"Many of the claims made in the popular press about this technology have been exaggerated." said Robert Latiff, chair of the committee that wrote the report, president of Latiff Associates, and a former Air Force Major General. "For in-space use, the technology may provide new capabilities, but it will serve as one more tool in the toolbox, not a magic solution to tough space operations and manufacturing problems. However, right now NASA and the Air Force have a tremendous resource in the form of the International Space Station," Latiff added. "Perfecting this technology in space will require human interaction, and the Space Station already provides the infrastructure and the skilled personnel who can enable that to happen."They may be cautiously trying to counter growing opinion that all future space missions will need to do is upload a 3D printer and some extruding plastic rods, and they'll be all set, whereas we haven't yet adequately tested the strength and resistance of materials extruded in low gravity and we still need to focus on being prepared and thinking ahead. How intelligent.
Additive manufacturing is the process of joining materials -- usually layer upon layer -- to make objects from 3-D model data. The addition of material one layer at a time, placed in very specific regions, significantly reduces the amount of waste created during production. Additive manufacturing offers unique economic incentives for space operations by cutting raw material costs, reducing payload sizes, and eliminating the need to frequently launch spare or replacement parts into orbit. Although additive manufacturing is a fairly mature technology for components that can be manufactured on the ground, its application in space is not feasible today, except for very limited and experimental purposes, the report says.
The committee found that multiple limitations preclude fully automated additive manufacturing in space from becoming an immediate reality. The vacuum of space, zero gravity, and intense thermal fluctuations all pose extreme and harsh environmental obstacles. These factors are important not only in terms of completing the manufacturing process but also in how they can alter the integrity of the final product.
Overuse of hyperbole is a pet peeve of mine, but after using iOS 8 for a couple of months, I have to say that they're warranted in this case. iOS 7 was a comprehensive makeover for an operating system that needed to reclaim visual focus and consistency. iOS 7.1 improved stability and speed while addressing the new design's worst shortcomings and most egregious excesses. And iOS 8 is the update that turns its attention from the way everything looks to the way it works.
Just as iOS 6's look had begun to grow stale by the time 2013 rolled around (six years is a pretty good run, though), iOS' restrictions on third-party applications and UI customization now feel outdated. Sure, back in 2007, slow processors and small RAM banks required a strict, Spartan approach to what apps could do and the ways they could interact. But now, our smartphones and tablets have become powerful mini-computers in their own right. Competing platforms like Android, Windows, and Windows Phone have all demonstrated that it's possible to make these little gadgets more computer-y without tanking performance or battery life. ...
Attachmate, the software shop that headhunted Novell and SUSE Linux, is itself being bought out by Micro Focus International.$2.3B is one helluvalotta cash.
The mainframe and COBOL specialist is acquiring Attachmate Group from its parent company Wizard in a deal calculated at $2.3bn before costs.
Micro Focus is taking Attachmate Group in exchange for 86.60 million shares, in a deal described as a merger. The combined companies will create a "leading global infrastructure software company" with revenue of $1.4bn, Micro Focus said. The deal is expected to close in November.
It also represents a "significant increase in the scale and breadth of Micro Focus."
The deal will allow the new company to offer products and services spanning Linux and host connectivity in addition to mainframe modernization and COBOL.
Attachmate gives MicroFocus access to SUSE and Novell, business units bought by the company in 2010 for $2.2bn. Novell owned SUSE Linux, which it had bought in 2003 for $210m. Under Attachmate, the two were broken apart.
As it turns out, growing up on land really does change how a fish walks.
"Fish raised on land walk with a more effective gait," Standen says. "They plant their legs closer to the body's midline, they lift their heads higher, and they slip less during that walking cycle." The fish raised on land were also generally more consistent in the way they walked than their aquatic counterparts. But their behavior wasn't the only thing that changed. For example, "the bones in the pectoral girdle - the bones that support the fins - changed their shape," she says. "And their clavicles became elongated." Most changes that occurred were ones that gave their heads and fins more room to move around.
"It's an important change, because if you think of a terrestrial lifestyle," Standen explains, "you actually need a neck on land because you're stuck on this plane, and you need to have more head motion that's independent from the body."
The conclusion was made in the assessment published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).I'm hoping that means the WMO did the study and the UNEP oversaw it, or funded it, or something. Because the bureaucratic numbnuts at the UN don't belong in science and research.