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NotSanguine writes:

Reuters is reporting on "map" of the Human "epigenome" from the Roadmap Epigenomics Program.

The map, published in the Journal Nature (along with a raft of other, related papers) on February 19, 2015 could have powerful impacts on the assessing the risks for, and treatment of, disease.

From the Reuters article:

Researchers unveiled the map of the "epigenome" in the journal Nature on Wednesday, alongside nearly two dozen related papers. The mapping effort is being carried out under a 10-year, $240 million U.S. government research program, the Roadmap Epigenomics Program, which was launched in 2008.

The human genome is the blueprint for building an individual person. The epigenome can be thought of as the cross-outs and underlinings of that blueprint: if someone's genome contains DNA associated with cancer but that DNA is "crossed out" by molecules in the epigenome, for instance, the DNA is unlikely to lead to cancer. [Emphasis added]

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Jo-Lee Manning says her stepdad got a ticket on the Florida Turnpike in January for not stopping at a toll booth. That's news because he died in 1995. "Well, he's still responsible," said the bureaucrat who answered Manning's phone call. According to the report, the Florida DOT says the error rate of its plate-scanning cameras is just .007%, but since they apparently give out 300,000 tickets every day, that's 21 wrongful charges per day.

tonyPick writes:

Up on ACM queue is an article by Bertrand Meyer on the difficulties of feature-based development, and the implications for Agile development methods.

Meyer is probably best known to programmers as the author of the programming language Eiffel and his writings on object oriented architectures. He has also written on agile development methods in detail — the article is based on a chapter from his book.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Peter T. Kilborn writes in The New York Times about the generation of the baby boomer programmers, engineers, and technical people who are now leaving the bosses, bureaucracies, commutes and time clocks of their workaday careers to tackle something consuming and new, whether for material reward or none at all. “Retirement gives them the opportunity to flex their experience,” says Dr. William Winn speaking of a postchildhood, postfamily-rearing, “third age” of “productive aging” and “positive aging.” Nancy K. Schlossberg calls men and women who exploit the skills of their old jobs “continuers" and those who take up something new “adventurers.” Continuers and adventurers make up the vigorous end of Dr. Schlossberg’s retirement spectrum, opposite those she calls “retreaters” who disengage from life and “spectators” who just watch.

For example, 75-year-old Seth R. Goldstein, with four degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from MIT and retired for thirteen years, still calls himself an engineer. But where he was previously a biomedical engineer with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda with 12 patents, he now makes kinetic sculptures in his basement workshop that lack any commercial or functional utility. But his work, some of which is on display at the Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore, has purpose. Goldstein is pushing the envelope of engineering and hoping to stir the imaginations of young engineers to push their own envelopes. For example "Why Knot?” a sculpture Goldstein constructed, uses 10 electric motors to drive 10 mechanisms to construct a four-in-hand knot on a necktie that it wraps around its own neck. Grasping, pulling, aligning and winding the lengths of the tie, Mr. Knot can detect the occasional misstep or tear, untie the knot and get it right. Unlike Rube Goldberg’s whimsical contraptions, Mr. Goldstein’s is no mere cartoon. It works, if only for Mr. Knot.

According to Kilborn, people like Goldstein don't fit the traditional definition of retirement, which according to Webster's Dictionary means the "withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from active working life." Retirement implies that you're just leaving something; it doesn't reflect that you're going to something," says Schlossberg. "But it is really a career change. You are leaving something that has been your primary involvement, and you are moving to something else."

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Citing a report from the Gartner Group estimating $100 billion in intellectual property losses within five years, Joshua Greenbaum warns of "the threat of a major surge in counterfeiting" as cheap 3-D printers get more sophisticated materials. Writing for Wired, Greenbaum argues that preventing counterfeiting "promises to be a growth market," and suggests that besides updating IP laws, possible solutions include nanomaterials for "watermarking" authentic copies or the regulation of printing materials. Major retailers like Amazon are already offering 3-D print-on-demand products — though right now their selection is mostly limited to novelties like customized bobbleheads and Christmas ornaments shaped like cannabis leaves.

AnonTechie writes:

In 2008, half of new-car buyers in the U.S. bought vehicles that were rated at less than 20 mpg. Today, just over a quarter do so.

Building on research that shows average fuel economy has improved 4.5 mpg between model years 2008 and 2014, University of Michigan researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle document sales-weighted distributions for the same model year vehicles (cars, pickup trucks, vans and SUVs). Their new report found that improvements are present throughout the distributions of vehicle fuel economy.

About 24 percent of consumers bought new 2008 vehicles with fuel economy between 11 mpg and 17 mpg, and 26 percent purchased vehicles with mpg between 17 and 20. Six years later, less than 9 percent of car buyers bought a new 2014 model with fuel economy less than 17 mpg. Another 19 percent drove new cars that averaged between 17 mpg and 20 mpg.

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-gas-guzzlers-decline.html

Hugh Pickens writes:

Rachel Nuwer writes in the New York Times that Dr. Sameer Chaudhry’s online dating persona was garnering no response from the women he reached out to so he synthesized 86 literature studies on the subject of online dating in the fields of psychology, sociology, and computer, behavioral, and neurocognitive sciences.in hopes of improving his odds. As it turns out, success begins with picking a user name. While men are drawn to names linked to physical traits (e.g., Cutie), the researchers found, women prefer ones that indicate intelligence (e.g., Cultured). Both sexes respond well to playful names (e.g. Fun2bwith) and shy away from ones with negative connotations (e.g., Bugg).

User names that begin with letters from the first half of the alphabet do better than those from the latter half. “As human beings, we have a tendency to give things at the top of a pile more value,” says Khan. As for your profile photo, pick a photo with a genuine smile, one that crinkles the eyes, and with a slight head tilt (it’s linked to attractiveness). And if you’re looking for a male partner, go for that photo of you in siren red—a color that enhances men's attraction to women.

"For those attracted to browse into the profile, a description of personal traits increased likeability when it: showed who the dater was and what they were looking for in a 70:30 ratio; stayed close to reality; and employed simple language with humor added. Invitations were most successful in obtaining a response from the potential date when they: were short personalized messages addressing a trait in their profile; rhymed with their screen name or headline message; and extended genuine compliments." And finally, don't wait too long before arranging a face to face meeting.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

A gamer and a graphic artist at the costumers site HalloweenCostumes.com teamed up to create a mashup of the animated character Lara Croft through nineteen years of the Tomb Raider video game series; they realized it also illustrated the unfolding of Moore's Law on console and PC video hardware more convincingly than the usual logarithmic-scale bar and line charts.

When the series started in the mid-90s, the small number of polygons and simple shading models used to render the character were painfully obvious. Contrast that with the nearly lifelike renderings of Lara from the 2013 and 2014 editions, which take advantage of orders of magnitude more capable hardware to employ sophisticated modeling and rendering techniques, not to mention gameplay.

More verbose histories of Tomb Raider can be found here (2008), here (2011) and here (2013).

kaszz writes:

The audit of TrueCrypt has been updated on Feb 18, 2015 when Matthew [Green, who is one of those conducting the audit] posted an update on the Phase II cryptanalysis. From his blog:

A few weeks ago we signed a contract with the newly formed NCC Group's Cryptography Services practice (which grew out of iSEC, Matasano and Intrepidus Group). The project will evaluate the original Truecrypt 7.1a which serves as a baseline for the newer forks, and it will begin shortly. However to minimize price -- and make your donations stretch farther -- we allowed the start date to be a bit flexible, which is why we don't have results yet.

In our copious spare time we've also been looking manually at some portions of the code, including the Truecrypt RNG and other parts of the cryptographic implementation. This will hopefully complement the NCC/iSEC work and offer a bit more confidence in the implementation.

I don't really have much more to say -- except to thank all of the donors for their contributions and their patience. This project has been a bit slower than any of us would like, but results are coming. Personally, my hope is that they'll be completely boring.

Quite a twist that the related sites doesn't support https.

Ignacio Agulló writes:

Once every year, the Open Knowledge Foundation organizes Open Data Day. This ICT celebration is dedicated to promote free, publicly available data. As defined in the Open Definition, “Open data and content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose”. Also, the OKF defines the key features of openness as:

• Availability and access: the data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.
• Reuse and redistribution: the data must be provided under terms that permit reuse and redistribution including the intermixing with other datasets. The data must be machine-readable.
• Universal participation: everyone must be able to use, reuse and redistribute — there should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. For example, ‘non-commercial’ restrictions that would prevent ‘commercial’ use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), are not allowed.

A list of public events all over the world for you to attend is available - that is, if you can make yourself publicly available...

AnonTechie writes:

You’ve heard of the so-called CSI effect – the manner in which the exaggerated portrayal of forensic science on crime television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation influences public perception.

As a researcher in forensic science education, I don’t think this effect is exaggerated. On the contrary, I would argue that, since the second half of the 20th century, public interest towards science has been hugely impacted by the media and TV shows. Much worse, I would argue that we, as educators, may be heavily relying on this.

For the last few years, forensic scientists and members of the judiciary have shared anecdotes about jury members being astonished if there was no forensic evidence (particularly DNA) presented in a case – even if the case does not require such evidence – because that’s what they’ve become used to seeing on TV.

http://theconversation.com/get-real-forensic-scientists-the-csi-effect-is-waning-13260

Would you agree ?

Hugh Pickens writes:

Reuters reports that the US Department of Homeland Security has advised Lenovo customers to remove "Superfish" software from their computers. According to an alert released through its National Cyber Awareness System, the software makes users vulnerable to SSL spoofing and could allow a remote attacker to read encrypted web browser traffic, spoof websites, and perform other attacks on Lenovo PCs with the software installed.

Lenovo inititally said it stopped shipping the software because of complaints about features, not a security vulnerability. "We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns," the company said in a statement to Reuters early on Thursday. On Friday, Lenovo spokesman Brion Tingler said the company's initial findings were flawed and that it was now advising customers to remove the software and providing instructions for uninstalling "Superfish". "We should have known about this sooner," Tingler said in an email. "And if we could go back, we never would have installed this software on our machines. But we can't, so we are dealing with this head on."

[Editor's Note: For background information on this threat, Ars Technica has coverage here, here, here, and here.]

An Anonymous Coward writes:

"The room is totally covered in foam wedges, pointing inwards, the floor a metal grate suspended over them. It’s both archaic and otherworldly, a retro-futurist scene in dull brown. As Dance pulls the door shut behind us, the atmosphere deadens. Any sound waves are deflected by the multifaceted foam and are effectively sucked into the walls. It’s an oppressive sensation; much of our spatial awareness is defined by echo-location, and even with my eyes open the disorientation is irrefutable. We agree that I’ll stay in the chamber for an hour with the lights out, to divulge myself of extra sensory distractions. I lie down on slabs of foam laid out as a makeshift bed; the academics pile out, and the technician pulls the door shut and flicks out the light."

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/inside-a-room-built-for-total-silence

"gewg_" writes:

AlterNet reports

Walmart has a long and storied (and well-earned) reputation for shortchanging its employees. That may change slightly following the corporate behemoth's announcement [February 19] that it will be raising the pay of about half a million of its employees.

Business Insider notes

By April, all hourly Wal-Mart employees will make at least $9 an hour.
By next February, all hourly Wal-Mart employees will make at least $10 an hour.

In a letter to employees sent [February 19], Walmart CEO Doug McMillon added:

"We're also strengthening our department manager roles and will raise the starting wage for some of these positions to at least $13 an hour this summer and at least $15 an hour early next year."

[Editor's note: From the Form 10-K filing and its usage on the company blog, it appears that the company refers to itself as both "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc." and as "Walmart".]

frojack writes:

Some time ago we discussed negative interest rates here on Soylent News. At that time there was some discussion of deflation and why it is such a mixed bag for consumers, companies, and countries.

The Economist has an article that explains deflation rather succinctly.

It turns out that deflation is bad because we are all so burdened with Debt. Not only personal debt, but corporate debt, and national debts. You end up paying debts with money that is more and more dear as time goes on.

Deflation poses several risks, some well-understood, one not. One familiar danger is that consumers will put off spending in the expectation that things will get even cheaper, further muting demand. Likewise, if prices fall across an economy but wages do not, then firms’ margins will be squeezed and employment will stagnate or decline. (Neither of these dangers is yet visible; indeed, America and Britain are seeing strong employment growth.) A third, well-known risk is debt deflation: debts become more onerous because the amount that is owed does not fall, even as earnings do. This is a big worry in the euro zone, where many banks are already stuffed with dud loans.

But in addition, all tools of Monetary Policy become useless.

The least-understood danger is also the most serious, because it is already here. Deflation makes it harder to loosen monetary policy. All of which means that policymakers risk having precious little room for manoeuvre when the next recession hits.

While some have been eager to see monetary policy reigned in, we did see the effects of this during the height of the recent depression, (which some claim we are still suffering from).

The US Federal Reserve had run out points it could cut when lending money to large banks. There were periods in 2010 where the Fed was lending money to banks at Zero Interest Rate. The link explains a number of serious risks with this policy.