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Monthly Archives: February 2014

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The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

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    Photo courtesy of Charles Hester, NEH

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States.

Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers.

NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. The grants:

  • strengthen teaching and learning in schools and colleges
  • facilitate research and original scholarship
  • provide opportunities for lifelong learning
  • preserve and provide access to cultural and educational resources
  • strengthen the institutional base of the humanities

Since 1965, the Endowment has opened new worlds of learning for the American public with noteworthy projects such as:

  • Seven thousand books, 16 of which have won Pulitzer Prizes, and 20 of which have received the Bancroft Prize.
  • The Civil War, the landmark documentary by Ken Burns viewed by 38 million Americans
  • The Library of America editions of novels, essays, and poems celebrating America’s literary heritage
  • The United States Newspaper Project, which cataloged and microfilmed 63.3 million pages of historic newspapers, paved the way for the National Digital Newspaper Program and its digital repository, Chronicling America
  • Annual support for 56 states and territories to help support some 56,000 lectures, discussions, exhibitions and other programs each year

What are the humanities?

“The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.”
–National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended

Grant Management

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Man Vs. Machine: Ping Pong Pro To Face Off Against Super Powerful Robot

The future of the human race lies in Timo Boll’s paddle-wielding hands.

By Jordyn Taylor  at betabeat Observer.com

WHO WILL WIN?

In a few weeks, man will face off in an epic battle against machine — in a game of ping pong.

At the beginning of March, robot manufacturing company KUKAWHO WILL WIN? (YouTube) Robotics will open its first plant in Shanghai, China. To celebrate, KUKA has recruited ping pong pro Timo Boll to challenge the company’s fastest robot to a table tennis battle royale, which will ultimately determine whether humans or robots will win the race for world domination. Just kidding. It’ll probably just show that KUKA’s “Agilus” is a really freaking fast-moving and powerful robot.

The showdown will take place during KUKA’s Shanghai Grand Opening festivities on March 11.

“There will be an introduction to the highly skilled KUKA Team, an overview of KUKA products produced in the new plant, and the opportunity to meet table tennis legend Timo Boll,” the event’s official site says. “The capstone will be the thrilling duel between Mr. Boll and KUKA’s lightning-fast Agilus robot. Who will win? Stay tuned to find out!”

To further highlight the significance of the event, the company put together this extremely intense YouTube video, which looks kind of like a trailer for some dystopian version of Balls of Fury wherein Christopher Walken’s character has been transformed into a crazy robot.

Enjoy:

Read more at http://betabeat.com/2014/02/man-vs-machine-ping-pong-pro-to-face-off-against-super-powerful-robot/#ixzz2tktZLpdP
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UCL SECURITY SCIENCE DOCTORAL RESEARCH TRAINING CENTRE

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UCL SECReT is the £17m international centre for PhD training in security and crime science at University College London, the first centre of its kind in Europe. We offer the most comprehensive integrated PhD programme for students wishing to pursue multidisciplinary security or crime-related research degrees. We recruit our doctoral students from a range of scientific backgrounds to pursue research in crime or security domains across the engineering and social sciences. Students can enter through various funding routes (self-funded, industry sponsors, scholarships).

Please click here to register for the SECReT OPEN EVENING or MAILING LIST

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Adopt A Student – become a Student’s mentor/sponsor

If you are a successful and established Research Scientist (RS) and wish to support and encourage Students to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and effectively direct them in the Academic arena and beyond, so to become the future Research Scientists of this world, please register as a Mentor and/or Sponsor.  

What a Student should expect?

If you are a Student (especially an IB one) that wish to become a Research Scientist who seeks all mentoring support (see image at the side) and in certain cases (low income, inability to finance college studies, etc) financial support.

The process

This offer will be publicized through this site, our Linked In group “BRC”, other Linked In groups related to IB students and Researchers and any other media, like school magazines, research magazines, etc

Please click on the corresponding box below.

Mentor  Mentee

 

 

 

 

By clicking below you are able to see the application form of each Mentor.

  • Dr Oliver Diaz – Postdoctoral Researcher – Computer Vision and Robotics – University of Girona, “Advice and guidance in research career decision. Help searching for funded research opportunities” ElectronicMentorApplicationForm OliverDiaz
  • Dr Michael Olive – Principal, SVS COnsulting, “I have a number of skills that may be valuable, including knowledge of a variety of fields of research, including medical engineering. My business development experience and work with start-ups could help in terms of realistically evaluating opportunities developed by young scientists. My writing and editing skills can help with preparing applications, papers, and editing these documents.  ElectronicMentorApplicationForm Michael Olive
  • Susan Spruille – Statistical Consultant, “I have academic and work related training in both biological science and statistics. I believe I can speak both “languages” and therefore I am good at translating between statistics and scientific research. I would like to help younger people be able to do the same.” ElectronicMentorApplicationForm_Spruill
    • Dr Ana Varelo Coelho

PN. This is a service for Individual parties. Our site has no responsibility for any problems may arise.

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A short portrait of the Max Planck Society

max planck“Insight must precede application.” (Max Planck)

The Max Planck Society is Germany’s most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 17 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide. The more than 15,000 publications each year in internationally renowned scientific journals are proof of the outstanding research work conducted at Max Planck Institutes – and many of those articles are among the most-cited publications in the relevant field. What is the basis of this success? The scientific attractiveness of the Max Planck Society is based on its understanding of research: Max Planck Institutes are built up solely around the world’s leading researchers. They themselves define their research subjects and are given the best working conditions, as well as free reign in selecting their staff. This is the core of the Harnack principle, which dates back to Adolph von Harnack, the first president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, which was established in 1911. This principle has been successfully applied for nearly one hundred years. The Max Planck Society continues the tradition of its predecessor institution with this structural principle of the person-centered research organization. The currently 82 Max Planck Institutes conduct basic research in the service of the general public in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Max Planck Institutes focus on research fields that are particularly innovative, or that are especially demanding in terms of funding or time requirements. And their research spectrum is continually evolving: new institutes are established to find answers to seminal, forward-looking scientific questions, while others are closed when, for example, their research field has been widely established at universities. This continuous renewal preserves the scope the Max Planck Society needs to react quickly to pioneering scientific developments.

How to apply for a PhD position in the Max Planck Society

Max Planck Institutes

There is no such thing as “the” Max Planck Institute. In fact, the Max Planck Society operates a number of research institutions in Germany as well as abroad. These Max Planck Institutes are independent and autonomous in the selection and conduct of their research pursuits. To this end, they have their own, internally managed budgets, which can be supplemented by third party project funds. The quality of the research carried out at the institutes must meet the Max Planck Society’s excellence criteria. To ensure that this is the case, the institutes’ research activities undergo regular quality reviews. The Max Planck Institutes carry out basic research in the life sciences, natural sciences and the social and human sciences. It is thus almost impossible to allocate an individual institute to one single research field: conversely, it can be the case that different Max Planck Institutes carry out research in the same subject. To orientate yourself, please choose a research area first, and then a specific research field. The table will list all MPIs meeting your selection criteria.

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Jobs & Studentships

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Start your job search with the 4,409 vacancies on jobs.ac.uk…

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Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA)

BRFAA at a Glance

brfaaThe Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) is a non-profit institute dedicated to understanding, treating, and preventing human ailments through biomedical research. BRFAA seeks to serve science and medicine, and to participate fully in global innovation through its commitment to the true integration of biology, medicine, and informatics.

All faculty members have a track record of academic excellence and joined BRFAA from leading US and European Research and Clinical Centers. Their different expertise complement each other beautifully and result in a powerful scientific team. More than 300 postdoctoral fellows, laboratory technicians, and Ph.D. students work closely with the faculty to unravel the mechanisms behind fundamental human diseases such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, cardiomyopathies etc. The Foundation is also fortunate to have a talented and dedicated administrative staff that supports the research and helps make this complex organization work smoothly and effectively. Everyone at BRFAA is committed to scientific excellence and integrity in all that they do and are dedicated to making a positive impact on improving human quality of life.

Established by the Academy of Athens, the Foundation accommodates state-of-the-art facilities over a 25.000 square meter area for conducting internationally competitive biomedical research. It is equipped with a rich variety of highly specialized scientific equipment. The rigorous research performed at BRFAA has received international recognition and has attracted generous funds from competitive research grants. Yet the most promising endeavor of the Foundation is establishing an institute of academic excellence where basic research and clinical application can come together to better serve human life.

Research Centers

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Stem cell ‘major discovery’ claimed

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

Petri dishes filled with stem cells

Stem cell researchers are heralding a “major scientific discovery”, with the potential to start a new age of personalised medicine. Scientists in Japan showed stem cells can now be made quickly just by dipping blood cells into acid. Stem cells can transform into any tissue and are already being trialled for healing the eye, heart and brain.

The latest development, published in the journal Nature, could make the technology cheaper, faster and safer. The human body is built of cells with a specific role – nerve cells, liver cells, muscle cells – and that role is fixed. However, stem cells can become any other type of cell, and they have become a major field of research in medicine for their potential to regenerate the body. Embryos are one, ethically charged, source of stem cells. Nobel prize winning research also showed that skin cells could be “genetically reprogrammed” to become stem cells (termed induced pluripotent stem cells).

Acid bath

Now a study shows that shocking blood cells with acid could also trigger the transformation into stem cells – this time termed STAP (stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency) cells. Dr Haruko Obokata, from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan, said she was “really surprised” that cells could respond to their environment in this way. She added: “It’s exciting to think about the new possibilities these findings offer us, not only in regenerative medicine, but cancer as well.” The breakthrough was achieved in mouse blood cells, but research is now taking place to achieve the same results with human blood.

Chris Mason, professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, said if it also works in humans then “the age of personalised medicine would have finally arrived.” He told the BBC: “I thought – ‘my God that’s a game changer!’ It’s a very exciting, but surprise, finding.

“It looks a bit too good to be true, but the number of experts who have reviewed and checked this, I’m sure that it is.

“If this works in people as well as it does in mice, it looks faster, cheaper and possibly safer than other cell reprogramming technologies – personalised reprogrammed cell therapies may now be viable.”

For age-related macular degeneration, which causes sight loss, it takes 10 months to go from a patient’s skin sample to a therapy that could be injected into their eye -and at huge cost. Prof Mason said weeks could be knocked off that time which would save money, as would cheaper components.


Dr Haruko Obokata explains how she nearly gave up on the project when fellow researchers didn’t believe what she had found.

‘Revolutionary’

The finding has been described as “remarkable” by the Medical Research Council’s Prof Robin Lovell-Badge and as “a major scientific discovery” by Dr Dusko Ilic, a reader in stem cell science at Kings College London.

Dr Ilic added: “The approach is indeed revolutionary. “It will make a fundamental change in how scientists perceive the interplay of environment and genome.” But he added: “It does not bring stem cell-based therapy closer. We will need to use the same precautions for the cells generated in this way as for the cells isolated from embryos or reprogrammed with a standard method.”

And Prof Lovell-Badge said: “It is going to be a while before the nature of these cells are understood, and whether they might prove to be useful for developing therapies, but the really intriguing thing to discover will be the mechanism underlying how a low pH shock triggers reprogramming – and why it does not happen when we eat lemon or vinegar or drink cola?”