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Astronomical summer begins – AccuWeather.com (blog)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Astronomy blog By Dave Samuhel, AccuWeather senior meteorologist 6/21/2017, 3:08:57 PM

Happy summer! Astronomical summer is here. The day of the summer solstice, usually features the longest day of the year.

The sun will not set north of the Arctic Circle today.

The sun simply circles the horizon as the Earth rotates.

Farther south, the sun will set at its northernmost point on the horizon. You may notice sun shining through windows in your house that usually dont get any sunlight.

So what is going on? Is the Earth bouncing around on its axis to change the sun angle? NO

The Earth is permanently tilted as it orbits the sun. We know the Earth spins around an axis that extends from the North Pole to the South Pole, but that axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees.

So, its all about where the Earth is during its journey around the sun. Today, the axis of rotation points toward the sun. However, when the planet moves to the other side of the sun (aka winter solstice), that axis of rotation points away from the sun.

The farther north you are, the longer the day is. Lets take a look at the day length in different parts of the world...

June 21st Solar Information Table

As a side note, today was not the longest day of the year in some cases. Since the solstice was at 12:24 a.m. daylight time, this is actually closer to sunset yesterday than sunrise today. So, yesterday was the longest day of the year in many locations!

Thanks for reading! Just look up, you never know what you will see!

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Astronomical summer begins - AccuWeather.com (blog)

Sexist Comments Spark Outrage at Major Astronomy Festival – Motherboard

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

The Starmus Festival is now in full swing in Trondheim, Norway, with artists, scientists, and other thinkers gathered around topics relating to space exploration and astronomy. Already, Stephen Hawking has made headlines there for suggesting that humans need to colonize Mars and the Moon ASAP, or move on to Alpha Centauri.

But on Wednesday, some heavy criticism began to emerge on Twitter that the famous festival is heavily skewed towards male panelistscriticism that became louder after Chris Pissardes, a Nobel-winning economist, suggested from the stage that he trusts Siri more when it has a "male" voice, a comment that can be heard in this video.

In a Q&A with the audience, astronomer scientist Jill Tarter got up and took the panelists to task for "piss[ing] off half the world's population," singling out Neil deGrasse Tyson for not stopping the negative comments. (At that point, deGrasse Tyson can be heard speaking up.)

Some high-profile attendees, including astrobiologist Sara Seager and physicist Jim Al-Khalili, who last year won the festival's Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, said on Twitter that they'd left as a result.

"Starmus is a unique festival of science and music," Al-Khalili wrote me in an email. "Last year, [we] all acknowledged that there was a marked lack of women invited speakers and to a large extent this was addressed this year." At this year's festival, he continued, he heard excellent talks from Seager, Nobel laureate May-Britt Moser, and other female speakers.

Read More: Machine Learning Reveals Systematic Sexism in Astronomy

"My criticism on Twitter referred to a particular comment by a male panellist who made a highly sexist remark that was not picked up by moderator Larry King and should have been," Al-Khalili said, calling it "offensive to many."

Representatives from Starmus could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ellinor Alseth, a PhD student at the University of Exeter, is originally from Trondheim and attended the Starmus festival for the first time this year. After Tarter called out the panelist, Alseth sent her a tweet thanking her as a "young female scientist."

I phoned Alseth in Trondheim. She she was grateful for Tarter for calling out sexist remarks from the panel. "It was very nice to have her stand up and make a comment about this," Alseth told me, adding that "overall, the festival has been great."

Panels have been skewed male, she agreed, but partly it's because there are way more male Nobel laureates than females (its own problem originating with the Nobel Foundation's selections), and Nobel Prize winners are heavily represented here.

Alseth agreed that more female voices are needed in science. "I think diversity is the way to go."

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Sexist Comments Spark Outrage at Major Astronomy Festival - Motherboard

India’s First Astronomy Resort In Rajasthan Is Every Stargazer’s … – Indiatimes.com

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

For most people living in todays cities and towns, night sky is only about dust and pollution. There is literally no trace of a twinkle on the sky, all thanks to the atrocious levels air pollution.

Astroport Sarika

But for people who love to stargaze, here's some good news. Located in Rajasthan, Astroport Sariska near the Sariska National Park, is THE place to be for stargazing. The newly opened resort is just a five-hour drive from Delhi and is the second most dark place in India.

This gives on a chance to see the entire Milky Way streaking through the night sky and the view is nothing less than fantabulous.

Apart from just stargazing, the resort has brilliant camping facilities and many other activities like rock climbing, nature walk, jungle safari, village tours, track n sign, camel safari, horse riding, pottery, organic farm tour, yoga and aerobics.

Astroport Sarika

Astroport in its larger view aims at providing employment or creating entrepreneurs in the field of astronomy. Astroports are fully equipped to execute these trainings and provide certifications that can be used later to earn a livelihood, reads the information on their website.

The resort currently offers two types of accommodations, Galaxia which houses two king-size beds takes up to six people at a time. The total cost with meals amounts to approximately INR 13,000.

Astroport Sarika

The second accommodation is the Nebula which has 8 queen-size beds and can accommodate anywhere up to ten people at a time. It is priced at INR 22,000, including meals.

If you are planning the next vacation and are waiting for that perfect Instagram story. this is where you should head!

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India's First Astronomy Resort In Rajasthan Is Every Stargazer's ... - Indiatimes.com

A lecture on astronomy at MOG – The Navhind Times

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

NT BUZZ

President of the Association of Friends of Astronomy, Goa and the Public Astronomical observatory at Panaji, Satish Nayak will deliver a lecture on the topic Is astronomy the only alternative to mankind?on June 25 at 11 a.m. at Museum of Goa (MOG).

The MOG Sundays talk will cover howthe 21st century has brought a lot of technological innovation to humans, but how are we the humans, going in the right direction?The lecture will also focus on how fundamental problems of the survival of the planet have been ignored as mankind slips deeper into a morass of consumerism and self-gratification.The lecture will touch upon how man needs to deal with challenges of the future pertaining to astronomy.

Satish has dedicated himself to the field of astronomy and science outreach in Goa. He has conducted more than 700 presentations, lectures, workshops, sky observations, quizzes and other outreach programmes in and around Goa as well as established seven astronomical observatories in different parts of Goa to spread the love for the science of the Universe. He has also designed a special programme of astronomy education for children below15 years titled The Astro-Kids Club, Goa which has grown in popularity in the last 10 years. He has also written on space for various Goan dailies and has designed and anchored popular astronomy shows on different television channels in Konkani and Marathi likeBramhandchi Sahal,Star Trek and Antariksh Up Up and Away which has completed 150 episodes. He has done a special project on the rich history of Vedic and modern Indian astronomy and a booklet and exhibition.

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A lecture on astronomy at MOG - The Navhind Times

Where Did We Come from or Does God Exist?; Astrophysics for people in a Hurry. – UKZAMBIANS

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D

Professor of Sociology

Neil deGrasse Tyson,, Astrophysics for people in a Hurry, New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2017, 222 pp, Hardcover, K174.35 ($18.95).

Introduction

When I was a child living at Chipewa Village in the late 1950s in Lundazi District in Eastern Zambia in Southern Africa, we were loudly playing childrens games including hide and seek. I was jumping and running around in the evening after supper with other children in the open village square. Adults congregated in front of houses and chatted around with household family members getting ready to go to bed. Suddenly from nowhere a massive very bright light descended directly on top of the village momentarily making everything look as bright as day light. Suddenly the light went off and it was dark again. We all screamed running in different directions to our various homes. Out of breath my cousins and I asked my grandparents what that scary bright light was. My grandmother calmly replied that it was the wretched work of witches in the night.

Early Morning glow of beautiful sunrise before landing at Kenneth Kaunda international Airport in Lusaka. Who created the Universe, the sun and indirectly the plane?

Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysics for people in a Hurry, reminded me of this incident that I never witnessed again in my life. But I might have seen again and again but more on this later. In the village I attended Sub A or Grade One at Boyole Primary School. The very first religious knowledge class taught me about God, the origin of humans and the crucial role of Adam and Eve in the fate of all humanity. Ten years later in Form 4 in 1970 at Chizongwe Secondary School in Chipata, I was to learn about Sir Isaac Newtons Law of Gravity (1642-1726) in physics in my Physical Science classes practicing the formula. Although in 1915 Albert Einsteins discovered the very influential Theory of Relativity, I dont remember it being in our physics textbook yet in 1970. How is all this related to Tysons just published new book Astrophysics for people in a Hurry? How is this related to whether God exists?

The Big Bang

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in the very first sentence of his book reminiscent of the Bible says: In the beginning, nearly fourteen billion years ago, all space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe was contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the period (full stop) that ends this sentence. (p.17) What!!?? was my reaction after I read the first sentence. Then there was the Big Bang. I could not stop reading until I finished the 208 pages because I wanted my curiosity satisfied and so many of my own questions answered.

The moon in the night sky when I am in the village.

Tyson goes on to describe the origin of the known Universe, distant galaxies, the famous Milky Way, stars, our solar system, matter, energy, and how the Earth may have become the only known habitable planet in the solar system. Tyson describes photons, atoms, molecules, constants, conservation laws, speed of light, the mystery of dark matter, cosmic distances; all without using any of the sophisticated mathematical formulas in physics. Thats why the book is for the lay person because even a non-Astrophysicist like me with some physics knowledge from secondary school was able to read and understand it.

Does God Exist?

What invokes questions in the book about whether God exists is the sheer unimaginable monumental events that have happened over 13 billion years and will continue to happen going into the future. All of them are said to be still happening now as you read this or have happened by chance since 13 billion years ago. For example, the orbit along which our mother earth rotates around the massive hot sun happens to be just further enough from the sun that we do not burn but instead have incredible forms of life from tiny bacteria, insects, and trees to humans, elephants and to one time humongous dinosaurs. The suns energy through photosynthesis creates

Enjoying the warm of fire in the village. What is fire and how is it related to the speed of light?

oxygen through plants. We humans and many other of the earths creatures need oxygen to live. No other planets, at least in our solar system, have these qualities that support so much life. Had our Earth been nudged just a little further away from the sun in our orbit several billion years after the Big Bag, the earth would be too cold to support our life.

Think of Your Origins

If you are a Zambian living in the village, Lusaka, Kabompo, Gwembe Valley, and Livingstone and where ever you are perhaps in the diaspora, once you have eaten nshima with good relish, you are not necessarily rich, but you are comfortable, life seems good, shouldnt you take a moment to think: What was there before the Big Bang? Where did I come from? Why? What is Earth? How big is the Universe? What about the moon, heaven and all those thousands and millions of stars at night? Where did they come from? What is my role in the Universe? What is light or fire? This book will give you some answers. But it will not give you the answer to the question: Does God exist? You will have to make up your mind after you read the book if you have not made up your mind already. About that huge bright light in the village? I now believe it might have been a shooting star or meteorite that was headed toward our village but combusted or burned up and evaporated into gas in the atmosphere perhaps 10 Kms high above our village. I have seen thousands of shooting stars especially even today the many times I visit the village and look at the dark sky, bright moon and mesmerizing twinkling stars in the beautiful Milky Way.

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Where Did We Come from or Does God Exist?; Astrophysics for people in a Hurry. - UKZAMBIANS

A passion for Physics can find global applications at UQ – Asian Correspondent

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Do you have a passion for how things work and enjoy scientific experiments? Do you want to learn more with one of the most innovative physics research groups in Australia?

Head of the University of Queenslands School of Mathematics and Physics, Professor Joseph Grotowski, said the School welcomes students from around the planet, all of whom seem to be attracted by its friendly, safe reputation and world-class teaching, research and facilities.

People love to study physics because its interesting; it can be used in all walks of life, and helps us to understand how the world works, he said.

As a global top-tier research institution, the University of Queensland (UQ) recently moved higher in the influential QS World University Rankings, coming in at 47th globally. As such, UQ has placed well inside the top one percent of the worlds 26,000 universities. UQ is committed to providing students with a world-class education.

The University has about 40 physics academic and research staff and 60 research postgraduate students, who have an annual research income of several million dollars, and are involved in national research centres in quantum computers, quantum systems, astrophysics and hypersonics.

Source: University of Queensland

These academics and students collaborate on international projects to benefit humanity.

For example, Dr Ebinazar Namdas, is leading a lighting technology research project with Indian agencies to develop organic semiconductors.

The project will enable children from remote communities to study at night and also potentially cut electricity costs for consumers and develop the next generation of photo sensors for digital cameras.

UQ physicist Dr Magdalena Zychs research was recently used by Italian physicists to test Einsteins equivalence principle, which plays a vital role in physicists understanding of gravity and space-time.

This work could lead to the development of new sensors with applications in studying volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, in searching for mineral deposits, in navigating Earth and space, and in high-precision measurements of time frequency and acceleration.

Professor Grotowski said UQ students had excellent career prospects because they graduated with analytical and problem-solving skills sought by employers in the public and private sectors round the world.

Our graduates are working in fields as diverse as education, engineering, computing, management, government research, University teaching and the health and medical sector, he said.

Astrophysics graduate Dr Sarah Sweet studied physics at UQ because it was the only university in Queensland to offer postgraduate astrophysics.

Image of gravitational waves generated by a binary black hole system. Source: University of Queensland

It is well-regarded for example, its Excellence in Research Australia assessment equals some of the top institutions globally, she said.

Professor Grotowski said UQs School of Mathematics and Physics offers a large range of study and research opportunities at undergraduate, Honours, postgraduate coursework, and postgraduate research levels, including:

Learn more about program offerings and discover some recent physics graduates here.

UQ also has a long history of looking after its international student community, Professor Grotowski said.

Choosing to fly across the worldleaving your family, friends and familiar spaces to attend university in a different countryis not the easiest decision.

We understand these factors, and we work hard to make sure our students know they have made the right decision when they study with us.

UQ provides English assistance, help with finding accommodation, make friends and cope with learning.

The University also has international student advisors who can answer any questions or worries you may have.

Information about application procedures can be found at:future-students.uq.edu.au/apply.

More information about UQ for international students, including the study environment, links to estimated living costs, refund policies, support services, information for students with families, and your legal rights as an international student can be found at: future-students.uq.edu.au.

Follow UQ on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Flickr and LinkedIn

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A passion for Physics can find global applications at UQ - Asian Correspondent

Artificial intelligence can predict which congressional bills will pass – Science Magazine

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Artificial intelligence can predict the behavior of Congress.

schools/iStock Photo

By Matthew HutsonJun. 21, 2017 , 2:30 PM

The health care bill winding its way through the U.S. Senate is just one of thousands of pieces of legislation Congress will consider this year, most doomed to failure. Indeed, only about 4% of these bills become law. So which ones are worth paying attention to? A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm could help. Using just the text of a bill plus about a dozen other variables, it can determine the chance that a bill will become law with great precision.

Other algorithms have predicted whether a bill will survive a congressional committee, or whether the Senate or House of Representatives will vote to approve itall with varying degrees of success. But John Nay, a computer scientist and co-founder of Skopos Labs, a Nashville-based AI company focused on studying policymaking, wanted to take things one step further. He wanted to predict whether an introduced bill would make it all the way through both chambersand precisely what its chances were.

Nay started with data on the 103rd Congress (19931995) through the 113th Congress (20132015), downloaded from a legislation-tracking website call GovTrack. This included the full text of the bills, plus a set of variables, including the number of co-sponsors, the month the bill was introduced, and whether the sponsor was in the majority party of their chamber. Using data on Congresses 103 through 106, he trained machine-learning algorithmsprograms that find patterns on their ownto associate bills text and contextual variables with their outcomes. He then predicted how each bill would do in the 107th Congress. Then, he trained his algorithms on Congresses 103 through 107 to predict the 108th Congress, and so on.

Nays most complex machine-learning algorithm combined several parts. The first part analyzed the language in the bill. It interpreted the meaning of words by how they were embedded in surrounding words. For example, it might see the phrase obtain a loan for education and assume loan has something to do with obtain and education. A words meaning was then represented as a string of numbers describing its relation to other words. The algorithm combined these numbers to assign each sentence a meaning. Then, it found links between the meanings of sentences and the success of bills that contained them. Three other algorithms found connections between contextual data and bill success. Finally, an umbrella algorithm used the results from those four algorithms to predict what would happen.

Because bills fail 96% of the time, a simple always fail strategy would almost always be right. But rather than simply predict whether each bill would or would not pass, Nay wanted to assign each a specific probability. If a bill is worth $100 billionor could take months or years to pull togetheryou dont want to ignore its possibility of enactment just because its odds are below 50%. So he scored his method according to the percentages it assigned rather than the number of bills it predicted would succeed. By that measure, his program scored about 65% better than simply guessing that a bill wouldnt pass, Nay reported last month in PLOS ONE.

Nay also looked at which factors were most important in predicting a bills success. Sponsors in the majority and sponsors who served many terms were at an advantage (though each boosted the odds by 1% or less). In terms of language, words like impact and effects increased the chances for climate-related bills in the House, whereas global or warming spelled trouble. In bills related to health care, Medicaid and reinsurance reduced the likelihood of success in both chambers. In bills related to patents, software lowered the odds for bills introduced in the House, and computation had the same effect for Senate bills.

Nay says he is surprised that a bills text alone has predictive power. At first I viewed the process as just very partisan and not as connected to the underlying policy thats contained within the legislation, he says.

Nays use of language analysis is innovative and promising, says John Wilkerson, a political scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle. But he adds that without prior predictions relating certain words to successthe word impact, for examplethe project doesnt do much to illuminate how the minds of Congress members work. We dont really learn anything about process, or strategy, or politics.

But it still seems to be the best method out there. Nays way of looking at bill text is new, says Joshua Tauberer, a software developer at GovTrack with a background in linguistics who is based in Washington, D.C., and who had been using his own machine-learning algorithm to predict bill enactment since 2012. Last year, Nay learned of Tauberers predictions, and the two compared notes. Nays method made better predictions, and Tauberer ditched his own version for Nays.

So how did the new algorithm rank the many (failed) bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act? A simple, base-rate prediction would have put their chances at 4%. But for nearly all of them, Nays program put the odds even lower.

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Artificial intelligence can predict which congressional bills will pass - Science Magazine

Jack Ma: Artificial intelligence could set off WWIII, but ‘humans will win’ – CNBC

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Artificial intelligence could set off a third world war, but humans will win the battle, according to Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

"The first technology revolution caused World War I," Ma told CNBC in an interview that aired on Tuesday. "The second technology revolution caused World War II. This is the third technology revolution."

Workers and employers are increasingly defined by data unless governments show more willingness to make "hard choices."

Ma said humans will ultimately win the battle against an artificial intelligence takeover, however, as machines will never have the wisdom and experience that comes with being human.

"Wisdom is from the heart," Ma said. "The machine intelligence is by the brain [...] You can always make a machine to learn the knowledge. But it is difficult for machines to have a human heart."

The goal of artificial intelligence should be making machines that do things humans cannot do, rather than making them like humans, Ma said. While "we know the machine is powerful and stronger than us," humans will rise above the impending wave of data and artificial intelligence.

"Humans will win," Ma said. "In 30 years ... we'll see us surviving. "

CNBC's Anita Balakrishnan contributed to this report.

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Jack Ma: Artificial intelligence could set off WWIII, but 'humans will win' - CNBC

Tencent’s social network group president is betting on artificial intelligence – CNBC

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Artificial intelligence may still be in its nascent stage, but the technology has a bright future ahead as companies big and small continue to invest in it and develop their expertise, according to the a senior executive at Chinese tech giant Tencent.

In an interview with CNBC, Dowson Tong, executive vice president and social network group president at Tencent, said he was very bullish about A.I. and a big proponent of offering A.I. as a service.

"I am very optimistic (and) I am very bullish about the future of A.I. I think by having all these players, big and small, and each with their own expertise, we're going to see the whole industry prosper," Tong said.

Tong oversees business operation for Tencent's social networking platform QQ and Qzone, the music entertainment group and cloud computing.

A.I. encompasses a number of different technologies, including robotics and autonomous vehicles, machine learning and natural language processing, and deep learning. For example, Microsoft has a team of researchers in India that are working on ways to make a virtual assistants effectively bilingual.

Tong said beyond the recognizable tech names in China Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent there are opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses in China. Some such businesses are "very active, pushing the envelope of the technology (and) coming up with new services everyday as well."

Last month, Tencent opened a new A.I. lab in Seattle and appointed a former Microsoft scientist to oversee operations and drive the company's research on speech recognition and natural language processing.

Among other big names in China, Baidu already has an A.I. lab set up in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, Alibaba recently expanded its big data and A.I. cloud offerings in Europe the product handles huge amounts of data that lets organizations make real-time predictions. Uber rival Didi Chuxing in March announced an R&D center in Mountain View, California, to look into A.I. in security and intelligent driving technologies.

Experts agree that A.I. is set to unleash a new wave of digital disruption as adoption across various industries begins to pick up.

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Tencent's social network group president is betting on artificial intelligence - CNBC

Artificial Intelligence Gave Some Adoptable Guinea Pigs Very Good Names – Atlas Obscura

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Ill call you Spockers. Hayvan uzman/CC BY-SA 4.0

For better or worse, there is a long list of things that artificial intelligence is still unable to do. But we can finally scratch naming guinea pigs off of that list, because an animal shelter in Portland, Oregon recently proved that AI may produce the cutest names of all.

As The Mary Sue is reporting, the Portland Guinea Pig Rescue (PGPR) recently tasked a neural network with naming a group of the little fuzzballs. The organization contacted scientist Janelle Shane, who had worked with teaching neural networks in the past, asking her if she could purpose such computer thinking towards coming up with guinea pig names. As Shane outlined on her blog, she entered in over 600 existing guinea pig names, provided to her by the PGPR, and ran them through an open-source neural network. The new names that the computer produced were truly delightful.

Based on the input names, which were taken from a list of all the names of the guinea pigs the PGPR has ever given over for adoption, as well as some names taken from the internet, the crude AI dreamt up names like Hanger Dan, After Pie, Fuzzable, Stargoon, Stoomy Brown, Princess Pow, and Spockers. Many of the names were immediately given to some of the PGPRs rescues (which can be adopted here).

But it wasnt all perfect cuteness forever. Some of the less popular names produced from the experiment include, Pot, Fusty, Fleshy, Butty Brlomy, and Bho8otteeddeeceul.

The hope is that by giving the guinea pigs mathematically cuter names, they will have a higher chance of being adopted, and the PGPR is expected to continue using the algorithm to devise new names. We can only hope.

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Artificial Intelligence Gave Some Adoptable Guinea Pigs Very Good Names - Atlas Obscura

Artificial intelligence dolls and robots which cost over 100 are this year’s Christmas must-have toys – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Thisyear's Christmas must-have toys will be life-like dolls with artificial intelligence and a Lego robot which can be controlled from an iPad, according to Argos.

But the introduction of new "pimped up" versions of classic toys mean parents can expect to takean extra largehit to the wallet, as the toys are part of a growing number which cost over 100.

Argos said the new breed of 100 gift could spell the end of children expecting a full Santa sack as they would be hoping for one or two high value items instead.

It said the most popular choice among parents this year was a "blockbuster gift", with over half (54 per cent) planning on purchasing a "gasp out loud" present alongside a couple of stocking fillers.

The Luvabella doll, which retails at 99.99, has fluid movements and responses tobeing fed and cared for like a real baby. For example she laughs when her feet are ticked, and gets upset when her eyes arecovered for too long.

Also aimed at girls is a "Tiny Treasures Twin Set" doll for 79.99, which is available as a set of twins. One boy, one girl, the dolls are weighted like real newborns and have sleepy eyes, silky newborn hair, super-soft skin and its skin is made to smell like a real baby.

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Artificial intelligence dolls and robots which cost over 100 are this year's Christmas must-have toys - Telegraph.co.uk

GE mixing drones and artificial intelligence in Niskayuna – Albany Times Union

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: John Carl D'Annibale, Albany Times Union

Director of robotics at GE Global Research looks over his team's Euclid aerial inspection system autonomous drone Tuesday June 20, 2017 in Niskayuna, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

GE Global Research advanced robotics' Euclid aerial inspection system autonomous drone during a test flight Tuesday June 20, 2017 in Niskayuna, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Pilot in command Doug Forman monitors GE Global Research's Euclid aerial inspection system autonomous drone during a test flight Tuesday June 20, 2017 in Niskayuna, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Members of GE Global Research advanced robotics team pose with their Euclid aerial inspection system autonomous drone Tuesday June 20, 2017 in Niskayuna, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

GE mixing drones and artificial intelligence in Niskayuna

Niskayuna

In a picnic area at General Electric Co.'s Global Research Center, a group of scientists and engineers are working on a new industrial revolution that will involve robots, drones and artificial intelligence.

GE has been developing robot and artificial intelligence technologies for many years now.

But these researchers in Niskayuna are part of GE's latest effort to monetize that technology with the launch of Avitas Systems, a new GE-created company being incubated in Boston with help from scientists here in the Capital Region.

Avitas is creating technologies that will be artificial intelligence, or AI, combined with robots and predictive data analytics and software to provide high-tech inspection services to energy and transportation companies.

On Tuesday, a team supervised by John Lizzi, director of robotics at GE Global Research, and Judy Guzzo, a project leader, were performing drone testing on a simulated oil rig flare stack.

"Really the concept for the business and the technology came out of the Global Research Center here," Lizzi said. "We've been experimenting with drones and other types of robotics for a while. Eventually that gained momentum as a real business opportunity."

Currently, oil and gas companies use human workers hooked onto harnesses to inspect flare stacks for wear and damage. The inspections are dangerous and require the drilling companies to temporarily pause their operations, costing them valuable time away from drilling.

GE's drone technology being offered by Avitas eliminates all of that human work that is so costly and dangerous. And GE's software creates so-called digital twins of industrial equipment that can predict when the actual equipment will break down or need servicing.

The technology is currently being targeted for customers of GE's oil and gas business. Guzzo spent two months in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig a year ago testing sensor technology that is also used by Avitas.

"Unplanned asset downtime is a top issue for the oil and gas industry, and can cost operators millions of dollars," Kishore Sundararajan, the chief technology officer of GE Oil & Gas, said. "Avitas Systems will help enhance the efficiency of inspections, and can help our customers and others avoid significant costs by reducing downtime and increasing safety."

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GE mixing drones and artificial intelligence in Niskayuna - Albany Times Union

Less of the High Life as Aerospace Giants Cut Air Show Perks – New York Times

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

It has halved the 800-900 staff attending previous shows, officials said. Boeing also set limits on staff attendance.

Some delegates said Airbus was striking a more cautious image amid a sweeping ethics review.

"Everything is about compliance," said one insider.

For all but the top VIPs, the France-based company's traditional gourmet lunches are being replaced by finger food, and refreshments are mostly of the non-indulgent variety.

"We'll be gone by Tuesday," quipped one disgruntled executive at the start of the June 19-25 event.

Organisers said many companies had cut chalet space. That is partly because the number of exhibitors has risen, but it also reflects leaner times across the industry.

Exhibition halls were also noticeably less stocked with trade show promotional materials, delegates said.

It is not the first time air show hospitality has been placed on the back burner.

In 2010, champagne was banned from some facilities as U.S. arms firms cut back on anything that might suggest frills and perks to Pentagon planners and others weighing big defence cuts.

This year, defence spending is on the rise again and chalets of arms firms are humming with activity. But the civil side of the aerospace industry is hunkering down to produce planes as cheaply as possible after a multi-year order boom.

Although Boeing launched a new version of its 737 jet on Monday, overall commercial orders are expected to be down after planemakers filled their order books in previous shows.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Giulia Segreti, Victoria Bryan, Mike Stone; Editing by Mark Potter)

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Less of the High Life as Aerospace Giants Cut Air Show Perks - New York Times

After the Paris Air Show, Alabama team targets aerospace projects – Alabama NewsCenter

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield departed France this morning after two intensive days of appointments at the Paris Air Show,where they met with 18 top-level executives and discussed potential and ongoing projects that could bring hundreds of jobs to the state.

Altogether, Ivey and Canfield attended 22 appointments on Monday and Tuesday with executives from many of the biggest companies in the global aerospace and aviation industry. These included Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies Corp., Raytheon and Leonardo.

These discussions uncovered four potential new projects and touched on at least five existing projects being pursued by the Alabama Department of Commerce. Combined, these projects involve significant investment and between 1,600 and 1,900 anticipated jobs, the department projects.

After attending her first international air show, Ivey said she is greatly encouraged by the long-term growth prospects of the aviation, aerospace and technology industries in Alabama thanks in large part to the states workforce.

In the air show talks, Ivey said she heard aerospace industry leaders consistently express a high level of confidence in their Alabama workforces.

In many cases, these executives stated that the quality of their workers in Alabama contributed to these operations ranking among their best-performing operations in the world.

Alabamas future in aerospace is bright, Ivey said. Alabamas commitment to aligning education with workforce demands is paying tremendous dividends, leading to new investment opportunities that will impact our state for decades.

High-level activities

Canfield said the Alabama teams talks at the Paris Air Show often centered on high-level aerospace activities such as research and development and engineering, areas where the states universities and two-year schools can play an important role.

Representatives from Auburn University, the University of Alabamain Huntsville, the University of South Alabama and the Alabama Community College System participated in the air show mission.

This year, there were more substantive discussions regarding the potential for new investments in aerospace projects that would incorporate next-generation technology and R&D, confirming that Alabamas efforts to leverage our seven research universities and the community college system is being recognized by industry leaders, Canfield said.

At the air show, Ivey and Canfield were joined by economic development specialists and elected leaders from areas where aerospace and aviation are critical economic components. These groups arranged and conducted their own one-on-one meetings at the air show.

These representatives chiefly came from Huntsville, a prominent aerospace hub for space exploration and missile and rocket development; Mobile, home to Airbus only U.S. aircraft assembly plant and growing aviation cluster; and the Wiregrass, site of the U.S. Armys helicopter pilot training center at Fort Rucker.

Growth prospects

The Paris Air Show also featured a significant industrial announcement for Auburn.

Germanys Winkelmann Group,a 120-year-old family-owned firm, revealed plans for a high-tech metals-forming facility in the east Alabama city that will employ 50 people. The company is investing $12 million in the venture.

Winkelmanns decision to come to Alabama is significant because the companys high-precision metal-forming technology is very advanced and positions it for sustainable, long-term growth at the Auburn facility, Canfield said.

Since Winkelmann is a recognized leader in innovation and manufacturing, its choice of Auburn represents a powerful endorsement of the citys advantages for business.

Leadership role

Ivey said her meetings with business executives at the Paris Air Show indicate to her that the industry will continue to thrive in Alabama, which is home to around 400 aerospace and defense firms. Of the 22 meetings, 18 featured company CEOs or presidents, signifying the industrys high level of interest in the state.

Alabamas aerospace, aviation and technology sectors are poised to be international leaders well into the 21st century, she said.

The Paris Air Show and its relative, the Farnborough International Airshow, represent the most important aerospace industry trade events, with billions of dollars in business transactions being announced each year. Economic developers say having a presence at these events is critical to efforts to land aerospace jobs and investment.

The events trade show portion was expected to draw more than 2,000 exhibitors and official delegations frommore than90 countries. Alabama was among more than 20 states with exhibition booths in the U.S. Pavilion.

This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerces Made in Alabama website.

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After the Paris Air Show, Alabama team targets aerospace projects - Alabama NewsCenter

Gardner Aerospace Finalizes Sale to China’s SLMR – Aviation Week

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Gardner Aerospace technicians on the job.

Airbus supplier Gardner Aerospace has completed its sale to Ligeance Investments Ltd., a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Chinese firm Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources (SLMR), according to a company press release.

Gardner (Hall 2b, Booth E140) is Europes largest supplier of aerospace detailed parts and sub-assemblies, providing parts to key aerospace firms including Airbus, Spirit, GKN and Stelia Aerospace. The company employs more than 1,400 people worldwide and has 10 facilities in the UK, France, Poland and India.

With the long-term backing of our new owners, we will be able to accelerate our growth plans, construct operations in new locations and continue to offer our customers, such as Airbus, excellent quality production at competitive prices, said Nick Sanders, executive chairman, Gardner Aerospace.

The deal is worth more than 300 million (US$384 million), and gives Gardner access to the growing Chinese domestic market, according to the press release. SLMR started in 1993 as a mining business, but has recently diversified into the aerospace sector and now has a number of subsidiaries dedicated to engine and airframe work.

The acquisition of Gardner Aerospace will allow us to serve our customers better in China and the rest of the world for decades to come, said Zheng Zhang, chairman of SLMR.

With the management team at Gardner Aerospace, we intend to further consolidate the global aerospace supply chain through careful, strategic acquisitions.

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Gardner Aerospace Finalizes Sale to China's SLMR - Aviation Week

Command Change at Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre – CKWS

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

There was a change of command held at CFB Trenton today. It was for the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre. As Darryn Davis found out while the warfare centre is small in numbers it is the linchpin shaping the future of the R-C-A-F

Capability integration will be a key factor in the delivery of information age air power. As CFAWC needs to expand its portfolio further in order to be optimally postured to support the commander RCAF and his air staff. Thats the outgoing commander of the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre talking about the ongoing work that lies ahead for the centre and its incoming commander Colonel Shayne Elder. The Aerospace Warfare Centres role is ensuring the Royal Canadian Air Force is ready for the ever changing demands of today and the future. Were attempting to develop future air power strategies that might shape the institution forward, we cater for emerging threats around the world. The centre also oversees air power doctrine and provides education based off that analysis. The air force commander says this is a good time for the R.C.A.F. Its growing and moving in the right direction for the expectations placed on it. Well be expanding the size of our fighter force moving forward well be bringing on new capabilities so through a career of actually seeing reductions in the military this has been very very welcome. The commander of the air force says as they plan and prepare for the future he sees a growing role for the air force centre here in Trenton. Weve aligned all of our electronic warfare development and training through the warfare centre, were looking at operational test and evaluation as well. The Canadian Aerospace Warfare Centre also has a presence in Waterloo working on innovative ideas to maintain operational advantages on the battlefield. Darryn Davis CKWS news CFB Trenton.

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Command Change at Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre - CKWS

PPG Industries Launches Aerospace Sealant Injection Tool – June … – Zacks.com

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

PPG Industries (PPG - Free Report) launched an innovative high-pressure aerospace sealant injection tool Semco 1010 HP that addresses the unique application requirements of channel sealing aircraft wings for prevention of fuel leaks during flight.

The sealant application pressure being too high causes damage to the aircraft wing. The Semco 1010 HP dispensing tool has a pressure limiting mechanism to combat this issue.

Semco 1010 HP is the latest addition to the Semco high-pressure injection tool line, providing the users consideration advantages over earlier generations of dispensing tools.

The model works well with the highly viscous, noncuring sealant that is forced through grooves of aircraft wings. The tool is ATEX Class II certified and can be used in potentially volatile environments during maintenance applications. It is also salt fog resistant for highly corrosive theaters.

PPG Industries has outperformed the Zacks categorized Chemicals-Diversified industry over the past three months. The companys shares have moved up around 6.3% over this period, compared with roughly 4.5% gain recorded by the industry.

The company has a diversified business, both in terms of products offered and geographical presence. The companys strong presence in emerging regions has enabled it to deliver growth to shareholders by tapping opportunities there. PPG Industries is also taking initiatives to expand its business through acquisitions.

PPG Industries is also executing an aggressive cost cutting and restructuring strategy. The company has announced certain restructuring measures to lower its cost structure globally. Special emphasis will be put on regions and end-use markets with the weakest business. The restructuring actions are expected to deliver $120$130 million in annual savings, with $40$50 million of savings expected to be realized in 2017.

PPG Industries is, however, exposed to currency headwind, macroeconomic challenges and volatility in raw materials and energy costs. Some of its end-markets including marine still remain sluggish.

PPG Industries, Inc. Price and Consensus

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

PPG Industries currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked companies in the chemical space include BASF SE (BASFY - Free Report) , The Chemours Company (CC - Free Report) and Huntsman Corporation (HUN - Free Report) . All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

BASF has expected long-term growth of 8.9%.

Chemours has expected long-term growth of 15.5%.

Huntsman has expected long-term growth of 7%.

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PPG Industries Launches Aerospace Sealant Injection Tool - June ... - Zacks.com

As world gathers for Paris Air Show, report shows global aerospace, defense revenue growth slowing – Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

As world gathers for Paris Air Show, report shows global aerospace, defense revenue growth slowing
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
As the global aerospace world gathers in France for this week's Paris Air Show, a new report by consulting giant Deloitte confirms what some in the sector have known for months. After several aerospace boom years and despite all the hype and flashy air ...
Evan Weese Staff reporter Columbus Business FirstColumbus Business First

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As world gathers for Paris Air Show, report shows global aerospace, defense revenue growth slowing - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Three Considerations for Reducing Risk in Cloud Computing – CIOReview

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

Augustine Doe, VP, Enterprise Risk Management, Network Health

Organizations continue to migrate dataone of their key assetsto the cloud for a variety of reasons: optimizing capacity, providing 24/7, 365-day access to data, backing up essential information, and improving collaboration between users. While such increased reliance on the cloud speaks to the multiple benefits the cloud provides, it also is forcing organizations to confront the various risks cloud computing poses. This article summarizes three practical considerations for any organization looking to reduce risk in cloud computing.

Inbound to the cloud: Encrypted or secured data passage to the cloud always reduces the risk of third-parties being able to intercept the data. This is particularly important for data likely to be used by bad actors for nefarious purposes. Payment Card Information (PCI), Protected Health Insurance (PHI), Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and Non-card Financial, and Confidential are among the most desirable kinds of data to bad actors.

At rest in the cloud: Reviewing the fine print in each cloud agreement regarding the type of security provided by the cloud owner when data is at rest goes a long way to enhancing an organizations overall cyber posture. Most fee-free cloud storage agreements provide little of any data protection, so an organization needs to perform its due diligence on the type of protection provided by the cloud provider in each cloud agreement.

Encrypted or secured data passage to the cloud always reduces the risk of third-parties being able to intercept the data

For instance, depending on the type of data and the location where it will be stored, the level of data security would need to comply with a specific minimum level as required by state, federal, and international laws. The organization should know what level of security their data must have to be compliant with any applicable laws.

Outbound data to users: An organizations data protection efforts come to naught if data leaving the cloud destined for users do not receive appropriate protection. As part of the organizations practices for managing third parties (e.g., vendors, reporting agencies, regulators, joint venture partners, franchisees, etc.), users of data should be constantly reviewed for sound data security practices, such as Service Organization Controls (SOC 1 and 2). Also, the organization needs to stay on top of its access, security, and change management protocols and controls and constantly educate employees and third parties about the importance of sharing each type of data through the appropriate medium.

Data containing PCI appears to be the data most desired by bad actors. According to Verizons 2016 Data Breach Report, 27 percent of 53,100 PCI records (using the median value of records for each type of data observed) experienced breach incidents compared to 11 percent of 1,000 PHI records; 48 percent of 761 PII records; and percent of 55 Non-card Financial records. Because PCI data is most desired, its movement in and out of the cloud should be afforded a higher level of protection, e.g., encryption, as part of any organizations overall data security management.

Bad actors are constantly exploring potential weak links to find easy ways to penetrate an organizations data value chain. The cloud should not be considered a shield nor does it by default make data more secure. Data on its way to the cloud, at rest in the cloud, and leaving the cloud should continue to be managed by the organizations appropriate security, change, and access management protocols and controls in real time. To assist organizations in performing real-time management, a variety of security firms provide year-round, 24/7 enforcement of security, change, and access management protocols and controls.

Cloud computing has become a staple of many organizations operations and several factors suggest both volume and demand will increase. First, the amount of data that organizations must analyze to make sound business decisions continues to grow and therefore organizations need to optimize capacity both to store and analyze data. Second, the ongoing maturation of the service sector in the U.S. economy means businesses need 24/7 access to data to remain competitive. Third, as bad actors become more and more sophisticated, organizations need to stay extra vigilant not only in protecting data but in having an avenue to recover data and to remediate in the event of corrupted data. Data backup is an excellent fallback position to deploy in the event of corrupted data. Finally, the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of business continues to push organizations to collaborate more with each other and the cloud provides a great avenue for this collaboration.

The optimal approach to managing risk in cloud computing is for an organization to clearly understand the security afforded its entire data value chain, the types of data that are most susceptible to loss or misuse, and for the organization to continue to enforce security, change, and access management protocols and controls in real time. Only when these steps are taken can an organization feel that it has a robust front for managing and protecting one of its most critical assets.

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Three Considerations for Reducing Risk in Cloud Computing - CIOReview

Dow and 1QBit Announce Collaboration Agreement on Quantum Computing – Business Wire (press release)

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Danzig

MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and 1QB Information Technologies (1QBit)announced today a collaboration agreement to develop quantum computing tools for the chemicals and materials science technology spaces. By combining Dows unique innovation capabilities with 1QBits leading expertise in the development of applications for quantum computing, the two companies will accelerate the deployment of quantum computing across a range of applications relevant to the chemical sector.

Our preliminary work with 1QBit has been very encouraging, said A.N. Sreeram, senior vice president, R&D, and chief technology officer for Dow. Together with 1QBit, we have achieved proof of concept for the application of quantum computing in areas relevant to Dow. With this new, multi-year agreement, we intend to develop a robust capability in the quantum computing space, further advancing our world-class innovation capabilities and maximizing shareholder return.

The collaboration will augment Dows discovery process by building strong fundamental understanding of new chemicals and materials.The combination of next-generation computational methodologies with experimental design will drive new acceleration of product and process development.

We are pleased to be working with Dow on leading-edge quantum computing software development for the material sciences, said Andrew Fursman, chief executive officer for 1QBit. Dow brings a powerful science machine and global market access in the chemical and materials sectors. We have been very impressed with the quality of the opportunity uncovered in the initial phases of this collaboration.

The mission of 1QBit is to apply breakthroughs in computation to machine intelligence and optimization science through a widely accessible, hardware-agnostic software platform. Over the last four years, 1QBit has developed new methods for machine learning, sampling, and optimization based on reformulating problems to meet the unique requirements of interfacing with quantum computers and leveraging their capabilities.

We continue to push technology to the next level, said Keith Watson, vice president, Core R&D, for Dow. This collaboration will allow Dow to bring forward breakthrough innovations that solve complex problems and serve our markets."

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Dow

Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from material, polymer, chemical and biological science to help address many of the world's most challenging problems, such as the need for fresh food, safer and more sustainable transportation, clean water, energy efficiency, more durable infrastructure, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven portfolio delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in 175 countries and in high-growth sectors such as packaging, infrastructure, transportation, consumer care, electronics, and agriculture. In 2016, Dow had annual sales of $48 billion and employed approximately 56,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 7,000 product families are manufactured at 189 sites in 34 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at http://www.dow.com.

About 1QBit

1QBit is dedicated to building quantum and quantum-inspired software to solve the worlds most demanding computational challenges. The companys hardware-agnostic platforms and services enable the development of applications which scale alongside the advances in both classical and quantum computers. 1QBit partners with Fortune 500 clients and leading hardware providers to redefine intractable industry problems in the areas of optimization, simulation, and machine learning. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, 1QBits interdisciplinary team of 50 comprises mathematicians, physicists, chemists, software developers, and quantum computing experts who develop novel solutions to problems, from research through to commercial application development. For more information about 1QBit, visit: 1qbit.com.

TM Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) or an affiliated company of Dow

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Dow and 1QBit Announce Collaboration Agreement on Quantum Computing - Business Wire (press release)

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