Top universities by reputation (Times Reuters) 01-05

The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings employ the world's largest invitation-only academic opinion survey to provide the definitive list of the top 100 most powerful global university brands. A spin-off of the annual World University Rankings, the reputation league table is based on nothing more than subjective judgement - but it is the considered expert judgement of senior, published academics - the people best placed to know the most about excellence in our universities.

Top universities by reputation 2012

Rank	Institution	Country / Region	Overall score
1	Harvard University	United States	100.0
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	87.2
3	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	80.7
4	Stanford University	United States	72.1
5	University of California, Berkeley	United States	71.6
6	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	71.2
7	Princeton University	United States	37.9
8	University of Tokyo	Japan	35.6
9	University of California, Los Angeles	United States	33.8
10	Yale University	United States	32.4
11	California Institute of Technology	United States	29.6
12	University of Michigan	United States	23.2
13	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	22.2
14	University of Chicago	United States	21.0
15	Columbia University	United States	20.7
16	Cornell University	United States	20.0
16	University of Toronto	Canada	20.0
18	Johns Hopkins University	United States	17.8
19	University of Pennsylvania	United States	16.3
20	Kyoto University	Japan	15.9
21	University College London	United Kingdom	15.7
22	ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich	Switzerland	15.0
23	University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign	United States	13.9
23	National University of Singapore	Singapore	13.9
25	McGill University	Canada	11.8
25	University of British Columbia	Canada	11.8
27	University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States	11.5
28	University of Washington	United States	11.3
29	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom	11.1
30	Tsinghua University	China	10.9
32	University of Texas at Austin	United States	10.3
33	Duke University	United States	10.1
34	New York University	United States	9.8
35	Northwestern University	United States	9.6
36	University of California, San Diego	United States	9.4
37	Carnegie Mellon University	United States	9.3
38	Peking University	China	8.9
39	University of Massachusetts	United States	8.7
39	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	8.7
41	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States	8.5
42	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany	8.4
43	University of Melbourne	Australia	8.1
44	Australian National University	Australia	7.4
44	University of California, Davis	United States	7.4
46	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States	7.2
47	Purdue University	United States	7.1
47	University of Minnesota	United States	7.1
49	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom	7.0
50	University of Sydney	Australia	6.9

Blood hound SSC 1000 miles per hour. 10-04

The Bloodhound is so fast, its creators needed to reinvent the wheel.

Officially dubbed the Bloodhound SSC -- short for supersonic car -- the pencil-shaped racer is meant to become the fastest car in the world and the first to reach 1,000 miles per hour -- faster than a speeding bullet. A car that fast doesn't just run on tires. It runs on 200-pound circles of aerospace aluminum that can absorb 50,000 times the force of gravity.

"We will have pushed back the boundaries of human endeavor," driver Andy Green, who flies fighter jets as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force in his spare time, told ABC News.

The car's statistics are mind boggling. The engine is a combination rocket (designed by a 28-year-old self-trained rocketeer), race car engine and fighter jet afterburner that generates six times more power than all the cars in an Indy car race combined.

Individually, many pieces of the Bloodhound have appeared in race cars or missiles before. But the rocket is one-of-a-kind and the pieces have never been combined -- which is why the creators don't know what will happen when the engine is fired up for the first time in western England Wednesday.

Szyjanowicz acknowledged that while the experiment is expected to work, the risk is large: "We could end up with a big empty space where the rocket and engine used to be.""It's a proper mashup of technologies. Formula One technology, military and defense technology, rocket technology which is unique -- and putting all that together is a big challenge," said Pio Szyjanowicz of Cosworth, the company that created the Bloodhound's control system and Formula One engine and makes engines for U.S. Navy drones. "Tomorrow will be a step into the unknown for all of us."

Here's how you get to 1,000 miles an hour in a 40-foot-long titanium and carbon-fiber car, which the organizers say have taken 30 man-years to perfect:

First, a jet engine from a Eurofighter aircraft -- which is significantly faster than the U.S. Air Force's F-18 Hornet -- accelerates the car to about 300 miles per hour in about 15 seconds.

Green then starts filling the rocket with high test peroxide fuel. So much fuel is needed (one ton in 20 seconds) that the pump to supply it is actually a Formula One engine. The pump technology, Szyjanowicz said, is usually found in an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Green then pushes a button that fills the rocket with fuel and allows it to hit full power. He accelerates from 350 mph to 1,050 in 25 seconds. He maintains that speed for one mile (it only takes him 3.5 seconds to cover the distance) and then he shuts down the rocket, hits the brakes and deploys a parachute designed to decelerate him from 1,050 to zero in 40 seconds. He'll cover 12 miles in 2 minutes.

"You don't feel speed. You feel the acceleration, how quickly you get there," Green said. "Kind of like a fairly aggressive roller coaster ride."

Perhaps only Green would describe a deceleration that will subject him to three times the force of gravity as "fairly aggressive." He has been flying jets for 20 years, and in 1997 became the first person to break sound barrier in a car when he set the current land speed record of 763 miles an hour.

To train for this project, Green has been driving race cars and flying aerobatic aircraft on the weekends. He insists that because of the nature of the rocket, he isn't concerned about his safety.

"This is an optimal way to produce something very safe and very controllable," he said.

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USAID opens new channels for higher education 10-02

USAID opens new channels for higher education

By Ezekiel Carlo Orlina on 28 September 2012

The U.S. Agency for International Development has launched its latest program targeting institutions of higher education called Fall Semester. The program aims to take university engagement to a new level by opening channels of communication between America’s premier aid agency and the academe.

Through USAID’s website, students and other members of the academe can select from different engagement opportunities classified simply as serve, solve, and join.

Under serve, individuals may apply for internships, fellowships, job openings, as well as volunteer work in and out of the United States. Opportunities classified under solve allow students, researchers, and members of the faculty to propose innovations in health, education, scientific research, sustainable development, and other sectors. Under join, individuals are given the chance to interact and exchange ideas through web chats and guest lectures, as well as become a part of USAID’s partner organizations on campus. According to USAID, arecently-launched web tool allows for direct communication with USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah.

Fall Semester is part of a broader USAID strategy to attract members of the academe and encourage the involvement of higher education institutions in addressing global development problems.

For recently, on February 8, 2012, USAID announced a special funding opportunity for universities called Higher Education Solutions Network, which is designed to further integrate innovation, science and technology in America’s global development policy. While the second stage of the request for applications (RFA) process officially closed on July 17, 2012, USAID confirmed to Devex that similar opportunities will be announced and released in the future.

USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network program aims to create and fund two types of “centers” tied to universities, colleges, research centers and other higher learning institutions. Consortium centers involve a collection of universities, NGOs, and companies while single institution centers will involve an individual institution. These centers will contribute to existing and future USAID programs through activities such as research, analysis, and training.

The primary goal of the Higher Education Solutions Network is to establish institutional partnerships that will create and leverage a virtual network of leading experts who will help USAID solve distinct global development challenges. USAID’s hope is that this network will help USAID identify new solutions, save money, and improve development outcomes over time.

USAID has a long history of partnership with institutions of higher education, research institutes, colleges, and community colleges. One of USAID’s marquee university engagement programs called Higher Education for Development has helped launch more than 300 university partnerships that have strengthened the institutional capacity of more than 200 developing country higher education, research, and training institutions in approximately 60 countries since 1987. As of fiscal 2011, HED was administering 169 active partnerships with U.S. higher education institutions.

The alternative limb project 10-01

The Alternative Limb Project offers a personal and friendly bespoke service, which provides unique prosthetics  to blend in with the body or stand out as a unique piece of art, reflecting the wearer’s imagination, personality and interests.

We will involve the wearer in all stages of the process from conception of ideas to the final work.

An alternative-style limb can help to break down social barriers, delight the eye and provide an unusual talking point.



The realistic limbs


With an eye for fine detail, Sophie will sculpt life like limbs to match your sound side.

• Silicone can be made translucent like skin
• Colours can be matched to your sound side
• Creases , blemishes, freckles and veins can be reproduced
• Nail colours and shapes can be simulated (nail varnish can be used and removed )
• Comfort gel pads can be incorporated into the prosthesis
• Build ups can be made for correcting alignment or for adjusting height discrepancies

Whilst some limbs are considered passive prosthetics (no mechanical movement ) they  still have important functional capabilities. This includes actions such as pushing, pulling, stabilizing, supporting, light grasping and typing.

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