigma code that accelerated the end of World War II. "I think it is a fitting tribute to his name and memory that here, in the center of our capital, there is an institute that is named after him," Osborne says. Among the 35 academic, cultural, research, scientific, and media organizations participating in the Knowledge Quarter revitalization project are the British Library, Google, the Wellcome Trust, Camden Council, the British Museum, Central Saint Martins, University College London, the Francis Crick Institute, the Royal College of Physicians, and the Guardian newspaper. To read further, please visit http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/04/alan-turing-institute-big-data-knowledge-quarter-london.
Educator News and Opportunities
Computing Research Association 2015 Undergraduate Researchers Award Winners!
The Education Committee of the Computing Research Association (CRA-E) have announced the winners of the 2015 Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers Award. This year’s nominees were a very impressive group. A number of them were commended for making significant contributions to more than one research project, several were authors or coauthors on multiple papers, others had made presentations at major conferences, and some had produced software artifacts that were in widespread use. Many of nominees had been involved in successful summer research or internship programs, many had been teaching assistants, tutors, or mentors, and a number had significant involvement in community volunteer efforts. To read further, please visit http://www.cra.org/awards/undergrad-current/.
TACC, Mellanox Pilot Summer High School STEM Program
Registration Opens – January 20, 2015
June 15-26, 2015, - Austin, Texas
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) announces CODE @ TACC, a new summer program designed to prepare high school juniors and seniors for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers by teaching the principles of high performance computing through a life sciences lens. “CODE @ TACC will provide an impactful educational experience for both high school students interested in technology and the life sciences, and parents or teachers who want to engage their students in STEM,” said Mariel Robles, senior program coordinator of Education and Outreach at TACC. To read further, please visit https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/-/tacc-mellanox-pilot-summer-high-school-stem-program.
Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education Summer Fellowship Program For Teachers Now Accepting Applications
Application Deadline – February 15, 2015
The IISME Summer Fellowship Program places eligible K-16 teachers from all disciplines into high-performance industry and research environments for the summer. Teachers work full-time for eight weeks, complete a project for their Host organization, and are paid $8,200 for their work. Teachers devote 10% of their paid time to focus on how they will transfer their Summer Fellowship experience back to their students and colleagues.
By working at one of IISME's Host organizations, such as Genentech, Stanford University, Dow Chemical Company, Lockheed Martin, Google or Cisco Systems just to name a few, teachers are able to experience, first hand, the practical applications of the science, math and technology they teach. The Summer Fellowship experience becomes a springboard for infusing curriculum with "real world" connections that further engage students in learning. Many IISME Fellows report that their Summer Fellowship experiences reenergize their enthusiasm and commitment to teaching as they come away with exciting ideas for how to better prepare their students for 21st Century careers. For more information please visit https://owa.cde.ca.gov/CookieAuth.dll?GetLogon?curl=Z2FowaZ2FZ3FaeZ3DItemZ26tZ3DIPM.NoteZ26idZ3DRgAAAAB5qBDnOpIxRZ5AhFKtjTu6GxBwD4QtZ252fQRDMISagjnnLFZ252fBgTADVLngAnAACTX2QU8CX4TbfrKZ5AZ252bUKu19AAAlIOkhAAAJZ26phZ3D0Z26cbZ3D0&reason=0&formdir=1. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact IISME's Executive Director, Shari Liss at sliss@iisme.org or 408.553.3179.
2015 Alan Shepard Technology in 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. Questions about this award should be directed to amfreg@amfcse.org.
Student Engagement and Opportunities
Girls On Ice Wilderness and Learning Experience
Alaska Program: June 19–30, 2015
North Cascades Program: July 13–24, 2015
Application Deadline – January 31, 2015
Girls on Ice is a unique, FREE, wilderness science education program for high school girls. Each year two teams of 9 teenage girls and 3 instructors spend 12 days exploring and learning about mountain glaciers and the alpine landscape through scientific field studies with professional glaciologists, ecologists, artists, and mountaineers. One team explores Mount Baker, an ice-covered volcano in the North Cascades of Washington State. The other team sleeps under the midnight sun exploring an Alaskan glacier. For complete information, please visit http://girlsonice.org/.
How to Get More Latinas Into Tech
USA Today
Silicon Valley could be more innovative if it drew from an even richer pool of ideas, suggests media start-up co-founder Laura Gomez. Gomez, 35, came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 10, enrolled as a computer science student at the University of California, Berkeley at 17, and appeared headed for a career in the field. However, Gomez felt overwhelmed in an introduction to computer science course with few women in the class. Gomez decided to pursue a master's degree in sociology and Latin American studies, then traveled, and finally reconsidered a career in the technology when she was faced with having to pay off her student loans. Over the years, Gomez has worked as a contractor for YouTube, led Twitter en espanol and headed internationalization and localization for Jawbone. She says Latinas and African-Americans can take a similar path, but believes tech companies also need to break out of their hiring patterns. To read further, please visit like me in 20 years." To read further, please visit http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/11/30/laura-gomez-diversity-silicon-valley-latina-tech/19300807/.
Maker Movement: How to Turn Your School Into a Maker Haven
By Katrina Schwartz, KQED
One of the best ways for frustrated parents, students and teachers to convince school leaders that it is time for a reboot is with amazing student work. An unconventional learning community of “makers” — people who like to figure out and fix problems with their hands — stands ready to demonstrate a hands-on learning style in which students engage problems that matter to them, taking agency and displaying creativity along the way. The Maker Movement is slowly infiltrating schools across the country with the help of dedicated educators and inspirational students proving with their creations that they can do incredible things when given a chance. To read further, please visit http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/09/how-to-turn-your-school-into-a-maker-haven/.
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowships
Annual Application Deadlines - March 1, July 1 and November 1, 2015
The NASA Postdoctoral Program, or NPP, supports NASA's goal to expand scientific understanding of the Earth and the universe in which we live. Selected by a competitive peer-review process, NPP fellows complete one- to three-year fellowships that offer scientists and engineers unique opportunities to conduct research in fields of science relevant to NASA. These opportunities advance NASA's missions in earth science, heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary science, astrobiology, space bioscience, aeronautics and engineering, human exploration and operations, and space technology. Opportunities are available at NASA centers and other NASA-approved sites. For more information and application procedures, go to http://nasa.orau.org/postdoc/.
2015 Planetary Geology and Geophysics Undergraduate Research Program
Applications Deadline - February 2, 2015.
The Planetary Geology and Geophysics Undergraduate Research Program, or PGGURP, pairs qualified undergraduate students with NASA-funded investigators at research locations across the U.S. for eight weeks during the summer. Students will spend the summer at the NASA scientists' home institutions. Selected students receive a cost-of-living stipend and compensation for housing and travel Undergraduate students majoring in geology or related sciences are eligible to apply. Students graduating in 2015 who have not started graduate school yet are also eligible. Preference is given to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. For more information, visit http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~tgregg/pggurp_homepage.html. If you have questions about this opportunity, please email Robyn Wagner, PGGURP administrator, at pggurp@buffalo.edu.
NASA History Program Office Summer and Fall 2015 Internships
Summer 2015 Internships Application Deadline –February 1, 2015
000000000000000000000000000Fall 2015 Internship Applications Deadline - June 1, 2015
The NASA History Program Office is seeking undergraduate and graduate students for summer and fall 2015 internships. The History Program Office maintains archival materials to answer research questions from NASA personnel, journalists, scholars, and students at all levels and others from around the world. The division also edits and publishes several books and monographs each year. It maintains a large number of websites on NASA history. Students of all majors are welcome to apply. While detailed prior knowledge of the aeronautics and space fields is not necessary, a keen interest and some basic familiarity with these topics are needed. Strong research, writing and editing skills are essential. Experience with social media is a plus. For more information, visit http://history.nasa.gov/interncall.htm.
2015 NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship
Applications Deadline – January 30, 2015
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is accepting applications for its 2015 Educational Partnership Program, or EPP, Undergraduate Scholarship Program. The EPP Undergraduate Scholarship Program provides scholarships for two years of undergraduate study to rising junior undergraduate students majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields that directly support NOAA's mission. Participants receive total awards valued at up to $35,000 in total support during their junior and senior years. During the first summer, scholars complete a nine-week paid summer internship at NOAA in Silver Spring, Maryland. During the second summer, scholars complete paid internships at NOAA facilities across the country. A stipend and housing allowance is provided. At the end of both summer internships, students present the results of their projects at an education and science symposium in Silver Spring. For more information and to submit an online application, visit http://www.epp.noaa.gov/ssp_undergrad_page.html. Questions about this scholarship opportunity should be directed to EPP.USP@noaa.gov.
Computational Science News of Interest
Stanford Engineers Take Big Step Toward Using Light Instead of Wires Inside Computers
Stanford Report
Stanford University researchers have developed a prism-like device that can split a beam of light into different colors and bend the light at right angles, a breakthrough they say could lead to computers that use optics to carry data. The device includes an optical link made of a tiny slice of silicon etched with a pattern that resembles a bar code. When a beam of light is shined at the link, two different wavelengths of light split off at right angles to the input, forming a "T" shape. "Light can carry more data than a wire, and it takes less energy to transmit photons than electrons," notes Stanford professor Jelena Vuckovic. The researchers also developed an algorithm that automates the process of designing optical structures, enabling them to create new nanoscale structures to control light. The new device was made by etching a tiny barcode pattern into silicon that splits waves of light in the manner of a small-scale prism. To read further, please visit http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/december/optical-silicon-algorithm-120214.html.
NASA Space Station 3-D Printer Builds Ratchet Wrench To Complete First Phase Of Operations
The International Space Station's 3-D printer completed the first phase of a NASA technology demonstration by printing a tool with a design file transmitted from the ground to the printer. The tool was a ratchet wrench. "For the printer's final test in this phase of operations, NASA wanted to validate the process for printing on demand, which will be critical on longer journeys to Mars," explained Niki Werkheiser, the space station 3-D printer program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "In less than a week, the ratchet was designed, approved by safety and other NASA reviewers, and the file was sent to space where the printer made the wrench in four hours.” This ratchet wrench will be returned to the ground for analysis and testing, along with the other parts printed in space. The 4.48-inch-long by 1.29-inch-wide wrench was designed by Noah Paul-Gin, an engineer at Made In Space Inc., a northern California company that NASA contracted to design, build and operate the printer. The 3-D printer built the wrench by additive manufacturing, depositing 104 layers of plastic. To read further, please visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/3Dratchet_wrench/#.VKcPlCdqaLo.
Social Media
How Google "Translates" Pictures Into Words Using Vector Space Mathematics
Technology Review
Google is applying the techniques it uses to translate text into different languages to a system that automatically creates captions for images. Google Translate uses a method known as vector space mathematics to translate text. The machine-learning technique focuses on where words appear in a sentence and in relation to other words, defining words as a vector in relation to one another and sentences as combinations of vectors. Google Translate translates a given sentence into a vector equation and then translates that equation into the other desired language. Google now is using this technique in a new system it calls Neural Image Caption (NIC). The system started by studying a dataset of 100,000 images and their captions to learn how to classify images and their contents. It then converts these captions into vector equations to learn how an image relates to the words used to describe it. To read further, please visit http://www.technologyreview.com/view/532886/how-google-translates-pictures-into-words-using-vector-space-mathematics/.
