Donated supercomputer ‘to supercharge NZ research’

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Creates opportunity for AUTs Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research to establish a data correlation centre in Warkworth

Telecoms ICT services division Gen-i has donated a supercomputer to AUT University that will now be used to support student learning and boost important local and international research for radio astronomy.

The supercomputer had at one time been leased to Weta Digital for rendering work on feature film King Kong, but became surplus to Gen-is requirements a few years later.

Gen-i was then looking to either scrap or donate the equipment, which was worth around a quarter of a million dollars when new. While considering the options, a conversation with Professor Sergei Gulyaev, director of AUTs Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research (IRASR), led to the supercomputer finding a new home with the University.

Gen-i CEO Tim Miles says the donation to AUT was a fantastic outcome for Gen-i as well as for the University.

"We were faced with the reality that despite still being very viable equipment, this supercomputer was no longer of use to us," says Miles.

"Its always preferable that we donate rather than send equipment to be scrapped for parts, and in this case were absolutely delighted that this supercomputer will now be used to boost critical research projects as well as contribute to student learning."

Most of the high-powered equipment has now been moved to its new home in Warkworth, where AUT operates two radio telescopes at Telecoms Satellite Earth Station site. The remaining servers are located on AUTs City Campus where they will help students studying High Performance Computing at AUTs School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences.

Professor Sergei Gulyaev says the donation is a great example of collaboration between the University and industry.

"The supercomputer also opens up the opportunity for AUTs Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research to establish a data correlation centre in Warkworth. The centre would be used to gather data from several radio telescopes undertaking the same observations simultaneously from different countries," says Gulyaev.

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Donated supercomputer 'to supercharge NZ research'

Musical Astronomers

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Camille Saint-Sans (1835 1921) Saint-Sans [pronounced sah-soh] was one of the great Romantic composers. He had been a prodigy like Mozart, composing his first piano piece at four. Aged five, he played a Beethoven piece in his first concert. As a composer, his most popular work today is probably The Carnival of the Animals, which he refused to have publicly performed in his lifetime, as he felt people would consider him frivolous.

However Saint-Sans was also a very knowledgeable and prolific writer in such diverse disciplines as math, geology, botany and philosophy. It was almost predictable that astronomy would be among his interests. He was a member of the Astronomical Society of France, founded in 1887 by his friend Camille Flammarion (1842 1925). Although Saint-Sans had a telescope, he admitted that he wasn't a methodical observer, preferring simply to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the heavens.

Occasionally, Saint-Sans, probably in collaboration with Flammarion, organized concerts around astronomical events such as the summer solstice. I'm surprised that he never wrote any music inspired by astronomy.

Brian May (born 1947) More people have heard Brian May on guitar in the band Queen than know that he has a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College, London. Although he started music lessons when he was seven, he got interested in astronomy at an early age, too. He was inspired by astronomy popularizer Patrick Moore (1923-2012). May's 4-inch reflector was a telescope he and his father made long ago, as was his trademark guitar, the Red Special.

So would it be music or science? May played in a band, and he did a physics degree. He turned down a job at Jodrell Bank Observatory to stay at Imperial College because of the London music scene. The choice was finally made when the band Queen started becoming popular, and the PhD seemed to be running out of steam. It was decades later that Patrick Moore persuaded May to complete the PhD.

In addition to music and other interests, Brian May has co-authored two popular astronomy books and is a keen amateur observer.

By the way, Patrick Moore himself was a keen amateur musician. He said that he once played the piano to accompany Albert Einstein on his violin. Appropriately, the piece was from Saint-Sans's Carnival of the Animals.

Bernard Lovell (1913 2012) Bernard Lovell is one of the great names of radio astronomy. He founded the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England in 1945. Its iconic telescope later named the Lovell Telescope opened in 1957. It was then the largest steerable radio telescope in the world, though there are larger ones now.

Bernard Lovell and Jodrell Bank were pioneers in radio astronomy. The facility still contributes to developments in astronomy, including studying pulsars, quasars and gravitational lensing. It also did extensive Cold War tracking of satellites and spacecraft, sometimes being able to see areas of the sky which neither the Americans nor the Soviets could.

Lovell had already chosen science and used his abilities during World War II to develop effective radar. He then went on to radio astronomy. Yet he insisted that his real love was always organs and organ music. He was a church organist for forty years. In 2007 he said, I often wish that I had devoted my whole attention to music and become more of a professional musician. But it's unlikely that his contributions to music could possibly have equaled his contribution to science.

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Musical Astronomers

Starry Night: The Seven Sisters Shine Brilliantly in New Pleiades Photo

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When two Michigan-based astrophotographers combined their skills to capture the Pleiades star cluster, the results are nothing short of stunning.

The popular star cluster M45, known better as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, dazzles in this beautiful collaborative effort, imaged on two different nights during some challenging winter weather.

Night sky photographer Terry Hancock of Downunder Observatory in Fremont, Mich., used a QHY11S monochrome CCD cooled to -20C camera, Takahashi Epsilon-180ED @ F2.8 telescope and Paramount GT-1100S German Equatorial Mount to capture the luminance on Dec. 28.

Observer Robert Fields of Irving Observatory n Howell Township, Mich., captured the RBG colors on Nov. 13 using a STL 11000 monochrome CCD camera, Takahashi FSQ 106 @ F5.0 telescope and Astro-Physics AP900 German Equatorial Mount. [Amazing Night Sky Photos by Stargazers: January 2014]

"While we continue with awful weather here in Michigan, it just makes sense to collaborate and this time using different telescopes and cameras but with a similar field of view," Hancock wrote SPACE.com in an email.

Star Quiz: Test Your Stellar Smarts

Though they look serene and silent from our vantage on Earth, stars are actually roiling balls of violent plasma. Test your stellar smarts with this quiz.

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Star Quiz: Test Your Stellar Smarts

Though they look serene and silent from our vantage on Earth, stars are actually roiling balls of violent plasma. Test your stellar smarts with this quiz.

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Starry Night: The Seven Sisters Shine Brilliantly in New Pleiades Photo

Playing rygar arcade (pt 2) using Human Level Artificial Intelligence – Video

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Playing rygar arcade (pt 2) using Human Level Artificial Intelligence
http://www.humanlevelartificialintelligence.com This video shows a robot playing an arcade game called Rygar. There are no sound in the video because I wante...

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Playing rygar arcade (pt 2) using Human Level Artificial Intelligence - Video

Bombardier to cut 1,700 aerospace jobs, most in Montreal

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TORONTO Bombardier Inc , the Canadian plane and train maker, said on Tuesday it will lay off 1,700 employees in its aerospace division, primarily in the Montreal area.

The company, which again delayed the launch of its $3.9 billion CSeries jetliner last week, said it is reducing staff as part of a cost-cutting push that began in 2012.

Bombardier said 300 of the 1,700 jobs had already been cut in December and that it would try to match employees whose jobs were being eliminated with a "few hundred" positions it is currently trying to fill.

The Montreal-based company, which has 22,200 of its 38,350 global aerospace employees in Canada, said the cuts will be made in several sectors, including manufacturing, engineering, sales and support.

There is no specific cost-savings target associated with the job cuts, which will affect both permanent and contract employees and both union and nonunion staff, Bombardier spokeswoman Haley Dunne said.

"This is all with the goal of assuring our long-term success," Dunne told Reuters. "It's just part of the overall continued focus we're putting on managing our costs prudently so that we can support our investments."

(Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe; and Peter Galloway)

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Bombardier to cut 1,700 aerospace jobs, most in Montreal

Bombardier laying off 1,700 from aerospace division

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Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, January 21, 2014 11:13AM EST Last Updated Tuesday, January 21, 2014 3:37PM EST

MONTREAL -- Bombardier is permanently laying off 1,700 employees in its aerospace division, mostly in Montreal, as it steps up efforts to cut costs amid delays with two new aircraft and a tough market for both commercial and business planes.

The company disclosed the decision to its workforce in an internal memo that says affected employees will be notified in the coming weeks.

Human resources vice-president Sylive Bourdon said despite encouraging economic signs, challenges facing the aerospace industry require prudence by management to ensure Bombardier's long-term success.

"Consequently, stricter controls over spending must be implemented to ensure we consistently meet our budget throughout 2014," she wrote.

The measures are on top of cost-saving efforts in place since 2012.

Bourdon said the latest cuts will help offset billions of dollars spent to develop the CSeries, Learjet 85, Global 7000 and 8000, along with plant improvements.

Dave Chartrand of the Machinists union said the positions being cut over the next few months include 300 contractors, hundreds of engineers, temporary employees and others hired to work on special projects.

"There are guys that will be recalled but for now, between the programs that have been slowed down and the CSeries, there is a period where there will be a little less work," Chartrand said in an interview.

The announcement Tuesday follows several recent setbacks for Bombardier, which is the world's third-largest aircraft manufacturer after Boeing and Airbus.

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Bombardier laying off 1,700 from aerospace division

Pluristem Gains Most in 17 Months on Stem-Cell Study

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Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (PSTI), the Israeli developer of stem-cell therapies, rose the most in more than 17 months after an experimental treatment showed promise in a study of 20 patients with muscle injuries.

The stock surged 22 percent to 16.18 shekels ($4.63) at 11:04 a.m. in Tel Aviv. Earlier it gained as much as 27 percent, the biggest increase since Aug. 6, 2012. The shares fell 15 percent yesterday ahead of the study results.

The early-stage clinical trial assessing Pluristems placental-expanded, or PLX-PAD, cells in people who had a buttock muscle injured during hip-replacement surgery found the treatment was safe, the company said in a statement today. Patients getting the injection also fared better in a muscle-contraction exercise six months later.

These are remarkable results that signal advances in the cell-therapy industry, Jason Kolbert, an analyst with Maxim Group LLC in New York, said at a press conference organized by Pluristem in Tel Aviv.

The study results suggest the stem-cell therapy could help treat a broader range of muscle and tendon injuries, according to the Haifa-based company. We intend to move forward with implementing our strategy towards using PLX cells in orthopedic indications and muscle trauma, Chief Executive Officer Zami Aberman said in the statement.

The results come after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June placed one of Pluristems most advanced studies on hold after a patient suffered an allergic reaction. The hold was lifted in September.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Wainer in Tel Aviv at dwainer3@bloomberg.net

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Pluristem Gains Most in 17 Months on Stem-Cell Study

HealthForumOnline CE Course Author Flo Gelo, D.Min, NCPsyA Nominated for Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation …

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Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) January 22, 2014

Flo Gelo, D.Min, NCPsyA, Associate Professor in the Department of Family, Community and Preventive Medicine and the Behavioral Science Coordinator for the Family Medicine Residency Program at Drexel University College of Medicine, as well as the Director, of the Humanities Scholars Program, has recently been nominated for a Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation Innovation Award for distribution of her emotional and evocative short film, Emmas Haircut. This film is an intimate and bittersweet glimpse into the life of Emma Mon, a 32 year old wife and mother of two young children, who, when newly diagnosed with breast cancer, is faced with her own mortality and uncertainties about how to explain her illness to her young children. As Emma asks in the film, When a mothers most basic instinct is to protect her children, how does she go about telling them she has cancer? With the support of her husband Tom, Emma orchestrates an innovative and proactive way to safeguard the mental and emotional health of their young children and ultimately, promote coping for the family. Dr. Gelos film compassionately and thoughtfully illustrates how breast cancer impacts not only an individual, but also the whole family.

According to Kelly Harris, Director of the Cancer Support Community of Greater Philadelphia who nominated the project for this award, Emmas Haircut addresses difficult issues in a sensitive, informative way. We know first-hand how important it is to have support, information and education while going through a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. This film, coupled with a discussion group, will be an invaluable resource for families in the most difficult of situations." By sharing the struggles of Emma and her family, Dr. Gelo hopes to raise awareness of the importance of emotional, as well as physical, health in caring for young mothers and families facing cancer.

Interested individuals can to http://www.scattergoodfoundation.org/innovideas/cancer-support-community-greater-philadelphia# to view Emmas Haircut and leave a comment. Comments are being accepted until February 1, 2014, to inform the judges of the award. If chosen, the Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation Innovation Award will fund the creation and distribution of an educational and resource guide to supplement the film enhancing support for thousands of families coping with cancer.

The body of Dr. Gelos work focuses on helping those with chronic and terminal illness, particularly on cultural and religious diversity and medical decision-making at the end of life. As a former hospital and hospice chaplain, Dr. Gelo brings over twenty-five years experience working with patients receiving palliative care to her roles as pastoral psychotherapist in private practice and as Clinical Interventionist at Fox Chase Cancer Center. In her ongoing efforts to disseminate information to mental health providers, Dr. Gelo authored Integrating Spirituality into the Care of Medically Ill Patients: The Ethical Role of the Mental Health Professional a continuing education course available at HealthForumOnline, a nationally-approved provider of online CE courses for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and other allied health professionals.

HealthForumOnlines resource library incorporates continuing education courses that reflect a sensitivity to patient and caregiver demands. In addition to Dr. Gelos CE course, HealthForumOnlines extensive online CE library includes courses such as Anticipatory Mourning in Alzheimers Family Caregivers, Bereavement: A Comprehensive Guide for Health Professionals, Cancer in the Couple: Clinical and Ethical Considerations within the Dyad, Facilitating Adjustment in Families with a Chronically-Ill Child, and Self Care for Professional Alzheimers Caregivers. HealthForumOnline provides health professionals with nationally-approved online CE courses that are easily accessible and cost-effective, enabling them to assist patients and their caregivers in coping with illness.

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HealthForumOnline CE Course Author Flo Gelo, D.Min, NCPsyA Nominated for Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation ...

Kiwi travel firm gets Samoan College connected

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Kiwi company House of Travel is helping to connect Samoa to the modern world by donating computer equipment and skilled labour to a college in Apia.

House of Travel Holdings donated 85 second-hand computers, monitors and servers, plus a week of IT technician Adrian Millers time to Chanel College, a struggling Catholic school which now has the capacity to get its students online.

For Adrian, who had never travelled to the Pacific Islands before, it proved to be a life-changing experience.

"It felt amazing to do something selfless, altruistic, knowing that I was part of something that was beneficial to so many people. Im sincerely grateful for that experience. Ive always wanted to do something like that and my company gave me that opportunity."

Formerly Christchurch-based but now in Wellington, Adrian jumped at the opportunity when his employer sought volunteers for the work, part of a larger, ongoing project being led by Kiwi John Ryan. He and his wife are former volunteer teachers at the school.

Adrian and John had just five days to set in place the infrastructure to enable the college to get connected and Adrian has been following up with school staff in Samoa since his return to New Zealand to test the system and guide teachers there to getting it up and running.

"When I volunteered to go to Samoa I didnt really think about how the work I would be doing would impact on the college and its staff, students and the community. It started to sink in as the work over there progressed," Adrian says.

"I realised that donating my skills and expertise were a lot more valuable than donating $20 would have been - it will make a huge difference to the people there and its great to be part of helping to upskill the Samoan people to bring them into the technical age.

"Many people there have no computer skills at all. Being able to get on the internet is basically a human right these days and has the potential to make a huge difference to the likes of students at Chanel College. It will open up many opportunities for them in the future."

The hospitality and kindness of the Samoan people made the experience all the more meaningful for Adrian who says being immersed in the local culture was a real eye-opener and something he will never forget.

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Super Bowl Power Failure Little Threat, New Jersey Vows

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Seconds after a power failure shut down last years Super Bowl game in New Orleans, Bill Laboss phone in New Jersey began vibrating with calls.

My BlackBerry almost fell out of my pocket, said Labos, who works for the electric utility charged with preventing a repeat of the blackout at this years National Football League championship between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos outside New York City.

We cant let that happen here, Labos was told by his boss, Ralph LaRossa, president of Newark, New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG)s utility.

In the 12 months since, Labos has worked with stadium engineers, consultants and New Jersey sports officials to be sure it doesnt.

Power failures have plagued at least four high-profile sports games including the Super Bowl since 2010, dimming the glow of good feelings such events are supposed to generate for their host cities. More than 108 million people watched the blackout debacle at the New Orleans Superdome.

We were, in a way, robbed of a celebration of a successful Super Bowl, Doug Thornton, Superdome general manager, said in an interview this month.

Because the 2013 blackout was blamed on a failed switch, electrical equipment inside and outside the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has been inspected, upgraded, backed-up and tested repeatedly to make sure all systems -- from high-voltage cables to circuit breakers -- are as fail-proof as possible.

There are redundancies to our redundancies, Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL, based in New York, said in a telephone interview.

In September, Labos supervised a 12-hour full-power test at MetLife Stadium simulating the Super Bowl.

Nothing tripped. Were confident we are going to withstand the load, he said.

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Super Bowl Power Failure Little Threat, New Jersey Vows

Super Bowl ticket market surprisingly stable – for now

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TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Workers on Monday setting up scaffolding around MetLife Stadium to hold advertising for the Super Bowl.

Sports ticket brokers know that the night of the two National Football League conference championships, as well as the day after, usually are moving days prices moving on up, that is, as some giddy fans of the two teams headed to the Super Bowl cant wait to buy tickets no matter what the cost.

But as Prominent Ticket chief executive Lance Patania stayed up late Sunday night on his computer after the Denver Broncos and then the Seattle Seahawks advanced to the Feb. 2 game at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, he noticed, well, almost nothing a pattern that continued throughout Monday.

Its weird how dormant it is, said Patania, whose company is based in Glen Rock. Nobodys pulling the trigger yet.

While the initial get-in-the-door price of more than $2,000 is an all-time high, Patania said, its not as if the small number of sales has left sellers panicked into lowering their price.

Its simple economics that when you see [Monday] morning there are 1,900 seats on the market, and [late Monday afternoon] there are over 4,500, that should drive the price down immediately, Patania said. So somethings wrong with this market.

TiqIQ.com spokesman Chris Matcovich whose company tracks such secondary ticket markets as Stubhub, which generally parallels prices being offered by brokers agreed that the lack of a bump in the first 24 hours after the conference title games was surprising.

After looking over the numbers for this year from previous years, I think $1,500 will be a reasonable buy point in Week 2, unless demand from Broncos and Seahawks fans picks up, Matcovich said of prices for upper-level seats.

That would be roughly on par with each of the more recent Super Bowls, said SeatGeek spokesman Connor Gregoire, who agrees that the ticket-cost trend is likely to fall by next week. The average ticket sale price for last years San Francisco versus Baltimore game in New Orleans, Gregoire notes, slid from a peak of $3,445 just after the conference championships, to just $1,551 per ticket on the day of the game.

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It’s the dream of the crop at Metlife

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This will be the biggest, baddest, best Super Bowl in the events XLVIII history. It is my Super Bowl guarantee, because this is my town, where the stars of sports and entertainment flock to shine and deserve the biggest and brightest stage.

It is also Steve Tischs town and Steve Tischs guarantee:

The Super Bowl is being held in the greatest metropolitan area in the world, the co-owner of the Giants told The Post Monday.

The governments of New Jersey, New York State and New York City have cooperated in an unprecedented way to make this happen.

We are as ready as we possibly can be.

As New Yorkers and New Jerseyans, we are prepared for any and everything.

We are prepared to host the best Super Bowl ever.

It is also personally very exciting to have Elis big brother leading one of the teams.

I am very proud to be a part of what promises to be an unforgettable event viewed around the world.

Get some sleep this week. The fun starts Monday.

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It’s the dream of the crop at Metlife