Space economy to boom in China

The successful launch of the Shenzhou Ⅸ spacecraft indicates China's economic infrastructure and technology have made great progress and the country is ready to explore aerospace economy, reported Economic Information Daily on Monday.

The aerospace economy boasts unusually wide industry range, containing almost every industry from energy, steel, new materials, electronics, machinery, and communications to space clothing and space food, which involve the textiles, garment processing, agricultural products and food processing industries.

The achievements resulting from space technology development can be widely applied to other sectors of the economy, and thereby trigger innovation in these sectors, the report said.

According to a report by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, 80 percent of the more than 1,000 types of new material developed in China in recent years benefited from space technology, and nearly 2,000 kinds of space technology have been adopted in various sectors of the national economy.

Canada must address productivity, provide financial aid to students: OECD

By Shakeeb Muhammad

University of Waterloo, Canada

In order to maintain a high level of employment Canada needs to develop many sectors of economy. 

The Paris-based OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development) expects the Canadian economy to grow 2.25 per cent this year and 2.5 per cent in 2013 and gave Canada high marks for navigating through the tough global economy of the past few years in its annual country review. But the longer-term outlook isn't good unless it addresses the productivity. 

OECD highlighted the vulnerability of Canadians to a collapse in real estate prices. However, household debt levels appear manageable so far.While per capita incomes are growing, productivity has stagnated for decades, and has actually declined since 2002.

The last year's federal task force report on research and development policies showed that  Canadian businesses spend proportionately less on R&D than their peers in most other developed countries at 1 per cent of GDP. That compares to 2 per cent in the U.S. and 2.5 per cent in Japan, South Korea and most of the Scandinavian countries.

The report also says the government should open up "network industries," such as mobile phones and broadband, to more foreign competition and reduce barriers preventing licensed professionals from moving between provinces.

The OECD said Canada needs to improve the performance of universities by providing more financial aid to students in need, attracting more foreign students, and better distinguishing universities that focus on research from teaching schools.

School survey angers parents

One parent called it “government psychological profiling.”
The Scarborough mom, who did not wish to be identified, said that on June 11 her 12-year-old daughter returned home from Guildwood Junior Public School with a 124-question survey.

The survey included assertions to which students were asked to strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or stay neutral.

“One example is one of the questions ‘I’m worried about my future’ and I said, ‘My daughter wasn’t but she is now,’” she said. “She asked me ‘Should I be worried about my future?’”

Another question asks “I like who I am, and I am special to others.”

For a child who perhaps can’t answer with “I strongly agree,” it’s a tough spot to be put in, said the mom.

The survey was issued to 126 schools this year as part of the Model Schools for Inner Cities program. Administrators call it a resiliency survey, used to see, for instance, if children are satisfied with after-school activities in their area.

“We will change our procedures in terms of sending a letter home and asking parents if they wish to take part or not part — that will be up to them,” said Toronto District School Board official Manon Gardner.

The resiliency survey has been given to schools throughout Canada since 2000. Gardner said the point of the program is to identify children living in poverty, “who had needs in terms of nutrition, social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing.”

For the past two years, around 40 Toronto schools received the survey under the program. This year was the first time all 126 schools participated.

The trouble is, the parents had no clue about it.

“The biggest thing was there was nothing sent home,” complained another mother, Christina Doucette.

Employed as a social worker, she found the survey was similar to a detailed psychological assessment.

Some parents, reportedly, retrieved the form with their child’s name printed on it.

“It should be confidential,” Doucette insisted. “It shouldn’t have your name on it.”

Gardner offered assurances the survey is confidential.

“We only talk about the aggregate results,” she said. “We don’t drill it down to individual students.”

At least four parents said their children indicated their teacher allegedly informed them they would fail the class if they didn’t fill out the survey.

“My daughter and her friend both said that the teacher had said if they didn’t fill it out, they wouldn’t pass Grade 5,” Doucette said. “Which is totally inappropriate in itself.”

Upon hearing the allegation, Gardner was surprised.

“I can certainly investigate that, I wasn’t aware of that,” she said. “If the students don’t complete it, then we move on — that’s all it is.”

BY MARYAM SHAH ,TORONTO SUN

World’s most expensive skincare cream

Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido Co. will release the world's most expensive skincare cream costing 1,050,000 yen (approx. $13,260) for the single 50 gram (1.76 ounces) jar. This is roughly $265 per gram, more expensive than the price of gold, which is currently valued at $52 per gram. 

"La Creme" will be released on 21st September when Shiseido Co. will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its beauty product line “Cle de Peau Beaute”. 

The company says only three jars of the most luxurious skincare cream will be sold and if more than three orders are received, they will hold a raffle drawing to pick the lucky purchasers.

Each jar is hand-made and contains 30 layers of crystals and three platinum rungs. It is being jointly produced by Japan’s largest cosmetics company and world-recognized French glass-maker Crystal Saint-Louis.

Mercury Mickey Mouse snapped by NASA orbiter

NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory/ Carnegie Institution of Washington

Three craters resembling the head of an iconic Disney character have been photographed by NASA’s Mercury orbital spacecraft Messenger.
The small rocky planet nearest to the sun is dotted with numerous craters. The ones resembling Mickey Mouse are located in the southern part of Mercury, to the northwest of the recently named crater Magritte.

Mickey’s “face” formed by the larger crater is approximately 105 kilometers in diameter. It also actually sits to the north of the two smaller ones, so the head would appear to be upside-down if put on a map.
The photo is part of the collection of almost 89,000 images taken by Messenger over the year-long preliminary mission of the spacecraft.

Space is rich in scenes that bear strong resemblance to earthly realities. Arguably the most famous is the Galle crater on Mars, which looks like a happy smiley face.

Another Martian feature in the Cydonia region has been subject of much speculation, because in a photo taken by the Viking 1 orbiter it appeared to resemble a cyclopean human face looking upwards. Later imagery showed that the “face on mars” was merely an optical illusion.

"Happy Face" Crater Greets MGS at the Start of the Mapping (NASA / JPL / MSSS)

Martian face viking (NASA / JPL)

(rt.com)

Google reports 'alarming' rise in government censorship requests

Governments not widely blamed for censorship are increasingly asking Google to remove political content from its services, the company said as it released its bi-annual transparency report.

The IT giant has been publishing data on how and why they have been asked by copyright holders and governmental agencies to remove user content since 2010. On Monday it released a new chunk of info on governments’ requests made from July to December 2011.

“This is the fifth data set that we’ve released. And just like every other time before, we’ve been asked to take down political speech. It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect – Western democracies not typically associated with censorship,” Google Senior Policy Analyst Dorothy Chou said in the company’s blog.

In the last half of 2011, U.S. agencies asked Google to remove 6,192 individual pieces of content from its search results, blog posts or archives of online videos, according to the report. That's up 718% compared with the 757 such items that U.S. agencies asked Google to remove in the six months prior.

The total number of governmental requests Google received jumped by 103 per cent over the six months, the company said. It complied with an average of 65 per cent of court orders, as opposed to 47 per cent of less formal requests.

Headline June 19th, 2012 / Ocean Floor: The New Frontier

"Ocean Floor: The New Frontier"

Meanwhile, the U.S. treads a fine line, determined to have it both ways. J Bellinger State Deparment's chief counsel, in 2007, summed up American desires, '' The other misconception is that signing UNCLOS would a vast giveaway of American Soverignty to the U.N. 

The Commission on the limits of the Continental Shelf is not a U.N. agency, and ratifying the treaty would, in fact, would give the U.S. its biggest increase in territory since the Louisiana Purchase. Three sonic-probing missions by the Coast Guard Cutter Healy have determined that America's Arctic Shelf could potentially be the size of three California's, and could extend 600 miles further out than the 200 mile limit. 

But our extended shelf needs international blessing, because no bank will be willing to put money into oil drilling ventures in such legally murky waters.'' So, the US claims 200 miles of its Shelf by 'customary law' citing UNCLOS, which it hasn't ratified- but it won't acknowledge Canada's claim that its North west passage is an internal waterway, even though it threads through thousands of islands in the Canadian Arctic. 

The American position is that it's an International strait, which is defined as a waterway that connects high seas or E.E.Z's. At stake is the right of 'transit passage.' 'Foreign submarines are permitted to remain submerged in a strait, but they have to come to he surface in an internal waterway, and there are a hundred straits in the world, so the Department of Defense regards the guarantee of free passage to naval and commercial vessels as the crown jewel of the Law of the Sea Convention,' contends Bellinger. 

''In 200 we inherited 100 or so treaties that had not been ratified from the Clinton Administration.'' 

And the truth is that, basically, the U.S. doesn't ratify anything that cramps its style. Haha! It battled the Kyoto Protocal, which Russia has, but then Russia doesn't recognize the human contribution to global warming. The problem with UNCLOS was that the deep seabed part, Part XI, was flawed. 

The landlocked countries, feeling left out of the original treaty, had eked out an income distribution and mandatory tech transfer clause. If the big countries can go out and mine in the deep seabed, they should transfer the technology to the less developed countries and share the profits with landlocked ones. President Reagan refused to sign the treaty because he thought this section was too socialistic. Haha! 

So dear readers, stay adventurous for the next post and never miss it. And thanks to !WOW! and your ever growing support from the world over'. 

Good Night And God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice Of The Voiceless

China launches first woman, first manned docking mission

A Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft carrying a space veteran and two rookies, including China's first female "taikonaut," rocketed into orbit Saturday on a mission to dock with a prototype space station module, an incremental but critical step on the road to building a Mir-class space station later this decade.

Broadcast live on Chinese television, the Long March-2F rocket carrying the three-seat Shenzhou 9 spacecraft roared to life on time and quickly climbed away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China at 6:37 p.m. local time (GMT+8; 6:37 a.m. EDT), arcing to the east through a cloudless blue sky.

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, perched atop a Long March-2F rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China Saturday evening.

The mission commander is 46-year-old Jing Haipeng, veteran of China's third and most recent manned mission, in 2008, and the first Chinese astronaut to make a return trip to space. His crew mates are both making their first flight: Liu Wang, 43, and Liu Yang, 33, the first female Chinese astronaut. She is an air force major in the People's Liberation Army with 1,680 hours of flying time.

Live television from the spacecraft during the climb to space showed Jing, strapped into the capsule's center seat, with Liu Wang seated to his right and Liu Yang to his left. All three appeared relaxed and in good spirits as they monitored cockpit displays, occasionally waving at the camera.

"I am grateful to the motherland and the people," Liu Yang told reporters during a preflight news conference. "I feel honored to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of female Chinese citizens."

Along with achieving the technical goals of the mission, "I want to experience the fantastic environment in space and appreciate the beauty of Earth and our homeland," she said in a report from the Xinhua news agency. "I will live up to your expectations and work with my teammates to complete this space mission."

Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program, said Liu Yang's selection "will play well domestically. They're always quoting that Mao said women hold up half of heaven. So this is a big nod to half of 1.3 billion people. It plays well domestically and internationally."

Liu Yang, a 33-year-old Chinese air force major, is the first woman from China to be launched into space. She is seen here during training.

The goal of China's fourth manned space mission is to carry out the first manned rendezvous and docking with the orbiting Tiangong 1 module, a prototype of the much larger laboratory components that will be assembled into an operational space station by the end of the decade, a program approved by China's leadership in 1992.

Following a deliberate, step-by-step approach to that long-term goal, China became the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, to launch a manned spacecraft, in October 2003, when Yang Liwei blasted off aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. Shenzhou 6, carrying two crew members, was successfully launched in October 2005 and Shenzhou 7, carrying a three-man crew -- including Jing Haipeng -- flew in September 2008.

The Tiangong 1 -- "Heavenly Palace" -- research module was launched Sept. 29, 2011, to serve as a target for unmanned and then manned docking missions. One month after Tiangong 1 reached orbit, China launched the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, which carried out an automated rendezvous and televised docking with the research module two days later.

"Currently, China is still experimenting with docking technology, which is critical to its ability to transfer people and material from the ground to a long-term outpost in space," wrote Gregory Kulacki in a background paper distributed by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Docking requires careful and accurate control of the space capsule to allow it to rendezvous with and attach itself to a port on the station. Experience with docking will also allow China to gain valuable information and experience needed for the design and construction of the space station, which will be assembled from a series of large modules joined together with a similar docking mechanism."

The Shenzhou 9 mission "is designed to test the ability to conduct a piloted docking between a Shenzhou capsule occupied by three Chinese astronauts and the same Tiangong 1 experimental space laboratory," Kulacki wrote. "If all goes well there are plans for a third docking mission between a piloted Shenzhou spacecraft and the Tiangong 1 laboratory in 2013."

The solar-powered Tiangong 1 measures 34 feet long, 11 feet wide, and weighs about 8.5 tons. It features a pressurized experiment module where visiting crews can live and work and a "resource module" housing electrical power, propulsion, and life support systems.

The space station the Chinese hope to build later this decade will consist of four or more modules linked together with a total mass between 60 and 80 tons.

For comparison, the International Space Station operated by the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada, and Japan, is the size of a football field, weighs more than 450 tons and has a multimodule pressurized volume comparable to a 747 jumbo jet. It has been staffed with rotating crews of up to six astronauts and cosmonauts for the past 12 years.


Source: cnet

Microsoft to unveil tablet with Barnes & Noble?

Microsoft's mysterious media event scheduled for tomorrow has generated a lot of speculation about what the software giant has up its sleeve, with many bets being placed on a new tablet to challenge Apple's iPad.

Now we are hearing that while the tech titan is indeed expected to unveil a tablet, the new product is being developed in conjunction with Barnes & Noble and will focus on entertainment, according to a TechCrunch report. Another source says Xbox streaming is also on tap for the tablet.

If true, the report suggests that a new Microsoft tablet would be aimed at Amazon's Kindle Fire rather than Apple's slate. While Amazon's tablet is popular in the e-reading sector, its modified version of the Android operating system tends to make it less optimum for Web surfing than its focus of e-reading magazines and books, listening to music, and streaming video through Amazon Prime. Additionally, the two booksellers have for years been locked in a bitter battle for content and customers.

Not long after the media invitations to tomorrow's event in Los Angeles surfaced, speculation swirled that Microsoft was getting ready to unveil a tablet running either Windows 8 or Windows RT. The Wrap went so far as to report that the new device would be a "Microsoft-manufactured tablet" that would "put the company in direct competition with giant rival Apple."

The two companies announced a partnership in April in which Microsoft invested $300 million into a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary that would focus on Barnes & Noble's Nook digital and college businesses. In exchange, Barnes & Noble agreed to load its Nook digital bookstore with Windows 8, the software giant's next-generation operating system that launches later this year.

Source: cnet

1,000-pound robot wine rack ready to terrorize the tipsy

One man posts a mammoth robot wine rack on Craigslist and electrifies the imagination of the Internet.

Decepticons and Autobots of the universe, check out this unique Transformers-style wine storage device fit for Megatron himself.

Clifford Wong, a 33-year-old lighting salesperson based in Arizona, put up an advertisement last week on Craigslist for a 6-foot-tall wine rack styled like a herculean man-slaying robot. The massive $7,000 device securely holds 32 bottles of wine, weighs 1,000 pounds, and features an array of mock armaments.

"This will make you the talk of your wine club, home owners association, or alcoholics anonymous support group," Wong says.

An assortment of LED lights adorn the legs, top shoulder gun, and other areas of the beastly creation.

Gearheads may already be able to spot the various "used transmission parts from automobiles and motorcycles" within the gunmetal gray cyborg. "There are even parts on the statue that are stamped with the 'Ford' logo," according to the description.

Wong also puts to rest any fear of pollutants leaking from the Chinese-made robot in the humorous Craigslist ad: "This stunning piece of artwork has been dipped into a solution to neutralize and remove any oil, grime, or chemicals to ensure there are no corrosive chemicals left."

The robot features a truly menacing visage that seems perfect for scaring young children and/or entertaining geeky houseguests. In addition, it doubles as one surefire way to test the resolve of any potential significant other.




Source: cnet

Research team finds knowledge of fractions and long division predicts long-term math success

From factory workers to Wall Street bankers, a reasonable proficiency in math is a crucial requirement for most well-paying jobs in a modern economy. Yet, over the past 30 years, mathematics achievement of U.S. high school students has remained stagnant -- and significantly behind many other countries, including China, Japan, Finland, the Netherlands and Canada. A research team led by Carnegie Mellon University's Robert Siegler has identified a major source of the gap -- U. S. students' inadequate knowledge of fractions and division. Although fractions and division are taught in elementary school, even many college students have poor knowledge of them. The research team found that fifth graders' understanding of fractions and division predicted high school students' knowledge of algebra and overall math achievement, even after statistically controlling for parents' education and income and for the children's own age, gender, I.Q., reading comprehension, working memory, and knowledge of whole number addition, subtraction and multiplication. Published in Psychological Science, the findings demonstrate an immediate need to improve teaching and learning of fractions and division.


"We suspected that early knowledge in these areas was absolutely crucial to later learning of more advanced mathematics, but did not have any evidence until now," said Siegler, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Carnegie Mellon. "The clear message is that we need to improve instruction in long division and fractions, which will require helping teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts that underlie these mathematical operations. At present, many teachers lack this understanding. Because mastery of fractions, ratios and proportions is necessary in a high percentage of contemporary occupations, we need to start making these improvements now."


For the study, the team examined two nationally representative data sets, one from the U.S. and one from the United Kingdom. The U.S. set included 599 children who were tested in 1997 as 10-12 year-olds and again in 2002 as 15-17-year-olds. The set from the U.K. included 3,677 children who were tested in 1980 as 10-year-olds and in 1986 as 16-year-olds. The importance of fractions and division for long-term mathematics learning was evident in both data sets, despite the data being collected in two different countries almost 20 years apart.


Source:http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/06/15/research.team.finds.knowledge.fractions.and.long.division.predicts.long.term.math.success

Using social media to boost student employability

This article was written by Gill Swan and appeared on 'The Guardian' , on June 18th,2012

Social media is changing the parameters of how people and organisations interact and operate. Students need to know how to use it not just for jobs, but also to shape their online presence and convey the skills they have with ease. The demand for employees to be digitally literate in business environments is rising. So it is crucial that teaching methodologies evolve and adapt to provide students with digital and social media skills.

In my experience, engaging students in using social media is rare within architectural studies, partly due to the nature and format of the subject. But if utilised appropriately, Twitter can be used to tap into a wealthy resource of professionals online, without demanding too much of their valuable time. This month UCLan developed a social media initiative, 'Twitter critters', in which our BSc architectural technology students could engage with prospective employers by tweeting sketches of their work under the hashtags #twittercritter or #practicereviews. During the event, a number of industry experts from freelance architects to multi-disciplinary institutions, participated and gave students feedback and advice on their final year degree show. Students reported how the exercise was invaluable in providing them with feedback and ideas on new ways of presenting their work as well as confidence in talking to industry professionals as equals. The event proved so popular that it began on the Friday continued over the weekend into a bank holiday Monday.

We're not the only subject area at UCLan looking to harness the power of social media. For example, human geography undergraduates are using Tumblr to develop an interactive blog, collating impressions of different urban geographies of Preston. They are also linked to Twitter feeds, giving heritage and conservation groups a viable online presence.

Higher education professionals interested in such an approach should be clear on how to plan to use the channel. Making students familiar with the channel you intend to use is imperative. It is very easy to assume that students are already digitally literate and familiar, but they are often only familiar with it as a social tool, and not professionally.

Developing social media guidelines which outline appropriate language, themes and topics under discussion is important, to set the parameters and groundwork prior to the discussion. The nature of these events mean they will be streaming live, so there really is little room for any oversights.

Raising, establishing and maintaining an engaged professional account is equally important. It simply will not work for students registering an account a week prior to applying for jobs within their chosen profession. I always advise students to treat their account as a dynamic 'plug-in' to their CV. To aid students in this we have developed courses at UCLan, "Brand You" and "On-line Reputation Management" to guide them in to how to navigate around these channels which are used by employers in the recruitment process.

Higher education institutions have a responsibility to equip and guide their students with the qualifications and skills to thrive in the digital world. Using social media professionally could boost employabilitychances in this tough economic climate.

Academic publishing: The essential checklist for ebook authors

This article was written by 'Sophie Tergeist' who is a Guardian Professional and appeared on "The Guardian" on Thursday 14 June 2012

As one of the commissioning editors at an online publishing house specialised in e-textbooks, I have been at the coalface of this new form of dialogue between students and academics and it has been fascinating to see how technology is transforming learning. A large part of the work that students now do is on computers. Universities have established e-learning platforms, online lecture notes and libraries available in virtual learning environments. It seems like the only tangible learning tools left are textbooks, and while these are still an inherent part of the learning process, in the internet age, academic tomes are reliable but not easy to update.

This is where the ebook differs and makes it an attractive form of publishing. But some of the academic authors I work with, from engineering to business, are often torn at first between digital updatability and the perceived quality of a printed textbook. In a survey of our authors, Derek P Atherton, emeritus professor in engineering and design at the University of Sussex shared his fear that ebooks "may not have the prestige of a hard copy publication".

If ebooks are to sit along side traditional textbooks as vital learning resources, it is important to ensure they are of high quality - and to do so without compromising on digital progress. Below I've compiled some tips and best practice - for publishers and authors alike - that I have observed in my role.

Topic choice

Many academics who publish ebooks have noticed a gap offered by the textbooks in their field. As a result, they choose to fill that gap by writing an ebook which is often shorter than a traditional textbook but which is makes an important contribution to knowledge. This point is reiterated by Richard Franklin, director, Abramis Academic Publishing who explains that "cutting edge" work published online often bypasses the need for the author to have an established online presence. Original or new work published as a short ebook can also help stimulate interest in the author's author work.

Multimedia

Another great way to make your book stand out is through movement and sound. Dr Chris Tisdell, a mathematician at the University of New South Wales, for example, published an ebook which includes YouTube clips where video is used to provide explanations of equations. I personally enjoy podcasts and could imagine a lecturer commenting on his/her book while the reader is going through it (of course, you should be able to turn it on and off, like with a museum guide). These elements would make the ebook memorable.

Editing and peer review

In our survey, Derek Atherton also expressed his concerns that ebooks "may not have gone through the reviewing process of some publishers". It is true that printed textbooks have quality insurance through editing as standard but it is up to ebook publishers to compete with them. One way to do this is through peer review, using colleagues within the author's department or faculty, or through one of several emerging websites on which authors can share their work for review.

Updatability and interactivity

After the ebook has undergone peer review, it is ready to go online. The speed of transformation from concept to published material creates a dialogue between authors and their students sooner than with printed books. We ask our authors to update their ebooks every two years, at the latest. The ability to frequently revise an ebook means it quickly loses obsolete content or gains fresh content, and has a life of its own throughout the academic year and beyond.

What this encourages is listening: the ongoing success of an online publication depends on the author's ability to listen to his or her readers. In one example of how this could work, Dr Chris Tisdell told Computer World Australia that he tries to "post [his videos] as soon as possible after the lecture, as students probably see the value of course materials decline with time".

Interactivity can make students feel like they are part of the writing process. Ideally, in my opinion, every update should be accompanied by an explanation of why it is necessary. I like to think the reader then becomes more critical of what they're reading.

Presentation and format

Ebooks should be presented as simply as possible with links to new chapters which lead to other URLs. Text that fills up 100% width of screens is not desirable, especially if the reader wants to go offline. PDF is a good format, as it can be downloaded, saved, read when offline, and even printed. This allows someone who has used to print to slowly adapt to the electronic format.

To encourage academics into online publishing, it is perhaps worthwhile to redefine what a book is. Think of it this way: ebooks are not only simply books on a screen. They have their own distinct learning function and a place along side the traditional medium. Perhaps, as they evolve, they will not even be called books, but will instead have their own unique name, that recognises their unique value.

MIND-READING ROBOT TEACHERS HEAD TO CLASS

The news appeared on Discovery News on May 31st , 2012

Everyone had that one teacher in high school who you swore was a robot. Dull lectures delivered in a monotone voice all but invited you to snooze away the class, drooling on your desk.

On the other hand, we've all had those teachers we loved; ones who were engaging, creative and inspired us us to explore our creativity. They may not have stood on desks or demand we rip excremental introductions from our text books, but bottom line, they held our attention.

While they're certainly not going to get a lot of thumbs up from those in the teaching profession, Bilge Mutlu and Dan Szafir from the University of Wisconsin have created this: a robot teacher that uses engaging techniques to help improve how much information a student retains.

"We wanted to look at how learning happens in the real world," Mutlu told New Scientist. "What do human teachers do and how can we draw on that to build an educational robot that achieves something similar?"

So the duo programmed a Wakamaru humanoid robot to narrate a story to students, one-on-one, and test them to see how much they retained. Mutlu and Szafir used a $200 EEG sensor to monitor students' engagement levels. The sensors monitored the FP1 area of the brain that manages learning and concentration. If there was a dip in the student's attention level, the system signaled the robot and triggered a cue.

Such attention-regaining cues could be anything from the robot raising its voice, making arm gestures, to pointing at itself or listeners. For example, during the reading of the Japanese folk tale, My Lord Bag of Rice, the robot used its arms to indicate a high mountain.

APP HELPS CONFUSED STUDENTS IN CLASS

The news was published in Discovery News on May 14th, 2012

Embarrassment or pride can sometimes trump the questions that students want to ask in class, and that can end up being a big problem come test time. A new Web-based app called Understoodit from Toronto-based developer Liam Kaufman allows students to tell the teacher anonymously when they don’t understand a lesson.


When a teacher sets up an Understoodit account, students can log in with any device and select the options “understood” or “confused” during a lecture. Depending on how many students respond, the teacher can re-explain the topic, or class members can discuss which issues they might be finding difficult to comprehend. The program is geared more toward college students, which makes sense given that it’s a device-based system and most secondary schools don’t allow cellphones in class. If there were a way to use this app without the worry of smartphone distraction, it could be a good tool for both middle and high school students, as well.

IBM supercomputer overtakes Fujitsu as world's fastest

IBM's Sequoia has taken the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers for the US.

The newly installed system trumped Japan's K Computer made by Fujitsu which fell to second place.
It is the first time the US can claim pole position since it was beaten by China two years ago.
Sequoia will be used to carry out simulations to help extend the life of aging nuclear weapons, avoiding the need for real-world underground tests.
It is installed at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
"While Sequoia may be the fastest, the underlying computing capabilities it provides give us increased confidence in the nation's nuclear deterrent," said National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) administrator Thomas D'Agostino.
"Sequoia also represents continued American leadership in high performance computing."
Adding processors The computer is capable of calculating in one hour what otherwise would take 6.7 billion people using hand calculators 320 years to complete if they worked non-stop.
Although the US's efforts helped secure it the lead, its overall tally of three computers in the top 10 was worse than six months ago when it had five.
China and Germany both have two supercomputers, while Japan, France and Italy have one.
But IBM proved to be the leading manufacturer claiming five out of the top 10 spots.
David Turek, vice president of deep computing at the firm, told the BBC his company had been preparing to retake the top spot for two years.
"Substantial planning went into this. We knew the day would come."
Sequoia is 1.55 times faster than the Fujitsu model, and uses over 1.5 million processors.
In comparison the Japanese model has less than half the number of CPUs (central processing units).
Energy efficient The IBM supercomputer is also more energy efficient than the Fujitsu model.
Sequoia consumes 7.9 megawatts compared to the K computer which uses 12.6 megawatts.
Mr Turek described Sequoia as the "pinnacle of energy efficiency" and said the reaction had been "very enthusiastic."
"Government laboratories in Europe have already expressed interest," he said.

CM-5/1024 designed by Thinking Machines was the first supercomputer on the list.

The list is published every six months by German Professor Hans Meuer and US-based Professor Jack Dongarra.
Prof Dongarra told the BBC it was unlikely that another manufacturer would overtake IBM in the next year.
"Sequoia is very impressive," he said.
273,930 times faster The first computer to take the top position on the list was the CM-5/1024 in 1993, designed by Thinking Machines.
According to Prof Dongarra, Sequoia is 273,930 times faster.
"A calculation that took three full days to compute on the Thinking Machines in 1993 today can be done in less than one second on the Sequoia," he said.

Google reveals 'terrorism video' removals

Google has revealed it removed about 640 videos from YouTube that allegedly promoted terrorism over the second half of 2011 after complaints from the UK's Association of Chief Police Officers.

The news was contained in its latest Transparency Report which discloses requests by international authorities to remove or hand over material.
The firm said it terminated five accounts linked to the suspect videos.
However, the firm said it had rejected many other state's requests for action.
Canada's Passport Office was among the organisations rebuffed. It had asked for a video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and then flushing it down the toilet be removed.
Google also refused to delete six YouTube videos that satirised Pakistan's army and senior politicians. The order had come from the government of Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology.
Free speech But Google did act in hundreds of cases, including:

• requests to block more than 100 YouTube videos in Thailand that allegedly insulted its monarchy - a crime in the country
• the removal of a YouTube video that contained hate speech that had been posted in Turkey
• the termination of four YouTube accounts responsible for videos that allegedly contained threatening and harassing content after complaints by different US law enforcement agencies.

Overall, the firm said it had received 461 court orders covering a total of 6,989 items between July and December 2011. It said it had complied with 68% of the orders.
It added that it had received a further 546 informal requests covering 4,925 items, of which it had agreed to 43% of the cases.
Google's senior policy analyst, Dorothy Chou, said the company was concerned by the amount of requests that had been linked to political speech.
"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect - Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," she said.
"For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors.
"In Poland, we received a request from the Agency for Enterprise Development to remove links to a site that criticised it.
"We didn't comply with either of these requests."

Vodafone gets go-ahead for $1.6 billion takeover of CWW

Mobile phone group Vodafone's 1.04 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) agreed offer for Cable & Wireless Worldwide looked certain to succeed on Monday after the British fixed line network operator's biggest shareholder dropped its opposition.
Institutional investor Orbis said it would now support the 38 pence-a-share offer after CWW revealed that holders of 59 percent of its shares had already backed the takeover that will make Vodafone Britain's second largest telecoms operator behind BT.
The announcement appeared to seal the fate of a company that traces its history back to the 19th century, serves many British blue chip companies and government departments and which has cables spanning the globe.
Vodafone, already ranked as the world's biggest mobile company, has said CWW will strengthen its integrated corporate services business, both in Britain and internationally. CWW's 20,500 kilometers of optical fiber will also help take the strain of Vodafone having to satisfy the fast-growing appetite of smartphone users for mobile data services without having to rent fixed line capacity, as it does now, from the likes of BT.
Orbis had criticized Vodafone's offer, saying it undervalued the assets, but it gave up the fight ahead of a CWW shareholder meeting held on Monday to approve the takeover via a scheme of arrangement. The result was expected later on Monday afternoon, a CWW spokesman said.
The Bermuda-based fund manager, which holds 19 percent, said that it had taken a pragmatic decision that Vodafone would likely adjourn the meeting in order to obtain the necessary support of 75 percent of shareholders, even without Orbis's backing.
"This is not in the interests of any CWW stakeholder," Orbis said in a statement. "Accordingly, Orbis intends to vote in favor of the scheme at the meetings today."
The news sent shares in Cable & Wireless Worldwide up 8 percent to 37.8 pence. Vodafone shares were up 0.2 percent.
Analyst Nick Brown at Espirito Santo Investment Bank said Vodafone had successfully pitched its offer to win the backing of CWW's board and other shareholders. Once it has 75 percent backing Vodafone can take full control under the scheme of arrangement.
"Vodafone has taken advantage of CWW's shares trading at quite a depressed multiple at the time they came in with their bid," he said.
"We believe that the value to Vodafone is around 50 pence if not north of that, depending on what they do with the company."
VODAFONE STRATEGY
The mobile operator swooped on CWW after investors lost faith in the communications company following its split from the Caribbean-focused Cable & Wireless Communications in March 2010.
CWW has had a tumultuous period since the demerger, and has issued a string of profit warnings as it was wrong footed by government cuts, increased competition and a faster than expected decline in voice traffic.
Its management has been held at least in part responsible by investors and analysts.
John Pluthero, the former Cable & Wireless executive who took more than 10 million pounds in bonuses from the group, was installed as chief executive a year ago, but he was in turn ousted when the company suspended dividends and issued 624 million pounds of writedowns in November.
Shares in CWW, which hit a high of 98.5 pence after the split, valuing the group at $4.25 billion, fell to 13 pence, increasing speculation that it would be prey to a takeover offer.
Former Vodafone executive Gavin Darby took over as chief executive with a brief to put the group on a firmer footing and improve its weak cash generation.
But the board said the turnaround plan would need additional investment and would need to be implemented in challenging trading conditions, leading it to conclude that cash from Vodafone was a better prospect.
Vodafone's interest sparked India's Tata Communications to also take a look at the business, but it withdrew after failing to reach agreement with CWW's board on an offer price, leaving Vodafone as sole bidder.
Vodafone will still require regulatory clearances, although it has said it is confident it will be approved.

2012 Olympics: Calais just a stone’s throw from London

Ten million tourists are expected in London for the 30th Olympiad from July 27 to August 12, 2012.  That’s enough to make the candidate cities that weren’t chosen green with envy. However, as the British capital pulls out the stops to welcome its many visitors, its neighbors are preparing to get even!
First stage: hosting
As everyone knows, the competition for the Olympic Games starts well before the Games themselves.  Indeed, in 2004, even before Constantinos Stephanopoulos, the Greek Republic’s President at the time, had officially declared the 28th Olympiad open, nine cities* had already thrown themselves into the race to host the 2012 Games. 
As early as the summer of 2005, that’s seven years before the 2012 Olympic torch was lit, we already knew that London was the big winner.  Yet, this stage is by no means easiest part of the competition: the stakes are high and becoming a host city is a huge challenge with the promise of countless benefits.
Why? Because welcoming the Olympic Games often injects new life into cities. Barcelona proved this with the 1992 Olympic Games when it renovated its sea front, an industrial zone at the time, and its famous avenue La Rambla. The Olympics represent great development opportunities for the construction and retail sectors, as well as for telecommunications, environmental protection, etc. and of course for tourism in general and the hotel industry in particular. The latter two are some of the first areas to reap the benefits.

For example, in February 2006, when Turin hosted the Winter Olympics, hoteliers registered record performances with 222% RevPAR growth and occupancy rates of close to 92%.  The long term benefit of the international advertising the organizing cities receive during the Games is irrefutable. In 1990, Barcelona welcomed 1.7 million visitors, compared with over 3 million in 1995. 
Second step: attracting
Now, London’s carrying the day.  It expects some 10 million tourists, spectators, athletes, journalists and officials between next June and September.  300,000 foreign visitors and 800,000 visitors from the rest of the United Kingdom will travel to the capital specially to experience the event first hand.  According to a survey by Kantarsport, the city will generate tourism income of close to €2.5 billion.
To prepare for the event, London is building new infrastructures. The costs are substantial: for example, modernizing the transport system alone is already costing €7.8 billion.  This project includes the creation of new stations around Stratford, the Olympic site east of London and a new high speed train, known as “Javelin”, that will take visitors to the site from King’s Cross St. Pancras station.
Accommodation is no concern for the athletes since 97% of them will be less than 30 minutes from the competition venues and they already have 17,320 beds reserved at the Olympic Village. However, for mere mortals, it’s time to choose whether to stay in London itself to be right at the heart of the event, or to venture outside the capital for a bit of detachment.

Third stage: cashing in!
Some tourists prefer to avoid being in the middle of the euphoria that takes over host cities during the Games and opt for more secluded destinations where they get the added bonus of cheaper prices.
London’s neighbors might therefore also benefit this summer. Potential destinations include serious Oxford, seaside Brighton, luxurious Bath or Shakespearian Stratford-upon-Avon as well as other European capitals like Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris.
The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France also intends to benefit from its location just one hour from London by Channel Tunnel.  Here, there’s just one obsession: to make the most of the situation by attracting as many people as possible.  The region has long since expressed its ambition to serve as a “support base” for the 2012 Olympic Games.
It has two key selling points: hotel room prices that are about 30% cheaper and fine sporting facilities.  To seduce the athletes, as early as 2005, “mission Pas-de-Calais 2012” allocated €20 million to build and renovate sports facilities so they could be available for federations.  Since 2009, over 100 delegations from around the world have come to use the city of Lille’s sporting facilities.  Some delegations on smaller budgets, like those from Senegal or Uzbekistan, will train there before the competitions. Lastly, even the UK’s national gymnastics team will hop across the Channel for its last training sessions… Now, that’s good sportsmanship!

Blondie, Devo tap into 1980s nostalgia for upcoming tour

Blondie and Devo, two pioneering bands of new wave music played different styles during their heyday, but more than three decades later, they've found common ground for an upcoming U.S. tour that vibrates with 1980s nostalgia.
Blondie, formed by Deborah Harry, guitarist Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke in 1975, came up through the ranks of New York City's punk rock scene in the late 1970s, breaking into mainstream pop with their album "Parallel Lines."
Devo, formed in 1972 by brothers Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and named for their concept that people of Earth were in a stage of "de-evolution," gained a loyal following with their wild costumes and high-energy music epitomized by the 1980 hit "Whip It."
The pair plan to "Whip It to Shreds" - the name of their brief U.S. tour of 13 cities starting September 7.
"It seemed like a nice, complimentary fit because it takes us back all the way to the very beginning," Devo singer Mark Mothersbaugh told Reuters as tickets went on sale last Friday.
Harry, the lead singer of Blondie, echoed Mothersbaugh's sentiments, adding that their music may resonate even deeper with today's audience - both young and old.
"I've always really loved their songs and their music and their crazy style," Harry said about Devo. "Back in the day, it was very fresh and advanced. I think it's more contemporary today than it was back then."
Harry, 66, who has toured annually for the past 15 years and launched her own solo career, said she still loves hitting the road to play live.
"I love performing even more now. I've been doing it for long enough that it's completely heartwarming to walk out on stage and have people going crazy for you and wanting to hear your music, especially if you've written it yourself," she said.
While audiences at Blondie shows often expect to hear the big hits - the band has sold over 40 million records worldwide - Harry said her favorite songs to perform are from the band's lesser-known albums, like "Cautious Lip" and "Bermuda Triangle Blues" from 1978's "Plastic Letters."
She maintains Blondie's live shows will be "straight ahead rock 'n' roll," but the band will incorporate some new elements such as visual projections and a "technical look on stage" for their tour with Devo.
"Even when we were at the peak of our exposure and popularity, we never had a show with multiple costume changes and back-up singers and dancers," Harry said.
Devo's portion of the show? That's a different story.
'DEVO HAS MARINATED THROUGH THE DECADES'
Known for their electro-pop sounds, creative outfits and frenzied stage shows, the dads of de-evolution bring back the synthesizers and guitars of decades ago, alongside newer technologies, to create their sound live.
Mothersbaugh, 62, promised some costume changes in their hour-long set and music that has never mellowed with age. If anything, it's only dug deeper into the Devo philosophy.
"Devo has marinated through the decades and become more scarier and intense, and if anyone wrote it off as quirky or a joke, now they can see that we were obsessed with a particular viewpoint of life on planet Earth," he said.
The singer said Devo, whose first album "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" was produced by experimental music master Brian Eno, has seen a resurgence in recent years led by the popularity of electronic music and people discovering them on the Internet.
"Kids nowadays are more sophisticated about music," Mothersbaugh said. "They can find a band they're a fan of, and if the band says they listen to old Devo music, kids have enough information to get them interested and listening to things. The Internet had a lot to do with Devo's staying power here."
Blondie reunited in 1997 due to the popularity of new bands like No Doubt and Garbage, which had a sound similar to Harry's group. Blondie released the album "Panic of Girls" in 2011. Harry credited their longevity to their passion for music.
"I never thought we'd be working and making music this long, but the people I always really admired, the musicians like BB King or the Stones or Paul McCartney or Bob Dylan, music is their life," Harry said. "It's not just something you did in your youth. It's something that you live for."

Girl of Nightmares (Anna, #2) by Kendare Blake

It’s been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can’t move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they’re right, but in Cas’s eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he’s seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he’s asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong... these aren’t just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn’t know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn’t deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it’s time for him to return the favor.

Game of Thrones (TV series)

Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, the first of which is titled A Game of Thrones. The series is filmed at Paint Hall Studios in Belfast, as well as on location elsewhere in Northern Ireland and in Malta, Croatia, Iceland and Morocco.
The first season debuted in the U.S. on April 17, 2011. Two days later, it was picked up for a second season, which began airing on April 1, 2012. Nine days later, it was picked up for a third season.
Highly anticipated since its early stages of development, Game of Thrones has been very well received by viewers and critics. Season 1 was nominated for or won numerous awards, including Outstanding Drama Series for the Emmy Awards and Best Television Series – Drama at the 69th Golden Globe Awards. As Tyrion Lannister, Peter Dinklage won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Sao Paulo fashion show a riot of tropical color

Tropical prints, vibrant colors and sheer fabrics: Sao Paulo fashion week is making a splash aiming to sound a note of optimism and hope amid the global economic gloom.
Bright shades of pink, green, turquoise and gold were echoed not just in the designs on display, but also in chunky bracelets, beaded necklaces, and dangling earrings featuring the birds of the Amazon in the 2013 summer collections of about 30 local designers.
"In these times of global crisis, showing off colorful collections suggests that at some point we will climb out of 'the bottom of the well.' It is a message of optimism," Camila Toledo, Brazil director of consulting firm www.stylesight.com, told AFP.
With sharp lines and seamless pieces, designer Tufi Duek delighted in a bold palette of yellows, fuchsias and coral for his dresses and blouses, contrasted with black or white pants.
Alexandre Herchcovitch showed off a collection inspired by the 1980s pop star Boy George sending his models down the runway with huge teased hair dressed in strong, geometric designs in cotton and silk.
For his part, Ronaldo Fraga, returning to Sao Paulo Fashion Week after a year's absence, drew his inspiration from the Brazilian poet Mario de Andrade and his own travels to the luscious north of Brazil.
A highlight of his collection were his "bio-jewels" made by local craftsmen in the north, with a strong emphasis on fair trade and sustainability.
With her beach wear and lingerie, Adriana Degreas predicted it's going to be a hot, hot summer.
Her muslin tunics, feminine, gold lame swimsuits and floaty, sheer, lightwear designs stole the show, drawing on the influence of Africa on Brazil.
There was huge applause too for Movimento's collection of summer wear "inspired by the poetry and the colors of the tropics."
Swimsuits were decorated with huge colorful parrots, bright tropical flowers, or for a change of scene, plain white pieces topped with Egyptian-inspired, or military looking heavy chain necklaces.
"Brazil is improving, the country is growing, we think it will be a great summer," said designer Tininha da Fonte.
Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America, and the sixth biggest in the world, and is booming unlike the gloom which has descended on the troubled eurozone.
Agua de Coco turned to Turkey, and sent bronzed models sashaying down the runway in bikinis drawn in the golden, fiery hues of the sunset over the beach.
Forum's collection drew the biggest crowds late Wednesday however, with its strong asymmetric designs in bold oranges and green, such as a plastic dress stamped with huge green limes.