FOSSASIA

The FOSSASIA Summit is the top Free and Open Source technology event in Asia for developers, start-ups, and contributors. It is a unique opportunity to share knowledge and experience about open source technologies and meet interesting contributors. FOSSASIA was established in the year 2009. Previous events took place in Cambodia and Vietnam.
FOSSASIA has its headquarters in Singapore, in the NUS Plug-In@Blk71 building.

Projects
Projects of FOSSASIA range from open hardware, to design, graphics and software. The organization offers resources and funding for projects and organizes meetups and code camps.

FOSSASIA Summit
The annual FOSSASIA Summit is the premier Free and Open Source technology event in Asia. It was established in 2009. Previous events took place in Cambodia and Vietnam.

History
The first event organized by the FOSSASIA team was GNOME.Asia in Vietnam in 2009 with 1400 participants and 138 volunteers over three days. 60% of participants were women. The idea of the FOSSASIA Summit is based on the 2009 success.

FOSSASIA - 2010

Hong Phuc Dang enjoying an
Inkscape Workshop at FOSSASIA

FOSSASIA 2010 was held at Raffles College in Ho Chi Minh City from November 12–14, 2010. The focus of 2010 was "Lightweight Computing and Women in IT". Important Speakers at the event were Jon Phillips, from the Open Clip Art Library and co-founder of Inkscape, Jan Suhr from Crypto-Stick, Pierros Papadeas, developer at Fedora (operating system), Dietrich Ayala, Mozilla developer and Michael Howden from Sahana Eden.



FOSSASIA - 2011

FOSSASIA 2011 was held at Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City on November 11–12, 2011. Davide Storti from the UNESCO Open Source Department, Jonas Smedegaard, Developer at Debian, Sven Berg Ryen, from Drupal and Justin Lee, mobile developer and Geekcamp Singapore organizer.

FOSSASIA community meetup at GNOME.Asia 2012

FOSSASIA - 2012

The FOSSASIA Open Design Weeks were held at different locations and times in Vietnam in 2012. The goal of the events was to foster sharing of graphic designs, Libre Graphics, Free and Open Source software, Open Content, FashionTec projects and to feature the maker community. Speakers included Pierre Marchand, Scribus developer and artist, Alexandre Leray, graphic designer, Stephanie Villayphou, media designer and Pierre Huyghebaert, designer of typography and animations and co-founder of Hammerfonts.

GNOME.Asia Hong Kong 2012

 

FOSSASIA - 2014

FOSSASIA 2014 was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on February 28 to March 2, 2014. The event had over 800 attendees, 71 International Speakers, 121 Talks, Workshops and Panels in eight tracks.[4] Speakers at the event included Colin Charles, Community Manager of MariaDB, Cat Allman, Open Source Manager at Google, Dominik Stankowski, board member of the TYPO3 Foundation, Chia-liang Kao from the Open Data community, and Bastian Bittorf from Freifunk.

FOSSASIA 2015 Singapore - Wrap Up

FOSSASIA - 2015
FOSSASIA 2015 will take place in Singapore from March 13–15. Speakers include Lennart Poettering, main developer of Pulse Audio and systemd, Kushal Das, Director of the Python Software Foundation, André Rebentisch, board member of the FFII and Julien Lavergne from the Lubuntu project. The topics covered would be smart city and design, big data, and open source software and hardware. FOSSASIA 2015 is sponsored by Google, mySQL and Oracle.


Contributions
FOSSASIA strongly encourages the formation and growth of more open source organizations and programs and has participated in open-source programs such as the Google Summer of Code since 2011 and in Google Code-In since 2014.


External links
    FOSSASIA official event website
    FOSSASIA Blog
    FOSSASIA Community Network
    FOSSASIA Summit 2014, Phnom Penh
    FOSSASIA Open Design Weeks 2012, Mekong Delta
    FOSSASIA Summit 2011, Ho Chi Minh City
    FOSSASIA Summit 2010, Ho Chi Minh City
    GNOME.Asia 2009
    FOSSASIA on Github
Source : wikipedia

Why is SEO Important for My Business

Why is SEO Important for My Business?

You already know that having an online presence impacts the success of your business operation.  One point that you may not be particularly clear on is the role that search engine optimization (SEO) plays in that process. Even though the major search engines are constantly updating the algorithms they use to prioritize searches, SEO is most definitely not dead.  If anything, it is more important now than ever.  Here are some of the reasons why you need an SEO expert to help you structure your online presence to reach its potential.

SEO Calls Attention to Your Website

While you may use strategies like splash pages and social networking sites to build audiences, they all point back to the main jewel in your online arsenal: the company website.  It is not enough to build an amazing website and then hope people find it.  What you must do is include elements in the website design that capture the attention of search engines.  That’s where your SEO efforts come into play.

The whole process of SEO is to:

• Learn which pertinent keywords to include.
• Create content that is relevant and meaningful.
• Get the attention of search engines.

If your site is contains the products and/or services users hope to find when they enter a search phrase into a browser, then you have a very good chance of finding your site at least on the first page of the search results. When you have done a great job with SEO, your site will show up in the top three results, something that will drastically increase visits to the site.

It is extremely difficult to take an existing website and then plug in certain SEO aspects.  To really get the best result, the site must be designed from the ground up with SEO in mind.  After all, you would never attempt to bake a meatloaf first and then add the breadcrumbs, would you?  Think of SEO as the bread crumbs that holds all the other ingredients of your website together and the result will be much more effective than you dreamed.

SEO Means Designing the Right Meta Descriptions and Title Tags

In print media consider what the right tag line does to attract attention and motivate consumers to stay with you long enough to find out what you have to offer. This same idea holds true with the SEO descriptions you write to describe your site and the title tags that go with every page. For the best results, you want to:

• Create a helpful and informational meta tag.
• Keep it short and simple.
• Make it enticing enough that users will want to click on your site.

Descriptions and tags require just as much consideration as the content and images on your web pages.  An SEO expert can show you how to make the most of these tools and increase traffic to your site.

SEO Helps You Navigate the Ranking Factors

Many business owners are surprised to learn just what goes into the ranking of a website, a blog, or a page.  In fact, search engines use at least a couple hundred different criteria to determine where a page ranks in the search results.  While using the right SEO keywords in your page text will help, there is much more to consider.

This is where understanding all of how SEO works will make a huge difference.  You have to understand what will attract the right type of attention and drive your site higher in the results, as well as what could leave you on the back page of those results.

Navigating the waters of the Internet does not mean planning out a roadmap and then sticking to it from that day forward.  As search engines refine their algorithms, you will find that your site goes from ranking in the third spot on the results to falling off the front page.  The only way to avoid that is to

• Be aware of what is working right now today.
• Anticipate search algorithm changes.
• Update your strategy before these changes are implemented.

While this takes time, it will mean your SEO strategy will be ever-evolving and continue to be successful into the future.

SEO Aids in Building Your Credibility

Your website, blog, or other form of online presence is to convey something of value to other people.  In terms of a business, you want to educate, entertain, and ultimately convince consumers that what you have to offer is what they need to buy.  Unless you establish some degree of credibility with those consumers, your efforts will go nowhere.

SEO is one of your most powerful tools for gaining attention, establishing rapport, and ultimately earning credibility.  Based on how well you use the right type of search engine optimization to tell who you are, what you offer, and why it matters, you engage the visitor long enough to make your point.  If that point resonates with the prospective buyer, he or she will give you a try.  Assuming your products deliver on the promises made, then you have gained a loyal customer who will stay with your for a long time.

A key component in establishing your credibility is link building. The more links to your site that can be found on other credible sites, the better it is for your site’s reputation. Also, you want the links to be natural and not forced. Google and other search engines take all of these factors into account when ranking your site.

SEO Teaches You to Avoid Keyword Stuffing

There are older methods of SEO that worked fine in years past, but they left many Internet users feeling a little cheated.  One of those strategies is referred to as keyword stuffing.  Older algorithms did not just look for keyword(s) that related back to the phrases users employed for searches.  They also looked for multiple uses of those phrases.  That meant if you included a commonly used search phrase in your text, the odds of that page showing up high on search results were very good. And the more you used those phrases the better.

Today’s algorithms are much more sophisticated, and the focus is on content that is useful to the reader.  That means keyword stuffing and similar approaches no longer help to place a site or page high in the results.  In fact, if you overdo it with certain phrases, there is a good chance that one or more of the search engines will penalize your site and drive it lower into the results.  The right kind of SEO strategy helps you avoid this mistake and improve the odds of coming out on top.

SEO Works Well with Other Marketing Methods

Back in the day, there were those who predicted that traditional advertising would become obsolete.  That has not happened.  Instead, there are more options than ever to get your business and its products in front of the customer. Some of those additional options are related to the use of SEO on social networks.

In recent years, major social networking sites have opened up a whole new way for business owners to reach customers.  Establishing a company account or page on a social network site means the chance to build an audience by word of mouth.  People can choose to “like” or “follow” the page and keep up with the posts that are added on a regular basis.

Along with making posts that entertain and inform, it is also possible to include links back to specific pages on your website.  You can even call more attention to your posts by including a keyword prefaced with a hash tag.  What this does is allow anyone using the search feature on a social network to learn about your page, visit it, and then follow it and the links you included in your posts.

Here’s a few things you want to keep in mind as you learn how to get the hand of using hash tags to grab the attention of potential clients:

• Hash tags must precede words directly related to your content.
• Less is more. Only use one to three hash tags per post.
• Eliminate unnecessary hash tags.

SEO Enhances Your Ability to Compete with Other Brands

Your brand may be well respected, and that’s great.  The thing is there are other brands out there that are also known to users, and they have no problem comparing the quality and pricing of your services with those competitors.  You cannot rely on the reputation of your brand alone, since just about everybody is looking for a good deal.

Think of how your product descriptions would show up in search engine results, provided you use the right keywords and key phrases.  Higher placement in those results means that your offering has the chance to make a positive impression on comparison shoppers before anyone else can do so.  You have effectively set the standard by which all other competitors will be judged.  Unless they can come up with some strong incentives, many of those shoppers will return to your site and place an order.

SEO Increases the Odds of Getting Your Site Bookmarked

The right type of SEO effort gets people to visit your site once and decide that it is worth coming back to again and again.  If you have used the right approach and the consumer believes that your site offers the benefits that were promised based on the search results, there is a good chance of it being bookmarked.  Rather than having to find it with another search, the user will simply click on the saved link.

Keep in mind that saved link can be shared repeatedly with others.  The person who found your site by means of a web search now has the power to cut and paste that link into the body of an email to a friend or two.  That consumer can decide to share the link via a post on his or her Facebook or Twitter account.  Thanks to those solid SEO strategies, you have created a basis for the time-honored tradition of relationship marketing.  Anyone that the consumer thinks could benefit by visiting your site will now receive that link using one type of online tool or another.

SEO Aids in Evolving Your Online Presence

If you have been in business for a number of years, then you already know that traditional advertising recommends shaking things up every so often.  The idea is to not show the customer the same old thing, but to present the company in a new way.  For example, think of how often new television commercials are released for different products.  Even the ones that capture the imagination of the buying public are typically retired in less than a year.

SEO teaches you to follow the same basic concept for your online presence.  Keep things interesting by:

• Updating your site often.
• Replacing images as well as content.
• Reworking your meta descriptions and tag lines.

Keeping it fresh will allow you to hold on to long-term customers even as you attract new ones in other desirable demographics.

There is no doubt that SEO is important to the success of your business.  As a tool that constantly changes, you must always take fresh look at your online presence.  Working with a professional who understands SEO will mean always being on the first page of rankings, have a great reputation on social networks, and in general always be in a position to capture the attention of more consumers.

For a comprehensive explanation of digital marketing strategies, download our eBook titled, “Digital Marketing 101 – The Simple Guide for the Local Business Owner.”

This post originally appeared on WSI Connect’s blog.

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The evolution of SEO

The evolution of SEO

As of late, there has been a lot of discussion surrounding SEO -- whether it ceases to exist, if it's now blended into the tactics better known as "content marketing," or if it still remains essential, and predominantly a set of website-centric tasks. By now, I'm sure we've all heard the phrase, "SEO is dead." While yes, we may be in agreement that certain aspects of traditional search engine optimization are no longer relevant, SEO is certainly not dead. It is simply evolving, and we, as marketers, experience the changes on a continual basis. Content marketing strategy has emerged as the ultimate roadmap to drive engagement in every channel. Will our old definition of SEO survive this transition? Certainly not. However, we can instead formulate a new understanding of what it means to optimize for search while creating valuable consumer experiences through content.

The past

When we think about the traditional pillars of SEO, they're often broken down into these three categories:

• Technical
• Content
• Links

Search engine optimization was considered to be a very technical process -- worshipping the then-simpler algorithms to generate top search ranking, and carefully pinpointing the tactics to boost website traffic. It was about removing technical obstacles, stuffing our content with specific keywords, and excessively linking -- focusing solely on rank. 

However, as marketers, we recognize there are several factors that have driven dramatic change in the way we define our SEO strategies.   

The present

Proven and established best practices remain a part of SEO, but search engines today have transformed their algorithms to reflect a much different kind of value than we've seen in the past: user experience. With updates to Google like Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird, brands have been required to adjust their content strategies to reflect not only an improved search engine, but to shift the focus to a new audience -- the end-user, rather than the search engine spider.

SEO is no longer just an effort to be No. 1 for your designated search terms, but rather it has evolved into a much broader landscape of idea and information sharing. What we like to categorize as "content" and "authority" have emerged as more critical components in understanding the successful approach to SEO. Today, content is often evaluated by its usefulness, relevancy, and educative value -- in other words, its ability to genuinely engage searchers, influencers, and social media audiences alike. By monitoring consumer insights, we are able to clearly identify audiences and give them access to content tailored to their specific interests. That's how great brand experiences occur, which then stimulate conversions.

As content marketing and SEO strategies are evolving, so too does our notion of ranking. While the coveted No. 1 ranking in the SERP was once deemed the ultimate recognition of SEO success, today we have substituted the concept of "ranking" with "visibility". What do we mean by visibility? It means capturing as much "non-paid" real estate on the search engines results page as possible (i.e., answer box, knowledge graph, image carousel, etc.). It also means having a reach far beyond just the SERP, extended to touch audiences across different content platforms, social media channels, and devices. It's giving people the chance to find, connect with, and learn from your content in the places they seek it. In addition to the broader, conceptual understanding of visibility, we all must think about it in the physical sense. Mobile visibility has become particularly significant, as consumers continue to change their online behavior and engagement patterns. Search experts have certainly harped on the importance of mobile optimization, and rightfully so. This evolution cannot be ignored.

Marketers and SEO practitioners have become more deeply aligned with these new methods of SEO and, in turn, have implemented strong content marketing strategies to bolster them. As we continue on this path and glance ahead, we must continue to create content not for search engines, but for people.

The future

Let us take a step into the future of the SEO landscape -- in fact, the term "search engine optimization" may no longer exist on its own at all. For all intents and purposes, let's call it what it is: content marketing. Content marketing will no longer be seen as the driver of a single channel, rather it will be the driver of all channels. We will leave methods of optimizing for channel-specific engagement behind. This will mean breaking down the internal silos within an organization, and allowing different marketing segments to function synergistically. It means that data scientists, writers, and content creators will work together on these strategies.

More and more, consumers have demonstrated that they value interactivity. We can no longer assume that the everyday consumer is going to be engaged by a static, text-based piece of content on their desktop. And their expectations only increase by the day. As they travel through their omnichannel journeys of brand engagement and product exploration, consumers will want content that adapts. A piece of content should travel seamlessly through the channels right alongside the people who view it. More than anything, content will become an experience.

Closing thoughts

As we look back on the SEO of the past and move forward towards a content marketing future, we have undoubtedly traveled a long, complex path. Though our methods have changed, our goals have perhaps remained relatively similar. We have always desired the visibility a good SEO strategy generates, but today we recognize that that visibility has taken on a much more thorough definition. As the marketing and consumer worlds continue to evolve, we must all participate in a greater conversation about content. If SEO is evolving, so must marketers. Adapt and survive…it's the only way!

Source : imediaconnection

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New treatment options for a fatal leukemia

A Wright's stained bone marrow aspirate smear from a patient with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Credit: VashiDonsk/Wikipedia

In industrialized countries like in Europe, acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common form of cancer in children. An international research consortium lead by pediatric oncologists from the Universities of Zurich and Hannover has now succeeded in decoding a specific form of this leukemia, which is regarded as incurable, and in obtaining insights for new therapeutic possibilities.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) frequently develops between the age of two and three. This leukemia has various forms, which differ through certain changes in the genetic material of the leukemia cells. A team of scientists involved in a joint international project headed by Jean-Pierre Bourquin, a pediatric oncologist from the University Children's Hospital Zurich, and Martin Stanulla, a professor at Hannover Medical School, has now succeeded in decoding the genome and transcriptome of an as yet incurable sub-type of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. These results were achieved in collaboration with leading experts in the field, Marie Laure Yaspo, a research group leader at the Max Plank Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Arndt Borkhardt, a professor at the University of Düsseldorf, Jan Korbel a professor at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and André Franke from the University of Kiel.

The two genes TCF3 and HLF are already known to be fused together aberrantly in this subtype of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This change in the genetic code makes the leukemia resistant to all current treatments. The scientists have now discovered that other DNA areas are also changed in addition to the two aberrantly fused genes and that the activity of key genes was modified thus determining a novel program associated to the leukemic cells.

A wolf in sheep's clothing

Modifications of genes that control the development and promote the growth of highly specific blood defense cells, so-called B-lymphocytes, were evident in the leukemia cells studied. The interplay between the pathogenic fusion of TCF3 with HLF and newly identified alterations triggers a previously undetected reprogramming of the leukemia cells to a very early, stem-cell-like developmental stage, which is not externally visible on the cells. "This form of leukemia might be described as a kind of 'wolf in sheep's clothing'," stresses Martin Stanulla. "These key findings could be made, in particular, by reading out the messenger molecules synthesized in the tumor cells, a powerful technique allowing not only a deeper understanding of the genetic program specifying the behavior of tumor cells, but also of therapeutic entry points" adds Marie-Laure Yaspo.

The group of Jean-Pierre Bourquin developed a humanized mouse model at the University Children's Hospital in Zurich that enables researchers to explore leukemias in conditions that are very similar to the situations encountered in humans. "In other words, we created a model to accelerate the discovery of more personalized treatment options," explains Jean-Pierre Bourquin. The human leukemia cells growing in the mouse retain the crucial genetic changes and, according to Bourquin, therefore constitute a realistic possibility to examine new courses of therapy in a patient-oriented manner.

Promising drug tests

On this basis, the Zurich researchers tested hundreds of novel drugs. Some of them, which are still undergoing further clinical development, displayed a very positive effect. One such drug is Venetoclax, which specifically targets the protein BCL2 relevant for the programmed cell death and already worked for other cancer strains.

In the mouse model, Venetoclax induced remissions of the disease, followed by prolonged phases without any signs of the disease if administered together with conventional chemotherapy for leukemia. "Further studies are now needed to test how the results of our study might be used for therapeutic possibilities," says Bourquin. "Our work just goes to show the great potential of coordinated, interdisciplinary research approaches involving cutting-edge technological possibilities for cancer research," concludes Stanulla.

The development of new courses of therapy in the humanized leukemia model was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Zurich's clinical research focus program "Human Hemato-Lymphatic Diseases". The genetic studies were funded by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection via the environmental research program of the German Federal Environment Ministry and by the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.

Source : medicalxpress

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Blowing balloons 'treats glue ear'

Using the nose to inflate a balloon helps heal glue ear, University of Southampton research suggests.

The act increases the pressure in the ear to clear it of sticky mucus.

Three times a day, 320 children with glue ear used nasal balloons. A month later, 47% were clear of the condition, compared with 36% of those untreated.

Glue ear affects about four in five children by their 10th birthday. Antibiotics, steroids, decongestants and antihistamines are all ineffective.

The Eustachian tube carries air from the back of the nose to the middle ear.

This space, just behind the eardrum, contains three tiny, delicate bones critical for passing sounds waves through the ear.

Glue ear stops the bones moving and impairs hearing.

In severe cases, a surgical procedure to cut a hole in the ear drum in order to let the fluid drain is necessary.

Dr Ian Williamson, one of the researchers, said some doctors were already using the balloons, but the evidence had been limited to small trials.

He told the BBC News website: "It sounds a little bit wacky, but this is a purpose-build device.

"We are confident in our results and it looks like a very good method for improving symptoms and quality of life while reducing harmful treatments.

"It should be more widely used now."

Dr Chris Del Mar and Tammy Hoffman from the University in Queensland, Australia, wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, where the results were published, the trial "effectively addresses the lack of medical treatments for glue ear".

Source : bbc


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FOSSASIA Labs

The FOSSASIA organization supports activities and Free and Open Souce software development of the community in Asia and projects with a link to Asia or Asian developers and contributors.

Our biggest asset are the contacts we have established over years. Many people will feel, that it is often the most helpful, if you can find someone who can help you with an issue or idea where you seem to be stuck. And that is what we do, we put developers and contributors from all over the world in touch with you.

If you are interested to cooperate for a project, need support for a development sprint or an event, please contact us on the FOSSASIA mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/fossasia

Coding Projects

In the past we have done activities with the following projects -

• Linux apps
• localization tools
• OpenWrt
• Crypto-Stick
• LXDE
• MoonOS
• Android
• GNOME
• Debian
• Fedora
• Gimp
• Inkscape
• Linux conversion libraries
• OpenStreetMap
• ExpEYES - Pocket Science Lab
• and many more

Student Code Programs

Apart from programs with universities in the region, FOSSASIA is a mentor organization in the global Summer of Code program of Google, at Google Code-In and at VALS Semester of Code.

Google Summer of Code offers students stipends to write code for open source projects. Since 2011 FOSSASIA is a mentor organization at Google Summer of Code. FOSSASIA functions as an umbrella organization for a number of projects in the region and supports new coding ideas of students independently from a big Open Source project.

The Semester of Code is an initiative of the European VALS project, which allows students of degrees of computer science addressing real business problems raised by companies and OSS Foundations, and get rewards from resolving them reflecting it in their formal education.

_If you are a student and interested to join GSoC 2015, or your university is participating in VALS Semester of Code, please check out our projects page.

Google Code-in is a global, online contest for 13-17 year old pre-university students interested in learning more about open source development. Students work on bite-sized tasks for real-world open source projects in a variety of categories.

If you are a middle or high school student aged 13 to 17 years, check out our tasks at Google Code-In

Bringing Asian and International developers together

Software Development and Code Sprints

We support LUG meetups, code sprints and community days and provide facilities for groups. For code sprints we work together with different partners in the Mekong Delta in Can Tho to support groups with sponsored accommodation during sprints.

Event activities

We organize and participate in events. In the past we have organized FOSSASIA conferences in 2010 and 2011 in Raffles College and Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam.

We also had a Mini-Debconf inSaigon and organized the OpenDesign.Asia Weeks with numerous events bringing together designers and Open Source developers.

We have links to the LXDE project and GNOME community and we have sent developers to the GNOME.Asia Summit 2012 in Hong Kong and supported the TYPO3conference 2012 in Phnom Penh.

We have introduced Asian projects at the Libre Graphics Meeting in Montreal (2011) and Brussels (2011), at the Linuxtag in Berlin (2012) and many other community events.

FOSSASIA Event in Ho Chi Minh City

In 2012 we organized a 2 months OpenStreetMap sprint with the goal to improve the OpenStreetMap data of the Mekong Delta.

Ten students participated in the program as full time interns in office of MBM International in Can Tho, the biggest city in the delta, in Can Tho.

Source : http://labs.fossasia.org/

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Google Code-in 2014 wrap up with FOSSASIA

Although best known for their namesake conference, FOSSASIA also acts as an umbrella organization which supports development of open source software linked to Asia or Asian developers. They participated in Google Code-in 2014 and shared this report with us.

2014 marked FOSSASIA’s first year participating in Google Code-in (GCI) as a mentoring organization, and what a splash we made! Students completed 587 tasks with us, the most of any organization in this year’s program. These bite-sized tasks gave young students ages 13 to 17 an opportunity to participate in open source development with the help of mentors. A total of 174 students completed at least one task with us -- they wrote code, designed artwork, tested software, and had a lot of fun.

GCI is a contest and each mentoring organization chooses two Grand Prize winners. Ours were Namanyay Goel and Samarjeet Singh. They’ll travel all-expenses-paid with a parent or guardian to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. We also had three finalists who deserve a hearty congratulations: Alvis Wong, Amr Ramadan, and Tymon Radzik. We are thankful for your contributions.

Students contributed to the FOSSASIA website along with open source projects like the ExpEYES tool for at-home science experiments, the sup console-based email client, the TiddlySpace idea-organizer, and the p5.js drawing library. This wide variety of opportunities was possible thanks to the efforts of our 24 mentors who found time between their other obligations to help students. Thank you, mentors!

Usually, novice contributors to a project face a significant barrier to entry. There are coding conventions to follow, guidelines for combining or breaking up multiple commits, and more that can be specific to a project. Such requirements help keep the codebase healthy and consistent, but their value isn’t apparent to beginners who have already struggled to produce a contribution and just want to see it integrated. To reduce the discouragement GCI students would face, we decided to merge students’ first pull requests if they get the job done, even if they don’t follow our usual practices. Later, students could accept a task which teaches them about our standards for contributions, giving them a chance to clone and rebase a sample repo so that it follows the rules. Students who completed this task and continued working with us understood the terminology and were able to apply our feedback to their later commits without the usual frustration.

We had a fantastic time participating in GCI and would like to thank all the students who took part in the contest. We’re thrilled to see some of them still hanging around in our community and wish them all an exciting and fruitful future.

By Aruna Herath, FOSSASIA mentor

Meeting extraterrestrials: Should we contact aliens?

As you read this, the metal dishes of 42 radio telescopes, hidden in a little-visited valley in California's Cascade Mountains, are locked on to a star system hundreds of light years away. Together they will scan 10 billion radio channels, searching for signals deliberately sent by intelligent aliens or accidentally leaked from their planets. Then the dishes will turn to the next star and its satellites.

The 42 devices of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) have already taken a preliminary look at Kepler-452b, the potentially habitable, Earth-like planet whose discovery was announced last week. And "so far, any inhabitants of Kepler-452b are remaining coy," admits Seth Shostak, of the SETI [Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence] Institute, which runs the telescope. But Dr Shostak, its director of research, is anything but disheartened.

"Right now," he says, "there could be radio waves zipping through your body that have come from another planet. But if there are no signals, it would mean that, of the trillion planets in our galaxy – roughly 10 per cent of which are amenable to life – Earth is the only place with critters that have understood science and built technology based on it. So, if this is the only place in the galaxy with intelligent life, then Earth is some sort of miracle – and we scientists tend to think that, if you say something is a miracle, you haven't studied statistics."

The canopy of stars (EPA)

It seems that hopes for discovering intelligent alien life have rarely been higher. In the same week of the Kepler-452b revelation, the billionaire Russian internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner announced he was funding Breakthough Listen, a new, decade-long $100 million (£64 million) project dedicated to the quest. And the money, one of the biggest ever donations to the search for alien intelligence, led Professor Frank Drake, Chairman Emeritus of the SETI Institute and adviser to Breakthrough Listen, to declare: "We will have the most powerful and enduring search that's ever been launched."

Which, of course, does not alter the fact that so far we have found nothing. But, explains Dr Shostak, finding alien life was never going to be straightforward: "If aliens had been looking at Earth with a radio telescope, they would have found nothing during the first four and a half billion years. Earth may have had microbes, or dinosaurs, but we only became detectable around the time of the Second World War, with the invention of radar."

Another potential problem is that, while we search using our technology, the extraterrestrials may have devised a far more sophisticated means. "Maybe," says Dr Shostak, "we are sitting around like 15th-century inhabitants of the New World, waiting for drum beats to prove the existence of Europeans."

It isn't just Hollywood film makers who have considered this. In 2010, Professor Stephen Hawking warned against actively seeking to make contact, saying: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet." But, says Dr Shostak, it is already too late to hide. The signals that have leaked from Earth are now 50-60 light years out. Every day, our TV signals wash over another star system. Which does at least mean, says Dr Shostak, that "it's too late to worry about it". Besides, if we do discover something out there, we might find our reactions are strangely … human.

"In the summer of 1997," admits Dr Shostak, "the ATA picked up signals seemingly sent by extraterrestrial life. It was actually a [human-made] satellite sending signals that mimicked what we would expect from aliens. But for 16 hours we thought we might have found intelligent extraterrestrial life. And yes, I was nervous – because I thought I was going to have to reshuffle my entire diary, and wouldn't be able to make the party that was coming up that Saturday night." 

Source : independent

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End of an era: 'Missile man' Dr APJ Abdul Kalam passes away after cardiac arrest

Shillong: Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, the 'missile man' who came to be known as 'People's President' died on Monday after he collapsed during a lecture at the IIM in Shillong on Monday evening.

Kalam, who would have turned 84 in October, was confirmed dead more than two hours after he was wheeled into the ICU of Bethany hospital in a critical condition following the collapse at around 6.30 pm.

According to reports, Kalam suffered a massive cardiac arrest during the lecture at IIM, Shillong.

Considered the most popular President, Kalam became the 11th head of the state and occupied the post between 2002 and 2007 but lack of consensus denied a second term in office for a man who came from outside political spectrum.

Meghalaya Governor V Shanmughanathan, who rushed to the hospital on hearing the news of his admission, said Kalam died at 7.45 pm. Despite medical team best efforts, he could not be revived.

Chief Secretary PBO Warjiri told reporters outside the hospital that he had spoken to Union Home Secretary LC Goyal asking for necessary arrangements to be made for carrying Kalam's body from Guwahati to Delhi on Tuesday morning.

"The former President has been admitted to Bethany hospital in a critical condition," M Kharkrang, SP Khasi Hills said earlier.

Doctors from the army hospital and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) rushed to Bethany hospital but their efforts proved to be of no avail.

A seven-day national mourning will be declared by the Centre, Union Home Secretary LC Goyal said. Both the Houses of Parliament are likely to make obituary references and adjourn as a mark of respect to his memory.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam rose from humble origins to become the President in the most unexpected manner during the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee after an all party consensus minus the left parties that saw him through in an election which he won handsomely.

An aeronautics engineer from Madras Institute of Technology, Kalam was considered the brain of missile programme in India got and as Chief Scientific Adviser to Vajpayee was also instrumental in the Pokhran nuclear test in 1998.

As President, Kalam utilised any opportunity that came to him to address students, especially school children, to dream big so that they became achievers in life. A bachelor, the former President was a veena player and was deeply interested in Carnatic music. He was vegetarian all his life.

Earlier during the day, Kalam had tweeted about his function at IIM Shillong.

Going to Shillong.. to take course on Livable Planet earth at iim. With @srijanpalsingh and Sharma.

— In memoryof Dr.Kalam (@APJAbdulKalam) July 27, 2015

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and leaders cutting across party lines condoled the demise of the former President.

"He had a special love for children and fought to constantly inspire the youth of our country," said President Pranab Mukherjee. "Dr Kalam will be long remembered for his passion, science and innovation and his contributions have enabled scientists, educationists and writers. His achievements as leader of DRDO vastly enhanced the security of our nation.

"In his passing away, we have lost a great son of India who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of his motherland. Dr Kalam was a people's president during his lifetime and will remain so," the President said.

"I got to work with him closely. I have lost an uttam marg darshak. The country has lost a son who worked for the strength of India. He had spent every moment for the youth of India. No person will be able to fill the gap left by him. His work will inspire us to work for the development of the nation," said Prime Minister Modi.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also reacted to Kalam's demise as he told India Today, "He was a man who was always surrounded by knowledge. He never had an iota of politics around him."

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Cord blood a new trend in child medical therapy

Researchers are touting a rapidly growing trend in the use of blood cells to treat medical conditions.

It involves saving a small amount of blood from a newborn’s umbilical cord within 15 minutes of birth, just in case the child needs it some time in the future.

The cells also can be used for other biologically-matched children, either in their own family or the general public.

July is Cord Blood Banking Awareness Month. And researchers like those at the San Antonio-based GenCure Cord Blood Center are encouraging the public to learn more about the benefits of cord blood.

“Umbilical cord blood and its stem cells have a proven value to medicine, with the promise of cures and treatments for more and more diseases every day,” said Mary Ellen Mooney, director of Cord Blood Operations for GenCure .

“We’re proud to be contributing to both life-saving therapies and important research.”

The advantage of a child having access to his or her own stem cells is it eliminates the rejection problems that can occur when using another person’s cells, researchers say.

Researchers are looking at cord blood for treatment of conditions including cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and type 2 diabetes, as well as inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

GenCure houses the Texas Cord Blood Bank, or TCBB, a statewide repository of cord blood donations from newborns made at hospitals across the state.

The cord blood bank is listed on a national registry and is accessible worldwide for patients in need.

TCBB has 15,000 units of cord blood in storage and has distributed 300 units for transplant — 60 in 2014 alone.

Cord blood contains millions of stem cells that would otherwise be thrown away as medical waste.

As new uses are found for stem cells, there is a possibility at some point those “banked” stem cells could be used to save a child or someone else’s life, even if it’s several years down the line, according to the Valley Baptist Medical Center Online Health Library.

Since 1988, there have been more than 30,000 cord blood transplants performed around the world, GenCure stated.

Source : brownsvilleherald

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Virginia Tech cancer biologists find a key that may unlock how tumors form and progress

An international team of scientists, led by a Virginia Tech researcher, determined that the number of chromosomes in a cell may be a key to understanding how cancer forms and progresses – a finding that could help inform new treatments.

 

Healthy human cells need 46 chromosomes to maintain the body’s development and survival. However, when mistakes occur during cell division, cells may display abnormal numbers of chromosomes – a condition known as aneuploidy.

“It has been known for a long time that cancer cells typically display aneuploidy, but the role that it plays in cancer development and progression is not understood,” said Daniela Cimini, associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, a Fralin Life Science Institute affiliate, and a biology Fellow in the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

Using live imaging of human colorectal cancer cells and human cells derived from amniotic fluid, Cimini and her team found that when cells have an additional chromosome, the rate of cell division errors rises, increasing the frequency of aneuploidy.

Their discovery was published in May in eLife, an open-access journal focused on life science research.

“This work is exciting because previous studies in budding yeast suggested that aneuploidy can cause multiple forms of genome instability,” said Angelika Amon, the Kathleen and Curtis Marble Professor of Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the research. “This study shows that at least some aneuploidies can also cause genome instability in humans. This could also provide an explanation for how aneuploidy drives the formation of tumors.”

The team also identified a particular cell division defect in cells that have an extra copy of chromosome 13, as shown in this video.

“Cells that have an extra chromosome 13 often fail the last step of cell division, which is the final step of separation. This gives rise to cells with twice the number of chromosomes, which are known to be unstable and lead to tumor progression,” said Elsa Logarinho, director of the aging and aneuploidy lab at the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology in Porto, Portugal, and co-corresponding author of the study. “Aneuploidy might also contribute to the earlier steps of tumor formation, thereby emerging as a potential therapeutic target in cancer treatment.”

When cells with abnormal numbers of chromosomes divide, some of the daughter cells become diverse in chromosome number. That diversity, known as heterogeneity, may increase the tools a cancer can use to escape medical treatment.

“If you came up with the best drugs to kill 99 percent of cancer cells, that would not be enough, as the 1 percent would grow up to be heterogeneous again,” said Josh Nicholson, who completed his doctoral degree in Cimini’s laboratory last spring and is first author on the paper.

A group of cancer cells with a range of chromosome numbers also may be better able to adapt within certain environments, explained Cimini.

The next step for Cimini and her team is to understand how specific characteristics of aneuploid cancer cells, down to specific chromosomes, effect cancer growth. In addition, the team plans to investigate how environmental conditions affect chromosome stability.

 Source : augustafreepress


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