Carl Thunberg's Japanese plants to be digitized

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
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Contact: Stefan Ekman
stefan.ekman@em.uu.se
46-184-712-821
Uppsala University

In stiff competition the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University, Sweden, has been granted funding for digitising the Japanese parts of the Thunberg collection. The project will make the valuable plants available to the whole world, online.

It will soon be 350 years since Linnaeus's disciple Carl Thunberg travelled with the Dutch East India Company to Japan, via South Africa, Sri Lanka and Java. In total he collected almost 28,000 plants on his journey, of which 731 were from Japan.

"They represent to a large extent the first description of Japanese plants", says Mats Hjertson, curator at Uppsala University's Museum of Evolution.

The pressed plants are kept in their original sheets of paper, in a specially built room at the Museum of Evolution. Sadly inaccessible to most researchers, since no samples are lent out.

Vinnova, which is the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, and JSPS the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science have now chosen to fund the museum's project to carefully document and digitise the Japanese plants.

The collection consists to a large part of so called type specimens which connect species with their names. But the names used today can differ somewhat from the names decided on by Carl Thunberg towards the end of the 18th century.

"What will happen is that Japanese systematists will come here to study all the Japanese specimens from a modern taxonomic viewpoint. At the same time we will scan them to get high quality digital images", says Stefan Ekman, first curator of the Museum of Evolution.

All the data will then be published in an open database online, available to the whole world.

Previously, anyone who has wanted to study the plants in the collection have had to travel to Uppsala to view them on location, or ask the museum to send lower resolution images taken with a digital camera.

"It is still relatively expensive for Japanese researchers to come here, so this will simplify things tremendously", says Stefan Ekman.

"It is also a question of democracy. You will no longer need the financial backing of a department, you could just as well be a competent amateur", says Mats Hjertson.

The Museum of Evolution's project is one of three that have been granted funding by Vinnova and JSPS, out of 14 applicants. The project will be carried out together with the National Museum of Nature and Science in Japan, beginning in September 2013. The long-term goal is to digitise the whole Thunberg collection.

###

For more information, please contact:

Stefan Ekman, Senior curator at Museum of Evolution, tel: +46 18-471 2821, e-mail: stefan.ekman@em.uu.se Mats Hjertson, Curator at Museum of Evolution, tel: + 46 18-471 2765, +46 70 4250977, e-mail: mats.hjertson@em.uu.se

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Stefan Ekman
stefan.ekman@em.uu.se
46-184-712-821
Uppsala University

In stiff competition the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University, Sweden, has been granted funding for digitising the Japanese parts of the Thunberg collection. The project will make the valuable plants available to the whole world, online.

It will soon be 350 years since Linnaeus's disciple Carl Thunberg travelled with the Dutch East India Company to Japan, via South Africa, Sri Lanka and Java. In total he collected almost 28,000 plants on his journey, of which 731 were from Japan.

"They represent to a large extent the first description of Japanese plants", says Mats Hjertson, curator at Uppsala University's Museum of Evolution.

The pressed plants are kept in their original sheets of paper, in a specially built room at the Museum of Evolution. Sadly inaccessible to most researchers, since no samples are lent out.

Vinnova, which is the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, and JSPS the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science have now chosen to fund the museum's project to carefully document and digitise the Japanese plants.

The collection consists to a large part of so called type specimens which connect species with their names. But the names used today can differ somewhat from the names decided on by Carl Thunberg towards the end of the 18th century.

"What will happen is that Japanese systematists will come here to study all the Japanese specimens from a modern taxonomic viewpoint. At the same time we will scan them to get high quality digital images", says Stefan Ekman, first curator of the Museum of Evolution.

All the data will then be published in an open database online, available to the whole world.

Previously, anyone who has wanted to study the plants in the collection have had to travel to Uppsala to view them on location, or ask the museum to send lower resolution images taken with a digital camera.

"It is still relatively expensive for Japanese researchers to come here, so this will simplify things tremendously", says Stefan Ekman.

"It is also a question of democracy. You will no longer need the financial backing of a department, you could just as well be a competent amateur", says Mats Hjertson.

The Museum of Evolution's project is one of three that have been granted funding by Vinnova and JSPS, out of 14 applicants. The project will be carried out together with the National Museum of Nature and Science in Japan, beginning in September 2013. The long-term goal is to digitise the whole Thunberg collection.

###

For more information, please contact:

Stefan Ekman, Senior curator at Museum of Evolution, tel: +46 18-471 2821, e-mail: stefan.ekman@em.uu.se Mats Hjertson, Curator at Museum of Evolution, tel: + 46 18-471 2765, +46 70 4250977, e-mail: mats.hjertson@em.uu.se

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uu-ctj031113.php

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Tech-savvy Newark Mayor Booker: Government flunking social media (reuters)

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Connecticut massacre records remain secret

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) ? There is no doubt who is responsible for the Newtown school massacre. The shooter is dead and the prosecutor handling the case has said he does not expect any charges.

Yet authorities are continuing to keep search warrants and police records secret. Media outlets have pressed for the release of more records, which could shed light on a crime that has revived the national debate over gun control and could change the way guns are regulated.

The massacre has led to proposals for universal background checks on gun buyers and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. It also prompted reviews of school security and mental health care and led to proposed legislation in Connecticut that would forbid arcades and other establishments from allowing children under 18 to play point-and-shoot video games.

The 20-year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, killed his mother at their home before killing 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14. He killed himself as police arrived.

Prosecutor Stephen Sedensky III successfully argued in December to keep search warrant affidavits and applications related to Lanza's house and the car he drove to the school sealed for 90 days, saying disclosure would jeopardize an ongoing investigation. He said at the time no arrests were anticipated but had not been ruled out.

News media advocates say the records should be unsealed, arguing the public has a right to see such records, which include what was found in the house and car. They say records may be sealed only when an investigation would be hurt by disclosure.

"There seems to be absolutely no reason that they would need to. It's not going to jeopardize the case in any way," said Linda Petersen, chairwoman of the Freedom of Information Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists.

William Fish, an attorney who has represented the news media in high-profile cases that were sealed in Connecticut, also said the sealing does not appear justified since no prosecution is likely. He conceded, however, that "it's not a surprise to me that a court has in fact sealed the records just because it's so horrible."

Newtown police denied requests by The Associated Press for 911 calls and any police reports involving Lanza or his family. State police also declined to release records, citing the pending investigation.

In an editorial last week, The Hartford Courant said such records should be released sooner, not later, since they might answer the public's questions about the murders and could guide legislators making policy decisions in reaction to the crime.

Richard Hanley, graduate journalism director at Quinnipiac University, said he understood the 90-day sealing while the investigation unfolded but said there should be no extension of that sealing.

"This was a case that had a profound impact on people beyond the immediate area and it will have a profound impact on public policy," Hanley said Monday. "It's imperative that the authorities release the full investigative records, the 911 calls and other documents relative to this slaughter, because the overriding interest is the public's right to know."

Sedensky, the prosecutor, noted that authorities have disclosed details about the weapons used in the shooting: a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle was used to kill the children and educators and a handgun to kill himself. He said he advised Newtown officials not to disclose the 911 calls.

Danbury Superior Court Judge John F. Blawie on Dec. 27 granted the 90-day seal on search warrant affidavits and applications after concluding that the state's "interest in continuing nondisclosure substantially outweighs any right to public disclosure at this time."

Sedensky said he has not decided yet whether to seek an extension of the sealing. A police report on the probe may not be ready until the summer, he said.

In denying a request by the AP for police reports and 911 calls, the Newtown Police Department said releasing the documents was prohibited by state law "as information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action." AP's request sought all police calls for service to the Lanza house and to Sandy Hook Elementary School, 911 calls and any police reports involving Lanza and his family.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe has said there were only two calls to the Lanza house several years before the shooting. One was in 2006 in which Lanza's mother Nancy reported someone rang the doorbell and ran off and the other was to report a larceny in 2003 that turned out to be in another jurisdiction, Kehoe said.

Chase Kowalski, 7, was an active boy who was always riding his bicycle (Reuters)

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conn-massacre-records-secret-media-seek-access-194010901.html

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The Jacksons to perform in Mawazine Festival 2013 | Morocco ...

RABAT, March 4, 2013 (MAP)

Legendary and all-time best-selling group, the Jacksons, will take part in Mawazine Music festival held in Rabat in the month of May, ?Maroc-Cultures? association announced Sunday in a statement.

The group will perform May 28, 2013 on the OLM Souissi stage in Rabat, as part of the 12th edition of Festival- Mawazine World Rhythms.

An iconic soul group, The Jacksons, or The Jackson Five as named before, has forever changed the landscape of pop music. Since the 1970s with the success of Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito and their late brother Michael Jackson, the group became a world phenomenon.

Their unique style ? a mixture of soul, pop and funk, and their many hits and incredible performances, made the Jackson Five one of the most beloved bands of all times, the source said.

After nearly three decades, the Jackson brothers got back on stage with their first tour in 2012. The group will perform in Morocco for the first time in its history.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/03/80997/the-jacksons-to-perform-in-mawazine-festival-2013-2/

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Alaska heli-skiing guide killed in mountain accident

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A heli-skiing guide in Alaska was killed when he fell while traversing over the snow with two clients on a mountain peak outside Haines, one of the nation's top heli-skiing destinations, authorities said on Monday.

Christian Arcadio Cabanilla, 34, died in what appeared to be a snow cornice collapse on Sunday afternoon, Alaska State Troopers said. The two clients with him suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were able to summon help.

Cabanilla was a guide with Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures, which described him on its website as an experienced back country snowboard guide and former commercial helicopter pilot who worked for many years in Alaska, Chile and Antarctica. He was also described as an avalanche and wilderness first-aid expert.

The case is being investigated and an autopsy is planned, said Megan Peters, a trooper spokeswoman.

Cabanilla's death came a year after another accident in the Haines area that killed two helicopter skiers. In that accident last March, a guide with a different company, Alaska Heliskiing, and one of his clients died after being buried by an avalanche.

Haines is an increasingly popular destination for skiers willing to pay for helicopter flights to reach new and steep back country terrain. The city of about 2,000 is located at the northern tip of southeast Alaska's Inside Passage and is surrounded by towering peaks in the Chilkat Range.

A year ago, Outside magazine named Haines one of North America's top 10 heli-skiing destinations, citing "big lines that will soil your skivvies" and the opportunity to "nail a first descent."

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/alaska-heli-skiing-guide-killed-mountain-accident-235644531--spt.html

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Student Database Backed By Gates Foundation Jazzes Tech Startups, Spooks Parents

By Stephanie Simon
(Reuters) - An education technology conference this week in Austin, Texas, will clang with bells and whistles as startups eagerly show off their latest wares.
But the most influential new product may be the least flashy: a $100 million database built to chart the academic paths of public school students from kindergarten through high school.
In operation just three months, the database already holds files on millions of children identified by name, address and sometimes social security number. Learning disabilities are documented, test scores recorded, attendance noted. In some cases, the database tracks student hobbies, career goals, attitudes toward school - even homework completion.
Local education officials retain legal control over their students' information. But federal law allows them to share files in their portion of the database with private companies selling educational products and services.
Entrepreneurs can't wait.
"This is going to be a huge win for us," said Jeffrey Olen, a product manager at CompassLearning, which sells education software.
CompassLearning will join two dozen technology companies at this week's SXSWedu conference in demonstrating how they might mine the database to create custom products - educational games for students, lesson plans for teachers, progress reports for principals.
The database is a joint project of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided most of the funding, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and school officials from several states. Amplify Education, a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, built the infrastructure over the past 18 months. When it was ready, the Gates Foundation turned the database over to a newly created nonprofit, inBloom Inc, which will run it.
States and school districts can choose whether they want to input their student records into the system; the service is free for now, though inBloom officials say they will likely start to charge fees in 2015. So far, seven states - Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Massachusetts - have committed to enter data from select school districts. Louisiana and New York will be entering nearly all student records statewide.
"We look at personalized learning as the next big leap forward in education," said Brandon Williams, a director at the Illinois State Board of Education.
IF DATA LEAKS, WHAT REMEDIES?
Federal officials say the database project complies with privacy laws. Schools do not need parental consent to share student records with any "school official" who has a "legitimate educational interest," according to the Department of Education. The department defines "school official" to include private companies hired by the school, so long as they use the data only for the purposes spelled out in their contracts.
The database also gives school administrators full control over student files, so they could choose to share test scores with a vendor but withhold social security numbers or disability records.
That's hardly reassuring to many parents.
"Once this information gets out there, it's going to be abused. There's no doubt in my mind," said Jason France, a father of two in Louisiana.
While inBloom pledges to guard the data tightly, its own privacy policy states that it "cannot guarantee the security of the information stored ... or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted."
Parents from New York and Louisiana have written state officials in protest. So have the Massachusetts chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and Parent-Teacher Association. If student records leak, are hacked or abused, "What are the remedies for parents?" asked Norman Siegel, a civil liberties attorney in New York who has been working with the protestors. "It's very troubling."
VENTURE CAPITAL MAGNET
Fans of the project respond that the files are safer in the database than scattered about school districts. Plus, they say, the potential upside is enormous, with the power to transform classrooms across the U.S.
Does Johnny have trouble converting decimals to fractions? The database will have recorded that - and may have recorded as well that he finds textbooks boring, adores animation and plays baseball after school. Personalized learning software can use that data to serve up a tailor-made math lesson, perhaps an animated game that uses baseball statistics to teach decimals.
Johnny's teacher can watch his development on a "dashboard" that uses bright graphics to map each of her students' progress on dozens, even hundreds, of discrete skills.
"You can start to see what's effective for each particular student," said Adria Moersen, a high school teacher in Colorado who has tested some of the new products.
The sector is undeniably hot; technology startups aimed at K-12 schools attracted more than $425 million in venture capital last year, according to the NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit that focuses on the sector. The investment company GSV Advisors tracked 84 deals in the sector last year, up from 15 in 2007.
In addition to its $100 million investment in the database, the Gates Foundation has pledged $70 million in grants to schools and companies to develop personalized learning tools.
New products regularly come to market, but both educators and entrepreneurs say adoption has been slow because of technical hurdles.
WARNING SYSTEMS TO FORESTALL DROPOUTS?
Schools tend to store different bits of student information in different databases, often with different operating systems. That makes it clunky to integrate new learning apps into classrooms.
At the Rocketship chain of charter schools, for instance, administrators must manually update at least five databases to keep their education software running smoothly when a child transfers from one teacher to another, said Charlie Bufalino, a Rocketship executive.
The extra steps add expense, which limits how many apps a school can buy. And because the data is so fragmented, the private companies don't always get a robust picture of each student's academic performance, much less their personal characteristics.
The new database aims to wipe away those obstacles by integrating all student information - including data that may previously have been stored in paper files or teacher gradebooks - in a single, flexible platform.
Education technology companies can use the same platform to design their software, so their programs will hook into a rich trove of student data if a district or state authorizes access.
That prospect has some companies dreaming big.
Larry Berger, an executive at Amplify Education, says the data could be mined to develop "early warning systems." Perhaps it will turn out, for instance, that most high school dropouts began to struggle with math at age 8. If so, all future 8-year-olds fitting that pattern could be identified and given extra help.
Companies with access to the database will also be able to identify struggling teachers and pinpoint which concepts their students are failing to master. One startup that could benefit: BloomBoard, which sells schools professional development plans customized to each teacher.
The new database "is a godsend for us," said Jason Lange, the chief executive of BloomBoard. "It allows us to collect more data faster, quicker and cheaper."
Whether all this data, and all the programs that use it, will transform education is another question. Most data-driven software has only been tested on a small scale; results are often mixed.
Though he is bullish on the sector, Michael Moe, the chief investment officer at GSV Capital, cautions that there is as yet no proof the new technology will produce "game-changing outcomes" for students - or, for that matter, sterling profits for investors.
Others are more skeptical still.
"The hype in the tech press is that education is an engineering problem that can be fixed by technology," said Frank Catalano of Intrinsic Strategy, a consulting firm focused on education and technology. "To my mind, that's a very naive and destructive view."
(Reporting by Stephanie Simon; editing by Prudence Crowther)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/03/student-database-gates-foundation_n_2800684.html

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