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Friday, July 31, 2020

How Physics Found a Geometric Structure for Math to Play With | Mathematics - Quanta Magazine

Symplectic geometry is a relatively new field with implications for much of modern mathematics. Here’s what it’s all about, explains Kevin Hartnett, senior writer at Quanta Magazine covering mathematics and computer science.

Photo: Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine
In the early 1800s, William Rowan Hamilton discovered a new kind of geometric space with nearly magical properties. It encoded motion and mathematics into a single, glinting geometric object.

This phenomenon birthed a field called symplectic geometry. Over the last few decades it has grown from a small collection of insights into a dynamic area of research with deep connections to more areas of math and physics than Hamilton ever could have imagined.

Symplectic geometry is ultimately the study of geometric spaces with a symplectic structure. But exactly what it means for a space to have a structure — let alone this particular structure — takes a little explaining.

Geometric spaces can be floppy like a tarp or rigid like a tent. “The tarp is very malleable but then you get, whatever, a bunch of sticks or scaffolding to shape it,” said Emmy Murphy of Northwestern University. “It makes it a more concrete thing.”...

Vladimir Arnold made several foundational conjectures in the study of symplectic geometry.
Photo: UTNIK / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Beginning in the 1960s, Vladimir Arnold made several influential conjectures that captured the specific ways in which symplectic spaces are more rigid than ordinary topological ones (like the floppy sphere). One of them, known as the Arnold conjecture, predicts that Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms have a surprisingly large number of “fixed” points, which don’t move during a transformation. By studying them, you can put your hands on just what it is that makes a symplectic space different from other kinds of geometric spaces.
Read more...

Source: Quanta Magazine

iRobot's New Education Robot Makes Learning to Code a Little More Affordable | Robotics - IEEE Spectrum

Evan Ackerman, senior writer for IEEE Spectrum’s award-winning robotics blog, Automaton summarizes, At $129, the new version of Root makes a few compromises for a substantial discount.

Photo: iRobot
iRobot has been on a major push into education robots recently. They acquired Root Robotics in 2019, and earlier this year, launched an online simulator and associated curriculum designed to work in tandem with physical Root robots. The original Root was intended to be a classroom robot, with one of its key features being the ability to stick to (and operate on) magnetic virtual surfaces, like whiteboards. And as a classroom robot, at $200, it’s relatively affordable, if you can buy one or two and have groups of kids share them.

For kids who are more focused on learning at home, though, $200 is a lot for a robot that doesn't even keep your floors clean. And as nice as it is to have a free simulator, any kid will tell you that it’s way cooler to have a real robot to mess around with. Today, iRobot is announcing a new version of Root that’s been redesigned for home use, with a $129 price that makes it significantly more accessible to folks outside of the classroom.

The Root rt0 is a second version of the Root robot—the more expensive, education-grade Root rt1 is still available...

Root coding robots are designed for kids age 6 and up, ships for free, and is available now.
Read more...

Source: IEEE Spectrum

Robots: What you need to know about the past, present and future of robotics | Future Technology - BBC Focus Magazine

Peter Bentley, computer scientist and author who is based at University College London  inform, Robotics has changed our lives in ways we couldn't possibly have imagined, but there is so much more you need to know about robots.

Robots: Everything about the past, present and future of robotics
Photo: Getty Images
What are robots and what can they do? Robots are machines that can carry out complex actions automatically. They generally need three elements: sensors such as cameras, lidar, or microphones; actuators such as motors, pistons or artificial muscles, and controllers.

Robots may be remotely controlled by humans, but frequently they are partially or fully controlled by computers, making them autonomous.

Robots in fiction frequently resemble us, looking quite humanoid in appearance with two arms, two legs and a head with cameras for eyes. But in reality, the vast majority of robot forms are designed to fit their function...

What could robots of the future do? 
Robots have contributed massively to our industries, enabling most devices, appliances, transportation and processed foods to be made efficiently and cheaply. Today researchers are working towards even greater automation, with robots taking over more and more of the manufacturing processes.

3D printing using additive manufacturing may enable complex components to be made, and it is the ambition of many industries to even automate the repair process of machines, with faults being detected before they cause failures, and new parts being made and swapped automatically.

Eventually, this could even lead to machines that can build themselves and repair themselves – known as von Neumann machines (self-replicating machines) after the mathematician who imagined them back in the late 1940s.
Read more... 

Source: BBC Focus Magazine

Covington uses drones to check roads | Local - WDBJ

When a road is undermined from heavy rains, of course it has to be fixed by Bruce Young, Reporter.

Photo: Screenshot from WDBJ's Video
“It’s a roadway that’s used very frequently,” said Trevor Ragno of Aeronyde, standing near the road work. “And it’s very critical for them to get this roadway repaired and up in working condition again as soon as possible.”

And one way to speed things up is a drone, launched to scan the area of the damage to let them know just what needs to be done with a 3-D map...

Covington City Manager Krystal Onaitis said, “They’re able to catch things that the actual eye can’t, even trained inspectors, and the efficiency that they’re able to do it.”

It’s a process they’ve been doing with a little less urgency for the city all along Route 220.
Read more...

Source: WDBJ

EHang’s amazing passenger drone to be tested in Canada | Drones - DroneDJ

You know that wild EHang passenger-carrying drone? The one where a person simply walks in and flies to their location?, Scott Simmie, career multi-platform journalist reports. 

EHang's AAV 216, its amazing passenger drone, is being tested in Canada. It's another step as the company brings this technology closer to reality for us.
Well, the latest location that’s been approved for test flights is Quebec, Canada. This brings us one step closer to what we all know is eventually coming: An autonomously piloted, passenger-carrying drone that can safely fly you for short hops.

Whenever we see pictures of that EHang passenger-carrying drone, we can’t help but think of old issues of Popular Mechanics. You know, those old covers that imagined a tantalizing yet impossibly sci-fi future where we’d all be whizzing around on jet packs or something. Well, one of the recurring themes of those cover stories was the prospect of simple, safe personal flight. It seemed there was always a micro-helicopter or something that could transport you from home to office, or between tall buildings within a city. That future is now definitely getting closer. With redundant failsafe mechanisms and proven flight controllers, it’s only a matter of time before passenger drones become part of our urban landscape...

Not just people
EHang says the 216 AAV is not just for flying people. It also envisions a cargo version of this aircraft. And that, as well, will be a huge market. Imagine this aircraft being able to carry 220Kg of goods quickly and easily from point to point. In fact, it could carry even more because there would be no need for seats in the cargo version. 

Read more...

Source: DroneDJ

Thursday, July 30, 2020

How to read more books | Guides - Psyche

Key points
  • Spend time thinking about why you want to read more books. The more motivation you have, the more likely you are to succeed. Start out reading books you enjoy, and don’t be afraid to quit books you don’t like.
  • Lay the groundwork for your new reading habit by making books salient in the physical and digital environments you encounter every day.
  • Set modest goals, at least at first. Aim to read just a little each day.
  • Look at your daily routines and your existing habits. Consider where you could build in a new habit of book reading, in effect piggybacking on your existing habits. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to succeed.
  • Try as hard as you can to always read whenever you are in that situation, time or place. Eventually, you will form a new effortless reading habit.
  • Track your progress by recognising every day that you managed to read, rather than by ticking off completed books. After two weeks, you should start to feel that your new habit is deepening.
  • Consider whether your social world supports book reading. You could try joining a book group (see the Links and Books section below) to chat with like-minded readers.
  • Cultivate your identity as an avid reader of books. Write a sentence outlining the kind of person you want to be, and think about how book reading will serve that aim.

Christian Jarrett, Senior Editor at Psyche suggest, Modern life can feel too frantic for books. Use these habit-building strategies to carve out time for the joy of reading.

Modern life can feel too frantic for books.
Photo: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
Need to know 
I envy voracious book readers. They seem worldly and wise. Also, whatever is happening in their lives, they’re never completely on their own – they always have their books. My mother is one of these life-long devourers of literature, for whom books are a constant companion. She recalls contracting tuberculosis as an eight-year-old girl, before there was a vaccine, and being sent to spend six months at a convalescent home in Margate, more than 100 miles from her family. ‘Books saved me from what would have been unbearable, allowing me to escape from that bed to have adventures in other places and other lives,’ she says.

Avid readers often look back on their book-reading with fondness. ‘My first memories of reading are of my late mum taking me to our local library, and both of us taking out as many books as we could carry,’ says Clare Reynolds, author of the Years of Reading Selfishly blog. ‘We didn’t have a car so had to make sure we could manage them all on the bus.’

Reynolds’s passion for reading continued through adolescence and led her to study English literature at the University of Leeds, but then the demands of work and family caught up with her, and for years she found herself in what she calls the ‘reading wilderness’...

What to do 
It will take significant effort for you to read more books, at least at first. To succeed long-term, you need to develop new reading habits, so that reading is something you do without resorting to conscious effort and willpower. But before getting into details of how to do this, there are some preliminary steps to ease the way.

The first is to reflect on why you want to read more books. Benjamin Gardner is a social psychologist at King’s College, London and an expert on the psychology of habits.
His theory of habit formation begins with the need for sufficient motivation...

A further idea to help you grow your reading habit is to think about your social world. Just as making books prominent in your physical and digital environments will help to lay the foundations for more reading, your social environment is also important, especially for deepening and sustaining the habit. Sharing a pleasure multiplies it. If none of your close family or friends reads books, then reading will only ever be a private activity, separate from your personal relationships and to be squeezed in around them. If this is your situation, I’m not suggesting you ditch all your buddies, but I’d recommend seeking out one or more friends who read, for instance by joining a book group – physical or virtual ‘Reading was, and still is, a way for me to connect with people,’ says Reynolds.
Read more...

Source: Psyche

More Chinese students seek domestic master's, PhD degrees | Society - ecns

More than 10 million students in China have obtained master's or doctoral degrees from domestic higher education institutions as of 2020, according to the Ministry of Education.

Donning academic gowns, students from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, pose for a graduation photo in front of a landmark building on campus this month.
Photo: JI DONG/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
More than 3 million Chinese students will be pursuing their postgraduate studies this year at domestic universities or research institutes, skyrocketing from 629 in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, it said...

In 1990, only 19.6 percent of full-time teachers in China's colleges and universities had a master's or doctoral degree, while the number reached 64.1 percent last year, it said.
Read more...

Source: ecns

Woman completes bachelor’s and masters degree, becomes a homeowner and starts a PhD aged 21 | Education - Metro.co.uk

'After the PhD, well I’m planning on having a lie down.', observes Faima Bakar, Journalist at Metro.co.uk.

She became the youngest masters graduate at her university
Photo: Caters News Agency
Pakeezah Zubairi, 21, from Florida, finished secondary school with 18 months worth of university credits.

She took after-hours classes and tests so by the time she started her bachelor’s degree in Psychology she could skip the first half of the course.

Completing her bachelor’s in record time, just before her 19th birthday, she then also completed her MBA in Human Resources Management and became the youngest student to get an MBA at Lynn University, a few days before turning 20.

Throughout her MBA, Pakeezah also worked full-time and saved enough money to buy a house...

‘I’m the youngest student to ever graduate from an MBA business course at my university and that feels amazing...

Her new goal is to start a PhD in Industrial Organisational Psychology, which she is currently working on getting accepted into now.
Read more...

Source: Metro.co.uk

Scientists Crack the Mathematical Mystery of Stingless Bees’ Spiral Honeycombs | New Research - Smithsonian Magazine

Theresa Machemer, freelance writer based in Washington DC. said, The waxy architectural wonders seem to grow like crystals.

Mathematically speaking, the honeycombs grow like crystals.
Photo: Tim Heard via Royal Society Publishing
The same mathematical model that explains how crystals grow can also explain how tropical stingless bees build honeycombs in spiraling, multi-terraced shapes, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Bees from the genus Tetragonula specialize in sophisticated feats of architecture built from hexagonal beeswax cells. Each individual cell is both the landing spot for an egg and a building block for structures that can grow up to 20 levels high, Brandon Specktor reports for Live Science. Stingless bees’ hives can come in several shapes, including stacks of circles in a bulls-eye, a spiral, a double spiral, and a group of disorderly terraces.

How and why bees build the complex shapes without any blueprints has perplexed scientists, but the researchers show that each individual bee might be following a few simple rules... 

But at its core, the computer model shows that the bees’ patterns are still based on the essential chemical rules that govern all matter on Earth.

“Crystal growth and bee comb construction are two systems operating within very different spheres of science,” the researchers write in their paper. “So what leads to the similar structures? This is the beauty of the applicability of mathematics to nature.”
Read more...

Source: Smithsonian Magazine

Back to School: Must have essentials for learning in the digital age | Deals - T3 (US)

Thanks to a year like no other Back to School season has a much different meaning than what we're all used to, as Troy Fleming, Deals Editor for T3 US reports.

Photo: Getty Images
Back to School season is here and with 2020 being the wild ride that it has been, gearing up for the upcoming school year is going to be a bit different than we're all used to. 

With many schools switching to online learning programs and social distancing measures in place for those that haven't, students of all ages will be learning through a mix of off-site and on-site learning activities as well as an online curriculum.

Distractions are commonplace among the home with TVs, streaming services, video games and an unending list of time wasters that can draw our focus away from work or school. It's important to make sure you or your child have a quiet, comfortable place to keep the attention where it matters most.

Here's a couple things we'd recommend students of all ages have when making the switch to online schooling:
Read more...

Source: T3 (US)

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Art Professor Brings Mythical World to Life in New Book | The Charger Blog - University of New Haven News

Jon Sideriadis, MFA, spent two decades creating the art and stories in his new book, Astromythos, which is inspired by astronomy, mythology, and his Greek heritage. He hopes his work will inspire the next generation of artists by Renee Chmiel, Office of Marketing & Communications.

Jon Sideriadis"s new book, Astromythos.
Prof. Jon Sideriadis, MFA, has been building an original mythology and developing the characters and their stories for the past two decades. As author and illustrator, he has brought them to life in the pages of his mythology book Astromythos, an original epic poem with more than 100 illustrations in its 200 pages...

"Ancient Greek poetry, astronomy, and mythology inspired my book," said Prof. Sideriadis, a practitioner in residence in the University's Department of Art and Design. "As a proud Greek American, all of these interests are an important part of my heritage."

The book, which will be released on July 30, is published by The Art Order and launched on Kickstarter. 
Read more...  

Source: University of New Haven News 

How EdTech can transform further education post-lockdown | Opinion - FE Week

The silver lining of the Covid-19 pandemic could well be a revolution in how further education utilizes the power of EdTech, writes Dana Dabbous, PhD, Researcher at The Edge Foundation. 

How EdTech can transform further education post-lockdown
Photo: FE Week
It has long been accepted that technology in education is vital for filling the digital skills gap. Successive governments have promoted greater use of EdTech in the FE sector. This includes the Department for Education’s 2019 EdTech strategy and, more recently, the EdTech demonstrator schools and colleges programme. The closure of schools and colleges during the Covid-19 pandemic has only turbocharged this need. In short, lockdown has focused minds.

Since September 2019, the Edge Foundation has been conducting a vital piece of research. The study looks at how four FE colleges across the UK have successfully integrated digital technologies into their practice. Although we knew this would be insightful, little could we know just how important our findings would soon be.

Following Covid-19, there is now a greater need for educational institutions to adopt digital tools, and at a faster pace than ever before. Luckily, many FE colleges are already well underway with this transformation. Existing digitalisation has helped many to respond well and adapt to the situation we now find ourselves in. This is particularly important for colleges. They are front and centre in minimising the UK’s technical and digital skills gap. In turn, this allows the economy to keep up on the world stage...

The challenge for other colleges, then, lies in reaching this goal. How do we break down resistance to change, and help staff and students understand the benefits that digital tools can bring?

The full report details each college’s digital strategy, offering insight for how others can follow suit. It explains how they developed their digital frameworks, the technologies they adopted, how they created physical and digital spaces, and—crucially—how they supported their staff and students. While each college had different objectives, a common aim was to create a culture of openness, support and experimentation. Before the pandemic, this was desirable. Today, it is essential. To discover all these insights, you can download the full research report here.
Read more... 

Source: FE Week

Ingenium digital learning becomes the latest addition to the Certified Network of Moodle Partners | Press & Stories - Moodle

Moodle is proud to announce Ingenium digital learning as the newest Certified Moodle Partner in France, strengthening its presence in the European market, inform Kinga Pilarek, Communications and Marketing Coordinator at Moodle.

Photo: Moodle
Founded in 2003 and becoming a Business Unit at Normandy Business School in 2016, Ingenium digital learning is organised and centred around engineering and multimedia. It is dedicated to web development, including the Moodle platform...

Ingenium digital learning has demonstrated experience in the development of specific course formats for MOOCS, graphical customisations and connecting complex business environments for large corporate organisations using Moodle.

This Partners’ clients include companies and public institutions, plus training centers and initial training institutions (secondary and higher education), notably Lefebvre Sarrut Group, University of Montpellier (Nexus), AFD/World Bank, CFPB (training centre for banking professionals), CFAs, Chambers of Trade and Engineering and Management Schools...
Read more...

About Ingenium digital learning

As a 360° digital expert since 2003, Ingenium digital learning supports organisations and training institutions toward the hosting, maintenance, deployment and enhancement of their Moodle platform.

Stay up-to-date by following Ingenium Digital Learning on LinkedIn.

For more information about Ingenium, visit their Partner Profile: https://moodle.com/partners/ingenium-digital-learning/

Source: Moodle

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

3 steps for teaching cybersecurity in the classroom | Education - SmartBrief

Kiera Elledge, STEM coordinator for the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District in Bedford, Texas writes, Here's how a school district in Texas with limited cyber-savvy taught cybersecurity to its junior-high and high-school students. 

Photo: Pixabay
Students live much of their lives online, especially now with the transition to remote learning. Cybersecurity skills are a must. They need to understand how to safely navigate this digital world, 
taking advantage of its offerings while avoiding the dangers of its darker corners.

Our district, Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District in Bedford, Texas, launched its first cybersecurity class for seventh-grade students in 2018. When we began our journey, there were no cybersecurity experts among the teaching staff -- we just had a sense of urgency to provide a high-quality curriculum for our students. We wanted to equip them with skills they could use now and take into the workforce. We discovered CYBER.org, an organization aimed at K-12 cybersecurity education and workforce development. We worked with them to create a program, based on three core principles, that has become a training ground for our students...

Considering a program like this for your school? Here are some lessons we learned from our experience.
  • No cyber skills or experience? No problem. You don’t need to put together a team of cybersecurity or coding experts for your entry-level classes. These are learnable skills, with the proper professional development. Teachers who are curious, eager and enjoy a challenge are perfect candidates.
  • Choose the right partner. Get a partner like CYBER.org that works closely with you and tailors PD to your needs. Our workshops were aligned to our skill level and curriculum goals. Attendees were even able to switch workshops, at any time, to make the most of their time. 
  • Consider teaching in small group settings. This is rigorous material. Working in small groups helps make students -- especially our English-language learners -- feel more comfortable and willing to ask questions.
  • Keep it real world. Integrate current events into your lessons and classroom discussions. Our students knew that we were training them for industry certifications. That goal was always in their sights. It not only helped keep them motivated, it put everything we did into a real-world context.
Read more...

Source: SmartBrief 

25 New Skills You Can Learn on LinkedIn Learning This Week | New Courses - The Learning Blog

Zoë Kelsey, Learning Supporter at LinkedIn suggest, Each week presents an opportunity to learn new skills to help us navigate this unique moment in our lives and careers.

25 New Skills You Can Learn on LinkedIn Learning This Week
Photo: The Learning Blog
At LinkedIn Learning, we want to provide the online learning courses you need to learn those skills. Each week, we add to our 16,000+ course library. This past week we added 25 courses. What can you expect from the new additions? 

Whether you’re looking to master meetings or programming, we’ve got you covered on those topics and more. Check out one of the 25 new courses this week.

The new courses now available on LinkedIn Learning are:
Read more...

Source: LinkedIn Learning 

Four university experts use Artificial Intelligence to discover that children don't like going to school on Mondays in Milton Keynes | Education - Milton Keynes Citizen

Experts from a university's Institute of AI analysed an MK primary school to identify patterns in children who were frequently absent, according to Sally Murrer, Senior reporter, Milton Keynes Citizen (part time).

Mondays is the worst day for absences
The researchers at De Montfort University Leicester studied attendance data using AI models.

And they say artificial intelligence is the way forward to improve pupil attendance at all schools.

The experts found Monday morning was the most common time for absenteeism at the school, with potential reasons including separation anxiety, taking extended weekend breaks and a lack of motivation to attend school after time off...

Dr Moodley said: “By using AI, we were able to pinpoint the problem areas for attendance at Willen Primary School, which in this case was Monday mornings.

“One of the key changes we wanted to make was to increase the incentives on offer for pupils who have a 100 per cent attendance record over a shorter time frame. Schools typically tend to reward children on an ‘all or nothing’ basis by only recognising pupils who have full attendance for the entire year...

For more information about the Institute of AI at De Montfort University visit here 
Read more...

Source: Milton Keynes Citizen

A New Brain-Inspired Learning Method for AI Saves Memory and Energy | Artificial Intelligence - Singularity Hub

Edd Gent, freelance science and technology writer based in Bangalore observes, Despite the frequent analogies, today’s AI operates on very different principles to the human brain. 
 
Photo: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Now researchers have proposed a new learning method more closely tied to biology, which they think could help us approach the brain’s unrivaled efficiency.

Modern deep learning is at the very least biologically-inspired, encoding information in the strength of connections between large networks of individual computing units known as neurons. Probably the biggest difference, though, is the way these neurons communicate with each other. 

Artificial neural networks are organized into layers, with each neuron typically connected to every neuron in the next layer. Information passes between layers in a highly synchronized fashion as numbers falling in a range that determines the strength of the connection between pairs of neurons...

In a paper in Nature Communications, the Austrian team describes how they created artificial analogues of these two features to create a new learning paradigm they call e-prop. While the approach learns slower than backpropagation-based methods, it achieves comparable performance.

New Study: Deep Learning Reaching Computational Limits | A.I & Machine Learning - CDOTrends

Deep learning could soon become technically and economically prohibitive, warns MIT study, as CDOTrends reports.
 
Photo: iStockphoto/anyaberkut
We might be reaching the limits of deep learning, according to a new study (pdf) by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, Underwood International College, and the University of Brasilia (UnB).

Titled “The computational limits of deep learning”, the study analyzed just over a thousand research 
papers before coming to its conclusion...

While the report conceded that the relationship between performance, model complexity, and computational requirements are not well understood, it noted that deep learning is intrinsically more reliant on computing power than other techniques.

To be clear, the report also noted that the actual computational burden of deep learning models is scaling more rapidly than known theory suggests. If correct, this means that substantial efficiency improvements might be possible.
Read more...

Source: CDOTrends

Monday, July 27, 2020

St. John's Launches New Academic Programs | Academics - St John's University News

In its dedication to provide the best pathways to meaningful careers and lives, St. John’s University has launched a host of new undergraduate and graduate academic programs that aim to ensure successful outcomes for its students, inform St John's University News.

Photo: Fountain on campus
Always seeking to add innovative course offerings and majors that are in demand, the University is implementing a wide array of new academic programs for the Fall 2020 semester. 

“The success of our students forms the core of the mission at St. John’s University,” said Simon Møller, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Read more...

Source: St John's University News

What is consciousness? | Culture - Live Science

Originally published on Live Science. 

Grant Currin, freelance science journalist based in Nashville, Tennessee said, The ancient Greeks dove into this question. But what do modern scientists think.

Is consciousness uniquely human? Or do other living things have varying degrees of it?
Photo: © Shutterstock
Humans once assumed our planet was the physical center of the solar system, so it's no surprise that we also think highly of consciousness, the apparently unique quality that allows our species to contemplate such matters.

But what is consciousness? The topic has been extraordinarily controversial in the scientific and philosophical traditions. Thinkers have spent an immense amount of time and ink trying to unravel mysteries, such as how consciousness works and where it resides.

The short answer isn't very satisfying. Scientists and philosophers still can't agree on a vague idea of what consciousness is, much less a strict definition...

Peering across the tree of life
"Almost everything you can say about [consciousness] is kind of BS," said Joseph LeDoux, a professor of neural science and psychiatry at New York University. "The only way to describe it is in terms of what it is and what it's not." 

Read more...

Source: Live Science

Know sweat: scientists solve mystery behind body odour | Science - The Guardian

University of York researchers trace the source of underarm aromas to a particular enzyme, Ian Sample, science editor of the Guardian reports.

The offending odours, known as thioalcohols, are released as a byproduct when microbes feast on other compounds they encounter on the skin. 
Photo: SIphotography/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Scientists have unravelled the mysterious mechanism behind the armpit’s ability to produce the pungent smell of body odour.

Researchers at the University of York traced the source of underarm odour to a particular enzyme in a certain microbe that lives in the human armpit.

To prove the enzyme was the chemical culprit, the scientists transferred it to an innocent member of the underarm microbe community and noted – to their delight – that it too began to emanate bad smells.

The work paves the way for more effective deodorants and antiperspirants, the scientists believe, and suggests that humans may have inherited the mephitic microbes from our ancient primate ancestors...

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the York scientists describe how they delved inside Staphylococcus hominis to learn how it made thioalcohols. They discovered an enzyme that converts Cys-Gly-3M3SH released by apocrine glands into the pungent thioalcohol, 3M3SH.
Read more... 

Source: The Guardian

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Suggested Books Today | Books - Helge Scherlund's eLearning News

Check out these books below by Cambridge University Press.

Photo: JumpStory

New Spaces in Mathematics - Formal and Conceptual Reflections

New Spaces in Mathematics
Formal and Conceptual Reflections
Mathematicians have long known that geometry is not absolute. Our understanding of what constitutes a 'space' has driven, and been driven by, significant applications inside and outside of mathematics...

This volume covers a broad range of topics in mathematics, including diffeologies, synthetic differential geometry, microlocal analysis, topos theory, infinity-groupoids, homotopy type theory, category-theoretic methods in geometry, stacks, derived geometry, and noncommutative geometry.
  • Introduces a vast array of notions of 'space' in mathematics and physics, suitable for graduates and researchers
  • Includes a mixture of formal introductions and more conceptual reflections, historical perspectives, and current open problems
  • Contains chapters written by leading mathematicians and theoretical physicists (including two Fields Medallists)
Publication planned for: January 2021
Read more...

Combinatorial Mathematics


Combinatorial Mathematics
This long-awaited textbook is the most comprehensive introduction to a broad swath of combinatorial and discrete mathematics. The text covers enumeration, graphs, sets, and methods, and it includes both classical results and more recent developments. Assuming no prior exposure to combinatorics, it explains the basic material for graduate-level students in mathematics and computer science... 

Consistent notation and terminology are used throughout, allowing for a discussion of diverse topics in a unified language. The thorough bibliography, containing thousands of citations, makes this a valuable source for students and researchers alike.
  • Can be used as a text for a one-year sequence, or as a one-semester introduction leading to an advanced course, with a complete solutions manual available online for instructors
  • Contains more than 2200 exercises at various levels. Especially instructive, interesting, or valuable exercises are marked with a diamond symbol
  • Includes several thousand references (with pointers to pages where cited) and many exercises, theorems, and proofs that have not previously appeared in textbooks
Date Published: July 2020
Read more... 

Boolean Functions for Cryptography and Coding Theory 

Boolean Functions for Cryptography and Coding Theory
Boolean functions are essential to systems for secure and reliable communication. This comprehensive survey of Boolean functions for cryptography and coding covers the whole domain and all important results, building on the author's influential articles with additional topics and recent results...

The result is a complete and accessible text on the state of the art in single and multiple output Boolean functions that illustrates the interaction between mathematics, computer science, and telecommunications.
  • A self-contained approach includes proofs for all the main results
  • A detailed reference list points the reader to other key results and developments in the field
  • Includes topics that have never been presented in monographs on Boolean functions, such as AMD codes, Gowers norm, and homomorphic encryption
Publication planned for: August 2020
Read more... 

Beyond the Worst-Case Analysis of Algorithms

Beyond the Worst-Case Analysis of Algorithms
There are no silver bullets in algorithm design, and no single algorithmic idea is powerful and flexible enough to solve every computational problem. Nor are there silver bullets in algorithm analysis, as the most enlightening method for analyzing an algorithm often depends on the problem and the application...

Forty leading researchers have contributed introductions to different facets of this field, emphasizing the most important models and results, many of which can be taught in lectures to beginning graduate students in theoretical computer science and machine learning.
  • Most chapters include open research directions and exercises suitable for classroom use
  • First time this exciting research area has been covered by a book
  • Many applications, especially in machine learning
Publication planned for: October 2020
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Source: Cambridge University Press.