Coastal changes: Beaches on the move

The good news: The drive to the beach may be shorter in coming years.

The bad news weve already seen. Especially last winter. Homes falling into the ocean. Beaches scoured of sand. Seawalls and jetties degraded or destroyed. Roads washed out or buried in sand and debris.

Its difficult to say if last winters damage was a seasonal fluctuation or a definite, long-term trend, say experts. Coastlines, by their nature, change. Storm patterns, too, vary.

But experts agree on one point: Sea levels are rising, increasing the likelihood of long-term coastal flooding, erosion and storm damage.

Last winter may be an outlier. Four major noreasters rocked Massachusetts from October to March. From year to year, storms vary in severity and impact. Because the commonwealths coast suffered through a severe winter last year, doesnt necessarily mean this winter will be equally severe.

At the same time, barrier beaches can be very dynamic. They can narrow and shrink for a number of years. And then they can suddenly blossom again and widen. One beach can lose significant sand, while another, not far away, can gain.

There are areas where weve seen significant erosion and others where weve seen accretion, said Bruce Carlisle, director of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. Between 2001 and 2008, where weve done the actual mapping, within that small decade, the shoreline has moved up and back a little bit.

Its important to distinguish between the loss of a beach and the migration of a beach or barrier island, when an entire system can respond by changing its location, said Rob Thieler, a research geologist with United States Geological Survey in Woods Hole. Sometimes coastal changes are asymmetric. There can be narrowing for a decade or two, followed by widening, depending on how the overall system is changing.

Hurricanes cause some damage, said Bill Sargent, a NOVA consultant and author of numerous books about the environment and science including Beach Wars: 10,000 Years on a Barrier Beach and The View From Strawberry Hill: Reflections on the Hottest Year on Record, but Sargent argues noreasters can actually do more damage because theyll hang around for three or four days. They linger over far more high tides than a hurricane would and thats when you get a cumulative effect.

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Coastal changes: Beaches on the move

Playing a role playing game (pt 1) using Human Level Artificial Intelligence – Video


Playing a role playing game (pt 1) using Human Level Artificial Intelligence
Building a robot to play chess is easy. Building a robot to play a role playing game (RPG) is 10 times harder. Even better, is to build a robot that can play any boardgame or any videogame....

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Playing a role playing game (pt 1) using Human Level Artificial Intelligence - Video

Facebook working on “deep learning” artificial intelligence to improve news feed

Facebook is aiming to get inside its users minds, figuratively speaking, to find out what they mean when posting statuses. Such is coming by way of an artificial intelligence being created by the social network that MIT reports as functioning with simulated networks of brain cells, all of them crunching away at data to perform deep learning, helping it to ascertain the emotions and subtleties behind a status.

The goal behind what is being referred to as the deep learning system is the ability to analyze a status and figure out what the events or likely emotions were behind the words, though neither may be specified. The artificial intelligence could also learn to pinpoint what objects are in photographs, and learn to predict what users may do in the future.

Such information comes from Facebooks Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer, who says the project is being worked on by eight individuals who are collectively known as the AI Team. The deep learning project is new, and the social network is remaining tight-lipped about most of its details, not surprisingly. But some of the ends goals have been revealed, among them being a boost to users news feeds.

In particular, Facebook aims to improve what status updates Facebook users see in their news feed, selecting the ones amidst the barrage that happens every day that each user is mostly likely to want to see. The company already does this using more conventional means, attempting to provide status updates from friends that each user would likely be most interested in, a necessity given the vast amount posted every day.

Said Schroepfer, The data set is increasing in size, people are getting more friends, and with the advent of mobile, people are online more frequently. Its not that I look at my news feed once at the end of the day; I constantly pull out my phone while Im waiting for my friend, or Im at the coffee shop. We have five minutes to really delight you.

SOURCE: MIT Technology Review

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Facebook working on “deep learning” artificial intelligence to improve news feed

PASSUR Aerospace Reports Revenue and Profit Results for First Nine Months of Fiscal 2013

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PASSUR Aerospace, Inc. (PSSR), a business intelligence, Big Data, software and solutions company, reported a 6% increase to $7,298,000 in its airline, airport, and business aviation revenue for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. Overall revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2013 decreased 19%,to$8,078,000 compared to $9,943,000 in the same period of the previous fiscal year, primarily due to the completion of a government contract and a professional services engagement in fiscal year 2012. For the nine months ended July 31, 2013, the Company's net income decreased to $182,000 or $.02 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1,096,000 or $.14 per share for the nine months ended July 31, 2012.

Total revenue for the quarter ended July 31, 2013 decreased 7%to$2,743,000, compared to $2,947,000 in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. The Company had net income of $105,000 or $.01 per diluted share in the third quarter ended July 31, 2013, compared to a net income of $156,000 or $.02 per diluted share in the same quarter of fiscal 2012.

"PASSUR's focus on selling its integrated traffic management software and solutions to its broad commercial aviation markets continues to produce growth," said Jim Barry, President and CEO of PASSUR Aerospace. "We are especially pleased with the rapid and widespread adoption of our Global Collaborative Decision Making platform. Our Airport Information Network (AIN) is now connected to IATA's Tactical Operations Portal (ITOP), linking more than 100 North American Airports with more than 98 worldwide airlines. We believe AIN and ITOP are contributing to the future of collaboration and coordination within the aviation industry across regional, national, and global constituencies. Along with our collaborative layer, we believe that our traffic management suite PASSUR Integrated Traffic Management continues to help address our customers' complex aviation challenges through the smart use of Big Data, predictive analytics, information and data visualization, and collaboration among all key aviation players."

"We continue to believe in our growth playbook, with a very focused execution plan addressing expensive problems that have a direct and major impact on the customers' bottom line," said G.S. Beckwith Gilbert, PASSUR Aerospace Chairman of the Board.

About PASSUR AerospacePASSUR Aerospace, Inc. is a business intelligence and Big Data company that provides predictive analytics built on proprietary algorithms and the concurrent integration and simultaneous mining of multiple databases. We believe PASSUR is the industry standard in business intelligence dashboards and predictive analytics for aviation organizations. PASSUR serves dozens of airlines (including all the top eight North American airlines), approximately 60 airport customers (including 23 of the top 30 North American airports), and approximately 200 corporate aviation customers, as well as the U.S. government. PASSUR's system provides coast-to-coast coverage and is driven by proprietary, patented, business intelligence software, which is powered by a unique North American network of 163 passive radar sensors, company owned. Other sensors are located in Europe and Asia. Supplementary, detailed coverage is also provided at 98 of the top 100 North American airports. Flight tracks are updated between 1 and 4.6 seconds, thereby making available a system which is user-friendly and useful for decision-making. Visit PASSUR Aerospace's web site at http://www.passur.com for updated products, solutions, and news.

Visit PASSUR Aerospace's Web site at http://www.passur.com for updated news, products, and solutions.

The forward-looking statements in this press release relating to management's expectations and beliefs are based on preliminary information and management assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ in material respects, including those related to customer needs, budgetary constraints, competitive pressures, the success of airline trials, the profitable use of the Company's owned PASSURs located at major airports, the Company's maintenance of above average quality of its product and services, as well as potential regulatory changes. Further information regarding factors that could affect the Company's results is contained in the Company's SEC filings, including the October 31, 2012 Form 10-K and July 31, 2013 Form 10-Q.

Contact: James T. BarryPresident & CEO(203) 622-4086 jimbarry@passur.com

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PASSUR Aerospace Reports Revenue and Profit Results for First Nine Months of Fiscal 2013

MWV Episode 78 / This Week in Microbiology 64: URI and UTI at ICAAC in Denver – Video


MWV Episode 78 / This Week in Microbiology 64: URI and UTI at ICAAC in Denver
A recorded version of a live streaming video episode of This Week in Microbiology (TWiM), a podcast about unseen life on Earth, with Vincent Racaniello, a Hi...

By: American Society for Microbiology

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MWV Episode 78 / This Week in Microbiology 64: URI and UTI at ICAAC in Denver - Video

Chemistry and Environmental Awareness: Cheryl Hogue talks with Carmen Drahl – Video


Chemistry and Environmental Awareness: Cheryl Hogue talks with Carmen Drahl
Are chemists more aware of the environmental consequences of their innovations than they were in decades past? How much more? And how much further does the f...

By: CEN Online

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Chemistry and Environmental Awareness: Cheryl Hogue talks with Carmen Drahl - Video

Tv9 Gujarat – Ranveer – Deepika’s chemistry at Ram Leela’s trailer launch – Video


Tv9 Gujarat - Ranveer - Deepika #39;s chemistry at Ram Leela #39;s trailer launch
The trailer of much awaited movie of Film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was launched in Mumbai. In Ram Leela, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are paired opp...

By: gujarattv9

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Tv9 Gujarat - Ranveer - Deepika's chemistry at Ram Leela's trailer launch - Video