சிறப்பான கல்விக்கு 'ஹயக்ரீவர் வழிபாடு'

ஆடி அமாவாசையை போன்று ஆடிப் பவுர்ணமியும் 
மிகவும் சிறப்பு வாய்ந்தது. மகாவிஷ்ணுவின் 
குதிரை அவதாரமான ஹயக்ரீவர் அவதரித்த தினம் 
ஆடி பவுர்ணமிதான். இவர் சரஸ்வதியின் குரு என்று
புராணங்கள் கூறுகின்றன. கல்வியின் தெய்வமாகிய
சரஸ்வதியின் குருவாகிய ஹயக்ரீவரை தரிசிப்பதும்
அவரது துதிகளைச் சொல்வதும் குழந்தைகள் கல்வி
கலைகளில் சிறந்து விளக்க வழி வகுக்கும்.

இந்த ஹயக்ரீவர் ஸ்லோகத்தை குழந்தைகள்
காலை மாலை படிக்கத் தொடங்கும்முன் கூறுதல்
மிகவும் நல்லது. 
படிப்பும்,ஞானமும்பெற

ஓம் வாகீஸ்வராய வித்மஹே
ஹயக்ரீவாய தீமஹி
தன்னோ ஹம்ஸஹ் ப்ரசோதயாத்
ஞானானந்தமயம் தேவம்
நிர்மல ஸ்படி காக்ருதிம்

ஆதாரம் ஸர்வ வித்யானாம்
ஹயக்ரீவ முபாஸ்மஹே

PhD Scholarships in Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies at combined Italian School of Technology (IIT) and University of Genova (UNIGE), Italy

This scholarship is shared by two Institutes in Genova city of Italy, one is University of Genova and other is Italian Institute of Technology, IIT at School of Life and Humanoid Technologies.

28^th cycle of PhD.

The projects proposed under this heading will be developed within the multidisciplinary environment of the "Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences" (RBCS) department of IIT (www.iit.it/rbcs ) At RBCS we are merging top-level neuroscience research and top-level robotics research by sharing fundamental scientific objectives in the field of action execution and interpretation (see RBCS list of publications as well as our international collaborations).

The research team at RBCS is composed of neuroscientists, engineers, psychologists, physicists working together to investigate brain functions and realize intelligent machines and advanced prosthesis.

RBCS is where the iCub humanoid robot is developed in all its mechanical, electronic, software and cognitive components but it is also the place where studies of how visual, haptic and tactile integration develops in normal as well as sensory-impaired children. RBCS is where technologies for implanted, in-vivo brain machine interface are developed but it is also the place where electrophysiological experiments are performed to realize bi-directional direct communication between the brain and artificial systems.

Scholarship Positions: 30 positions

Scholarship Amount

The scholarship amount is normally about 1300 Euros per month, it can be increased, but not sure yet.

Tuition fee and registration fee are exempted.

Last Date to Apply: 21 September, 2012.

Requirements:

The main requirements can be read at this web address:

http://www.studenti.unige.it/sites/www.studenti.unige.it/files/IIT%20PUBLIC%20NOTICE%2028_English%20def.pdf

But main thing is that, there is no specific requirement of IELETS, the English proficiency certificate from previous university can work.

How to apply: How to apply can be found out on this web link :

http://www.studenti.unige.it/sites/www.studenti.unige.it/files/IIT%20PUBLIC%20NOTICE%2028_English%20def.pdf

Where to apply : Online application: http://servizionline.unige.it/studenti/post-laurea/dottorato

Also check this link: http://www.studenti.unige.it/postlaurea/dottorati/xxviiiciclo/IITen

Research Themes

There are five research themes, under which more specific details can be found out, these research themes can be found here on this web link.

http://www.studenti.unige.it/sites/www.studenti.unige.it/files/Allegato%20A4%20Robotics%20Cognition%20and%20Interaction%20Technologies_V4%2019-7_1.doc

The main five research themes are :

This year's themes cover interdisciplinary areas of research and are grouped according to the scientific focus and not to the background of the applicants. Specifically we intend to foster interdisciplinary research activities in the areas of:

1. Manual and Postural Action
2. Perception during Action
3. Interaction with and between humans
4. Interfacing with the human body
5. Sensorimotor impairment, rehabilitation and assistive technologies

These can be further read at :http://www.studenti.unige.it/sites/www.studenti.unige.it/files/Allegato%20A4%20Robotics%20Cognition%20and%20Interaction%20Technologies_V4%2019-7_1.doc

For more details

Main page: http://www.studenti.unige.it/postlaurea/dottorati/xxviiiciclo/IITen

The project pages and online applying pages are on the webpages given above

With Best Regards

Waqar

waqarbaig85@gmail.com

Scholarship for Masters and PhD in Engineering and Sciences and Management at World's Top Ranked University, KAIST, Korea for Spring, 2013.

The Masters and PhD scholarship Opportunities at various disciplines of Engineering, Sciences and Management at a top ranking university, KAIST( Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology), South Korea for Spring, 2013.

The admission criteria of KAIST is tough and requires good competitive students as it one of the top ranked universities, so studying there gives your career long boost.

The disciplines are Electrical, computer, mechanical, civil, environmental, bio and brain, chemical, bimolecular, Ocean systems, Materials, Aerospace, Nuclear and Quantum, Industrial and systems braches of Engineering and Physics, chemistry, mathematics, Nano science & technology, Medical Science & Engineering, green transportation, culture and technology, web science and MBA, management engineering. See this link for details

http://admission.kaist.ac.kr/web/intl/2013-spring-semester

KAIST Scholarship

(i)                  Admission & tuition fee are exempted

(ii)                300,000 KRW (300 $) per month by university, (Except this amount, the professor offers amount which varies usually normally starts from 300 $)

(iii)               The health insurance covered by department or professor.

Last Dates to Apply

The dates are still remaining, I am sharing it before so that you can prepare yourself for it, such as English Proficiency tests i.e., IELETS, TOEIC, TOEFL

Last date to apply: The online application starts from September 3, 2012 to September, 26,2012.

The online system will open at September 3, so you cannot apply before it, so prepare your all given documents before it.

See this webpage in detail: http://admission.kaist.ac.kr/web/intl/2013-spring-semester

One Bottleneck: You have to pay the application fee of 50 $ or 50,000 KRW (KRW is Korean currency)

The methods to submit it are following

(i)                  Use credit card

(ii)                Use some friend in Korea to submit it on your behalf

(iii)               Use Dollar East or any other company of dealing in foreign currency exchange, who pays at your behalf

(iv)              Make foreign account in any bank and then pay using it.

Requirements to apply

You can easily see it in details on this webpage: http://admission.kaist.ac.kr/web/intl/2013-spring-semester

But the things mostly are degrees, recommendation letters, No financial statement is required if you apply for KAIST scholarship, proof or identity documents, English proficiency score, etc. You can check more on above link.

But the thing, I want to say is that

English scores are necessary as they require it, it is very rare chance that your English Proficiency certificate from parent university works, so do IELETS, TOEFL or even TOEIC (I hear , it is easy as taken by NTS) and IELETS 5.5 is enough.

The competition here is very high, so be competitive, so have good CGPA, or publications)

Tips to apply for Scholarship

(i)                  First of all, I will write down some general techniques, which should be used as these techniques will help you to  find the professor before admission and your chances of admission increase

BUT  in case, you dun get reply from professor, using the given below techniques, then still apply, as there is a chance still as these scholarship dun require PRE-Professor recommendation, so if you get in contact with the professor before using given below techniques, then well and good, but if not, then apply without it.

Optional Tips

First of all, you should search relevant professors of your choice and research interest. Then you should make a tailored made CV according to the interest of those relevant professors and send him/her that CV along with a short email stating your introduction and show your interest that you want to do master/Ph.D under his/her supervision. (Warnings: Do not do it haphazardly, just target one professor, whom work is relevant to your previous works or studies and do read again and again your CV and cover letter again and again, Be brief and to the point, check the professor relevancy with your previous studies, by using google and checking his publications or his website)

(Most Important warning: Do not include, your status of married or single or NIC card number in CV, no one needs it, dun include just internships /experiences names just, include the TECHNICAL details of work that you have done , rather than just names of internships/experiences. Also do not just include degrees such as bachelors/masters name, include also your explanation about grip of subjects /projects details also)

  

If a professor shows interest it means almost you have 99% chances that your admission is confirmed.

So, first of all, you should try to find "Faculty" => Professors profiles on the university website. Then what you have to do is:

1. Read all your major professors profiles, research interests and projects. (You can also find the research interests of professors by finding on Google their published research papers)

2. Make your CV research oriented and also easily readable and good looking. (Also according to the professor you choose to apply. Relate your previous work plus final year project with that professor's work and show him your interest in his work)

Important Note for Electronics plus Computer majors ( In Korea, professors like if you are good in programming languages and it is good if you have distinction in programming skills and you can show them)

3. Write an email. (Please be short in writing email, as professor has not so much times to read it fully just write main but few sentences)

4. Send your email and CV to as many professors as you can (keep in mind only interested professors may reply you, so don't be disappointed)

Note: If you are interested in any specific professor and he/she does not reply you then you must contact him/her by" telephone". Please keep in mind that many professors do not reply, so in that case, you must contact him/her by telephone.

Maybe if you face some trouble while opening Korean website then please installs "Korean" language pack. Also always open the Korean websites on Internet explorer and install google toolbar on it, to use google translator to translate whole page on it.

So, you can use above guide to increase your chances of admission before, but if you do not get reply from any professor, then do not worry, just apply without it, as reply from professor is not necessary for admissions here and Korean professors reply less and I hope you will get the admissions.

This scholarship is for both Masters and PhD for Spring, 2013

Please see the details at: http://admission.kaist.ac.kr/web/intl/2013-spring-semester

With Best Regards

Waqar

waqarbaig85@gmail.com

Scientists find how ocean stores carbon

CSIRO

Share on print A team of British and Australian scientists has discovered how carbon is drawn down from the surface of the Southern Ocean to the deep waters beneath. The Southern Ocean is an important carbon sink in the world – around 40 per cent of the annual global CO2 emissions absorbed by the world’s oceans enter through this region. "Now that we have an improved understanding of the mechanisms for carbon draw-down we are better placed to understand the effects of changing climate and future carbon absorption by the ocean." Dr Jean-Baptiste Sallée, British Antarctic Survey. Reporting this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Australia’s national research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), reveal that rather than carbon being absorbed uniformly into the deep ocean in vast areas, it is drawn down and locked away from the atmosphere by plunging currents a thousand kilometres wide. Winds, currents and massive whirlpools that carry warm and cold water around the ocean – known as eddies – create localised pathways or funnels for carbon to be stored. Lead author, Dr Jean-Baptiste Sallée from British Antarctic Survey says, “The Southern Ocean is a large window by which the atmosphere connects to the interior of the ocean below. Until now we didn’t know exactly the physical processes of how carbon ends up being stored deep in the ocean. It’s the combination of winds, currents and eddies that create these carbon-capturing pathways drawing waters down into the deep ocean from the ocean surface.” “Now that we have an improved understanding of the mechanisms for carbon draw-down we are better placed to understand the effects of changing climate and future carbon absorption by the ocean.” CSIRO co-author, Dr Richard Matear says the rate-limiting step in the anthropogenic carbon uptake by the ocean is the physical transport from the surface into the ocean interior. “Our study identifies these pathways for the first time and this matches well with observationally–derived estimates of carbon storage in the ocean interior,” Dr Matear says. Due to the size and remote location of the Southern Ocean, scientists have only recently been able to explore the workings of the ocean with the help of small robotic probes – known as Argo floats. In 2002, 80 floats were deployed in the Southern Ocean to collect information on the temperature and salinity. This unique set of observations spanning 10 years has enabled scientists to investigate this remote region of the world for the first time. The floats are just over a metre in length and dive to depths of 2km. Today, there are over 3,000 floats in the oceans worldwide providing detailed information used in oceanic climate models. The team also analysed temperature, salinity and pressure data collected from ship-based observations since the 1990s. The instrument used for this is called a CTD profiler which is a cluster of sensors taking measurements as it’s lowered deep down into the ocean to depths of more than 7km. The work was supported through the Wealth from Oceans and Australian Climate Change Science Programs, and the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre program. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Learning patterns aid computers

CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY

Share on print Patterns needed to help computers think better have been investigated by an international research group including a Charles Sturt University (CSU) expert, with the results reported in the latest issue of the international journalNature Scientific Reports.   The results come from ten years of collaboration between the Director of CSU’s Centre for Research in Complex Systems, Professor Terry Bossomaier, and the University of Sydney.   “We want to understand how shifts in paradigm occur in human thinking. These shifts occur in individuals when they reach their performance in such areas as mathematics or finance. In societies they occur as knowledge grows and attitudes change,” Professor Bossomaier said.   “One challenge we faced was to find ways of measuring these shifts. We decided to use the ancient oriental game of Go and study how experts in Go use patterns to remember strategies for the game, and how these might be simulated in a computer program.   “Computers are currently quite good at face recognition, but voice and speech processing still have some way to go. In areas of what we call ‘thinking’, particularly common sense, computers are still quite weak,” Professor Bossomaier said.   “One big difference between human thinking and current computational intelligence is that we use a big library of patterns we build up over the years to give us a fast intuitive grasp of a situation.   “The great cognitive scientist Herbert Simon, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics, recognised this as needing to build up chunks of little patterns, and needing at least 50,000 of these to reach expert level at anything. We now think it is more than 100,000 patterns.”   The research project aimed to develop a deeper understanding of how these chunks are gained and how they change with experience.   “We also wanted to capture decisions made in the real world, without the restrictive effects of being in an artificial experiment. We decided to do this by capturing the moves made in high level games played online, such as Go,” Professor Bossomaier said.   Chess was the domain of study for human expertise, but after the Deep Blue computer defeated then World Champion Gary Kasparov in 1997, interest has turned to other games of skill.   “Go is as old as Chess and is played extensively in Asia, especially in Japan and Korea. Human players are still much better than computers. This is an excellent game to study to learn more about what humans do really well,” he said.   The first phase of the research showed that people's knowledge undergoes dramatic reorganisation when they move from amateur to professional rank.   “The change takes place not just in the areas of ‘deep strategy’, where one would expect the big gains to be, but also there is a radical reorganisation at the perceptual level,” Professor Bossomaier said. “It's a bit like acquiring a good accent in a foreign language. At quite a young age, the sounds of one's first language get set and are very difficult to change later.   “The perceptual templates we found for Go are akin to the ‘phonemes’ or sounds of a language. But unlike language, we found that these low-level templates do change with many years of practice.”   Professor Bossomaier believes this also has major implications for education. “Getting the building blocks right is the key to developing expertise. If we can find these blocks, the templates used by the superstars, we might be able to build them into the early training of professionals. “Computer games are also being increasingly used in education and training. Insights from studying the most difficult games such as Go can also be fed back into more serious games,” he said. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

New hope for challenging kids

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Share on print Parents of young children who show extreme behaviour problems and a lack of empathy or remorse may find new hope from research at the University of Sydney. "We found that the quality of a parent's emotional interaction and attachment with a young child is crucial to predicting if that child will develop this high-risk pattern of behaviour," said Dr David Hawes, the research leader from the School of Psychology at the University. "Based on our findings we can now test early-intervention strategies to help these parents and their children." Children who from an early age show a fearless temperament and do not show interest in other people's emotions, especially when they are upset or in need of help, are known to researchers as having "callous-unemotional" (CU) traits. These children typically also lack guilt or concern about behaviours that would produce guilt in most children. "While most children with conduct problems do not show CU traits, those who do are at greater risk for ongoing problems - particularly aggression. These children are indifferent to punishment for poor behaviour and in fact the more severe the punishment the worse the behaviour becomes," said Dr Hawes. Callous-unemotional behaviour has been shown to be a strong indicator of psychopathic behaviour and violent crime in adulthood. Dr Hawes and his colleagues have just completed a four-year study, funded through the Australian Research Centre, looking at children aged two to four with CU traits. The research was unusual in concentrating on very young children and being based primarily on direct observation. It used video analysis to evaluate the quality of interactions and attachment between mothers and children. "The study suggests that the emotional bonds between mothers and their children strongly predict if they will show high levels of CU traits, as well as conduct problems," said Dr Hawes. Until recently the quality of a child's parenting was not believed to have an impact on either callous-unemotional or the behaviour of children with such traits, but this research suggests that strengthening the emotional bonds between parents and their infants can make a difference. "While CU characteristics seem to be largely under the control of genetics if a child receives consistent and warm parenting in a secure family environment it can protect against those traits. This aspect of parenting is still relevant in terms of influencing the traits even though it is not the cause. "In fact its protective effects - its ability to prevent the development of aggressive and oppositional behaviour - also appear to be strongest for children with the highest level of CU traits." The main implication of the study is that CU children benefit less from current parenting interventions for conduct problems because they are focused on reducing negative parenting instead of on the quality of the parenting relationship. "While research with older children and adolescents has previously shown that CU traits are associated with more severe behaviour problems regardless of harsh and inconsistent discipline, our research suggests that this may not be the case in early childhood. Most importantly however, we found that it was only among the CU children that having an emotionally warm relationship protected against conduct problems." The researchers now plan to evaluate programs specifically aimed at improving quality of attachment by employing strategies shown by the current study to be highly beneficial. They include emphasising eye contact during emotional interactions, giving the child language to express emotion and the skills to identify emotion in other people. "Parents with very difficult-to-handle children might be told it is a phase - the terrible twos - but that does not apply for children at risk of antisocial behaviour. For them the earlier we can address the issue the better. "For our research we were in the privileged position of being able to work with Karitane, one of the only community health services in the world which specialises in clinically significant behaviour problems in very young children." Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Joseph McGurl Paintings

Joseph McGurl has been referred to as one of the acknowledged leaders in the current American landscape school. M. Stephen Dougherty, Editor, American Artist considers him "one of the most gifted of contemporary artists." This has been confirmed by his exhibitions in several important museum shows, a successful relationship with some of the country's leading galleries, and inclusion in numerous magazine articles and books.

Joseph McGurl was born in Massachusetts in 1958. He grew up working with his father, James McGurl, who was a muralist and his most influential teacher. Through him, he was exposed to a wide variety of materials and learned an appreciation of the craft of painting. Another early influence was Ralph Rosenthal, a teacher at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He subsequently graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a dual major in painting and education. He also studied in England and Italy. After college, he worked for a period of time as a yacht captain, sailing throughout the east coast from Maine to the Caribbean. After a few years he realized that in order to improve, he must devote himself solely to painting. In search of a more solid training in drawing, he sought out Robert Cormier, a devotee of the French Academy methods and he studied figure drawing under him.

Mr. McGurl's paintings have been included in several museum exhibitions in Massachusetts, New York, California, and Rhode Island. He has had retrospective solo shows at the Cape Museum of Fine Arts, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, and the Saint Botolph Club of Boston. He was a participant in the Sea to Shining Sea Exhibition which traveled to twelve museums over a four-year period. Representing Representation, a survey of the most significant realist work being done today included his work in the 2001 show at the Arnot Art Museum, and he was one of the few artists invited to simultaneously exhibit at the concurrent Representing Representation West which showcased western art at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art. McGurl has been elected to the Guild of Boston Artists and is a Copley Master with the Copley Society of Boston. He has won top awards from both organizations including the John Singleton Copley Award for Artistic Achievement. He is also an elected fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists. He has also been the subject of numerous book and magazine articles. Galleries in Boston, New York, San Francisco and Cape Cod represent his work.

Joseph's paintings are often seen in relationship to the great 19th century luminist painters but with a thoroughly modern approach to style and subject. For him, the process, rather than the product is the most important part of a painting. For this reason, his large studio paintings are developed from sketches painted on location. Rather than relying on photography, this method gives him the freedom to create paintings based on his imagination, memory, and his sketches. Although the objects depicted in the paintings are elements of the landscape and have a deep personal meaning to him, an equally important subject is an exploration of light, form, space, and color interpreted through paint.

During the summer months, he cruises the coast of New England with his wife and children aboard their classic Alden designed ketch, "Atelier," which he uses as a floating studio; many of his sketches are executed from her decks.

After living for several years in Rhode Island, Joseph, his wife Patricia, and sons Max and Sean moved to Cape Cod in 1994. Their home and studio are a restored 19th-century carriage house on the shore of Amrita Island.

Joseph McGurl was born in Needham, Massachusetts, in 1958. At an early age, he moved to Quincy. He grew up working with his father, James McGurl, who was a muralist and his most influential teacher. Another early influence was Ralph Rosenthal, a teacher at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Saturday Classes, which McGurl attended throughout his youth. He subsequently graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a dual major in painting and education. He also studied in England and Italy and later with Robert Cormier in Boston. 

Mr. McGurl has been elected to the Guild of Boston Artists where he was the recipient of the first place gold medallion at the annual members' show. He has also won awards from the Salmagundi Club in New York City and The Copley Society of Boston. He was the youngest member ever designated a Copley Master and has won the John Singleton Copley Award for artistic achievement. 

Joseph's paintings are often seen in relation to the great 19th-century luminist painters but with a thoroughly modern approach to style and subject. His creative process is to paint small sketches of the scene on location. Back at the studio, these are re-interpreted to form the foundation for the large finished canvases. Rather than relying on photography, this method allows him to create his works based on his sketches, memory, and imagination. 

Joseph worked for a period as a yacht captain sailing throughout the East Coast and in the Caribbean. During the summer months, he cruises the coast of New England with his wife and children aboard their Down East cruiser "Atelier" which he uses as a floating studio. 

After living for several years in Rhode Island, Joseph, his wife Patricia and sons Max and Sean moved to Cape Cod in 1994. Their home and studio is a converted 19th-century carriage house on the shore of Amrita Island. Joseph supervised and designed a significant renovation which was influenced by his interest in architecture and historic preservation and became the subject of a magazine article.