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4 Stocks to Benefit From the Potential of Quantum Computing – Yahoo Finance

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Quantum computing is emerging as the next big thing in the world of technology owing to the advantages it offers over traditional computers, especially when it comes to rapid processing of complex calculations. Quantum computers are opening up new areas of research and are predicting outcomes at a faster pace than traditional computers. This is because unlike traditional computing, where basic information is stored in binaries, that is, in ones or zeros, quantum computing holds data in the form of quantum bits or qubits, that is, in combinations of all possible states, which are also referred to as superposition.

Quantum computing can be leveraged in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, allowing for increased efficiency and better outcomes. Owing to the ability to generate optimized results, quantum computing is being used across various sectors. NASA is utilizing quantum computing to find safer ways of space travel, controlling air traffic, and so on, as mentioned in a GigaOm article. In 2019, automotive manufacturer Volkswagen used quantum computers to optimize traffic flow in Lisbon, as mentioned in a press release by the company.

Since quantum computing utilizes quantum physics, that is, studying particles at the subatomic level, drug research and discovery can take a leap forward as researchers can study the properties of molecules in detail. Apart from that, the financial sector stands to benefit from quantum computing. Per a report by the IBM Institute for Business Value, quantum computing can be utilized in areas such as risk profiling, predicting and targeting as well as optimization of trading.

Reflective of the positives that quantum computing stands to offer to myriad industries, the quantum computing market is expected to continue to grow. Gartner stated that by 2025, about 40% of large companies are set to undertake initiatives related to quantum computing, as mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article. In fact, per a report by Markets and Markets, the quantum computing market is estimated to witness a CAGR of 30.2% from 2021 to 2026.

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Since quantum computing hardware is expensive and hard to maintain, firms are expected to use the technology via cloud platforms. In 2019, a report by Gartner had stated that by 2023, 95% of organizations will use Quantum Computing as a Service for conducting research on quantum computing strategies.

Quantum computing is emerging as the next step of technological advancement and is set to witness growth going forward. This seems like a prudent time to keep a close watch on companies that can utilize the potential of quantum computing in the coming days. We have selected four such stocks that carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Microsoft Corporation MSFT takes a comprehensive approach to delivering quantum and the approach innovates in parallel at all layers of the computing stack, including controls, software and development tools and services. The company also offers Azure Quantum, which assembles and curates several quantum resources for developers and customers across all industries.

Shares of Microsoft have risen 34.8% year to date and it currently has a Zacks Rank #2. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 3.6% over the past 60 days. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 8%.

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA offers cuQuantum, which is a software development kit of optimized libraries and tools for accelerating quantum computing workflows.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 company have gained 73.4% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has risen 6.1% over the past 60 days. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 68%.

Alphabet Inc.s GOOGL Google offers Quantum AI, which is advancing the state-of-the-art quantum computing and developing tools for researchers for operating beyond classical capabilities. On May 18, Google unveiled its new Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara, CA, and the campus includes Googles first quantum data center, quantum hardware research laboratories, and quantum processor chip fabrication facilities.

Shares of Alphabet have risen 64.3% year to date and the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved 14.3% north over the past 60 days. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 73.8%.

Intel Corporation INTC designs, manufactures, and sells essential technologies for the cloud, smart, and connected devices. Intel has been collaborating with QuTech and providing engineering resources for accelerating developments. On May 12, Intel, in collaboration with QuTech, reported that using its cryogenic controller Horse Ridge, it was able to control qubits even in low, cryogenic temperatures, which can lead to solving the problem of quantum scaling or wiring bottleneck.

Shares of Intel have risen 8.2% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has risen 3.7% over the past 60 days. This Zacks Rank #3 companys expected earnings growth rate for the next five years is 7.5%.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportIntel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMicrosoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportNVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAlphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

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U of T researchers develop new quantum ‘fingerprinting’ protocol to improve information exchange – News@UofT

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Suppose you and your cousin are about to inherit some moneyand you each have a version of the will on your computer. What is the least amount of information your computers must share to determine whether the versions are the same?

This hypothetical scenario raises a communication complexity problem. These problems deal with how much information you need to exchange from computer to computer, orfrom network node to node to perform a certain task or function. The less information transmitted to complete the task, the more energy and time saved and the more privacy is preserved.

Li QianandHoi-Kwong Lo, both professors in the University of Toronto's Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineeringin the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering,and Xiaoqing Zhong, a PhD candidate in the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science,have developed an improved quantum fingerprinting (QF) protocol to more efficiently and securely solve these types of problems, which come up in contexts such as computer networking andVery Large Scale Integration (VLSI) chip design, among other situations.

The teams protocol used the many different frequencies of a photons quantum state a novel approach to encode information. Their paper wasrecently published inNature Communications.

Lets say you and your cousin each have a data file of a million bytes a megabyte, Qian says. In classical protocol, the smallest fingerprint required to determine whether the information is the same to a certainty near 100 per centis found by the square root of the total number of bits. So, a one megabyte file would require the transmission of roughly 300 bytes. With quantum fingerprinting, the amount scales logarithmically: a one megabyte file would only require around three bytes.

The advantage becomes even more pronounced as the files get bigger, Qian adds.

As the data string becomes larger and larger, quantum fingerprinting can drastically reduce the amount of information that you need to exchange.

The QF protocol is achieved by exploiting a property called superposition. In classical communication, a photon encodes information as either a one or zero, but in quantum mechanics a photon can exist in many states between this binary. The possible combinations of these intermediate states are what alloweach single photon to carry far more information, reducing the overall number and saving time, energy and bandwidth.

In addition, it greatly diminishes information leaks, Qian says, which lessens privacy and security concerns.

One challenge of implementing the QF is that the detectors used to register the photons are very sensitive and can produce signal noise. Currently, superconducting photon detectors must be housed in cryogenic dewars, which cool down the environment to milli-Kelvin temperatures. Still, random errors creep in.

The teams improved QF protocol used a technique called multiplexingthe simultaneous sending and measuring of many frequencies of photons to speed up communication time and make QF much less susceptible to detector noise. In the lab, they demonstrated this measurement with six frequencies, but in principle it could be thousands, says Qian.

It makes QF a more practical option, she says. We can use off-the-shelf components: run-of-the-mill semiconductor-based single photon detectors, which are orders of magnitude cheaper than superconductor detectors.

Though QF is accessible technology in todays marketplace, quantum communication is hampered by a lack of compatible infrastructure. Quantum signals are fragileand, though they can coexist with the classical signal in our present fibre optic network, they are easily contaminated. Much of the data terminal equipment in the existing network, such as amplifiers, switches and routers, is not suitable for quantum signals.

More research in progress at the joint labs of Qian and Lo needs to be done to bring quantum and classical signals together in the same optical fibre.

Engineering often finds a balance between the practical and the theoretical, says ProfessorDeepa Kundur, chair of the department of electrical and computer engineering.And Professors Qian and Los research is a great example of this. Theyve fine-tuned a cutting-edge protocol with sights firmly set on the future landscape of telecommunications and by doing soare helping to realize it.

When asked what motivated her to work on quantum technologies, Qian points to the uniqueness of quantum properties.

Theyre simply not found anywhere else in nature, she says. Think of how the unique property of laserscoherent light revolutionized optical technologies in a few short decades. I am convinced the quantum properties of photons will do the same.

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Photons Interact with Pairs of Atoms for the First Time Ever | Breakthrough for Quantum Electrodynamics – Tech Times

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Urian B., Tech Times 27 August 2021, 03:08 am

(Photo : Image from Commons.Wikipedia.com) Photons Interact with Pairs of Atoms for the First Time Ever | Breakthrough for Quantum Electrodynamics

Physicists coming from EPFL have finally found a way to be able to get photons to interact with pairs of atoms for the very first time. This particular breakthrough is very important for the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics or QED, a new cutting-edge field leading the way towards quantum technologies.

According to Phys.org, there is still no doubt that they are moving steadily toward an era of technologies that is reportedly based on quantum physics. In order to get there, however, there is still the need to master the ability to make light be able to interact with matter or in more technical terms, photons with atoms.

This has already been achieved to a certain degree giving the scientists the cutting-edge field of cavity quantum electrodynamics or QED, which is already used in quantum networks as well as quantum information processing. Nonetheless, there is still quite a long way to go. A 2014 fiber-optic experiment had two photons interact for the very first time ever.

Current light-matter interactions are supposedly limited to individual atoms, which limits the ability to study them in a particular sort of complex system that is involved in quantum-based technologies. A paper published in Nature noted that researchers from the Jean-Philippe Brantut group at the EPFL's School of Basic Sciences have reportedly found a way in order to get photons to be able to mix with pairs of atoms at certain ultra-low temperatures.

Researchers reportedly used what is most widely known as a Fermi gas, a particular state of matter made of atoms that resembles that of materials' electrons. Brantut explains that in the absence of photons, the gas can reportedly be prepared in a state where atoms interact quite strongly with each other. This would form loosely bound pairs.

Read Also:Penn State's Luminescent Sensor Can Now Detect Terbium, a Rare-Earth Element Used in Solid-State Devices

It was noted that as light is sent onto the gas, some of the pairs can reportedly be turned into chemically bound molecules through absorbing with photons. A particular key concept in this new effect is that it actually happens "coherently." This means that photons can be absorbed in order to turn a pair of atoms directly into a molecule, then emitted back, then finally reabsorbed a number of times.

This would imply that the pair-photon system forms a brand new type of "particle" which is technically an excitation and is called "pair-polariton," according to Brantut. It was noted that this is made possible in their system, where photons are confined in a certain "optical cavity" which is a closed box that forces them to interact strongly with atoms. Scientists have been counting how many protons were produced since the Big Bang.

The particular hybrid pair-polaritons take on a number of properties of photons. This means that they can be measured with certain optical methods. They also reportedly take on some of the properties of the Fermi gas, just like the number of atom pairs that it had originally before the additional photons.

Related Article:'Green Steel,' aka Carbon-Free Steel, Has Come Sooner than Expected

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Q&A: Greater diversity in science could unlock the secrets of the universe – The Boston Globe

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

As for why he wanted to write about his outsider status, he says its precisely because physics has all those unresolved questions. For example: How does gravity work? Dark matter appears to account for most of the stuff in the universe, but what is it? Whats inside the singularity of a black hole? What is consciousness? As Alexander sees it, his field might be getting stuck on subjects like these because it needs more people with diverse backgrounds and interests who are likelier to challenge long-standing assumptions and look at things in new ways.

Who will be the next Einstein of this new frontier? he says. Does the fear of failure, the mysterious, the invisible, the ignored, the stigmatized things often associated with Blackness prevent us from unlocking the secrets of the universe?

This interview with Alexander has been condensed and edited.

In the book you argue that physics should be more receptive to ideas from other disciplines, even from ones that are considered unscientific, like the religious traditions. But you also describe intriguing scientific explorations happening now into some far-out concepts such as nonlocal consciousness which holds, among other things, that even inanimate matter can have something akin to an inner life or awareness. So is the pendulum possibly swinging in the direction youd like to see, with more openness to ideas that would have been dismissed 20, 30 years ago?

What you ask is a hard question. But just from my experience, there has been a shift in the pendulum, because when I was a graduate student, I was a laughingstock.

My first year, all the grad students, we shared this one office and we had to go through a hazing you have to take all these exams and youre all working on problems together in the same room, all 18 of us. And thats where people size up against each other: Whos the smart one, whos the dumb one, who got the lowest score on the exams, whos going to work with the top person, whatever. And they wrote me off as being the dumb guy, because they found these books that I was reading, including Roger Penroses books. [Penrose is a physicist who has contended for decades that consciousness arises from the weird principles of quantum mechanics playing out in the brain.] They wrote me off [they said] that I do pseudo-physics because they found that I was reading these books about physics and consciousness. Now, dont get me wrong, I was also taking the same physics courses that everybody else was taking, but I definitely had these other questions. I guess there was a side of me that was a philosopher as well and an artist.

Back then, Penrose, as brilliant as he was he got a Nobel Prize last year he was a laughingstock too. Neuroscientists said he was a smart guy in physics and math but didnt know what he was talking about [when it came to the brain]. It was because he was an outsider, he was an interloper. Theres a judgment made that youre not worthy enough to even think about this in this field.

There are other ways these judgments are made. If you are, in my case, presumed to be benefiting from affirmative action that got you into grad school, then you would definitely not be the one that should be working on the hard problems.

Anyway, to make a long story short, a few years ago there was a conference somewhere about consciousness and physics. And everybody and their grandfather wanted to be part of this conference. It became more acceptable to talk about it and work on it. Some leaders in the field who normally would have dismissed it embraced it, and then everybody wants to follow the trend because a leader said so.

How can scientists wall off ideas that couldnt possibly be true, like flat-earth stuff, while remaining open to ones that have a chance of being right?

We need to populate the landscape with scientific ideas and see which ones hold water. But to filter an idea out before you even put it on the table its not good for science.

You write that a huge aspect of getting more ideas on the table is to have scientists come from a greater variety of cultural and intellectual backgrounds.

I mean, if we look at the history of some of the great ideas, including the founders of quantum mechanics, they all dabbled and sought out ideas outside of physics. Like [Erwin] Schroedinger: After he discovers quantum mechanics, after he gets a Nobel, all that stuff, he starts writing about What is life? Some people will get the hall pass to be that way maybe a Richard Feynman [a theoretical physicist known for being an eccentric genius]. And a lot of the judgments made, unfortunately, are based on the biases that people have about African Americans. Somebody thats culturally on the inside can act in the same way that I act and theyll say hes a genius. But me, they might say, He doesnt know his physics.

Is this why you still see yourself as an outsider despite being a tenured professor of physics with a great deal of published work and other high-caliber credentials?

I think of this in the tradition of graffiti artists. For them to continue doing great art, at least in their tradition, they had to deliberately keep one foot on the outside as well as one in the art establishment, the art galleries. John Coltrane was like this too. After mastering everything thats in Western tonal harmony, he started embracing Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders [jazz musicians who pioneered free-form techniques].

That tradition of deliberately keeping one foot on the outside and one foot on the inside: Just being a person of color in these spaces will naturally keep me on the outside. But theres a part of me that embraces it and Im proud of it. My point here is to celebrate that, to encourage it. Its not that Im like, Oh, woe is me, but more like: Hey, here are my hidden strengths, because I dont have to prove anything to anybody to be in their club.

Brian Bergstein can be reached at brian.bergstein@globe.com.

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Meet the entrepreneur teaching computers to understand human emotions – CNN

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Egyptian-American computer scientist Rana el Kaliouby wants to change that.

The 43-year-old co-founded her company Affectiva while undertaking a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Specializing in "Emotion AI," a subsect of artificial intelligence, Kaliouby wants to teach computers how to recognize and quantify human emotions.

Technology has created an "empathy crisis," Kaliouby says -- and her mission is to humanize it.

The company has grown from a university spin-out into an international, multi-million dollar enterprise with headquarters in Boston. But Kaliouby maintains close ties with Egypt, and Affectiva employs about 60 people at its Cairo office, including software engineers and machine learning scientists.

Life-saving tech

One area where Kaliouby believes Emotion AI could have life-saving applications is the automotive industry, where driver monitoring systems that use AI-powered cameras in cars could potentially detect driver distraction and drowsiness, preventing accidents.

In May 2021, Affectiva was acquired by Smart Eye, a leader in eye-tracking technology for driver monitoring, and the two companies are now combining their technologies.

There are other applications for cars too, says Kaliouby, including cameras that can view the full cabin to customize the driving experience. "If my baby in the backseat is falling asleep, it can dim the lights, or stop the music; it could change the temperature," she says. "You can personalize the car based on who's in it, what they're doing, and how they're feeling."

Surveillance or safety?

Aware of the many concerns surrounding Emotion AI, Kaliouby says Affectiva has a strict opt-in policy for data collection and transparency around how data is being used and stored.

"Anywhere where people's data privacy considerations are not respected, we're not going to do," says Kaliouby, adding that the company turns down those wanting to use the software for surveillance, security or lie detection.

With 11 million facial responses from 90 countries around the world, Kaliouby says Affectiva is trying to create a diverse database that removes age, gender and racial biases from its system. Affectiva is working on a model which includes facial expression and tone of voice, and accounts for nuances such as culture and context.

In the years to come, Kaliouby hopes Emotion AI can help create a more human, empathetic digital experience.

"The mission is to transform what a human-machine interface looks like, because that's not going to just improve our interactions with technology, but it's going to make our own connections with each other in a digital world so much better," she says.

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Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan will share their vision of our AI-powered future at Disrupt – TechCrunch

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Weve had visionary investors onstage before, and weve had science fiction authors onstage but never at the same time, let alone a pair who collaborated on a unique book of stories and essays that make an optimistic prediction of our AI-infused future. Sinovation founder Kai-Fu Lee and author of Waste Tide and others Chen Qiufan will join us at Disrupt (September 21-23) for a discussion of the fiction and fact of todays hottest technology.

Lee, born in Taiwan, attended CMU and obtained a PhD in computer science, working initially on speech recognition before working for Apple, SGI and Microsoft, then establishing Google China as its president. His research and investment company, Sinovation (originally Innovation Works) has been his focus since its founding in 2009, and he has grown to become a leading mind and influential figure in AI.

When we last spoke with Lee, at Disrupt SF 2018, he emphasized that China was catching up to the U.S. on AI research, and had surpassed it in some ways. And certainly his own investments have contributed to that. Since then, as someone who thinks frequently about what the future holds, he has found a kindred spirit in Chen Qiufan.

Qiufan is a Chinese author whose 2013 novel Waste Tide propelled him to literary fame, though like many authors, that wasnt enough to make him quit his day job until a few years later (Wired only just ran a profile on him). But by that time he had attracted the attention of Lee, who proposed a novel project: a collaborative book where the two would put their heads together to create a fictitious future informed by fact and realistic extrapolation.

The result is AI 2041: 10 stories by Qiufan set in the titular year, all over the world, with people from all walks of life encountering AI in the many ways that the authors speculate it may come to shape society over the next two decades. Each is followed by an explanatory essay by Lee that goes into the technical aspects and why they might lead to that future.

Ill be posting a full review of the book ahead of the event, but I can certainly say that its unlike any collection Ive read before. Each story is independent but takes place in something like a shared world, and each illustrates a potential application, conflict or change in thinking that AI could lead to. And, importantly, the AI is recognizable as descended directly from existing technologies.

For instance, one story concerns a talented deepfake creator working out of Lagos, one who knows the ins and outs of generative adversarial networks, image inspection, media pathways and so on. Hes tasked with creating a video of a long-dead celebrity that fools not just people watching it but the hosting services automated scanners, the governments facial recognition algorithms and all the rest but he begins to suspect theres an unsavory motive behind it all (I wont spoil the rest).

What follows the story is Lees essay on GANs, facial recognition and deepfakes that explains the concepts in an understandable but not patronizing way, then explores the risks and benefits in a non-narrative way. It helps ground the stories as real possibilities, not just imagined situations.

With both Qiufan and Lee onstage (virtually this time), the discussion of the book and the issues it brings up should be a lively one not least because it will be moderated by yours truly. But to catch this session, youll need to grab a pass to attend Disrupt happening September 21-23. Get yours today for less than $100 for a limited time!

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On the Bridge – August 2021 | Penn State University – Penn State News

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

A compilation of recent news, highlights and achievements from the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) community.

IST well represented at IJCAI-21

IST co-authors had eight papers accepted to the 2021 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-21), a premier international gathering of artificial intelligence researchers and practitioners and their presentation of cutting-edge scientific results. Those papers include three by Hadi Hosseini, assistant professor; one by Fenglong Ma, assistant professor; one by Xinyu Xing, assistant professor, along with doctoral students Xian Wu and Wenbo Guo; and three from Zhenhui Jessie Li, former associate professor, along with former IST graduate students Hua Wei, Porter Jenkins, Chacha Chen, and Guanjie Zheng. IJCAI-21 was held virtually Aug. 19-26.

Seven IST papers accepted to KDD2021

IST research was well represented at this years Association for Computing Machinerys Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD), held Aug. 14-18 in Singapore, with seven papers involving IST co-authors accepted to the conference. IST researchers on the accepted papers include Dongwon Lee, professor; Amulya Yadav, PNC Career Development Assistant Professor; Fenglong Ma, assistant professor; Suhang Wang, assistant professor; and doctoral students Enyan Dai, Yiwei Sun, Thai Le and Maryam Tabar. On one paper, Lee, Yadav and Tabar collaborated with experts from PlantVillage, an app developed by Penn State researchers to help farmers diagnose crop diseases and monitor pests. PlantVillage co-authors on Lee, Yadav and Tabars paper include David Hughes, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Global Food Security and PlantVillage; Annalyse Kehs, PlantVillage operations director; Derek Morr, data scientist for PlantVillage; Fei Jiang, postdoctoral researcher; and Jared Gluck and Anchit Goyal, Schreyer Honors Scholars who earned bachelors degrees in computer science this year.

Gamrat selected as an EDUCAUSE expert panelist

Chris Gamrat, instructional designer, was selected from a record number of worldwide applications to serve as an expert panelist for the EDUCAUSE 2022 Teaching and Learning Horizon Report. Comprised of global leaders from across the higher education landscape, the panel offers perspectives on key trends and emerging technologies and practices that shape the future of teaching and learning to be published in the annual report. The report also envisions a number of scenarios and implications for the future. EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the largest community of technology, academic, industry and campus leaders advancing higher education through the use of information technology.

Encyclopedia of AI includes eight entries by IST authors

Frank Ritter, professor, and five members of the Penn State Applied Cognitive Science Lab, have a total of eight entries in the Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence: The Past, Present, and Future of AI. Other authors from the lab include David Schwartz, Raphael Rodriguez and Jacob Oury, doctoral students in the College of IST; Farnaz Tehranchi, doctoral student in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Mat Brener, a post-doctoral scholar in the lab.

Summer 2021 iConnect magazine available online

The summer issue of iConnect magazine, the College of ISTs biannual magazine for alumni and friends of the college, is available to read online. This edition highlights Sara Weston, an alumna who launched a nonprofit to support and empower female emergency dispatchers, and explores ethical challenges facing the technology sphere, as discussed by IST experts. The magazine can be read at ist.psu.edu/iconnect.

On the Bridge highlights accomplishments by faculty, staff, students and alumni of the College of Information Sciences and Technology. Share your news with us and the IST community by emailingwebmarcom@ist.psu.edu.

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Is an expectation that students mask too little, too late? – Inside Higher Ed

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., expects all students and employees to wear masks indoors, no exceptions, it said Tuesday -- the same day that a former department chair published his account of resigning over the universitys lack of a mask mandate.

Yesterday, on the first day of classes for the 21-22 academic year, I resigned from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University after 21 years and a few days because the universitys COVID policies were wrong, Timothy Wilson, former chair of electrical engineering and computer science, wrote on LinkedIn. Embry-Riddle would not allow faculty members to require those in their classrooms and those in their offices to require masks, and the university would not allow faculty with specific concerns about their own or others health to teach remotely.

Feeling back to normal for a brief period in the late spring and early summer was great, Wilson explains in his piece, but the rise of the Delta variant changed things. Embry-Riddles COVID-19 policies, meanwhile, have not changed. Thats a problem, especially at an institution dedicated to science and aviation safety, he said.

Engineering ethics starts with protecting the health, safety and well-being of the public, Wilson wrote. Requiring masks in classrooms and close spaces like offices is a cheap and effective strategy to reduce COVID transmission, as ERAUs experience during the 20-21 academic year demonstrated.

Among other COVID-19 prevention measures, Embry-Riddle required masks last academic year. In a May memo announcing the resumption of normal operations, the university continued to encourage vaccination but said masks were now optional.

Earlier this month, the university made several announcements encouraging masking indoors, especially in classrooms.

It did not announce a mandate, despite pleas from the Faculty Senate and other groups and individuals for it to do so.

Wilson said in his resignation account that hed spoken at an orientation event last week where just about 20percent of attendees wore masks. He said he was also directed to remind a colleague that it was against university policy to say students were expected to mask up in class.

Wilson did have that chat with the colleague, he said, but he was disgusted with myself.

The university says its new policy -- an expectation that students, employees and visitors wear masks indoors -- is not related to Wilsons resignation. It also denies that the policy is a mandate, or that it constitutes any reversal from its prior stance on masking.

Ginger Pinholster, university spokesperson, said Tuesday that Embry-Riddle does not have a mask mandate and did not issue one today. University leadership today made it clear that wearing masks indoors and in aircraft is a cultural expectation at Embry-Riddle, consistent with our strong aviation safety culture.

The university is continuing to partner with our exceptional faculty members to improve safety and uphold our mission of education, Pinholster added.

Embry-Riddle accepts state funds for some programs, but its a private institution. Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, published an executive order against school mask mandates in July. But in announcing an emergency school voucher program for students fleeing school districts that have adopted mask mandates anyway, DeSantiss administration acknowledged that these vouchers can be used both ways -- meaning that vouchers can be used at private schools, which can enforce masks.

Embry-Riddle, whose governing board is chaired by DeSantis donor and adviser Mori Hosseini, has resisted any mandate this year.

Tuesdays message on masks says, From this moment forward, in light of the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Embry-Riddle leadership expects everyone -- whether you are vaccinated or unvaccinated -- to wear a mask over your nose and mouth at all times whenever you are inside any university facility or aircraft.

Sadly, the announcement says, the aeronautical safety-first mindset was not on display during the first day of classes yesterday, and therefore we are making our expectations more explicit: Wear a mask indoors and on the flight deck.

The guidance does not include details on what happens if students, employees or visitors defy this expectation.

Wilson said Tuesday evening that the announcement didnt change his mind about leaving Embry-Riddle, and that hes moving forward.

Asked about his colleagues who remain on campus, who will in many cases be on the front lines of expectation enforcement, Wilson said, Its a crappy position to have to enforce this. And if theres no backup for it, is it really a policy?

Wilson, who was otherwise content at Embry-Riddle, said that he would have expected the institution to put something more data-driven in place. There would have been an empirical aspect of this; they would have been looking at the policy to see what the impact was. And if Delta disappears, he said, we can go back to being vaccinated and not wearing masks.

Wilson clearly saw a disconnect between the universitys science-based mission and its policy decisions. He said in his LinkedIn piece that universities also have a duty to protect their people. As someone who is HIV positive, he said he understands this as well as anyone.

A university should protect its most vulnerable.

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School of Informatics: Tech-focused, career-advancing education – Study International News

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

The University of Edinburgh has a long history of international leadership in computer science (CS) and artificial intelligence (AI). They founded the first AI lab in Europe in 1963 and have been developing groundbreaking research in the area ever since. Their AI and CS degrees were established in the 1970s and continue to this day in the School of Informatics.

This School is world-leading in its research and regularly ranked in the top 25 departments internationally in university rankings. Further attesting to its prowess in CS are its rankings. The University of Edinburgh were ranked 22nd and 26th respectively by both the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 by subject and the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021. They were also ranked 16th in the QS World University Rankings 2022 and 30th in the Times Higher Education University Rankings 2021.

Being at the forefront of research means that both undergraduate and postgraduate students get the opportunity to learn cutting edge science and technology from experts in the field, through a curriculum that is regularly revised to reflect the state of the art and the interests of employers.

The School of Informatics offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses and degrees in Informatics, AI, Cognitive Science, Computer Science and Software Engineering. Source: The University of Edinburgh

The curriculum includes courses as diverse as computational cognitive neuroscience and quantum security, machine learning and natural language processing. This allows each student a wide choice of courses and the opportunity to craft their degree to reflect their interests and career aspirations. The School is home to a vibrant community of staff and students who are drawn from all corners of the globe there are currently more than 100 nationalities represented amongst them. Thus, the School brings together the brightest and best from around the world and creates wide-ranging opportunities for everyone to fulfil their potential.

As a School of Informatics, rather than Computing, they encompass the study of creation, processing, storage and communication of all forms of information, both natural (e.g., DNA, neurons, etc.) and artificial (e.g., computers and communication networks).

Cutting edge research in topics such as robotics, biomedical AI, natural language computing, cyber security and quantum computing are reflected in the courses that are available for third and fourth year undergraduate and masters students, whilst first and second year undergraduates study a range of fundamental topics that support later development in a variety of directions. The Schools lecturers are also passionate about their topics, and many receive nominations in the Edinburgh University Student Association teaching awards, which students nominate.

There are currently more than 100 nationalities represented amongst the students and staff. Source: The University of Edinburgh

In addition to the taught curriculum, students have the opportunity to get involved in a wide range of student societies. The Edinburgh Hoppers, for instance, is a student-run, women and gender minorities in technology group. They organise various events such as workshops, tech talks and socials, often in collaboration with various companies.

Subject-related societies such as CompSoc a diverse community of computer scientists, programmers and people passionate about the IT industry are also available and are run by students of the University of Edinburgh. Student societies promote interactions with industry, including invited talks and CV clinics. The Schools team of dedicated business development executives are on hand to support and advise students interested in creating their own startup.

The School is at the centre of a rich technology ecosystem in Edinburgh, with a number of large industrial collaborators such as Amazon and IBM close by, as well as many startups and SMEs. This ecosystem provides input into the student experience in the School as well as a gateway into employment at the end of degrees.

Calton Hill in Edinburgh is famous for its collection of historic monuments. Source: The University of Edinburgh

The School and the University are situated in the centre of historic Edinburgh, the home of the Seventeenth Century Enlightenment. As the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh combines old and new, in a stunning physical location, offering the best of all worlds. The city hosts numerous festivals each year, including the internationally renowned Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Despite being a capital city, Edinburgh is reasonably compact and easy to get around, with much to offer in terms of culture and experience. Moreover, it is surrounded by the beautiful Scottish countryside, easily accessible by public transport.

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School of Informatics: Tech-focused, career-advancing education - Study International News

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Statisticians put odds of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth into perspective – Harvard Gazette

September 1, 2021 | Author: admin

Even Harry Stamper would probably like these odds.

Recently NASA updated its forecast of the chances that the asteroid Bennu, one of the two most hazardous known objects in our solar system, will hit Earth in the next 300 years. New calculations put the odds at 1 in 1,750, a figure slightly higher than previously thought.

The space agency, which has been tracking the building-sized rock since it was discovered in 1999, revised its prediction based on new tracking data.

Even with the small shift in odds, it seems likely we wont face the kind of scenario featured that in the 1998 science-fiction disaster film Armageddon when Stamper, played by Bruce Willis, and his team had to try to blow up a huge asteroid that was on an extinction-making collision course with the Earth.

(In an unrelated development, NASA plans to launch a mission in November to see whether a spacecraft could hit a sizeable space rock and change its trajectory just in case it ever needs to.)

This begs the question of just how good should we feel about our odds? We put that question to Lucas B. Janson and Morgane Austern, both assistant professors of statistics.

They compared Bennus chances of hitting Earth to the approximate likelihood of:

Bottom line? Janson, an affiliate in computer science, says that if he were a betting man, he would put his money on our being just fine. Then again, he points out, if he is wrong, Paying up would be the least of my worries.

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Statisticians put odds of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth into perspective - Harvard Gazette

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