UNSW joins with government and business to keep quantum computing technology in Australia – The Australian Financial Review

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UNSW quantum pioneer Michelle Simmons (right) with the chair of the new Silicon Quantum Computing company, Stephen Menzies.

Governments, business and universities have joined forces to keep UNSW's world leading quantum computing technology in Australia, launching a new $83 million company which aims to produce a working prototype computer within five years.

The company, Silicon Quantum Computing Pty Ltd, will have a key goal of retaining IP in Australia and boosting new industries based around quantum computing and other quantum spin-offs.

Establishing the company has been a long-term goal of UNSW physics professor Michelle Simmons who leads the university's research and development in the race to build the world's first practical quantum computer.

Professor Simmons said she approached the federal government to urge public investment in quantum computing because of the many approaches she was getting from large multinationals and overseas venture capital for access to the discoveries her team had made.

"We had lots of different groupings come to us saying they would work with our research teams, but they would have got all the benefits," she said.

"Everything we did would have gone to them. People were trying to pick us off.

"Personally I just felt complete responsibility for just not dropping the ball, making sure that this great thing that we had was not just siphoned off for free."

Professor Simmons said it was an "eye-opener" for her that not only the IT industry was beating a path to her door, but companies from "across the board" illustrating her belief that quantum computing will have a revolutionary impact in many industries including finance, resource extraction, health, pharmaceuticals, logistics and data.

Quantum computers are expected to solve some types of problems millions of times faster than conventional computers.

The new company will hold the quantum computing related patents from the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, led by Professor Simmons, which also includes researchers from the University of Melbourne and other universities.

Its aim will be to ensure that the full range of industries developed from quantum computing including hardware, software, and big quantum server farms are developed in Australia.

Silicon Quantum Computing's chair, lawyer Stephen Menzies, said the company would not offer exclusive rights on its technology but would only offer licences for specific purposes for a limited time.

"Too much Australian research innovation is lost [overseas]," he said.

Mr Menzies said it was a commercial venture, and its shareholders the federal and NSW governments, Telstra, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and UNSW would profit from the increasing value of the company's patents.

The company's $83 million capital comes from UNSW ($25 million), the federal government ($25 million), the Commonwealth Bank ($14 million), Telstra ($10 million) plus a new investment of $8.7 million from the NSW government the first to be made from its $26 million quantum computing fund announced last month.

It will fund a major expansion of the quantum computing research effort at UNSW. Up to 40 new staff will be hired including 25 researchers and 12 PhD students, and new equipment to speed the development of a 10 qubit prototype computer by 2022.

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UNSW joins with government and business to keep quantum computing technology in Australia - The Australian Financial Review

How quantum mechanics can change computing – The Conversation – The Conversation US

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Looking inside a quantum computer.

In early July, Google announced that it will expand its commercially available cloud computing services to include quantum computing. A similar service has been available from IBM since May. These arent services most regular people will have a lot of reason to use yet. But making quantum computers more accessible will help government, academic and corporate research groups around the world continue their study of the capabilities of quantum computing.

Understanding how these systems work requires exploring a different area of physics than most people are familiar with. From everyday experience we are familiar with what physicists call classical mechanics, which governs most of the world we can see with our own eyes, such as what happens when a car hits a building, what path a ball takes when its thrown and why its hard to drag a cooler across a sandy beach.

Quantum mechanics, however, describes the subatomic realm the behavior of protons, electrons and photons. The laws of quantum mechanics are very different from those of classical mechanics and can lead to some unexpected and counterintuitive results, such as the idea that an object can have negative mass.

Physicists around the world in government, academic and corporate research groups continue to explore real-world deployments of technologies based on quantum mechanics. And computer scientists, including me, are looking to understand how these technologies can be used to advance computing and cryptography.

In our regular lives, we are used to things existing in a well-defined state: A light bulb is either on or off, for example. But in the quantum world, objects can exist in a what is called a superposition of states: A hypothetical atomic-level light bulb could simultaneously be both on and off. This strange feature has important ramifications for computing.

The smallest unit of information in classical mechanics and, therefore, classical computers is the bit, which can hold a value of either 0 or 1, but never both at the same time. As a result, each bit can hold just one piece of information. Such bits, which can be represented as electrical impulses, changes in magnetic fields, or even a physical on-off switch, form the basis for all calculation, storage and communication in todays computers and information networks.

Qubits quantum bits are the quantum equivalent of classical bits. One fundamental difference is that, due to superposition, qubits can simultaneously hold values of both 0 and 1. Physical realizations of qubits must inherently be at an atomic scale: for example, in the spin of an electron or the polarization of a photon.

Another difference is that classical bits can be operated on independently of each other: Flipping a bit in one location has no effect on bits in other locations. Qubits, however, can be set up using a quantum-mechanical property called entanglement so that they are dependent on each other even when they are far apart. This means that operations performed on one qubit by a quantum computer can affect multiple other qubits simultaneously. This property akin to, but not the same as, parallel processing can make quantum computation much faster than in classical systems.

Large-scale quantum computers that is, quantum computers with hundreds of qubits do not yet exist, and are challenging to build because they require operations and measurements to be done on a atomic scale. IBMs quantum computer, for example, currently has 16 qubits, and Google is promising a 49-qubit quantum computer which would be an astounding advance by the end of the year. (In contrast, laptops currently have multiple gigabytes of RAM, with a gigabyte being eight billion classical bits.)

Notwithstanding the difficulty of building working quantum computers, theorists continue to explore their potential. In 1994, Peter Shor showed that quantum computers could quickly solve the complicated math problems that underlie all commonly used public-key cryptography systems, like the ones that provide secure connections for web browsers. A large-scale quantum computer would completely compromise the security of the internet as we know it. Cryptographers are actively exploring new public-key approaches that would be quantum-resistant, at least as far as they currently know.

Interestingly, the laws of quantum mechanics can also be used to design cryptosystems that are, in some senses, more secure than their classical analogs. For example, quantum key distribution allows two parties to share a secret no eavesdropper can recover using either classical or quantum computers. Those systems and others based on quantum computers may become useful in the future, either widely or in more niche applications. But a key challenge is getting them working in the real world, and over large distances.

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How quantum mechanics can change computing - The Conversation - The Conversation US

The Camera That Will Transform Our Understanding of the Universe – Atlas Obscura

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The LSST is getting close to completion. LSST Project/NSF/AURA

Theres a mystery at the heart of physics. Two decades ago, in 1998, cosmologists discovered that the universe is not just expandinga discovery of the early 20th centurybut that the rate at which its expanding is getting faster.

Thats not what they expected to find, but it made a kind of sense. If the expansion of the universe is accelerating, there needs to be a cause; not knowing exactly what that was, physicists called it dark energy. In theory, dark energy interacts through gravity, is spread out homogeneously through the universe, and is not particularly dense. If you total up all of the forces that make up the universe, it would account for 68.3 percent of matter and energy.

Account for dark energy, and certain theories of physics start to click. It helps explain the rate that galaxies rotate and reveals a more sensible age of the universewithout dark energy, scientists were finding that some stars were supposedly older than the universe as a whole. But almost 20 years after this discovery, physicists still know only a little bit about it. In order to learn more, scientists from dozens of institutions in 23 countries have been working together to create the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a giant, digital camera that has the power to capture the light of several billion faint galaxies, millions of light years away.

All the existing telescopes with cameras were built before the discovery of dark energy, said Paul OConnor, a senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. We expect the LSST to map the entire sky and find out where all that dark matter has been hiding. OConnor has been working on the projects camera sensors for more than ten years, and at Atlas Obscuras Total Eclipse festival on Sunday, he explained how the telescope, when it goes into operation on a mountain in Chile, could transform our fundamental understanding of the universe.

For millennia, scientists and scholars have been looking at the night sky and recording their impressions with the best technology available. Starting in the 18th century, with the advent of photography, astronomers started taking pictures of the stars and other celestial phenomena; in 1851, a daguerreotypist, Johann Julius Berkowski, took the first photo of a solar eclipse. In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble used what was then the worlds largest telescope to established that spiral nebulae were whole other galaxies, millions of light years distant from our own. The human understanding of space changed; we saw for the first time the extent of empty space, punctuated by these disc-shaped assemblies of stars, hundreds of billions of stars, which are the galaxies, as OConnor puts it.

In the 1970s, scientists at Bell Labs created a technology that used a charge-coupled device to capture lights as digital images. In 1981, the astrophotographer Jim Gunn used a CCD camera to create a 500 by 500 pixel image of a faint star cluster. He called that camera a nearly perfect device. This same technology, refined, is what kicked off the revolution in consumer-grade cameras and has given us the astounding images of the universe captured by the Hubble Telescope and other instruments. Today, there are dozens of huge telescopes, with top-notch CCD cameras. The question for the team building the LSST, OConnor says, is: Why are we going to the trouble of building another one? What will the LSST do that existing cameras will not?

If you looked up at the sky on a dark night, you might see 2,500 stars with your human eyes. The LSST would see a billion stars, OConnor said this weekend, and those stars would be outnumbered by distant galaxies, three to one. The cameras field of view is ten square degreesabout the size of a dime, held up to the sky. Every photograph we take of that size of the sky gets us another million galaxies, OConnor said.

One of the jobs of the LSST is to survey as many of these galaxies, over as wide a region of sky, as possible.

When the LSST goes into operation, which is scheduled for 2020, it will spend a decade scanning the sky, again and again. Over about 3,000 nights, the instrument will scan and capture each patch of sky one thousand times. Were really going to be making a movie of the universe, OConnor said. The LSST was specially designed to make this possibleit has a relatively wide field of view, it can scan each tiny section of the sky quickly, and it can look deep into the depths of the universe, to capture the faintest, most faraway galaxies.

With the information collected, cosmologists hope to start to better understand dark energy, the force that is causing those distant galaxies to speed away from us at an ever-increasing pace. This line of inquiry has the potential to transform the field of physics. The acceleration of the universe is, along with dark matter, the observed phenomenon that most directly demonstrates that our theories of fundamental particles and gravity are either incomplete or incorrect, the Dark Energy Task Force wrote in 2006. By looking at these faraway galaxies and understanding more about how they move, scientists may unlock fundamental truths about the nature of time, space, matter, and the forces that hold our world together, that have so far escaped our understanding.

Thats the reason theyre building the LSST. One of the reasons, at least.

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Scientists May Have Spotted a New Kind of Gravitational Wave – Popular Mechanics

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Getty Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library

Last year, a group of astronomers made history when they discovered gravitational waves for the first time, using the highly sensitive LIGO observatory. These gravitational waves were ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by two colliding black holes many lightyears away. Over the next year, the astronomers made two more detections of gravitational waves, launching a new branch of astronomy.

But all three of these detections have been of colliding black holes, which is exciting but somewhat limiting for gravitational wave astronomy. It's like if our telescopes could only see one specific type of star. Fortunately, LIGO might be about to diversify, if recent rumors are correct. New Scientist is reporting that LIGO may have spotted gravitational waves from a brand new kind of source: neutron stars.

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Neutron stars are similar to black holes in that they're both formed from the remnants of exploding stars, but neutron stars are smaller and less massive. Instead of collapsing into an infinitely small point, neutron stars instead collapse a sun-sized star into a sphere only a few miles wide. Neutron stars are some of the densest objects in the universe.

Colliding neutron stars give out similar signals as colliding black holes, but they're smaller and harder to find. LIGO has long been searching for signals from neutron stars, but until now they've been unsuccessful.

According to New Scientist, there's a good chance LIGO is about to announce the discovery of gravitational waves from neutron stars by the end of the week. LIGO itself is neither confirming or denying any discovery, but astronomer J. Craig Wheeler of the University of Texas at Austin posted a tweet hinting at a neutron star discovery.

Simultaneously, the Hubble telescope has been spending time observing a pair of neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, about 130 million light years away. If LIGO did detect a collision, it would explain why valuable telescope time was being used to watch an otherwise unremarkable set of stars.

Either way, we won't know for sure until Friday. LIGO spokesperson David Shoemaker told New Scientist, "A very exciting O2 Observing run is drawing to a close August 25. We look forward to posting a top-level update at that time." So we'll just have to wait until then to find out.

Source: New Scientist

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NASA Launches New Satellite to Beam Back Data from Hubble Telescope, Space Station – Space.com

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NASA has launched another next-generation communications satellite to help beam data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station (ISS) and other orbiting spacecraft down to Earth.

The $408 million TDRS-M satellite lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket today (Aug. 18) at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after a half-hour delay due to a technical issue with the booster that was swiftly resolved.

TDRS-M is headed for geosynchronous orbit, about 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) above Earth. It will join nine other operational spacecraft in NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation, which together allow the nearly continuous transmission of data from Hubble, the ISS and other near-Earth research and exploration craft to mission controllers on the ground. [How NASA's TDRS Communications Satellites Work]

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches NASA's TDRS-M communications satellite into orbit from a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 18, 2017.

The TDRS satellites and their associated ground terminals make up NASA's Space Network (not to be confused with the agency's Deep Space Network, a different system that handles data from far-flung spacecraft such as the Cassini Saturn orbiter and the New Horizons probe).

"TDRS-M is going to be critical to our future operation and the future of the Space Network," Badri Younes, NASA's deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation, said during a prelaunch news conference yesterday (Aug. 17).

Indeed, the newly launched satellite should allow the Space Network to continue supporting communications through at least the mid-2020s, NASA officials said.

NASA began planning out the TDRS system in the early 1970s, and the first satellite in the network was launched in 1983. A total of 13 have now taken to the skies, and nine (not counting TDRS-M) are currently operational.

Seven TDRS satellites lifted off between 1983 and 1995 aboard NASA's space shuttles; four of these "first-generation" craft are still operational today. (Two were retired, and one was destroyed in the January 1986 Challenger tragedy.) Three "second-generation" craft launched between 2000 and 2002. The remaining three are "third generation"; they launched in 2013, 2014 and today, respectively. (TDRS-M is a third-generation satellite as well.)

The first-generation TDRS satellites were built by aerospace company TRW (which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002). The others, including TDRS-M, have been built by Boeing.

It will take a little while for TDRS-M to come online, even after the satellite reaches its final orbit and deploys its solar panels and antennas.

"It takes about three to four months following deployments for us to fully characterize the spacecraft, and to show that it will meet mission requirements and provide the RF [radio frequency] performance that is needed to support our users," said Dave Littmann, TDRS-M project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter@michaeldwallandGoogle+.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published onSpace.com.

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NASA Launches New Satellite to Beam Back Data from Hubble Telescope, Space Station - Space.com

Using Mushrooms and LSD to Enhance Creativity – How to Use …

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Psychedelics (specifically LSD and Mushrooms) can be extremely helpful to artists or anyone working on creative projects. Because psychedelics help us to see and think without our usual defenses, the artist's ideas are able to sidestep their normal defensive filters (anxiety, competition, fear) resulting in truer, freer, creation. Simply put, the artist is able to hear their own voice more clearly. They know more immediately when they are being real, or being false.

Psychedelics allow us to think outside of the normal framework of time, space, language and the sensory. We may see sounds, or feel colors etc. This opens a new way of thinking about and communicating emotions and ideas. The artist is essentially given a new language. Psychedelics may also bring forth a new understanding of an individuals psyche, the physical world, emotional world, spiritual world, and the artists role in all four.

For creative work we recommend lower doses, so that you are able to focus. Wed suggest LSD doses at or under 50 mcg, and mushroom doses under .5 grams (roughly 2 small caps or an equivalent amount). As everyones sensitivity differs, you may need to experiment to find the right amount for you. When working on a low-dose your goal is not to trip but to open yourself to your own ideas.

Because you may be sitting unmoving for long periods of time as you work, your body may be very stiff toward the end of the day. To reduce stiffness or water retention drink plenty of fluids and try to take several stretching breaks. You may even want to work at a makeshift standing desk for short periods of time. Have snacks or light meals readily available. If you havent eaten all day and still dont feel hungry, eat a banana anyway -- keep your energy up! Hunger affects the mood of your psychedelic experience.

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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Airbus accelerator scouts aerospace startups from East and Southern Africa – Ventureburn

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By Staff Reporter on 24 August, 2017

Global aerospace accelerator Airbus BizLab, through its #Africa4future initiative, is on the search for two aerospacestartups from Southern Africa and East Africa.

Interested startups in Southern Africa and East Africa have until 30 August and 6 September to apply respectively. One startup from each region will be selected.

The global business accelerator wants to empower mobility through aerospace technologies that will help define the aerospace industry in the future. Airbus BizLab will be looking particularly for proposals relating to new technology, processes, business models and new ways of working and thinking.

The focus of the initiative is on startups developing solutions and innovations in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), satellite operations and Imagery, 3D printing, smart sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The initiative will see African startups compete for a chance to pitch and interact with decision makers, top investors and key influencers on a 10-day all expenses paid trip to Europe in October and November. The final pitch event for Southern African contestants hasbeen scheduled for 22 September in Cape Town and on 26 September in Nairobi for East African contestants.

The Airbus BizLab global accelerator programme was launched in 2015 in Tolouse and now consists of a global network of business accelerators in Germany and India. So far the programme has hosted 29 startups and 27 airbus internal projects.

This however will be the first time that Airbus BizLab is holding a challenge in Africa.

Are you reading this in East Africa? Want to know more? Get more information here.

For more information on how to apply from Southern Africa find out more here.

Featured image:Peter Linehanvia Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-SA, resized)

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Airbus accelerator scouts aerospace startups from East and Southern Africa - Ventureburn

Tata Sons appoints Banmali Agrawala as president, infrastructure, defence and aerospace – Economic Times

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Tata Sons appoints Banmali Agrawala as president, infrastructure, defence and aerospace - Economic Times

Machinist and aerospace union strikes at Wyman-Gordon – Houston … – Houston Chronicle

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Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' strike is at Wyman-Gordon in northwest Houston.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' strike is at Wyman-Gordon in northwest Houston.

Machinist and aerospace union strikes at Wyman-Gordon

Union workers at Wyman-Gordon went on strike Monday to protest proposed pay and benefit cuts at the aerospace and energy manufacturing facility in northwest Houston.

Formal contract negotiations between management and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers began during the first week of August. After the contract expired on Sunday, 271 union members set up a picket line at midnight.

Wyman-Gordon could not be reached for comment, but a union representative said Wyman-Gordon pushed reductions in disability benefits, shorter break times and lower wages for entry-level workers, among other things.

Byron Williams, District 37 president and directing business representative, said the strike is aimed in part to help the next generation of workers by "giving them a fair, equitable start to take care of their families, have a hope for retirement and send their kids to college."

Williams said the proposed contract would reduce pay for short- and long-term disability by 10 percent and would limit employees to six months on short-term disability and then 18 months on long-term. Currently, employees can stay on long-term disability until age 65.

The company was also seeking to reduce breaks to 15 minutes from 20 minutes, which concerns union members because they work in a building without air conditioning.

Finally, the contract would pay entry-level employees significantly less and freeze their wage increases for three years.

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

"The new guys, I'd love for them to have just as good a life as I've got," said Kenny Stevens, 58, who inspects parts at the Houston facility.

Stevens was walking the picket line from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with Michael Black, 64, who makes the tools used to forge products at the facility.

Wyman-Gordon's Houston facility manufactures aircraft engine components including blades, fans and motors. It also manufactures seamless pipes for the energy industry.

There were 30 to 35 employees on the picket line when the strike began at midnight. During the day, five to 10 people walked the line in four-hour shifts.

Effect on older workers

Black said the proposed contract also would hurt older workers.

"Some of the contract language, I believe, is unfair to the guys who are in their 50s and 60s," he said, citing proposals like the one to cut disability benefits.

He said establishing a different pay scale for new employees would be unfair to younger workers and could create a division among hourly employees doing the same work for different pay. He said it could affect the union's ability to attract new members in a right-to-work state.

"How can you ask someone to join your union, and you've accepted a double standard?" he asked.

This is Black's fourth strike in his 43 years with the company, which has gone through some name changes during that time.

That many strikes in one company is high for this region, said Scott McLaughlin, labor and employment partner in the Houston office of the Jackson Walker law firm. Strikes are pretty rare locally, he said.

"I think our labor relations down here are a little less contentious than some other parts of the country," he said.

John Jansonius, Dallas-based partner at Jackson Walker, said that, by casual observation, it seems the machinists and aerospace union is involved in more strikes than other major labor organizations.

Jansonius speculated it could be harder to replace skilled machinists, the union could have better strike reserves to help employees financially or the union simply has a culture that leans toward striking.

"The Machinists is probably more willing to call a strike and engage in work stoppage than a lot of other unions," he said.

Williams, with District 37, said the union does not pursue a strike every time a new contract is negotiated. Employees get a new contract every three years.

Clashes over benefits

Jansonius said benefits are often a centerpiece of negotiations. McLaughlin said in his experience it is no longer common for manufacturers to offer long-term disability until age 65.

"I would characterize that as something maybe that used to exist industry-wide many years ago," he said, "but something that's very uncommon now."

Benefits are costing management more at both union and nonunion workplaces, McLaughlin said, so reducing benefits and pay is becoming more common.

"I suspect that economic conditions are driving the management position," he said. "And similarly, I suspect that economic positions are driving the union."

On the picket line Monday, some of the striking workers took time out for the celestial event that seemed to have the entire nation's attention. Stevens turned his sign into a pinhole projector and watched the solar eclipse on the concrete. Some of his colleagues brought eclipse glasses.

"Mother Nature doing her best," Stevens said.

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Machinist and aerospace union strikes at Wyman-Gordon - Houston ... - Houston Chronicle

Dubai Aerospace completes AWAS acquisition, jets into top tier – Reuters

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has become one of the world's largest aircraft lessors after announcing on Sunday it had completed the acquisition of Dublin-based AWAS [AWASA.UL], the industry's tenth biggest firm.

The deal triples the Dubai government-controlled aircraft leasing and maintenance company's portfolio of owned, managed and committed fleet to about 400 aircraft worth more than $14 billion.

That makes DAE one of the world's top aircraft lessors behind the likes of General Electric (GE.N) and AerCap (AER.N).

DAE will use the brand name 'DAE Capital' to conduct its aircraft leasing business, the company said in a statement announcing the deal had finalised.

DAE said last month it had raised $2.3 billion to finance the acquisition from private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners [TERA.UL] and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

DAE announced the acquisition in April, and later said it expected the deal to close in the early part of the third quarter.

"This acquisition of the best-in-class AWAS platform provides DAE with an enhanced market position," DAE Chief Executive Firoz Tarapore said in the statement.

"This combined with our capital strength and our committed long-term ownership will allow us to provide a more comprehensive range of aviation fleet and financing solutions to our clients across the globe."

The deal increases DAE's number of aircraft leasing customers to include 117 airlines in 57 countries.

Tarapore told Reuters in June the company would consider a jet order of more than 20 aircraft once the deal closed, and that he was interested in Airbus (AIR.PA), Boeing (BA.N) and ATR (LDOF.MI) aircraft.

Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Andrew Bolton

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What Makes a Terrorist? – The New York Review of Books

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Lorenzo Meloni/Magnum Photos A suspected member of ISIS being taken into custody, Hamam al-Alil, Iraq, March 2017

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in and around Barcelona, clichs about radicalization are again making the rounds. For some, the twelve young members of the cell behind the Barcelona attacks, all men, were brainwashed; for others the blame falls on the town of Ripoll for becoming a terrorist breeding ground; for others yet its Islam as a whole that must be held accountable. For those who study radicalization and terrorism, all of these explanations fall short.

The greatest difficulty for our ability to understand and respond to terrorism and radicalization is linear thinking. Arguing that radicalization is caused by poverty because most modern jihadists come from marginalized neighborhoods is the same flawed logic as arguing that radicalization is caused by Islam because jihadists are all Muslims. Even combining Islam and marginalization as risk factors doesnt get us far, as only a fraction of a percentage of marginalized Muslims join jihadist groups. One can add many more factors and still end up with the same dilemma. Trying to find a root cause of radicalization is doomed from the start because it assumes a single, linear chain of causation.

Instead, it is better to think of radicalization as a phenomenon in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Multiple factors interact in complex ways that cause radicalization to emerge in individual people and groups. As with other complex systems, such as ecosystems, removing one factor does not cause the system to collapse but instead to evolve in ways that may be positive or negative. In the jihadist movement there have been many small tipping points, including the USSR invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and the Syrian civil war of 2011each of which mobilized a new generation of fighters.

Profiles of jihadists have evolved over the years. Generally, revolutionary movements attract different kinds of recruits at different stages in their development. Many of the founders and leaders of the modern jihadist movement were educated members of the upper-middle or upper classes. Even many early foot soldiers were of above-average socio-economic status. Research on recruits to jihadist groups using data from the 1970s to 2010 found that members of these groups were six times more likely than the general population to have a bachelors degree. In the Middle East, engineering schools are often the most competitive programs and only take the best and brightest students; jihadists were seventeen times more likely to have an engineering degree.

New recruits to al-Qaeda spent months or even years at training camps, where they were vetted by leadership for their mental stability and ideological purity. This vetting even applied to relationships among leaders. When the billionaire Osama bin Laden started to expand his network, he was selective about the social caliber of people he chose to ally himself with. In 1999, when he met Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of what would become ISIS, he was suspicious of him not only for his extremist beliefs in apostatizing moderate Muslims, but also because of Zarqawis criminal past.

But criminal pasts would eventually become a standout feature of European jihadists venturing toward Syria and Iraq. According to one study of a small database of European jihadists, 57 percent of eventual Syria-bound jihadists had a petty or violent criminal past. Studies of Syria-bound foreign fighters from Norway and Germany found that they were overwhelmingly from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Many recent European radicalization hotspots are neighborhoods known for their high rates of unemployment and crime. ISIS propaganda geared toward Europeans alluded to these criminal pasts by offering jihad as a form of redemption, claiming that sometimes people with the worst pasts have the brightest futures.

The evidence that early al-Qaeda members were more educated, psychologically stable, and ideologically grounded is consistent with a group in the early period of a movements development, consisting of self-organizing networks operating clandestinely. Nascent decentralized groups rely on a reputation for success as the prime attractor for new adherents. Failing at an attack would be embarrassing and costly, and therefore only the best and brightest should be entrusted with such a duty.

On the other hand, ISIS operated like a traditional military in carrying on a local insurgency. It held and governed land in a way that al-Qaeda never did, and this loosened its stringency regarding recruits. The group sucked up fighters from areas under its control with promises of money and power, and appealed to the downtrodden of the Muslim diaspora to join their cause. Ideological purity, education, and law-abiding pasts took a back seat to the need for soldiers. If al-Qaeda, with its careful vetting and training, was the special forces of the jihadist movement, then ISIS was the infantry.

But as ISISs goals continued to evolve so too did their recruits. Few women from Europe ventured to Syria in the early days of the conflict, but by 2014 one in seven European foreign fighters were women, and by 2016 that number had jumped to one in three. Women didnt become more vulnerable to radicalization over that periodinstead, they were targeted for radicalization. Until 2014, ISISs local insurgency demanded mostly young men of fighting capacity and thus had little need for women. In June 2014, ISIS declared its so-called Caliphate and shifted its focus to state-building. In order to legitimize that state, the immigration of women, children, and families was explicitly sought after. Once the women arrived they began recruiting female friends, family members, and strangers over the Internet to pull in more lionesses, as they were often called, leading to the jump seen in 2016.

Since ISISs caliphate began collapsing in early 2016, they have been further expanding the use of other types of recruits. Women have planned to carry out attacks, new converts to Islam with no previous radical ties (known as clean men) have been alleged to be go-betweens connecting aspiring attackers with ISIS core members, lone actors (who have a greater instance of mental illness than group actors) have been inspired or directed to attack, people both younger and older than the norm have been recruited. The organization is exploiting all the resources at its disposal to maintain its strength in the eyes of its supporters.

These changes in patterns of recruitment show that profiles of recruits reveal more about changes in conflict dynamics than about the psychological vulnerabilities of certain demographics. Disaffected youth or marginalized communities may have been convenient targets for recruitment in recent circumstances, but long-term strategies for the prevention of radicalization must look beyond these current dynamics.

In addition, well-meaning policies that can be perceived as profiling run the risk of alienating the communities involved, as has been seen with the UKs Prevent strategy. But even when we focus on a narrow range of times and locations it is hard to detect a pattern. The core members of the Paris-Brussels terrorist network were mostly petty criminals from a marginalized neighborhood in Brussels. The Barcelona attackers were well-integrated youth from a culturally cohesive rural town. What they do have in common is that they were both groups of siblings and childhood friends.

As the structures of terrorist organizations evolve so too do their recruitment methods. In failed states, such as Syria, groups take on a hierarchical command-cadre structure, which resembles a formal military and allows the group to operate openly while providing security and governance in the area it controls. For some inhabitants of such areas, joining them may be more a matter of practicality than of conviction. In developed nations, such as in Europe, terrorist groups must operate clandestinely and thus take on a network structure. Networks are self-organizing, though they often contain charismatic leaders who pull together disparate individuals and small groups of friends.

Prior to the US invasion in 2001, al-Qaeda had begun to achieve a small-scale command-cadre structure in Afghanistan. It had a limited leadership structure and many hundreds of graduates from its training camps. The al-Qaeda leadership were hosted in Afghanistan by the Taliban and so they operated more like a venture capital firm, to which members of its various international networks would come to seek training, funds, and contacts.

European recruits of al-Qaeda in the 1990s and 2000s were often small groups of friends who would co-radicalize each other and then seek out opportunities to train in foreign camps. In a 2009 multi-nation study, researchers found that 75 percent of al-Qaeda members were recruited by a friend, 20 percent by a family member, and only 5 percent by a stranger. This recruitment pattern is what would be expected for a funding, plotting, and training structure like al-Qaeda that was waging a global jihad.

By contrast, the jihadist groups in Syria were waging a local insurgency and were setting up multiple command-cadre structures. In addition, by this time a series of prolific recruiters had gained a foothold in Europe. The hierarchical structures in Syria were able to work in tandem with their networks in Europe to create a mix of top-down and horizontal recruitment. For example, by 2015, nearly one in three Belgian foreign fighters in Syria were recruited by just two people: Khalid Zerkani and Fouad Belkacem. Some of those recruits then recruited their friends, which led to a social domino effect of radicalization.

Much radicalization is this phenomenon of friends recruiting friends. Preliminary findings on Western ISIS fighters indicate that very few recruits were self-radicalized; for the vast majority, radicalization was facilitated through social interaction. The Internet can facilitate this, but the existence of very specific geographical hotspots that produce the bulk of jihadists indicates that, when it comes to recruitment, offline factors are more important than the Internet. The picture emerging of the Barcelona attackers is more typical of radicalization in Europe. A charismatic leader, in the form of a radical imam, began to groom at least four sets of brothers and close friends, who then further co-radicalized one another.

Anybody can be exposed to new moral beliefs but when those beliefs become part of the day-to-day conversations of your friends, they have a greater chance of being acted upon. A common belief about those who join violent groups is that they are looking for brotherhood or sisterhood, and those groups certainly do offer that. But often it is in fact a pre-existing sense of belonging that is the risk factor. When radical ideas get introduced into tight-knit networks of friends, these groups act as echo chambers that reinforce those beliefs. The beliefs then act as a social glue that brings the friends closer to one another as a group, and distances the group as a whole from the rest of society.

As this process continues, the values become sacred and the identities of the individuals become fused with the group. Indeed, field studies by Artis Internationala consortium of researchers and practitioners studying violent conflict, of which I am a partof residents in two radicalization hotspots in Morocco show that it is the combination of holding a sacred value and being closely connected with your group of friends that motivates people to fight and die for their values. Strong identification with close comrades was a principal determinant of willingness to sacrifice oneself, a University of Oxford study found, among Libyan revolutionaries fighting the Qaddafi regime in 2011. My own studies on jihadist-group sympathizers in Paris and Barcelona show that, contrary to what many people believe, identification with Islam or the Muslim ummah (worldwide Muslim community) does not strongly predict willingness to fight and die for jihadist ideals. Instead, transcendent beliefs shared with close friends increased willingness to commit violence.

Most prevention policies aim to stop radicalization for every single person. This is a tall order and unlikely to succeed. A more evidence-based approach would be to try to mitigate group radicalization. Values and beliefs are socially embedded. Once the social setting changes, the beliefs may lose their grounding. For this reason, friends are not only crucial for the radicalization process but can be important in the prevention and de-radicalization process as well. Prevention, de-radicalization, and reintegration programs in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Sri Lanka have all used moderate friends and family members to pull a person away from violent extremism.

The existence of hotspots of radicalization can perhaps best be understood using epidemiology. When tracing back the origins of local European networks we often find a patient zero who is the first person to bring radical ideas into a community. This could be a recruiter, a radical imam as in the case of Barcelona, or any other person with the propensity and skills to spread extremist ideas. The rate of propagation of these ideas may partly be attributable to the sheer number of vulnerable individuals in those areas, though, again, its often friends and family members who act as catalysts between the ideas and new adherents. The rate of propagation may also be due to the bystander effect, whereby non-radical individuals do not report suspicious behaviors. This effect can be enhanced by rampant social disorganization in certain neighborhoods. If areas are already heavily afflicted by petty or organized crime, drug-dealing, or vandalism, then residents habituate to a level of nefarious behavior in their midst. This can be seen as a weakening of the community immune system, which in more organized areas would detect and expel the intruding ideas at an early stage.

Reducing social disorganization in certain communities may help increase their resistance to extremism. But bombarding radicalization hotspots with counter-radicalization programswhich often involves getting teachers, social workers, or community leaders to report on those they overseecan make residents of those areas feel suspect, which may do more harm than good. Economic development may not be effective either. Southern European countries, such as Spain and Italy, have worse economic integration of their immigrant populations than do northern European countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, Germany, or the UK. Yet the northern European countries have higher per capita radicalization rates than the southern countries. Economic development of certain communities should be welcomed but it may not be the most effective strategy for preventing young men like the well-integrated Barcelona attackers from radicalizing.

Working directly with the non-radical friends and family members of those on terrorist watch lists avoids the pitfalls of other approaches. In most cases, non-radical friends and family have no idea their loved ones are on watch lists, and if they do, dont know how to intervene. Programs that help facilitate this interaction could be successful.

Radicalization is a complex system that cannot be reduced to its individual factors. International conflicts, social networks, community, ideology, and individual vulnerabilities all combine to let radicalization emerge. Some of these factors may be more volatile, such as individual personalities, while others are more stable, such as social networks. But only a holistic view of this phenomenon can provide the understanding needed for designing policies to counter the pull of extremist groups.

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What Makes a Terrorist? - The New York Review of Books

UNZA vice-chancellor lays down marker – Zambia Daily Mail

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STEVEN MVULA, Lusaka UNIVERSITY of Zambia (UNZA) vice-chancellor Luke Mumba has urged students to save the institution of higher education from collapse by paying tuition and other fees.

And Professor Mumba says defaulting students will be allowed to sit for examinations but results will be withheld until they pay all the money they are owing the institution. Prof Mumba phoned Radio Phoenix on Tuesday during a programme dubbed Let The People Talk and corrected the perception that UNZA wanted to bar 8,000 students from writing examinations due to non-payment of fees. UNZA is bankrupt and it will collapse if students dont pay their obligations. We are not wholly funded by Government. Even the exams have a cost. There can be no exam without funding. We need money for stationery, to pay external examiners and support staff. We feel the heat as managers of this institution, he said. He said it is not the responsibility of UNZA to provide for the vulnerable because its mandate is to provide education and research. UNZA has 27,000 students and 19,000 have no problem at all. It is only 8,000 who have not paid and management will allow 4,900 students to write examinations but will withhold their results. The rest of the 8,000 are not on our data base, Prof Mumba said. Prof Mumba said returning students in their final years who will not clear will not graduate while returning students will not register without results. The collapse of a nation does not require use of atomic bombs. It only requires lowering the quality of education and the quality of graduates. UNZA must, therefore, live on. UNZA must continue to be the beacon and catalyst for socio-economic development, growth and knowledge generation, he said in a statement on Monday. Prof Mumba said for the university to avoid the perennial problem of admitting students who cannot pay fees for various reasons, this years admissions for first years are all provisional.

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UNZA vice-chancellor lays down marker - Zambia Daily Mail

Collapse of UT and Capital banks A case of a collective national failure (Article) – Citifmonline

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As an entrepreneur who appreciates the challenges to surmount in order to build flourishing businesses with positive ramifications for society, the collapse of UT and Capital Banks can only be seen as a reflection of our respective individual negative traits, deficient national character and the weak state institutions coupled with our ineffective educational system. The collapse of these banks obviously brings to fore critical issues that, as a nation we must be bold, truthful and openly discuss them.

Though, it did not surprise industry watchers, their demise evoke feelings of sadness and job insecurity while raising questions about the ability of Ghanaians to really manage our institutions.

It is sad because the collapse of these two indigenous banks has become a set back to the effort of promoting indigenous Ghanaians to take control of our economy by building strong local institutions. One would have expected to hear of progress being made by local banks rather than the demise of local banks.

It is also sad because of the job losses inherent in the demise especially in the light of the complexities of the labour market, the unavailability of jobs and the potential to increase unemployment levels even though we dont know our unemployment rates.

In spite of these sentiments, economic mismanagement, the failure of the central bank to assume its leadership role in our economic development, the proliferations of award schemes and our negative attitude as Ghanaians are all responsible for the current happenings. Invariably, these factors have combined to determine the kind of socio-economic environment that we currently find ourselves as a nation.

Economic Mismanagement

A critical look at economic development trends across the globe usually starts with emphasis on the agriculture sector, moves to manufacturing and lastly to the services sector. This development trend promotes the real sectors of an economy through the linkages between agriculture which provides the basic raw material for manufacturing and industrialization and the services sectors. The real sector of an economy will thus have the potential to create the numerous jobs for the people, provide commodities for the daily lives of the people, provide raw materials for the manufacturing firms, wealth for the people, a strong currency for the nation and eventually help extricate indigenes from poverty.

However, our country has adopted by default a reverse development model by placing emphasis on the services sector with no linkages to both the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. As a result, the business of selling and buying money has been very dominant in our economy. This is called the financecialisation of our economy. Everybody in Ghana now is either selling or buying money as a form of business. This explains why there are numerous people doing money lending, micro financing, savings and loans or commercial banking. While every money lender intends to be a micro finance, micro finance firms want to be savings and loans, saving and loans are looking at being commercial banks. These conversions are done without building enough capital base and a more robust corporate governance structures. Sadly, these finance houses are only funding the importation of rice, cooking oils and other consumables at the detriment of the most productive sectors of our economy such as agric and manufacturing.

A diversified economy on the other hand provides options for the people to do agriculture as a business, helps manufacturing to thrive and presents opportunity for banks to finance the productive sectors.

However, our political leaders have only paid mere lip services to our development. Over the years, Ghana has had several different development plans that have all sought to give us prosperity. All these plans have embraced the concepts of structural transformation, industrialization, investment, quality education and human capital development and the modernization of agriculture. The 7 year development of 1963-1970, Economic Recovery Program of 1984-1990, Structural Adjustment Program, Vision 2020 and the Better Ghana Agenda are just a few of the development plans. Yet, we are still engulfed in poverty.

Clearly, incompetence in managing our economy, lack of vision and direction by political leaders, weak state institutions, deep rooted and institutionalized bribery and corruption, ineffective educational system that produces timorous workforce with its resultant mismatch with industry have all teamed up to cause the collapse of these two banks.

Role of the Central Bank

The central bank of Ghana has been unable to assume its leadership role and importance as far as Ghanas economic development is concerned. They have not been proactive in their policy and supervisory functions in the financial sector in particular and the economy in general. The primary role of the central bank to implement policies that provide consistent growth and employment and the stability of the financial system has been ineffective over the years. Perhaps, the central bank is only noted for organizing monetary policy committee meetings. One even wonders if they have an idea as to the total number of money lenders and microfinance firms operating in the country. Weak corporate governance, Incompetent management and board, weak supervision, lack of integrity, corruption within the banking sector, unchecked prevailing high interest rate regime and the springing up of commercial banks are all to be blamed. It is hence not surprising that directors of a bank will borrow money without paying, whiles staff of some banks also operate micro finance within their respective branches. We all can imagine the insecurity and frustrations that would have been unleashed to the nation if depositors had lost their funds in the UT/Capital bank saga. And so, to the extent that the Central Bank was able to salvage depositors funds and restore confidence among depositors, they need to be commended.

Attitude of Ghanaians

Our negative individual attitudes as Ghanaians are also to be blamed. Individual corruptible practices in our institutions, employment based on favoritism, managerial incompetence, untruthfulness, vindictiveness, victimization, dirty corporate politicking, stealing of funds with collaborators in the business world, lack of leadership, amorous relationship between bosses and their subordinates have all been accepted as part of our normal lives, and have permeated into our corporate fabric. Doing the right things in Ghana makes one either a bad person, very difficult, arrogant or controversial. You dare not report a colleague or superior who is either corrupt or does something wrong. Whilst some banks promote staff not on merit but on the whims or affection of a superior person, some business heads also take money from clients before credit applications are processed. It is therefore not surprising that staff members through their actions and inactions have contributed to the demise of these banks. Sadly, the intellectuals in this country have through our incompetence and corruption proven education to be a useless venture. Instead of being managing directors, we are gradually becoming damaging directors.

Numerous Award Schemes

Numerous awards programes have been institutionalized in our country recently. There is an award scheme for almost everything in our country today. The basis upon which individuals and institutions have won various awards are in some cases questionable especially when every discerning Ghanaian is aware of the monetization of these awards. Besides, we are unable to assess the impact that these awards have had on our economy and society. In the light of their imminent collapse, these two banks in the past three years have won various awards in the banking sector. How did they win these awards? Awards schemes are essentially to reward excellence and to generate a more meaningful and a broader impact on companies and society. However, awards have been used as a money making venture and as such, mediocrity has taken over in most of the awards.

Clearly, the factors above present a feeling of great disappointment and failure whenever one critically looks at our national life. It looks as if we have been condemned to perpetual conditions of poverty, underdevelopment and retrogression exemplified by lack of vision and leadership, economic mismanagement, incompetent corporate leaders, ineffective and weak state institutions, negative attitude of the people, institutionalized bribery and corruption and lack of integrity. Indeed, one can only conclude that the collapse of these two banks is a collective national failure rather than an individual institutional lapse.

By: Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah

The writer is a former Banker and Entrepreneur.

Email: ykelvin19@yahoo.com

Excerpt from:

Collapse of UT and Capital banks A case of a collective national failure (Article) - Citifmonline

‘We will reach point of NO RETURN’ Russia pleads for North Korea calm amid WW3 fears – Express.co.uk

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Amid soaring tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, the influence of Russia and China could determine whether war breaks out as North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and missile programmes.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Moscow: "Any attempt to resolve the problem over the Korean Peninsula by force will lead to a massive tragedy and enormous loss of life.

Tensions appear to be gradually winding down after North Korean media reported Kim Jong-un had decided to postpone plans to fire four missile toward the US territory of Guam.

GETTY

In response, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to praise the despot leader.

He wrote: "Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision. The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!"

But Mr Trump is continuing to test Kim by staging joint military exercises with Japan.

The drill, which is part of a 19-day exercise, was conducted on the northern island of Hokkaido.

GETTY

Troops fired live ammunition from armed vehicles as part of the Northern Viper 2017 exercise, which involves 3,300 US and Japanese troops.

Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision

US President Donald Trump

A defence ministry spokesman said: "It is the first joint exercise between the GSDF [Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force] and US Marines in Hokkaido.

But he denied any link between the drill and recent tensions with North Korea.

He said: "This is not conducted with a particular country or region in mind.

GETTY

Meanwhile, Japanese jets conducted air manoeuvres with US bombers southwest of the Korean peninsula on Wednesday.

The exercise in the East China Sea involved two US B-1B Lancer bombers flying from Andersen Air Force Base on the Pacific island of Guam and two Japanese F-15 jet fighters.

AFP/Getty Images

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Soldiers from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force take part in a field drill with US Marines during joint military exercises with in Eniwa, Hokkaido prefecture

GETTY

The US Air Force said in a statement: These training flights with Japan demonstrate the solidarity and resolve we share with our allies to preserve peace and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.

North Korea regards the US exercises with South Korea and Japan as preparations to invade it and has strongly condemned previous drills.

The exercises also frustrates China, which says they do nothing to ease regional tensions.

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'We will reach point of NO RETURN' Russia pleads for North Korea calm amid WW3 fears - Express.co.uk

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WW3: Forget North Korea – two other Asian giants are gearing up for nuclear battle – Express.co.uk

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GETTY

With the worlds attention on the deteriorating situation in Pyongyang, trouble brewing among its neighbours has been overshadowed.

But the Asian continent could erupt into full-blown conflict as India and China - both nuclear-armed - have been at loggerheads over their shared border.

Despite the actual dividing line between the emerging economies situated in uninhabited, inhospitable wasteland, it is a flashpoint for conflict.

China, the powerhouse of the region, is battling neighbour India, another of the developing BRICS nations, for dominance as the sub-continent grows in strength.

Since June armed forces from both countries have been locked in a stand-off along the border, known as the Donglang in China and Doklam in India.

Troops had been amassing due to a spat over the Chinese building a road through a territory Indias ally and neighbour Bhutan disputes.

And on Tuesday soldiers from both sides were involved in a skirmish.

GETTY

The fall-out came just before Indian prime minister Narenda Modis 70th birthday, and he boldly declared the country was "strong enough to overcome those who try to act against our country.

With both parties locked into the disagreement for several months, there are fears the situation is a tinderbox which could ignite at any moment.

And as both are nuclear-armed, it could escalate very quickly with devastating consequences.

North Korea State Media

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Both sides stand to lose tremendously

Shailesh Kumar

Eurasia Group Asia analyst, Shailesh Kumar, said: "Both sides stand to lose tremendously, economically speaking, should this boil over into an actual war.

Earlier this month Chinese state news platform Xinhua published an article "India must not flirt with disaster, claiming Indias involvement in the Doklam area was "an offense to China's sovereignty."

Provocative headlines could stoke the flames of war, with both sides posturing.

GETTY

But Alyssa Ayres, senior fellow for India at the Council on Foreign Relations, placed the blame on China.

She said the dispute was a "conflict that China has created.

GETTY

But she added the the "Chinese military has more to lose.

The bubbling tension comes as Chinese quasi-ally North Korea had the world on edge as it dangled threats of a nuclear strike.

China has been criticised for its sympathetic attitude towards Kim Jong-uns regime, but recent developments which have seen Pyongyang threaten the US territory of Guam have been met with equal force from US president Donald Trump.

He vowed to retaliate with fire and fury.

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WW3: Forget North Korea - two other Asian giants are gearing up for nuclear battle - Express.co.uk

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nanotech.upenn.edu – NANO/BIO INTERFACE CENTER

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Charlie Johnson Appointed as New Director of the NBIC [ read more ]

NBIC prepares for NanoDay@Penn 2015 [ read more ]

New Mid-Atlantic Nanotech Hub [ read more ]

Biosensors with transition metal dichalcogenides [ read more ]

Nextgen nanopores [ read more ]

Liver cancer center funded [ read more ]

Light-refracting polymer crystals useful for protective gear [ read more ]

Nano Master's students Y-Prize Finalists [ read more ]

Materials Research Society Fellows [ read more ]

Potential of new multimodal sensor [ read more ]

Modeling meets biology [ read more ]

National Academy of Inventors Fellow [ read more ]

Nanomembranes to purify wastewater [ read more ]

AFM in Biology Workshop, February 12-13, 2015 [ read more ]

Electronic noses sniff out illness [ watch more ]

$9M to understand cellular motors [ read more ]

Nanopores characterize nanoparticles [ read more ]

Why graphene's friction increases [ read more ]

NanoDay@Penn 2014 ... read more

NBIC Facility Expands Raman Spectroscopy Capacity [ read more ]

NBIC Director talks about graphene and his start-up [ watch more ]

Exemplary research recognition [ read more ]

Teacher as hero award [ read more ]

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American Philosophical Society election [ read more ]

NBIC faculty share expertise [ read more ]

NBIC Director featured on radio, TV [ read more ]

Gene Expression Workshop for Educators (5/13/14) [ read more ]

Detecting opiods with a novel, electronic biosensor [ read more ]

Teaching excellence recognized [ read more ]

Opportunity for student research in Grenoble, France ... read more

REU applications now being accepted ... read more

Minerals, Metals & Materials Society recognizes faculty member ... read more

Four NBIC professors recognized with endowed honors ... read more

NanoDay@Penn 2013 ... read more

Pilot Grants Program (NBIC), 2013 ... read more

Dawn Bonnell, NBIC Director, appointed to Vice Provost for Research [ read more ]

GAPSA-Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation [ read more ]

Wear at the nanoscale [ read more ]

Dawn Bonnell Elected to National Academy of Engineering [ read more ]

Shedding New Light on Biological Imaging [ read more ]

AFM workshop at Ibersensor 2012 [ read more ]

Tip Enhanced Raman Scattering Workshop at UPENN [ read more ]

Penn Researchers Create First Custom Designed Protein Crystal [ read more ]

NBIC Distinguished Scholar, Yung Woo Park, Honored on April 2, 2012 [ read more ]

Summer Research Opportunities in France ... read more

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Progress on the Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology Read about the ongoing construction in the [ Penn Current ]

Symposium: Building Cellular Complexity One Molecule at a Time March 30, 2012 ... read more

Yung Woo Park, NBIC Visiting Distinguished Scholar Arrives ... read more

NanoDay@Penn 2011 ... read more

Nano/Bio Interface Center Symposium: Local Probes at the Frontiers of Energy Systems and Biotechnology ... read more

Agarwal Group show that ultrafast phototonic devices could operate at speeds a thousand times greater then currently possible ... read more

Physical Science in Cancer Research Pilot Program Grants Program (NBIC), 2011 ... read more

Innovation Grants Program (NBIC), 2010 ... read more

New developments in electronic and optical devices ... read more

"Polarization Mediated Properties at Interfaces: A path towardnovel molecular devices" Lecture by Dawn A. Bonnell 4.5.11 ... read more

Producing Graphene at Industrial Scale Charlie Johnson and his group (Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Arts and Science) report on a process to create graphene that is just a single layer thick over 95% of its area. [ press release ]

Pilot project program on Physical Science in Cancer Research The Nano/Bio Interface Center announces a Pilot Program for research involving physical science and engineering in cancer research. ... read more

Motor Protein High-wire Act Revealed Researchers explain novel approach that reveals myosin motor motion along actin filaments. ... read more

Pilot project program on Physical Science in Cancer Research The Nano/Bio Interface Center announces a Pilot Program for research involving physical science and engineering in cancer research. ... read more ... download PDF

Penn breaks ground for nanotechnology center ... read more

New International Research Opportunities for Penn students in France - Summer 2011 The Nano/Bio Interface Center will support all expenses related to travel and accommodations for a 10-week research exchange during the upcoming summer (23 May 29 July). The program is centered at MINATEC in Grenoble, France ... read more

Nanotech Student Pizza Party Monday, February 14, 2011 ... read more

A Family Event Saturday, February 5, 2011 Philly Materials Day ... read more

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Science Cafe features Yale Goldman on October 20 ... read more

2010 NTI/ECI Nanotech Conference This event will take place on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, PA. ... read more

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The 2010 REU Students Complete Research ... read more

First Cohort from France Completes Summer Research Three graduate students from the research center called MINATEC in Grenoble, France completed a 10-week research experience at Penn this summer. ... read more

Post-doctoral Associate Opening ... read more

Arjun Shah and Mike Shen take 3rd place ... read more

Innovation Awards: Call for Proposals ... read more

Discovery Channel, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science and others report on the NBIC discovery of Plasmon Induced Current... read more

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NanoDay@Penn October 28, 2009

Networking Around Research and Careers ... read more

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Wanted:Science Teachers for Professional Development in Nanoscale Science ... read more

Professor Nelson recognized for excellence in teaching biophysics ... read more

Professor Rob Carpick named Penn Fellow

New program deadlines have been added ... visit the Education page

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Printed, Flexible, Rechargeable Battery Powers Wearable Sensors – Advanced Manufacturing

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Rajan Kumar is the co-first author of the Advanced Energy Materials paper and leads a team to commercialize the technology.

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the first printed battery that is flexible, stretchable and rechargeable. These zinc batteries could be used to power everything from wearable sensors to solar cells and other kinds of electronics.

The researchers made the printed batteries flexible and stretchable by incorporating a hyper-elastic polymer material made from isoprene, one of the main ingredients in rubber, and polystyrene, a resin-like component. The substance, known as SIS, allows the batteries to stretch to twice their size, in any direction, without suffering damage. The work appears in the April 19, 2017 issue of Advanced Energy Materials. An abstract of the paper is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.201602096/full.

The ink used to print the batteries is made of zinc silver oxide mixed with SIS, the scientists reported. While zinc batteries have been in use for a long time, they are typically non-rechargeable. The researchers added bismuth oxide to the batteries to make them rechargeable.

This is a significant step toward self-powered stretchable electronics, said Joseph Wang, one of the papers senior authors and a nanoengineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, where he directs the schools Center for Wearable Sensors. We expect this technology to pave the way to enhance other forms of energy storage and printable, stretchable electronics, not just for zinc-based batteries but also for Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries as well as supercapacitors and photovoltaic cells.

The prototype battery the researchers developed has about 1/5 the capacity of a rechargeable hearing aid battery, the researchers said, but it is 1/10 as thick, cheaper and uses commercially available materials. It takes two of these batteries to power a 3-V LED. The researchers are still working to improve the batterys performance. Next steps include expanding the use of the technology to different applications, such as solar and fuel cells, and using the battery to power different kinds of electronic devices.

The researchers used standard screen printing techniques to make the batteriesa method that dramatically drives down the technologys costs. Typical materials for one battery cost only $0.50. A comparable commercially available rechargeable battery costs $5.00. Batteries can be printed directly on fabric or on materials that allow wearables to adhere to the skin. They also can be printed as a strip to power a device that needs more energy. They are stable and can be worn for a long period of time.

The key ingredient that makes the batteries rechargeable is a molecule called bismuth oxide which, when mixed into the batteries zinc electrodes, prolongs the life of devices and allows them to recharge. Adding bismuth oxide to zinc batteries is standard practice in industry to improve performance, but until recently there hasnt been a thorough scientific explanation as to why.

Last year, UC San Diego nanoengineers led by Professor Y. Shirley Meng published a detailed molecular study addressing this question. When zinc batteries discharge, their electrodes react with the liquid electrolyte inside the battery, producing zinc salts that dissolve into a solution. This eventually short circuits the battery. Adding bismuth oxide keeps the electrode from losing zinc to the electrolyte. This ensures that the batteries continue to work and can be recharged.

The work shows that it is possible to use small amounts of additives, such as bismuth oxide, to change the properties of materials.

Understanding the scientific mechanism to do this will allow us to turn nonrechargeable batteries into rechargeable batteriesnot just zinc batteries but also for other electro-chemistries, such as Lithium-oxygen, said Meng, who directs the Sustainable Power and Energy Center at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Rajan Kumar, a co-first author on this Advanced Energy Materials paper, is a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Kumar and nanoengineering professor Wang are leading a team focused on commercializing aspects of this work. The team is one of five to be selected to join a new technology accelerator at UC San Diego. The technology accelerator is run by the UC San Diego Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, which is a collaboration between the Jacobs School of Engineering and Rady School of Management.

The research was sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (DE-AR0000535) and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The work was performed in part at the San Diego Nanotechnology Infrastructure (SDNI), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, which is supported by the National Science Foundation.

Nanodiamond material specialist Carbodeon (Vantaa, Finland) has worked with metal finishing specialist CCT Plating of Germany to develop a new electroless nickel, PTFE and nanodiamond composite coating.

Electroless nickel-PTFE (EN-PTFE) coatings provide excellent anti-adhesive and low friction properties but are traditionally soft and wear quickly in abrasive conditions. PTFE is polytetrafluoroethylene, or Teflon. By adding nanodiamond particles to the EN-PTFE coating, Carbodeon has been able to improve the abrasive wear resistance of these coatings without compromising the sliding or release properties.

Nanodiamond material consists of small, spherical diamond nanoparticles that are specially treated to make them disperse in coating liquids and carry a positive electrical charge on their surfaces. In the plating process, the diamond particles behave similarly to positively charged metal ions and, together with the nickel and the PTFE material, co-deposit onto the component.

Key performance characteristics are:

Target applications include automotive components, including engine parts, chassis parts and body mechanisms; plastics forming molds, including complex structures, moving cores and slides; military applications requiring hard wearing and lubricant-free operations; and printing and textile production equipment and machinery.

Customer applications have multiple requirements that are a challenge for existing coatings, Carbodeon CTO Vesa Myllymaki said in prepared remarks. Through a combination of these three materials nickel, nanodiamond and PTFE we produce coatings that are resistant to the multiple modes of wear and failure components and systems are subject to, while keeping the low friction and release properties of the NE-PTFE surface.

The nanomaterial for the process can be obtained from Carbodeon for addition to existing electroless nickel-PTFE systems. Alternatively, job plating or turnkey solutions can be carried out by CCT Plating in Stuttgart, Germany.

Carbodeon has patented the nanodiamond material and the plating application.

Tobii Pro (Stockholm, Sweden), developer of eye-tracking research solutions, announced its new Tobii Pro VR Integration for conducting eye-tracking research within immersive virtual reality (VR) environments. The research tool, based on the HTC Vive headset integrated with Tobii eye-tracking technology, comes with the Tobii Pro software development kit (SDK) for research applications. Researchers can accurately collect and record eye tracking data from a VR environment and gain deeper insights on human behavior.

Eye tracking research in immersive VR is transforming how studies can be conducted and opens up new possibilities in psychology, consumer behavior, and human performance, according to Tobii Pro. Through VR, researchers have complete control over a study environment, which allows them to run scenarios that previously would have been too costly, risky or difficult to conduct in real life.

Combining eye tracking with VR is growing as a research methodology and our customers have started to demand this technology to be part of their toolkit for behavioral studies, Tom Englund, Tobii Pro president, said in prepared remarks. The Tobii Pro VR Integration is our first step in making eye tracking in immersive VR a reliable and effective research tool for a range of fields. It marks our first major expansion of VR-based research tools.

Tobii Pro VR Integration is a retrofit of the HTC Vive business edition headset with integrated Tobii eye-tracking technology. It is capable of eye tracking all types of eyes, collecting binocular eye-tracking data at 120 Hz (images per second). The solution allows study participants to move naturally while wearing the headset without compromising the user experience or the output of the eye tracking data.

The solution comes with Tobii Pros SDK, which enables eye-tracking data collection for both live interactions and analysis. The Pro SDK supports millisecond synchronization and gives researchers the freedom to build analysis applications customized to their research on either Matlab, Python, C, or .Net compatible with Unity programming software tools. For more information or to receive updates, please see http://bit.ly/2rwjC1m.

Tech Front is edited by Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak; pwaurzyniak@sme.org.

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The science of fluoride flipping: A new technique helps researchers study tiny biological processes – Phys.Org

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August 24, 2017 Scientists are just now beginning to understand the various functions of RNA on human health. Credit: Christ-claude Mowandza-ndinga

So much of what happens inside cells to preserve health or cause disease is so small or time-sensitive that researchers are just now getting glimpses of the complexities unfolding in us every minute of the day. UNC School of Medicine researchers have discovered one such complexitya previously hidden mode of RNA regulation vital for bacterial defense against toxic fluoride ions.

Published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the discovery opens a new research avenue for developing drugs that target RNAgenetic molecules important for various biological processes, including how genes are regulated.

"Much research to find the underpinnings of health and disease has rightfully focused on proteins, but different forms of RNA have functions we're just beginning to understand," said Qi Zhang, PhD, senior author and assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics. "Our NMR technique is helping us learn more than ever before."

In 2014, Zhang and colleagues developed a new way to use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging to show the shape and motion of RNA at the atomic level over time. This was crucial because RNA is often short-lived and sparsely populated in cells at any given time. The amount of RNA changes over short bursts of time depending on which one of its various roles it is fulfilling. Yet, until now, structural biologists have only visualized RNA as a series of snapshots. Zhang's technique enables new ways of visualizing RNA, down to its atoms.

"We need this atomic level view because every atomic interaction is important to human health," said Zhang, who is also a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Scientists have developed similar approaches that work well for proteins and we needed this for RNA, which is crucial for understanding how an RNA serves as a control switch for gene expression."

In their latest work, Zhang and colleagues studied riboswitches - a class of noncoding RNAs that are not translated from DNA into proteins. Rather, riboswitches control gene expression in response to specific cellular cues. Many bacteria rely on these cues and controls to regulate fundamental cellular function. These switches have been important models for the scientific community's basic understanding of RNA architecture and ligandsmolecules such as drug compounds. Riboswitches have emerged as targets for a new class of very much needed antibacterial drugs.

Here's the prevailing wisdom of how these riboswitches work: when a cell produces a metabolite or encounters a toxin to a certain level, a sensor on the riboswitch detects this, reshapes the switch's three-dimensional structure, and sends a signal to turn the responsible gene circuit on or off. This model has been shown in a variety of riboswitches. But when Zhang's group tried to understand how bacteria use a specific class of these genetic switchesfluoride riboswitchesto kick start their defense mechanism against a toxic level of fluoride ions, they came upon a mystery.

They first visualized the structure of the fluoride riboswitch when it was unbound to fluoride, and then compared it to the structure of the fluoride-bound riboswitch. To Zhang's surprise, both riboswitches were identical, down to their most intricate interactions. Yet, each versionbound and unboundhad a distinct function. The bound state activated gene transcription and turned on the toxicity defense system, whereas the unbound state kept the gene silent.

"We thought, 'how could this be?'" Zhang said. "How could a riboswitch have only one structure but execute two opposite functions? This challenged our basic understanding of the structure-function relationship of RNA. We wondered if nature evolved some special way to fit this unique cellular role of toxicity response. But we also thought something had to distinguish the ligand-bound state of the fluoride riboswitch from the unbound state. Otherwise, how could any of these processes 'know' when to do what?"

This is where the NMR technique came in. Zhang's ability to visualize riboswitches over time allowed his team to reveal the hidden differences in the local motions between the bound and unbound states. Zhang's team found that over the course of a mere three milliseconds, the riboswitch sits in an excited state. This is when it unravels the linchpin - a rare base pair of molecules formed within the riboswitch - to terminate gene transcription. When the fluoride was bound, this super quick process is suppressed and gene transcription is activated again.

Still, Zhang couldn't help but wonder why nature would evolve such an unusual mechanism. He wondered what was the advantage of this strange twist over the typical structural differences between bound and unbound RNA?

"It turns out that encoding this 'hidden' layer of regulation empowers the fluoride riboswitch with an unexpected capability," Zhang said. "This fleeting switch can effectively and efficiently execute ligand-dependent switching across a wide range of speeds of RNA polymerase copying DNA into RNA. This ensures a robust response to fluoride toxicity over diverse cellular environments. This ensures survival."

The discovery marks the first of its kind, and Zhang suspects that this strategy may be used by riboswitches in various toxicity responses and by many other noncoding RNAs for their regulatory functions.

Not only could this work have vast implications for the development of antibiotics, but it provides a new design principle for engineering RNA-based biosensors and nano-devices to probe specific gene expressions and key biological processes to help us understand human disease. It could also be possible to use these RNA nano-devices to interfere with pathological pathways to treat diseases.

"A major challenge in designing effective biosensors and regulators has been ensuring that they can work well across diverse cellular conditions," Zhang said. "This is important because these synthetic devices encounter very different working environments inside different kinds of tissues. So, by unveiling the fluoride riboswitch's 'hidden' molecular strategy, we provide a new way forward, which is very exciting to us and the field."

A new imaging technique helps UNC researchers study tiny, time-sensitive biological processes

Explore further: Pause to read the traffic sign: Regulation of DNA transcription in bacteria

More information: Bo Zhao et al. An excited state underlies gene regulation of a transcriptional riboswitch, Nature Chemical Biology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2427

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New biological identity of inhaled nanoparticles revealed – Phys.Org

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August 23, 2017 by Yi Zuo Molecular dynamics simulations revealed a pulmonary surfactant corona coated on inhaled nanoparticle. Credit: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Nano-enabled consumer products surround people every day, from personal care, cosmetics, clothing and electronics, to food and beverage.

The Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory maintained by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has listed 1,814 nano-enabled consumer products, many of which have a potential safety hazard if inhaled. However, their potential biological risks are still largely unknown.

University of Hawai'i at Mnoa College of Engineering Professor Yi Zuo has developed a new method to reveal the molecular mechanism of nano-bio interactions in the lungs. This research was published in the July 2017 issue of the scientific journal ACS Nano, "Unveiling the molecular structure of pulmonary surfactant corona on nanoparticles."

Zuo's study showed that once the inhaled nanoparticles enter the lungs, they are quickly wrapped with a biomolecular corona made of the natural pulmonary surfactant. The entire surface of the lungs is lined with a lipid-protein pulmonary surfactant film,which serves an important physiological function of host defense and surface tension reduction. The pulmonary surfactant corona provides the inhaled nanoparticles with a new identity in their subsequent interactions with the biological system, such as their clearance and cellular toxicity.

"Molecular scale interactions between nanoparticles and biomolecules are too small and too fast to be visualized by most conventional experimental methods," Zuo said. "Hence, we studied the nano-bio interactions with a virtual experiment called molecular dynamics simulations. Using supercomputers, we created a virtual box in which a certain number of molecules and particles can move and interact with each other for a certain time by following the natural laws of physics and chemistry. The final equilibrium state of the simulation reveals the molecular mechanism of nano-bio interactions."

This study may also advance the understanding of other air pollutants, such as vog, an air pollutant that is unique to Hawai'i due to its volcanic eruptions.Given the environmental, health and safety impact of vog, there is an urgent need to understand its pulmonary risk, especially to those with existing respiratory conditions and children, whose respiratory system is significantly more vulnerable to particle invasion than adults.

Zuo is continuing to study the molecular mechanism of nano-bio interactions using molecular dynamics simulations and novel experimental techniques developed in his Laboratory of Biocolloids and Biointerfaces, helping to provide a useful metric for regulating and overseeing commercial applications of nanotechnology toward a safer and more sustainable development.

Explore further: Nanoparticles can travel from lungs to blood, possibly explaining risks to heart

More information: Qinglin Hu et al. Unveiling the Molecular Structure of Pulmonary Surfactant Corona on Nanoparticles, ACS Nano (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b01873

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New biological identity of inhaled nanoparticles revealed - Phys.Org

Freeze-Dried Foam Soaks Up Carbon Dioxide – Photonics Online

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Rice Scientists Lead Effort To Make Novel 3-D Material

Rice University Materials Scientists Have Created A Light Foam From Two-Dimensional Sheets Of Hexagonal-Boron Nitride (H-BN) That Absorbs Carbon Dioxide.

They Discovered Freeze-Drying H-BN Turned It Into A Macro-Scale Foam That Disintegrates In Liquids. But Adding A Bit Of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Into The Mix Transformed It Into A Far More Robust And Useful Material.

The Foam Is Highly Porous And Its Properties Can Be Tuned For Use In Air Filters And As Gas Absorption Materials, According To Researchers In The Rice Lab Of Materials Scientist Pulickel Ajayan.

Their Work Appears In The American Chemical Society Journal ACS Nano.

The Polyvinyl Alcohol Serves As A Glue. Mixed Into A Solution With Flakes Of H-BN, It Binds The Junctions As The Microscopic Sheets Arrange Themselves Into A Lattice When Freeze-Dried. The One-Step Process Is Scalable, The Researchers Said.

Even A Very Small Amount Of PVA Works, Said Co-Author And Rice Postdoctoral Researcher Chandra Sekhar Tiwary. It Helps Make The Foam Stiff By Gluing The Interconnects Between The H-BN Sheets And At The Same Time, It Hardly Changes The Surface Area At All.

In Molecular Dynamics Simulations, The Foam Adsorbed 340 Percent Of Its Own Weight In Carbon Dioxide. The Greenhouse Gas Can Be Evaporated Out Of The Material, Which Can Be Reused Repeatedly, Tiwary Said. Compression Tests Showed The Foam Got Stiffer Through 2,000 Cycles As Well.

And When Coated With PDMS, Another Polymer, The Foam Becomes An Effective Shield From Lasers That Could Be Used In Biomedical, Electronics And Other Applications, He Said.

Ultimately, The Researchers Want To Gain Control Over The Size Of The Materials Pores For Specific Applications, Like Separating Oil From Water. Simulations Carried Out By Co-Author Cristiano Woellner, A Joint Postdoctoral Researcher At Rice And The State University Of Campinas, Brazil, Could Serve As A Guide For Experimentalists.

Its Important To Join Experiments And Theoretical Calculations To See The Mechanical Response Of This Composite, Woellner Said. This Way, Experimentalists Will See In Advance How They Can Improve The System.

About Rice University Rice Graduate Student Peter Owuor Is Lead Author Of The Paper. Co-Authors Are Ok-Kyung Park, A Visiting Scholar At Rice And A Postdoctoral Researcher At Chonbuk National University, Republic Of Korea; Rice Postdoctoral Researchers Almaz Jalilov And Rodrigo Villegas Salvatierra And Graduate Students Luong Xuan Duy, Sandhya Susarla And Jarin Joyner; Rice Alumnus Sehmus Ozden, Now A Postdoctoral Fellow At Los Alamos National Laboratory; Robert Vajtai, A Senior Faculty Fellow At Rice; Jun Lou, A Rice Professor Of Materials Science And Nanoengineering; And James Tour, Rices T.T. And W.F. Chao Chair In Chemistry As Well As A Professor Of Computer Science And Of Materials Science And Nanoengineering; And Professor Douglas Galvo Of The State University Of Campinas. Ajayan Is Chair Of Rices Department Of Materials Science And Nanoengineering, The Benjamin M. And Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor In Engineering And A Professor Of Chemistry.

The Air Force Office Of Scientific Research And Its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Funded The Research.

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Freeze-Dried Foam Soaks Up Carbon Dioxide - Photonics Online