Hollande: 750 French Troops Deployed in Mali Offensive

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by Naharnet Newsdesk 15 January 2013, 07:22

A total of 750 French troops have joined the offensive against Islamist rebels in Mali where overnight strikes "achieved their goal," French President Francois Hollande said in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

"For now, we have 750 men and the number will increase," said Hollande during a visit to his country's only military base in the region -- Peace Camp in Abu Dhabi. "New strikes overnight achieved their goal," he added.

Source: http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/68360-hollande-750-french-troops-deployed-in-mali-offensive

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Jeffrey Scott Shapiro: A Gun Ban That Misfired (WSJ)

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New post-16 maths course 'needed'

15 January 2013 Last updated at 11:07 ET By Judith Burns BBC News education reporter

A new maths qualification is needed to encourage more students to study the subject after 16, a study suggests.

Post-16 maths would be further boosted if the new qualification was required for jobs or degree courses, argue Nuffield Foundation researchers.

The course, for students who do not take A-level maths, should focus on mathematical fluency, says the study.

Author Prof Jeremy Hodgen said universities and employers should be involved in developing it.

A previous Nuffield study found that fewer than one in five pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland studied maths after the age of 16; the lowest level among 24 countries surveyed.

'Attractive alternative'

In Scotland almost half (48%) of students took maths after 16 but this was still below the average. The figure for Germany and Hong Kong was over 90% while in the US, New Zealand and Singapore it was over 65%.

England's Education Secretary, Michael Gove has set a target that "within a decade the vast majority of pupils are studying mathematics right through to the age of 18".

The new study looks in detail at post-16 maths education in seven countries.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

The Nuffield Foundation is absolutely right that more young people should study maths to 18?

End Quote Elizabeth Truss Education Minister

The authors say that rather than making the qualification compulsory the challenge is to provide a "clear and attractive alternative" for students who achieve good grades in GCSE maths but do not currently go on to study AS or A-level mathematics.

They also recommend that students should study a wider range of subjects, following the example of Singapore where students who study arts or humanities must also take a maths or science subject.

They also argue that the strongest incentive for students to continue with maths is that it is required for employment or higher education.

They want the new qualification to focus on statistics, mathematical modelling of real-life problems and general mathematical fluency. They say research is needed into exactly what mathematical skills employers and universities need school leavers to have.

In addition they endorse proposals to make over-16s in England study GCSE maths until they have achieved at least a C grade.

The Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said "The Nuffield Foundation is absolutely right that more young people should study maths to 18.

"We agree there is a gap in qualifications for students who do not currently study A-level maths and are working with leading professors like Tim Gowers, the Advisory Committee for Mathematics Education and Mathematics in Education and Industry to ensure there are excellent qualifications for those who have a grade C at GCSE and want to take maths further.

"Our reforms will mean that there is higher take-up. This is part of our work towards our goal of everyone studying maths until 18."

Labour said its policy was to make the subject compulsory to 18. The shadow education secretary, Stephen Twigg, said: "Only under Labour's plans would every child study English and maths from the age of five to the age of 18, giving them a firm foundation in the basics."

'Teacher shortage'

Lead author Prof Hodgen, of King's College London, said "Our study shows the importance of a consensual approach to policy development and implementation.

"Higher education and employers will need to be involved in the development of a new qualification if they are to value it and to make it an entry requirement.

"Schools and colleges may need to be incentivised to offer the new qualification to students, as well as to ensure that existing advanced qualifications maintain their levels of participation."

Prof Hodgen also warned that the "critical shortage of mathematics teachers" meant it was "important not to underestimate the timescale necessary for change".

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21026526#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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The Chemistry Of A Solar Airplane - Chemical & Engineering News ...

Watch the Solar Impulse plane in action and learn more about the innovative materials that make it possible.

Credit: Bayer MaterialScience/Solvay/Solar Impulse/C&EN

Sitting in a vast hangar in Payerne, Switzerland, nestled between the Alps and Lake Neuch?tel, is Solar Impulse HB-SIA, its four motors powered only by lithium-ion-polymer batteries charged by solar cells. The airplane?s 63-meter wingspan rivals that of a Boeing 747. But unlike a 747, the upper surfaces of its wings are coated entirely in solar cells. Built with lightweight materials and an innovative design, it weighs about the same as a family car.

Solar Impulse?s Swiss founders and pilots are Bertrand Piccard, 54, a psychiatrist and explorer, and Andr? Borschberg, 60, a former fighter pilot, engineer, and founder of semiconductor technology start-ups. They came up with the notion to build a solar-powered plane in 2003 and since then have convinced corporate sponsors and partners to provide the project with $130 million, including materials and manpower.

In the process of developing and testing the plane, they have inspired many, including the research teams of their chemical company partners, Solvay and Bayer Material?Science, to think more creatively. Bayer and Solvay have reaped a significant public relations benefit from involvement with the project. But more important, company executives say, is the chance to apply what they have learned in other areas, including projects with car companies.

[+]Enlarge

?

HIGHER PLANE

Solar Impulse has successfully completed flights across Europe and from Switzerland to Morocco.

Credit: Jean Revillard/Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse isn?t an aircraft that you will be able to fly on anytime soon. ?It?s not designed to carry people or even freight but as a message that sustainable energy is a viable option for mankind,? Borschberg says.

Flying at an average speed of 44 mph, it has already completed a series of flights across Europe, including one from Payerne to Morocco, and has even flown overnight.

In May the Solar Impulse team plans to freight the one-seat plane to the West Coast of the U.S. and fly it, in three or four legs, to the East Coast. The team also is building Solar Impulse HB-SIB, a stronger version of the plane, in which ?everything is upgraded? so that in 2015 it will be capable of flying around the world, Borschberg tells C&EN.

It was a motivational lecture by Piccard that in 2003 led Solvay to join the project as its founding partner. ?This type of project is unique in the history of Solvay. It?s a project with an idea to make a better world,? says Claude Michel, who heads up Solvay?s Solar Impulse team of about 10 staffers. ?We recognized the value Piccard has in innovation, his pioneering spirit and respect for people and the planet, and we found we had the same set of values.?

Solvay?s contribution to the construction of the plane includes 11 materials used in 25 different applications and more than 6,000 parts. Among its activities, the firm has provided lightweight plastics to replace metals, techniques for improving lithium ion-polymer batteries, and a broad body of materials research and know-how.

Solvay?s Halar brand fluorine copolymer, for example, is being used to encapsulate the plane?s thin photo?voltaic cells. Halar is resistant to ultraviolet radiation, is waterproof, and forms a lightweight film less than 20 ?m thick. Before the Solar Impulse project, Solvay used Halar only for coating materials such as metals, but the firm is now looking at using it across a range of applications, Michel says.

Solvay will have invested $16 million in the project, including a cash contribution and the value of its time and parts, by the time Solar Impulse HB-SIB makes its global flight in 2015. ?It?s a good investment,? Michel says without hesitation.

The benefits to Solvay, he explains, have been multiple: Participation has driven the development of specialty plastics and chemicals across the company, enhanced the image of the firm as a solutions provider, and proven to be a powerful tool to motivate staff. R&D staffers typically don?t see a real-world outcome from their labors. With Solar Impulse, though, they quickly appreciate their role in preparing Solvay materials for the plane, Michel says.

Solar Impulse has had other influences on Solvay?s scientists, not least that they have adapted to the project?s tough time and performance requirements.

[+]Enlarge

?

SHAPING UP

Staffers test a new casing for the cockpit.

Credit: St?phane Gros/Solar Impulse

Meanwhile, working on Solar Impulse has led researchers at Bayer to be more creative in their approach to projects, says Martin Kreuter, a senior marketing manager in the firm?s materials science division.

?The removal of the expectation for commercial success has allowed people to work differently and to get into an open innovation mind-set,? Kreuter says. ?Working with Piccard and his team is inspirational.? About 30 staffers from a range of Bayer departments have contributed to the Solar Impulse project.

Bayer joined Solar Impulse as a financial sponsor and materials partner in 2010. The German company?s contributions include polyurethane foam for the wingtips, motor casings, and cockpit; polycarbonate film for the cockpit window; and adhesive and coating materials used in the cabin and wings.

Bayer has used carbon nanotubes in combination with epoxy to make the spars?the backbones of the wings?and other structural components lighter and stronger.

For the project, Bayer has drawn on its experience in the automotive sector, where weight and performance are also key parameters, explains Kreuter, whose role at the firm involves partnering with car companies. And the materials and techniques Bayer has developed for Solar Impulse, such as lightweight and rigid insulating foam, could be used in cars.

?There are many things that we are developing with Solar Impulse that you might see in an electric vehicle 20 years from now,? says Kreuter, whose office in Leverkusen, Germany, has one wall covered in pictures of futuristic-looking cars. ?Everything we are doing with Solar Impulse has high relevance to our most important sectors including automotive, electronics, and construction.?

In addition to helping reduce the weight of the solar plane, Solvay and Bayer are providing materials that can buffer the extreme temperatures of flight, which without safeguards could range from ?40 to 30 ?C .

To insulate the cockpit and other temperature-sensitive components of the plane, the chemical companies have codeveloped a strong and lightweight insulating foam based on Bayer?s Baytherm Microcell polyurethane and Solvay?s 365mfc fluorinated blowing agent. Owing to pores that are smaller than those in standard foam, the new product provides rigidity and structural strength but remains lightweight. The foam is designed to ensure that the temperature does not drop below 15 ?C for the batteries and below freezing in the cockpit, Michel says.

Still, the conditions pilots experience in the Solar Impulse are extreme enough that they have had to resort to meditation and even self-hypnosis during flights. ?It?s a case of knowing ourselves,? Borschberg says.

To try to make the pilots more comfortable, Solvay has provided a nylon 6,6 fiber for their undergarments. The material incorporates a special filler that helps keep the pilots cool in the heat and warm when it gets cold. The nylon recycles infrared heat back to the surface of the skin when it is cold but also prevents sweating during periods of intense heat. ?We have had to be very clever, open, and curious,? Michel says.

[+]Enlarge

?

PARTNERS

Piccard (left) congratulates Borschberg after a successful test flight.

Credit: Laurent Kaeser/Solar Impulse

The Solar Impulse team of about 80 staffers, excluding headcount from partners and sponsors, has engineering expertise from backgrounds as diverse as Formula 1 racing cars and aeronautics, but it had little experience building airplanes. ?So we were extremely open and entrepreneurial and flexible in our thinking,? Borschberg says. This also meant that the staffers developed an approach that was unrestrained by protocol. Solar Impulse?s designers and engineers cross-fertilized their ideas with those of materials scientists and chemists from Solvay and Bayer, he adds.

Borschberg has been ?extremely impressed? by the way researchers from Solvay and Bayer have engaged in the project, the way they have made resources available, and their culture of supporting the project?s goals. ?The motivation of our partners and the public has helped us keep our energy levels high,? he says.

The project has hit pockets of turbulence, however. In the summer of 2012 development of Solar Impulse HB-SIB was set back when the main spar of the wing failed a load test. ?We had pushed a little bit too hard to reduce weight. We were just on the other side of the limit,? Borschberg says. The Solar Impulse team has since modified the design, but the glitch set back the attempt to circumnavigate the world by more than a year.

Although someone with Piccard?s background in psychiatry and exploring may be an unusual partner for a chemical company, it is not the first time that the Piccard family and Solvay have worked together.

In 1911 Solvay founded the Conseil de Physique Solvay, a regular gathering of Europe?s finest scientific minds to develop solutions to the scientific problems of the day. A regular attendee was Auguste Piccard, Bertrand?s grandfather, a professor of physics at the Free University of Brussels and a balloonist who became the first man to view the curvature of Earth. Other participants included Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

The goal of the Conseil de Physique was to advance the scientific thinking of the day. And the Solar Impulse project has already influenced Solvay and Bayer to think differently. Piccard and Borschberg hope to have shared their message about the possibilities for innovation and renewable energy with an even wider audience by the time they circumnavigate the world in 2015.

Source: http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i2/Chemistry-Solar-Airplane.html

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Presidential Stepparents - Blended Family Moments

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Source: http://www.blendedfamilymoments.com/2013/01/presidential-stepparents-8-stepparents.html

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Penguin Canada is now friends with Kirsten Cave

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Microsoft's OEMs focus on Windows 8, but the future is Surface

Samsung cancels US Windows RT tablet plans
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/12/13 22:53 UTC
Well, this can't be a good sign. Samsung has told CNET that the company will not be launching its Windows RT tablet in the United States, citing a lack of demand and consumer confusion. After I spent an afternoon in my country's largest electronics retailer, it's hard not to agree with Samsung. 7??Read More ? 47 Comment(s)

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'Safari is released to the world' Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/11/13 17:28 UTC After relying on third parties for several years - Internet Explorer, Netscape - Apple decided that it was time to take matters into its own hands. It was time Apple created its own browser (again). And so, Safari was born, and released unto the world ten years ago. These past few weeks, Don Melton, the project lead for Safari and WebKit, has been sharing a lot of interesting stories about the origins and development of Apple's browser. 4??Read More ? 24 Comment(s)

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Nokia sold 4.4 million Lumias in Q4 2012 Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/10/13 17:10 UTC Nokia has just sent out a few preliminary comments about the company's performance during the fourth quarter of 2012. Nokia's figures are a good indicator for how well Windows Phone 8 is doing, and, in all honesty, I'm not exactly blown away. Apparently, neither was Nokia itself, since the company decided to redefine their Asha phones from feature phone to smartphone to prop up their smartphone sales figures. 0??Read More ? 78 Comment(s)

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Windows RT jailbreak: let the games begin Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/08/13 23:27 UTC So, a rudimentary jailbreak for Windows RT made its way onto the web these past few days. Open source applications were ported right away, and it was confirmed that Windows RT is the full Windows - it's exactly the same as regular Windows, except that it runs on ARM. Microsoft responded to the jailbreak as well. 2??Read More ? 95 Comment(s)

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Google blocks Windows Phone from Maps, limits Gmail Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/05/13 14:53 UTC And so this situation is starting to get ridiculous - and consumers are, as usual, caught in the middle of it all. Google has just blocked Windows Phone devices from accessing Google Maps on their phones. In addition, it also seems Windows Phone users are now restricted to the basic HTML version of the mobile GMail website. While understandable from a defensive perspective - Microsoft's extortion scheme targeting Android device makers and all that - it's still a massive dick move that only hurts consumers. Update: the media attention has worked - Google is backpedalling, and will remove the redirect. "We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that’s why there is no redirect for those users. Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users." 3??Read More ? 247 Comment(s)

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Icaros Desktop 1.5 released Linked by paolone on 01/04/13 20:56 UTC Icaros Desktop, the popular distribution of the AROS Research Operating System, has recently released its version 1.5, a new milestone since it finally allows to run classic Amiga software and games on full screen or perfectly integrating them into the host AROS desktop. 6??Read More ? 36 Comment(s)

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Shocker: Android SDK binaries still proprietary Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/04/13 18:29 UTC A blog post on the Free Software Foundation Europe site is making the rounds around the web. The blog post, written by Torsten Grote, claims that 'the Android SDK is now proprietary', because upon download, you have to agree to terms and conditions which are clearly not compatible with free and/or open source software. What Grote fails to mention - one, these terms have mostly always been here, and two, they only apply to the SDK binaries. The source is still freely available. 1??Read More ? 19 Comment(s)

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Canonical unveils Ubuntu for phones Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/02/13 19:05 UTC Expected, but still insanely cool: Canonical has just announced Ubuntu for phones. This is a new mobile phone operating system, with its own user interface and development platform. It's built around Qt5 and QML, and the interface reminds me of MeeGo on the N9. It's supposed to be on the shelves in early 2014, but the developer preview is out today. 20??Read More ? 120 Comment(s)

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Ode to Skulpture Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/01/13 18:19 UTC I tend to believe that the best interfaces have already been made. Behaviourally, CDE is the best and most consistent interface ever made. It looked like ass, but it always did exactly as you told it to, and it never did anything unexpected. When it comes to looks, however, the gold standard comes from an entirely different corner - Apple's Platinum and QNX' PhotonUI. Between all the transparency, flat-because-it's-hip, and stitched leather violence of the past few years, one specific KDE theme stood alone in bringing the best of '90s UI design into the 21st century, and updating it to give everything else a run for its money. This is an ode to Christoph Feck's Skulpture. 6??Read More ? 50 Comment(s)

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Quick Guide to Fixing Hardware Linked by Howard Fosdick on 12/31/12 20:26 UTC Last month, I explained why I use generic desktops and laptops running open source software. They're reliable and inexpensive. But this presumes you can fix them. I believe that even those with no hardware training (like me), can identify and fix most hardware problems. To prove it, here's a quick guide. Feel free to add whatever I've missed. 6??Read More ? 34 Comment(s)

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Source: http://osnews.com/story/26695/Microsoft_s_OEMs_focus_on_Windows_8_but_the_future_is_Surface

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