Daily Archives: June 19, 2017

MIT President L. Rafael Reif today attended a technology conference convened by the White House Office of American Innovation. The meeting included leading corporate CEOs and other technology leaders, brought together to advise the White House on how technology and data can be used to improve government operations and on how best to anticipate future technologies and their implications for the government and society.

The participants broke into small groups to discuss issues and then met with U.S. President Trump at the end of the day.

Reif attended two of the small group discussions one titled Analytics/Dashboard, focused on how to use data and metrics to improve government services, personnel and technology; and one titled Future Trends, on how government can anticipate, integrate, and facilitate the development of emerging technologies, especially in fields such as machine learning and the internet of things (IoT).

As U.S. government leaders seek to use innovative technology to better serve the American people, its vital to make sure that they receive expert advice, both about the best ways to use these technologies to serve the public, and about how to anticipate and address the complex implications of their use, Reif says. As an institution with a mission of national service, and as a pioneer in many of the technologies under discussion at the White House from machine learning and AI to robotics and IoT MIT has an important role to play at the center of this conversation.

In support of MIT's mission, President Reif has spoken in recent months, through letters to the MIT community and published opinion pieces, on the importance of continuing to attract global talent to the United States, sustaining federal financial support for advanced scientific research, and continuing global cooperation on climate change.

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MIT President Reif attends White House technology meeting - MIT News

XAutoplay: On | Off The stock market traded strongly higher early Monday as technology stocks led the advance. The Nasdaq jumped 1.1%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Among the Dow industrials,Apple (AAPL) looked to put an end to its recent declines. The iPhone maker has declined six of the past seven trading sessions. Shares rose over 2%.

Other leaders in early trading includeBoeing (BA), JPMorgan (JPM), DuPont (DD)and Goldman Sachs (GS).All four rose over1%. Airplane maker Boeing added to its recent advance after announcing it had more than 240 orders worth about $30 billion for its new 737 Max 10 jet.

The main laggard in early trading was Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), falling nearly 1%. Shares of the discount retailer plummeted almost 5% on Friday, sinking below the 50-day moving average, after Amazon.com (AMZN) announced it was purchasing Whole Foods Market (WFM).

Within the S&P 500, Micron Technology (MU) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) set the pace, advancing about 4% each. Leading chip stocks Broadcom (AVGO) and Applied Materials (AMAT) rose about 2.5% apiece.

On the downside, EQT (EQT) fell 8% after the oil and gas exploration company announced it was acquiring Rice Energy (RICE) for $6.7 billion. Meanwhile, Costco (COST)fell 1.5% after being downgraded to hold by Deutsche Bank.

Clovis Oncology (CLVS) surged 43% after reporting positive trial results for its ovarian cancer drug Rubraca.

Leading stocks surged higher in thestock market today.Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (JD) advanced over 5%, while rival Alibaba (BABA) rose 3.5%.Meanwhile, all four FANG members rose between1.5% and 2%.

Action in the IBD 50was extremely positive as only one component traded in the red early Monday: Control4 (CTRL)declined 0.1%. On the upside, TAL Education (TAL) jumped 5%, Grubhub (GRUB) rose 4.4%, and YY (YY) traded up 3.5%.

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Criminals and illegal immigrants who get booked into jail along the southwest border will soon have one less way to hide their identity. Their eyes will be photographed with the Inmate Recognition and Identification System (IRIS). The device takes a picture of their iris, which according to police, is more accurate than a fingerprint.

El Paso became the first jurisdiction both in Texas and along the southwest border to receive the technology Friday. Sean Mullin, CEO of BI2 Technologies, who creates IRIS said it will be in every jurisdiction in the Southwest Border Sheriffs Association by the end of the year. That makes up 31 jurisdictions between Brownsville, Texas and San Diego.

Cameron County on the southeast tip of Texas will receive IRIS in the next two weeks and Val Verde County will get on board soon after, according to Larry Guerra, Executive Director for the Texas and South West Border Sheriffs Coalition.

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According to multiple law enforcement officials, IRIS could have an impact on the fight against illegal crossings. Illegal immigrants, like other criminals, often use aliases to disguise their true identity and prevent law enforcement from learning theyve already been captured.

The El Paso County Jail brings in a little over 30 thousand inmates a year, 16 percent of which are inmates held for the Border Patrol and ICE according to El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles.

With this technology youll be able to identify the individual under whatever name he wants to use at the time. Whether its immigration or any type of violation, said Guerra. Its not uncommon for somebody to use a different name.

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Theyll try to avoid detection with different fraudulently obtained identification and different identities. This system stops that in its tracks, said Mullin.

He added in the last year, over 14,000 inmates who were scanned in one jurisdiction, were arrested again in another jurisdiction and identified using their iris.

The fingerprint process can take up to four hours to check local, state and federal databases. It takes less than 20 seconds for IRIS to get a match, according to Wiles. In addition, fingerprints can come back with multiple potential matches, IRIS comes back with one.

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The IRIS system was first built about ten years ago and scanned its one millionth eyeball last week.

The jail scanner is set up with a computer. The process starts as an inmate walks up to the camera, looks in a small mirror and the device takes a picture of the eyes. Then it searches the national database. If the inmate has been scanned before, it displays their information, if not, the information can be added.

In addition to the jail scanner, there is also a mobile application that can be connected to a smartphone. This allows officers to search for a suspect and their aliases while remotely connected to a database. The device can also take fingerprints, iris and facial pictures.

While the iris is more accurate than a fingerprint, it will not replace a fingerprint according to Mullin. Unlike fingerprints, criminals do not leave an iris print at the scene of a crime, so it has little forensic value.

Wiles said although the IRIS could be cheaper and quicker, there will likely always be a need for fingerprints.

We would still have to maintain the fingerprints, but I dont think we would have to go to those for an identification.

Ray Bogan is a Fox News multimedia reporter based in El Paso, Texas. Follow him on twitter: @RayBogan

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Southwest border cities to use IRIS scanning technology to identify inmates, illegal immigrants - Fox News

June 19, 2017 The LiDAR system for the MERLIN mission incorporates all components from the pump laser to the frequency conversion in a particularly compact design suitable for space operation. Credit: Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen

Heatwaves in the Arctic, longer periods of vegetation in Europe, severe floods in West Africa starting in 2021, scientists want to explore the emissions of the greenhouse gas methane with the German-French satellite MERLIN. This is made possible by a new robust laser system of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen, which achieves unprecedented measurement accuracy.

Methane is primarily the result of the decomposition of organic matter. The gas has a 25 times greater warming potential than carbon dioxide, but is not as common in the earth's atmosphere so far. For some years now, the methane concentration has been increasing. In order to get to the root causes, it is important to measure where and how much methane is released into the earth's atmosphere.

However, it is not possible to measure the emission values at high resolution using conventional measurement technology. Currently, satellite-based systems use sunlight to detect methane. Therefore, it is only possible to measure greenhouse gases on the side of the earth facing the sun and when the skies are free of clouds. The absorption of light enables an assessment to be made on the molecules present in the air.

Methane can be measured anywhere and anytime

"Our laser-based measurement system does not need sunlight, so you can use it to measure anytime and anywhere", says Dr. Jens Lhring, who has been co-developing the new laser technology at the Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen. "The aim of this mission is to provide climate scientists with accurate global data on methane distributions that can be used to feed their climate models. This makes it possible to better predict climate change".

Scientists at Fraunhofer ILT are therefore developing a laser that can send very precise single-frequency light pulses to the earth. This method also uses light absorption to measure if and in which concentration methane is present in comparison to methane measurements using sunlight, this is more precise. The laser pulse can be precisely adjusted to the absorption line of methane at a predetermined wavelength. "Each gas has its spectral fingerprint. Depending on its specific wavelength, it absorbs particularly well or bad. It is important that other gases do not have an absorption line at this wavelength so that the measurement is not falsified", Lhring explains. The new laser is an essential component of the LiDAR system (Light detection and ranging) on board of MERLIN.

Maintenance-free laser despite heavy use

In order for the laser to function smoothly and maintenance-free during its three-year long space mission, it must be able to withstand shocks and vibrations as well as extreme temperature variations between minus 30 and plus 50 degrees Celsius. "We have developed optomechanical components for the laser, such as mirror and lens holders and so on, that meet these requirements and maintain their very precise settings".

Another challenge is to keep the air clean in the housing around the laser. "Adhesives can contaminate the air, and tiny particles can break free and deposit themselves on the mirrors and destroy the optical components. For this reason the laser has been entirely soldered and screwed. This is a completely new technology that makes the system even more robust and, therefore, also interesting for numerous applications in industry and production engineering", says Lhring.

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(Phys.org) University of Adelaide researchers are developing a new type of laser system that will monitor methane, the main component of natural gas, levels across large areas. This will provide a useful tool for monitoring ...

A NASA scientist who has played a key role developing and demonstrating a new technique for gathering around-the-clock global carbon-dioxide (CO2) measurements is applying the same general principles to develop a new laser ...

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Every chemical substance absorbs a very individual fraction of infrared light. Like a human fingerprint, this absorption can be used with optical methods for identifying substances. Such methods are used in the chemical industry, ...

A revolutionary new type of laser developed by the University of Adelaide is promising major advances in remote sensing of greenhouse gases.

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Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a breakthrough in electrolyte chemistry that enables lithium batteries to run at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius with excellent performancein ...

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Tracking methane with robust laser technology - Phys.Org