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China: Tsinghua University unveils research center on big data intelligence

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Asia/China/Author: Xinhua/Source: spanish.xinhuanet.com

China’s prestigious Tsinghua University has unveiled its Big Data Intelligence Research Center as part of efforts to push forward the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

The research center, which is coordinated by the university’s Institute of Artificial Intelligence, will focus on the improvement of AI’s theoretical research and big data computing method. Through the interdisciplinary research of data science, cognitive science and social science, the center aims to develop a new generation of people-oriented big data intelligent computing.

Zhang Bo, director of Tsinghua’s Institute of Artificial Intelligence, said the center will improve basic theoretical research of data intelligence as well as promoting integration with industries and fostering international cooperation.

You Zheng, vice president of Tsinghua University, said the center hopes to pool wisdom in AI research and generate theoretical achievements with international influence, contributing to China’s AI development.

Information reference: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-09/25/c_138421861.htm

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Poland: Scientists find microplastics in air of southern Polish city

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Europe/Poland/06-10-2019/Editor: xuxin/Souce: www.xinhuanet.com

Scientists from the southern Polish city of Krakow have found microplastics in the air of the city during winter, Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Monday.

The scientists from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow collected various air pollutants present on the roof of the Pedagogical Faculty in the city and analyzed the components.

They told PAP that they were surprised by the amount of microplastics they found together with dust pollution. They said they identified microplastics in the form of fibers and lumps and were still working on determining the exact composition.

«Currently, plastic products are made from thousands of types of synthetic polymeres. For now, we have not performed a detailed analysis of their composition. Tests, however, have shown that the fragments found by us are mostly plastics, so small fragments of man-made objects,» Kinga Jarosz, one of the scientists from the Jagiellonian University who did the research, told PAP.

As microplastics are found to be present in more places on earth, such as air, water and ice among others, scientists remain unsure of the effects of their inhalation or ingestion on human health.

Information Reference: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/01/c_138437894.htm

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Colleges and State Laws Are Clamping Down on Fraternities

Kyle Spencer

By Kyle Spencer

Fraternity members at Louisiana State University adhere to age-old rituals, shrouded in secrecy, that dictate how they gather, greet each other and initiate their young pledges.

But when they return to campus in the fall, one ritual will be drastically different: They will face much more severe consequences for dangerous hazing incidents.

In May, eight months after the death of Maxwell Gruver, a freshman pledge at the university’s now banished Phi Delta Theta fraternity chapter, Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana signed into law an anti-hazing bill that would make it a felony for those involved in hazing that resulted in death, serious bodily harm, or life-threatening levels of alcohol. And students found guilty could land in a Louisiana jail for up to five years.

The new law represents an important departure for Louisiana, which once had some of the most lenient anti-hazing laws in the nation. But it also reflects renewed efforts around the country — in state legislatures, inside courthouses and on campuses — to prevent the hazing injuries and deaths that have plagued college campuses for decades.

“Realistically, the answer is regulation and reform,” John Hechinger, the author of “True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America’s Fraternities,” said during a panel on Greek life last week at The New York Times Higher Ed Leaders Forum. “That is really the only possibility.”

There has been at least one school-related hazing death each year in the United States since 1961, according to Hank Nuwer, a Franklin College journalism professor and the author of multiple books on hazing. Most, but not all, have occurred during fraternity initiation events.

But in 2017, four students, including Mr. Gruver at L.S.U., Tim Piazza, a 19-year-old at Pennsylvania State University and Andrew Coffey, a 20-year-old at Florida State University, lost their lives in hazing-relating incidents. Mr. Coffey died on a fraternity house couch after drinking an entire bottle of bourbon during Big Brother Night. In each case, multiple students were charged.

This fall, Penn State President Eric J. Barron, who appeared on the panel with Mr. Hechinger, said that the incident on his campus had been a “horrible tragedy,” but one that had spurred new interest in reform.

This past year, Dr. Barron banned 13 organizations from his campus and instituted 15 reforms, including switching disciplinary oversight of the institutions from a Greek governing council to university administrators, requiring newcomers to take a pledge about their actions inside their organizations and deferring the initiation process for freshmen until later on in the school year, so they can develop new friends and interests before being faced with hazing.

This winter, officials at Florida State University started a hazing education initiative and increased staff members charged with monitoring Greek life. And at Louisiana State, President F. King Alexander proposed 28 reforms, including a requirement that chapters hire house managers.

College administrators are also beginning to look at the problem collectively. At a meeting in Chicago this spring, representatives from 31 colleges and universities explored ways to garner more cooperation from national Greek organizations, which can resist university oversight.

Dr. Barron is pushing an online safety database that will record incidents at chapters around the country, indicate which institutions are doing exemplary work in their communities and which are experiencing alarming trends.

Penn State and many other universities already have, or are instituting, their own report cards.

The high profile nature of the cases is also impacting state capitals. Pennsylvania, like Louisiana, is expected to soon pass an anti-hazing law that would make death by hazing a felony.

New Mexico has also been exploring the idea.

In Tennessee, state representative John DeBerry Jr. floated a bill that would ban fraternities altogether in the state.

Mr. Hechinger says fighting to make fraternities safer is probably a better use of critics’ energy, as it is unlikely that fraternities will be banned on public campuses where they are powerful.

“If we were going to create a higher education system from scratch, would we have organizations that year after year kill a student? Probably not,” he said at the conference. “But they are very ensconced in higher education, and if you try to do some kind of ban, which is often what people are asking, you run the risk of underground behavior.”

Source of the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/education/learning/colleges-fraternities-laws.html

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Grantham Journal column: Further education at college gives students better independiente

Jay Abeysekera

By: Jay Abeysekera

With so many options for teens to choose from when it comes to picking an education provider after GCSEs, it makes it harder to decide which is best. Everyone wants their teen to be happy, as well as making sure they’ve made the right choice educationally. From the teen’s perspective, high on the priority list is where their friends are and having independence.

Having experienced education at both a grammar school sixth form and college myself, I am able to tell the vast difference between them both; from not wearing uniform anymore or calling the tutors by their first name to managing my own time and gaining independence and freedom in an adult environment. All of the above contribute to the experience, success and the enjoyment of your education. Finding the best combination for you is what’s difficult.
One of the main differences between a school sixth form and college is the timetable. At school, every moment is usually accounted for with the occasional free period. At college, the scheduled hours in class are much lower but you are, of course, expected to continue with your work outside of the contact hours.
A college will offer you a different learning environment to that offered at a sixth form which is one of the reasons why many students choose college after finishing their GCSEs. Colleges usually offer more vocational subjects, have a wider range of courses and have other paths to take such as BTECs, apprenticeships and distance learning.
At school, every class has students of similar age, whereas at college, you could be studying with anyone from age 16+ and your classmates may have come from different parts of the county or even the country. All will have different stories to tell and different backgrounds and life experiences which makes the new beginning even more exciting.
Perhaps an old-fashioned, but nevertheless still useful, way of deciding for or against something is writing a pros and cons list. What are the benefits of studying at college over a local sixth form? To make your decision easier, ask questions at any opportunity you get; at your interview or at open days. Ask friends and family what their experiences and views are, speak to a careers advisor and ask current students what they think as they will give you the most honest answers. By finding out about student life, pass rates and more detailed course information, it will help you make the right decision about your future in education post-GCSEs.

Source:
http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/grantham-journal-column-further-education-at-college-gives-students-better-independence-1-8141590
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Ghana: Supervision key to performance in public schools

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Ghana/August 8, 2017/By: ghananewsagency.com/ Source: https://www.ghanamma.com

Mr Stephen Abarika, the Eastern Regional President of the Girls Education Network (GEN), says supervision and monitoring in public schools are key to improving standards and performance of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE)

He therefore asked all stakeholders especially circuit supervisors of the Ghana Education Service (GES), community leaders, chiefs and elders, schools management committees (SMCs)to upscale their role to ensure that the expected outcomes in the investment of education especially at the basic level was fully realised.

Speaking at the maiden meeting of the GEN, to map up strategies in improving girl- child education, he observed that with strong supervision from all stakeholders’ public schools including girl’s education would be improved.

Mr Abarika, who is also the project officer of AG Care, Ghana, a social and relief organisation of the Assemblies of God Church, said monitoring and evaluation had led to sustainable change in entry, retention, completion and transition of learners in some schools in the Suhum Municipality by AG-Care.

He observed that, the institution of the GEN network indicated that there was a problem with girl- child education, be it enrolment, retention and transition to the next level, apart from the basic level.

He called on partners working towards the girl- child education to step up grassroots stakeholder participation.

The GEN is a Network of NGOs working in the interest of promoting girl -child education in the Region.

It consists of AG-Care, Action Aid, and College for Ama, FLOWER, CRESCCENT, International Child Development Programme, World Vision, Plan International, World Joy and the Girls Education Unit of the GES among other organisations.

Among the objectives of the GEN is to use a common strategy and platform to address issues such as teenage pregnancies, early marriages, poverty and other challenges that militate the enrolment, retention and transition of the girl- child in having a sound education for empowerment.

Teenage pregnancy, remains one of the huge challenges confronting girl -child education in the Region.

According to Ghana Health Service report in 2013, more than 12,000 girls of school going age were recorded pregnant and therefore dropped out of school.

Source:

https://www.ghanamma.com/2017/08/08/supervision-key-to-performance-in-public-schools/

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