Daily Archives: June 9, 2017

London family who built a Greek island getaway:unspoilt Meganissi has undiscovered coves and holiday homes for … – Homes and Property

Posted: June 9, 2017 at 1:34 pm

Unless you are a sailor youve probably never heard of Meganissi. It is one of the Ionian Islands in western Greece but at less than nine square miles it is overshadowed by its much larger sister islands Corfu and Lefkas.

Getting to Meganissi from London involves an easyJet flight from Gatwick to Preveza airport on the mainland, a 20-minute drive over a sea-crossing bridge to Lefkas and then 20 minutes by sea taxi. Travellers pass the private island of Skorpios, once owned by Aristotle Onassis, before arriving on green Meganissi with its coves, beaches and whitewashed villages.

Its a journey that Oscar Tymon knows well. In 2005 he and his wife Sue, both former City workers, bought a 10-acre plot on Meganissi and two years later started building a home there. Door to door it takes eight hours from our house in Bromley, says Oscar. Or five hours from when the plane leaves London.

Regular trips: Oscar and Sue Tymon of Bromley, with children Abby, Alexis, Eve and Charlie, holiday for up to seven weeks a year in the villa the couple built on Meganissi

SAIL TO SECRET COVES

By early 2009 the project was complete. Oscar, Sue and their four children, Abby, Alexis, Eve and Charlie, now aged 16 to 27, have loved their Greek holiday home ever since.

Meganissi is wonderful for boating with safe waters and good wind, says Oscar. The sailing community know it as a place with untouched coves and bays. We have a boat and love to explore Ithaca, Kefalonia or Lefkas where even in summer theres always somewhere to moor for a waterfront lunch.

Paradise: Oscar and Sue Tymons villa, Akrothea, has a large infinity pool overlooking the Med

Peaceful and private, Meganissi is unspoilt with a year-round population of 1,500. Theres a supermarket, a few boutiques, butchers and patisseries, several tavernas and hotels and one nightclub.

It is like the land that time forgot, laughs Sue, an award-winning garden designer. All the necessary infrastructure is there, it just doesnt always look like it is. And you cannot overestimate the friendliness of the locals.

Their house, Akrothea, has five double bedrooms and a large infinity pool overlooking the Med. The family visit for six or seven weeks a year and otherwise rent it through The Thinking Traveller for 3,966 to 10,163 a week.

3,966-10,163 a week: Oscar and Sue Tymons villa, Akrothea, sleeps 10

An acre building plot on Meganissi would cost 128,000 to 170,000, and on Corfu it would be 215,000 to 256,000. New-build three-bedroom villas on Meganissi start at 280,000 through Rokka Villas. On Corfu, Sphere Estates has a four-bedroom detached east coast villa with pool for 467,000.

HOW TO RENT OUT YOUR HOLIDAY HOME

Since 2013 British couple Oscar and Sue Tymon have rented out their villa on Meganissi through The Thinking Traveller, a London-based company with 200 exclusive properties on its books, founded and run by Huw and Rossella Beaugi.

Mining gems in the Med: Huw and Rossella Beaugi run London-based villa rental firm The Thinking Traveller

Half the companys properties are in Sicily and a further 45 are elsewhere in Italy, but they also cover the Ionian Islands, with seven villas on Meganissi.

Their best villas rent for an impressive 30 weeks-plus each year with an average weekly rent of 6,000.

Says Huw: The Holy Grail for villa renters is a pool, a sandy beach and an easy walk to local restaurants. Combine that with peace, views and top-quality furnishings, and you have the perfect villa.

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Filmmakers Examine Links Among Cornish Colony’s Idealists – Valley News

Posted: at 1:34 pm

Filming begins in and around Cornish next month for a documentary about the colony of visual and performing artists, the writers and the pioneering conservationists who orbited around Gilded Age sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens late in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Norwich filmmaker Nora Jacobson will direct that weeklong shoot of Land and Legacy of an Art Colony, a project that Etna author and retired musician Fern Meyers said this week she has been mulling over for years.

For most of those years, Meyers has been occupied with, among other tasks, writing three books about the Cornish Colony, overseeing the production of three CDs of music by colony composers, teaching Osher at Dartmouth courses about the colony and directing the summer music series at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site. That left her little time to think about how to structure such a project, never mind raise the money and arrange the logistics.

Then last fall, after her final season directing the music series, Meyers recalled, she started thinking with more focus about the interconnections among the artists, such as painter Maxfield Parrish, musicians such as composer Arthur Farwell and conservationists such as Benton MacKaye, the forester who developed the idea of the Appalachian Trail running from Georgia to Maine.

They were idealists, Meyers said. They were progressive thinkers. And they were activists. Given the challenges were facing now in many spheres, especially the challenges facing the environment things like declining songbird populations Im quite concerned at this moment.

This is my way of trying to show why the history of the colony is relevant to today.

The idea of exploring that history intrigues Jacobson, even as she juggles a variety of other projects, including fine-tuning and promotion of her new feature, The Hanji Box.

I had done some shooting for The Vermont Movie, for the story about black Vermonters who fought in the Civil War, Jacobson wrote during an exchange of emails on Thursday. Several had traveled from Huntington, Vt., to join the 54th regiment, which Saint-Gaudens had portrayed in the famous Shaw Memorial. Beyond my acquaintance with the historic site, I am very interested in intentional communities in the case of the Cornish Colony not so intentional because it happened quite organically of artists who come together to work, think, play, talk, live, because they are inspired by each other and seek companionship with one another.

To tell that story, Jacobson and her crew will follow three descendants of Cornish colonists around the historic site and its environs. Veteran actor Jonathan Farwell, whose father, Arthur, was among the leading lights of the day, will lead that delegation.

Rather than a lot of interviews with talking heads, Meyers said, its going to be more of a discovery tour.

During the shoot, Meyers added, Upper Valley residents will be welcome to fill walk-in roles in a re-enactment of a pageant that Saint-Gaudens hosted at Aspet, his home above the Connecticut River, now the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.

In addition to the 52-minute documentary, which is designed for broadcast on Vermont and New Hampshire public television, Jacobson will shoot a 12-minute version for visitors to the historic site.

To cover the $140,000 that she expects the project to cost, Meyers estimates that so far shes raised not quite half, including a $25,000 grant from the Byrne Foundation.

Its a daunting task, but Ive had some experience, not only with the music series, but getting a couple of orchestras started. Its worth the effort.

Filming of Land and Legacy of an Art Colony begins in Cornish on July 18. Donations toward its production can be made by check, made out to Meriden Bird Club and mailed to Fern Meyers, 62 King Road, Etna, N.H. 03750. To learn more, including opportunities for walk-on roles in the documentary, email fmsilverwood@gmail.com.

In the category of but-wait-theres-more, go see Norman at the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre this weekend.

Quite aside from the sheer novelty of seeing longtime leading man Richard Gere take on a subtle character role, youll spend two absorbing hours watching a stellar supporting cast orbit around Geres title character, a New York-based fixer struggling to juggle multiple complicated projects and demanding constituencies. In addition to the familiar faces of Steve Buscemi, Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen in key roles, keep an eye out for Charlotte Gainsbourg as a sharp prosecutor and Israeli heartthrob Lior Ashkenazi as a rising politician.

Screenings are scheduled for 7:30 tonight, Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night. Admission is $7 for members of Pentangle Arts, $8 to $9 for others.

Worried about the health of the Earth and its inhabitants? Tuesday night you can choose from two documentaries on the subject, both in South Royalton.

At 6:30, Building a Local Economy (BALE) and Vermont Interfaith Power and Light co-host a sneak preview of From the Ashes at the BALE Commons. The movie, focusing on the impact of the coal industry on the economy, public health and the climate, comes amid the renewed debate over the viability and sustainability of the fossil fuel industry. Admission is free.

Meanwhile, Vermont Law Schools class on ocean and coastal law will show and discuss Sonic Sea, which looks at the correlation between man-made noise in the oceans and unusual behavior of whales. The movie starts at 7, after which a panel of experts that includes oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau will discuss the issues. Admission is free.

The Library Arts Center in Newport continues its series of films from or inspired by the 1960s on Thursday night with a free screening of the 1967 adaptation of Neil Simons romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. The lights go down at 7, and popcorn is available. Upcoming screenings include The Parent Trap (the one starring Hayley Mills as the twins) on June 30, Dirty Dancing on July 27 and 101 Dalmations on July 21. To learn more, visit libraryartscenter.org.

Next up in its series of classic movies at free admission, Pentangle Arts screens Robert Altmans M*A*S*H on Thursday night at 7:30. Still to come are American Graffiti on July 6, All That Jazz on July 13, Ferris Buellers Day Off on Aug. 3 and Mamma Mia! (with permission to sing along!) on Aug. 10.

David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.

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NASA unveils new class of 12 astronauts – Spaceflight Now

Posted: at 1:33 pm

The 2017 NASA astronaut candidates. Front row, from left: Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Jonny Kim, Raji Chari and Loral O Hara. Back row, from left: Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Robb Kulin, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins.Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

NASA has picked 12 engineers, scientists and pilots to begin basic training for future spaceflight assignments from more than 18,300 applicants, adding U.S. military combat veterans, two medical doctors, a submarine officer, an MIT professor, an expert on submersibles, a SpaceX launch engineer, a field biologistand a planetary geologist to the agencys astronaut ranks.

Vice President Mike Pence, lawmakers and political dignitaries welcomed the 12 astronaut candidates Wednesday at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The new cadre of astronaut candidates are part of NASAs largest astronaut class since 2000, and they will begin two years of training in August before becoming full-feldged members of the astronaut corps and eligible for flight assignments.

These are 12 men and women whose personal excellence and whose personal courage will carry our nation to even greater heights of discovery and who I know will inspire our children and our grandchildren every bit as much as your forebears have done so in this storied American program, Pence said.

Pence reiterated the White Houses plans to reestablish the National Space Council, a multi-agency panel that waslast active during President George H.W. Bushs administration. Pence will chair the council, which will include representatives from civilian and military agencies, the private sector and academia.

America needs a National Space Council once again, Pence said. Twice before in our nations history, our nation has had a federal body charged with advising the president on national policy and strategy for space.

Pence did not offer specifics of the White Houses vision for NASA, but President Trumps fiscal year 2018 budget request proposes a $19.1 billion budget for the space agency next year, a $561 million reduction from NASAs current-year spending.

The budget request calls for a $170 million cut in Earth science spending, the elimination of five Earth science missions, the shuttering of NASAs education office, and the cancellation of a planned mission to retrieve a boulder-sized piece of an asteroid and return it to the vicinity of the moon for astronaut visits.

NASAs Space Launch System and Orion capsule, designed for deep space human exploration, would receive a multibillion-dollar budget, and the robotic Mars 2020 rover and Europa Clipper probe are kept on track in the White House proposal. A Europa lander would be terminated.

We will continue to unlock the mysteries of space, but to do so, we most reorient our civilian space program toward deep space exploration and provide the capabilites for America to maintain a constant presence in low Earth orbit and beyond, Pence said.

NASA released biographies of the 12 new astronaut candidates, who applied for the space program after NASA posted astronaut job openings in December 2015.

Here are brief overviews of the 12 new astronaut candidates provided by NASA:

As American astronauts, you may yet return our nation to the moon, you may be the first to travel to Mars, (and) you may have experiences that we can only imagine, Pence said.

NASA culled the 12 finalists from more than 18,000 applicants, a record level of interest in the astronaut job opportunities that bested the number of applications for the space agencys 1978 astronaut class, the first to include women and minorities.

Getting down from 18,000 to some manageable number was a feat in and of itself, said astronaut Chris Cassidy, deputy chair of the astronaut selection board. We physically interviewed 120 people here in Houston obviously these 12 were a part of that and thats when it really gets hard.

The would-be space explorers are a diverse group, hailing from different personal backgrounds and boasting a range of professional experiences.

Five of the astronaut candidates hold doctorate degrees, and seven are current or former military officers.

Jonny Kim, a former Navy SEAL and currently an emergency physician, said NASA told the incoming astronauts they would likely initially train to fly on commercial SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsules to the International Space Station.

Asked if he would ride on a CST-100 Starliner crew craft owned and operated by Boeing, a SpaceX rival, SpaceX engineer Robb Kulin said yes.

Ill ride on whatever spacecraft I can go on, said Kulin, who helped design parts of SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket and most recently led SpaceXs launch chief engineering office. Im pretty confident in the processes, as a whole, to get us there safely.

Two of the astronaut candidates have experience in NASAs robotic exploration programs. Watkins, a former college rugby player, worked on NASAs Curiosity Mars rover and other missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Chari was an intern at two NASA centers as a student at the Air Force Academy, assigned to teams developing the Spitzer Space Telescope and a Mars sample return mission.

I think one (area) that was a bigger focus in this selection was skills that are appropriate for longer-tern spaceflight, so stays on the ISS that are six months or longer, or possible deeper space exploration missions, said OHara, a subsea systems engineer.We have a little more of a remote and extreme environment skillset than maybe previous classes did.

Bob Hines, the oldest of the group, said he attended Space Camp as a child, which fanned the flame and grew his interest in spaceflight. But his lifelong passion has been aviation, and he only became interested in the astronaut corps recently as a pilot based at Johnson Space Center.

Matthew Dominick was deployed on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific Ocean when he learned of his selection to become an astronaut.

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At Exponential Finance, the Singularity University Explores Visionary Applications of Blockchains – Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Posted: at 1:32 pm

The Exponential Finance Summit at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, hosted by the Singularity University and started on June 7, is ending today. You might be still in time to catch the live stream. Otherwise, stay tuned for our coverage of the most interesting points.

Exponential Finance will help attendees navigate the rapid pace of change taking place in the financial sector due to exponential technologies, said Will Weisman, Executive Director for Summits at SU. Well share tools that will help participants stay at the forefront and understand where to invest, how to protect their assets, and what it will take to remain competitive and successful in this new economy.

Co-founded in 2008 by Ray Kurzweil, now Googles director of engineering, and Peter Diamandis, founder and CEO of the XPrize, the Singularity University (SU) is a unique educational and business community focused on exponential technologies able to tackle the worlds biggest challenges.

Exponentially accelerating technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), advanced biotech, quantum computing, and robotics, described for example in the works of SU co-founder Ray Kurzweil, promise to bring faster and faster change to all industries. The SU runs educational programs, conferences, incubators, and labs, to help accelerating corporate and social innovation.

Of course, blockchain technology is a perfect example of exponential acceleration in financial technology (fintech). In 2015 and 2016, blockchain fintech was prominently featured at Exponential Finance. This year as well, the conference program is packed with blockchain-related topics, and starts with a pre-summit technology bootcamp on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Other interesting blockchain-related talks include The Boom Of ICOs & Token Offerings Has Blockchain Tech Unlocked A Pandoras Box For Venture Capitals Disruption, by DLT Education president Robert Schwentker, Blockchain, by BitNation partner Toni Lane Casserly, Blockchain in Insurance, by Deloitte principal Eric Piscini and The Institutes CEO Pete Miller, and Taking Blockchain To Production An Ongoing Perspective, by Nuco CEO Matt Spoke.

Blockchain fintech is accelerating exponentially indeed. But it can be argued that financial applications, directly related to digital money and transactions, represent only the tip of the blockchain iceberg, and the most interesting future applications could be those that leverage the power of distributed ledgers in other industries such as AI, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and self-driving cars.

To have a contract with someone, you need to trust them, and you need to have an enforcement mechanism, noted Amin Toufani, Vice President of Strategic Relations and Director of strategy at SU. Blockchain technology is showing us a path to where you can bypass both. Enforcement is automatic and your can trust you counterparty. What if your car offered some bitcoins to the car in front of you? And if and when the cars clear the lane the contract is settled? Enforcement is automatic, you do not need to trust the cars in front of you.

To me, the potential to play a critical role in visionary developments with a potential to make the world a better place is the main appeal of blockchain technology.

Toufanis opening talk, titled Exonomics, explored unifying themes among disruptive trends in business strategy, financial markets, cryptocurrencies, economic policy, and risk management. Stay tuned for our continued coverage next week.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

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Ashes of the Singularity gets a new fully-voiced campaign – PCGamesN

Posted: at 1:32 pm

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Along with new Juggernaut-class ships and various balance adjustments, Ashes of the Singularitys latest update adds a new campaign for dedicated space generals. Named 'Genesis', this new single-player content is fully voiced and free for all owners of Ashes of the Singularity.

Armchair generals should check out our list of the PCs best RTS games.

Genesis features six new missions and continues the Ashes story, as the Substrate and the PHC battle for galactic control. It is the most challenging campaign to date, according to Stardock, with it featuring the new Juggernaut ships. Both factions receive their own Juggernaut, with them providing the huge firepower needed to turn a match around. As they are the most powerful unit in the game, Ashes players will not see Juggernauts in quick matches, due to the large cost of building these massive battle-cruisers. Juggernauts also level indefinitely, with them gaining a 5% bonus to damage and health for every level past level five.

The PHCs Juggernaut is the Leonidas, which comes equipped with a massive beam cannon that can tear through enemy Dreadnoughts. The Substrates Juggernaut is focused on overwhelming the opponent by spawning a constant stream of frigates to harass the enemy, and repair its hull.

Stardock have also gone back and rebalanced much of the old Ashes campaigns to make them more fun to play. Maps have been adjusted to make more sense and expert commanders should find the AI is a lot more challenging on the higher difficulty levels.

Stardock have also added five new maps to Ashes skirmish and multiplayer mode, alongside various quality-of-life improvements to make interstellar warfare that bit more enjoyable. For the full list of bug fixes, balance changes and gameplay additions, check out the official Ashes of the Singularity website.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is available on Steam for $39.99/29.99.

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A traffic alert in Ascension Parish that will force you off I-10 – WBRZ

Posted: at 1:29 pm

SORRENTO - I-10 eastbound will be closed at Airline Highway this weekend, so crews can replace an overpass that's been out of use since 2015.

Starting tonight at 9, eastbound traffic on 1-10 will be detoured to Airline Hwy in Sorrento, then up LA 641 to get back on I-10. The interstate will re-open Monday at 5am.

The ramp being repaired is Airline Highway to I-10 westbound. It was damaged back in 2015 when a contractor that was moving large machinery, hit the ramp.

Dr. Shawn Wilson, DOTD secretary, says the same company that broke the ramp, is fixing it, and paying for it.

"It does happen where contractors are involved in accidents just like regular travelers are, in this case they did the right thing, and said look... we want to fix it for you, and we'll absorb the cost like were gonna have to pay for anyway," he said.

This same detour happened back in March, so crews could remove the ramp, and fix it, just to the side of the interstate.

"Putting it back is probably a little more complex than taking it out, because you have to make things work and you have to put it back together again to ensure its safe for users to travel under it," said Wilson.

I-10 will reopen Monday morning, but the ramp won't be ready just yet, it will take another month for finishing touches on the ramp.

Dr. Shawn Wilson says they will improve the pavement, since it hasn't been driven on for some time and "travel actually keeps the road alive."

The state says the company that's fixing the ramp brought tremendous innovation, and they'll continue to use that site for things like emergency debris pile up.

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Using AI to unlock human potential – EJ Insight

Posted: at 1:29 pm

The artificial intelligence (AI) wave has spread to Hong Kong. Hang Seng Bank plans to introduce Chatbot, with natural language processing and mechanical learning ability, to provide customers with credit card offers and banking services information; while Bank of China (Hong Kong) is studying robot technology that can help improve handling of customer queries.

BOCHK also plans to create a shared big brain to provide customers with personal services. The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, meanwhile, is reported to be planning to incorporate topics on AI, robotics consultants and big data analysis methods in its 2019 membership qualification examination, so as to meet future market needs.

AI has a broad meaning. From a technical perspective, it includes: deep learning (learning from a large pool of data to assimilate human intelligence, such as AlphaGo in the chess world), robotics (responsible for pre-determined extremely cautious or dangerous tasks, e.g. surgery, dismantling bombs, surveying damaged nuclear power plants, etc.), digital personal assistants (such as Apples Siri, Facebooks M), and querying (finding information from a huge database speedily and accurately).

However, how does AI progress? In The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence, the author points out that there are three stages of development in Al:

Basic Artificial Narrow Intelligence or Weak AI, i.e. AI specializes in a certain scope. AlphaGo can beat the worlds invincible hand in chess, but I am afraid its unable to guide you to the nearby restaurants or to book a hotel room for you. The same logic applies to bomb disposal robot and the AI which identifies cancer cells within seconds.

Advance Artificial General Intelligence or Strong AI, i.e. the computer thinks and operates like a human being. How does human think? I have just read a column from a connoisseur. There are many factors affecting us in choosing a catering place, like our mood, type and taste of food, price, time, etc. The determined factors are not the same every time. See, it is really complicated. This is so called Turing Test. Alan Turing, a British scientist who was born over 100 years ago, said: If a computer makes you believe that it is human, it is artificial intelligence.

Super Advance Artificial Superintelligence. Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, has been thinking about Als relationship with mankind for years, he defines superintelligence as an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills.

Although we are still in the stage of Artificial Narrow Intelligence, AI application is already very extensive. By combining with big data, it is applied in various areas like financial (wealth management, fraud detection), medical (diagnosis, drug development), media and advertising (face recognition advertising, tailor-made services), retail (Amazon.com), law (speed-finding information), education (virtual teacher), manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and so on.

MarketsandMarkets, a research company, estimated that Als market value would reach US$16 billion (about HK$124 billion) by 2022, with an average compound annual growth rate of more than 60 percent.

However, relative to the Mainland, this estimate is very conservative according to Jiang Guangzhi, a key member of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology. Counting Beijing alone, Al and related industries have now exceeded 150 billion yuan (about HK$170 billion).

In any case, Al definitely holds a key position in the field of science and technology, and it has substantial potential. However, I have just read a report in which a top international AI expert and a HKUST professor complained that the government and private sector were too passive in scientific research in Hong Kong, resulting in a brain drain.

Experts helped Huawei, a Chinese telecom and technology giant, set up a laboratory in Hong Kong, but they said they found it difficult to recruit even 50 people in the city with the required skills.

This is really alarming. Hong Kong has world-class teachers to attract the elite to study here.

However, if we do not strive to create an environment for talents to pursuit their careers here, I am afraid we will keep experiencing talent flight.

Recently, the Financial Development Board published two research reports that deal with issues related to development and application of financial technology in Hong Kong. I hope the government and society will work together and speed up efforts to bring out the potential of Hong Kong in AI.

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China to provide more opportunities to private companies for space exploration – Space Daily

Posted: at 1:29 pm

China will offer more opportunities for private companies to participate in lunar and Mars exploration, a space exploration official said.

Tian Yulong, secretary general of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said that commercial aerospace programs had been carried out in low Earth orbit (LEO), but those in deep space exploration would be a challenge, at the Global Space Exploration Conference, which lasts from Tuesday to Thursday.

"In deep space exploration, we need to provide a favorable environment for middle and small-sized enterprises," he said.

At present, space exploration is mostly invested and operated by government bodies and institutions. Encouraging private investment in space exploration has long been a challenge for countries worldwide.

Tian said many Chinese companies showed enthusiasm for taking part in space exploration. In the last two years, more than 10 enterprises have been engaged in microsatellite research and development and about 100 have worked on the development and use of satellite LEO data.

There are more than 20 companies that have been listed based on the business possibilities of aerospace technology, he said, adding that space exploration technology, such as communication and human intelligence, could be widely used.

"The CNSA is working on enabling enterprises to become the main force of technical innovation by creating favorable laws and policies," Tian said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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The Benefits of Including Floor Vibration Control for Nano-Tech Facilities over Designing ‘Quiet’ Buildings – AZoNano

Posted: at 1:28 pm

Interview conducted by Mychealla RiceJun 9 2017

In this interview Steve Ryan, Divisional Vice President from Technical Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) talks to AZoNano about the importance of adding vibration control to Nano-Tech Facilities. In the past, buildings that have been designed to be extremely quiet still suffer from vibration when the building is populated with equipment and people.

The adverse effect of vibration typically manifests itself in decreased resolution of the instrument. Electron Microscopes have resolution ranging from tens of nanometers to sub-nanometer.

Atomic Force Microscopes and Scanning Tunneling Microscopes have resolutions to sub-Angstrom levels. Floor vibration often prevents such tools from meeting their design specifications.

The concept may be summarized as Quiet Buildings or Quiet Islands? Architects can design buildings to meet moderate floor vibration levels without too much difficulty. However designing buildings to meet the extremely low vibration levels required for nanotech research facilities requires exponentially more cost with diminishing returns.

Diminishing returns because even to the extent that the building floors are quiet, as soon as the building is populated with people and machinery, vibration sources are placed in the quiet structure negating much of the benefit of the quiet building design.

Figure 1: Quiet Island being utilised in a Nano-Tech Facility

Rather than trying to achieve a quiet building, it is much more efficient to place quiet islands at the discrete locations where precision instruments, experiments, and research will be conducted.

A Quiet Island is a rigid, damped platform matching the footprint of the instrument supported by an active, piezoelectric vibration cancellation system.

The Quiet Island replaces a section of the raised access floor with an isolated foundation, mounted to the sub-floor and actively cancelling sub-floor vibration from reaching the instrument.

As requirements for quiet buildings become increasingly demanding, it becomes exponentially difficult and expensive to achieve the goal; placing the instrument on a site that meets the instruments floor vibration spec. Using inertial active control techniques lends itself to achieving a very quiet surface but only over a limited size.

There is a direct analogy to this approach of Quiet Islands vs. Quiet Buildings. As semiconductor node sizes rapidly decreased, cleanliness requirements for semiconductor fab cleanrooms became much more stringent.

Eventually it became virtually impossible to have people in cleanrooms without contamination and failure to meet cleanliness specs.

The solution was to create SMIF and FOUP mini-environments to house in-process silicon wafers. Rather than making a cleanroom the industry turned to and adopted clean islands.

The Quiet Island approach is to start with low frequency inertial vibration sensors in three axes arranged to sense floor vibration at the point-of-use.

The measured signals are conditioned, amplified and fed through an advanced controller to drive high capacity piezoelectric actuators and filter the floor motion from reaching the isolated surface of the Quiet Island.

As the floor moves up, the piezos contract. As it moves down, the piezos expand. This is done in all three axes to achieve six degrees-of-freedom over a bandwidth of 0.6 to 150 Hz.

This technology has been rapidly and increasingly adopted in advanced semiconductor factories. As chip-makers race to keep up with Moores Law (chip density doubles every two years) they must design ever finer IC geometries.

Such finer geometries are correspondingly more difficult to pattern and inspect.

Now, scientists at nanotechnology research centers and advanced electron microscope and imaging centers require the same solution.

Figure 2: The Stacis III

Physically, Quiet Islands are easily designed to fit beneath sensitive tools and the sub-floor. The capacity and size is simply designed to match the tool. To determine the acceptable floor vibration levels, the specifications for the most sensitive tools must be compiled.

Adjusting for the vibration transfer function of the Quiet Island, architects can design floors to meet a less stringent spec corresponding to the improved transfer function provided by the Quiet Island.

Successful installations number in the thousands. Too many to name hwoever a few include NIH (National Institutes for Health), Texas Instruments, University of Maryland BioMET, Rice University BioScience Research Collaborative, and Jagiellonian Unviversity Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Center (Krakow, Poland).

Floor vibration is a key, inherent limitation to imaging and patterning at the sub-nanometer scale. As scientists and engineers go to ever smaller scales, TMCs vibration control solutions ensure that the adverse effects of floor vibration can be mitigated.

Please check out our website at http://www.techmfg.com. Or contact one of our Sales Engineers at 978 532 6330 or [emailprotected]

Steve Ryan is the Divisional Vice President with overall responsibility for TMC, an AMETEK business. He holds a B.S. in Physics from Bates College and has over 30 years of experience in building floor vibration control and vibration control of nuclear reactors and steam & electric plants in Trident and Seawolf submarines. A patented inventor with other patents pending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

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The Benefits of Including Floor Vibration Control for Nano-Tech Facilities over Designing 'Quiet' Buildings - AZoNano

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Hackers threaten CD Projekt Red with stolen Cyberpunk 2077 …

Posted: at 1:24 pm

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Why it matters to you

If you're looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and want to dissuade this sort of action in the future, if and when the documents are released, don't look at them.

CD Projekt Red (CPR), the developer of The Witcher series and founder of GOG.com, has shrugged off blackmail attempts by hackers who claim to have stolen documents relating to its still-in-development gameCyberpunk 2077. The nefarious individuals have demanded a ransom, which CPR is refusing to pay, according to USGamer.

Inspired by the pen-and-paper RPG with a similar name, Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game being developed at CPR. While it has been in production for some time, much of it is still shrouded in secrecy. No doubt the person or people behind this hack are banking on the developer wanting it to stay that way. CPR, however, is not playing ball and has gotten ahead of the problem by announcing the blackmail publicly.

It released a statement on Twitter highlighting that the ransom demand had been made, but stated categorically that it would not be paying it.While those behind the attack have threatened to release the internal documents if that is the case, CPR claims that they are not representative of the final game.

Due to thedevelopers stance on the matter, there is a possibility the documents will see the light of day. If that turns out to be the case, CPR urges anyone interested in playing Cyberpunk 2077to not view the documents, lest it spoil portions of the game for them.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially, CPR said in its statement.

Cyberpunk 2077 has no specific release date yet, though a funding application to the Polish government suggested a potential 2019 debut. When it does arrive, however, it will support Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

More recently, CPR has been focusing on the launch of its digital card game, Gwent, which could provide real competition for giants of the industry, like BlizzardsHearthstone.

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Hackers threaten CD Projekt Red with stolen Cyberpunk 2077 ...

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