Archive for the ‘education’ Category

Reading List for Grad Students

Writing, presenting, science and PhD related and other computer science books list by Matt Might.

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Ad Hoc Networks

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What happens when your communication network goes into oblivion. Yes oblivion. You’ll need to communicate somehow, right?

"Everything was knocked out," she says. "You had everybody with their devices, but they couldn’t use them. These devices are capable of communicating with other nearby devices, so they’re capable of conveying information across an entire ad hoc network. But there was no ad hoc network set up. There was no software to do that." The "killer app" that would persuade people to open up their phones to direct transmissions from their neighbors may not have emerged yet. But the enthusiasm greeting Apple’s announcement that future versions of the iPhone might be able to serve as wireless base stations suggests that the idea could have market potential. (Source)

TED : Salman Khan

Today in History : Big History Project

High schools in the US and Australia can apply for the 2012-2013 pilot phase of the Big History Project here. Check out the application and good luck.

Everything has a history: each person, plant, animal and object, our planet, and the entire universe.

Each history offers valuable insights. Together, they reveal even more. Big history weaves evidence and insights from many scientific and historical disciplines into a single, accessible origin story - one that explores who we are, how we got here, how we are connected to everything around us, and where we may be heading.

The Big History Project is dedicated to fostering a greater love and capacity for learning among high school students. Started by Bill Gates and David Christian our goal is to get big history taught to as many students around the world as possible.

You and Your Research

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Richard Hamming, transcription of the  Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar  7 March 1986:

Now self-delusion in humans is very, very common. There are enumerable ways of you changing a thing and kidding yourself and making it look some other way. When you ask, "Why didn’t you do such and such," the person has a thousand alibis. If you look at the history of science, usually these days there are 10 people right there ready, and we pay off for the person who is there first. The other nine fellows say, "Well, I had the idea but I didn’t do it and so on and so on." There are so many alibis. Why weren’t you first? Why didn’t you do it right? Don’t try an alibi. Don’t try and kid yourself. You can tell other people all the alibis you want. I don’t mind. But to yourself try to be honest.

If you really want to be a first-class scientist you need to know yourself, your weaknesses, your strengths, and your bad faults, like my egotism. How can you convert a fault to an asset? How can you convert a situation where you haven’t got enough manpower to move into a direction when that’s exactly what you need to do? I say again that I have seen, as I studied the history, the successful scientist changed the viewpoint and what was a defect became an asset.

I claim that some of the reasons why so many people who have greatness within their grasp don’t succeed are: they don’t work on important problems, they don’t become emotionally involved, they don’t try and change what is difficult to some other situation which is easily done but is still important, and they keep giving themselves alibis why they don’t. They keep saying that it is a matter of luck. I’ve told you how easy it is; furthermore I’ve told you how to reform. Therefore, go forth and become great scientists!

.:cs.virginia.edu->

Trade School : Barter for Instruction NYC

Longboard Skateboarding 101 and Mend Your Life: Pragmatic and Expressive Sweater Darning (Class Full) are some of the classes offered for this term, check out the schedule!

Introduction to Human Behavioral Biology

Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky gave the opening lecture of the course entitled Human Behavioral Biology and explains the basic premise of the course and how he aims to avoid categorical thinking.

Higher Education in Texas

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When Gov. Rick Perry challenged the state’s public institutions of higher learning this week to develop bachelor’s degree programs costing no more than $10,000, including textbooks, Mike McKinney was stumped.

"My answer is I have no idea how," McKinney, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, told the Senate Finance Committee. "I’m not going to say that it can’t be done."

Tuition, fees and books for four years average $31,696 at public universities in Texas, according to the Higher Education Coordinating Board. Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College is the cheapest, at $17,532. (Source)

Discovery of Jumping Gene Cluster Tangles Tree of Life

Since the days of Darwin, the "tree of life" has been the preeminent metaphor for the process of evolution, reflecting the gradual branching and changing of individual species.

The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another, however, significantly strengthens the argument that a different metaphor, such as a mosaic, may be more appropriate.

"The fungi are telling us something important about evolution … something we didn't know," saidAAntonis Rokas, assistant professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt. He and research associateAJason Slotreported their discovery in the Jan. 25 issue of the journalACurrent Biology.

.:news.vanderbilt.edu->