#Inter planetary Science

[nopoodles]

An Unwanted Obsession - OC Kiss 25 Short Story

Prompt: First *Dimae finds himself drawn to a fellow crewmate and he cannot explain why but he needs it to stop, or to turn into something else, or, or SOMETHING!* Characters: Sebastian & DimaeWorld: Inter-Planetary Alliance (get book one here) – You’ve Seen Basti and Dimae in The Sudden Scent Of Pineapples beforeSpoilers: Nope Dimae had been watching the human. Not overly so, but he certainly…

[starfleetshrimps]

GOD i fucking LOVE IT when the sci fi shows are also political dramas. PLEASE give me more complicated inter-planetary governmental issues and also sprinkle in some silly pseudo science laser things NOWtysm

[apas-95]

i largely agree with your politics but tbqh the way you present your ideas is not really radical, frankly it's worryingly eschatological/messianic. which sucks cuz otherwise you seen like a pretty rational individual

I don't think 'making claims about the future' is inherently messianic or eschatological, though I understand this is often a sticking point regarding Marxism - if we understand dialectical and historical materialism to be genuine scientific knowledge on human society, which we should, then the ability to predict future events with confidence is simply part and parcel of its existence as scientific knowledge.

The claim 'the tendency of the rate of profit to fall drives capital inevitably, through various ways, into cyclical crises of various scales, with the largest-scale examples consisting of global economic crises and world wars, the approach to which can be recognised and quantified prior' should be seen as no more messianic than 'the release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere causes runaway heating which, while increasing the general planetary average temperature, alao leads to localised extreme weather events and rising sea levels, which can be recognised and quantified prior'.

Fundamentally, while a lot of people are willing to accept Marxism as providing *empirical* understanding of human society; that is, as a means to understand and decompose present and historical social issues; it is a lot harder for people to accept Marxism as providing genuinely scientific understanding of human society capable of predictive power. The reasons behind this are, generally, due to the nature of enlightenment philosophy and the bourgeois conception of science, wherein bourgeois social 'sciences' are incomplete, piecemeal, and reflexive (since, as Marxism demonstrates, a geneuine scientific analysis of human society, beginning from the political-economic basis of society, is harmful to bourgeois society).

When I say 'revolution in the imperial core is not going to occur today, but is an essential inevitability in the near future' I am saying, essentially, nothing more than the well-proven principle that 'revolution will occur where the chain of imperialism is weakest'. The condition for revolution in the imperial core is widespread revolution in the periphery states, the condition for widespread revolution in the periphery states is worldwide economic crisis and war, and the condition for worldwide economic crisis and war is the decline of imperial profits and the collapse of imperialist alliances. There is a fairly clear chain of events here, each of which has not only turned out in the past (the first world war being predictable before it ever occured) but is currently turning out in the present (look back even on my own blog towards discussions of inter-imperialist war and note that Marxists had predicted a ground war in Europe by 2025 well prior to the actual commencement of the Russia-NATO proxy war in Ukraine, as well as the inevitability of an economic crash circa 2020).

As proletarians, there is, also, largely nothing that can be done to influence these events without the existence of large proletarian political organs capable of leading the proletariat in conscious political action - the existence of which is contingent on historical circumstances. The imperial core does not have serious proletarian organs with a mass basis, and will not have those organs until conditions exist to facilitate them - said conditions being the collapse of imperialist profits and the worsening of domestic repression in core states. This does not mean that the eventual emergence and victory of those organs will not require constant, arduous work from communists to build up and maintain, to whatevee degree is possible, a communist movement until fhat time arrives - but it means that, for instance: Marx in the 1800s was never going to lead a socialist state, leaving that work to a future Lenin.

Almost assuredly, no existing party in the USA will carry out revolution - but the leaders of the revolutionary movement that will emerge under the pressures of war against Russia, China, the EU imperialist bloc; and of climate crisis and economic collapse; will likely be the ones gaining experience in political work at this time. Marxism speaks of classes, not individuals - it is not, really, messianic to say 'the bourgeoisie will go to war when faced with economic crisis, and the proletariat will resist when faced with war', nor is it, I reason, very eschatological to say 'the world is going to get much, much worse in the near future, however, there is a possible way to escape the horrors of war that does not end in nuclear annihilation'.

However, if it's what you'd prefer, I could call myself God-queen of violent benevolence, and emanate a vision of revolutionary salvation - whichever works.

[theonlyfeckuser]

please enjoy this brief analysis i posted on my university's philosophy society instagram page of which i am president

Happy Threshold Day, philosophers!

Star Trek dresses up as a show about science, when really, it uses far-fetched futuristic technology to explore philosophical ideas. In an inter-planetary society, the question of humanity is explored countless times; where does human end, and alien begin? What about the identity of those with parents of two different planets? And what does it actually mean to be human, when not every human even hails from Earth? In its second season, Star Trek: Voyager looks at evolution, both literal and metaphorical. Pilot Tom Paris discovers a way to break the warp barrier and travel faster than anyone ever has, but in the process, his DNA begins to evolve at an alarming rate as he becomes allergic to water and can no longer breathe the same atmosphere. Along with the physical changes, Paris becomes more and more convinced of his apotheosis, as the flight has made him feel godly in his grasp on science and the universe. One thing leads to another and he and the captain end up as salamander-like creatures who have procreated. Apparently, humanity is destined to become amphibious.

While often considered one of the worst Star Trek episodes of all time (despite winning an Emmy award for stage makeup), Threshold poses a few interesting questions. How much of our desire to learn about the universe comes from a selfish need to prove our adequacy, as individuals and as a race? How much physical change can a human being experience and still remain a "human"? What responsibility could we one day have in controlling our impact on random planets, where we leave our lizard babies to fend for themselves and never speak of them again?

Paris and his captain are eventually returned to their original state, though they remain deeply impacted by their experiences as slimy water-dwelling creatures. Captain Janeway has a new perspective on procreation, and Paris feels he might just have done enough to prove his worth to his father. Perhaps in a way, this absurd episode was trying to tell us that to be human is to be changed?

[stormandforge]

Raw reactions to X-Force #4

You wanted an action-packed X-comic? Here you go.

SPOILERS after the fold.

Now you see why the slow set-up was necessary? YOU SEE? Premise, characters and and relationships established, aaaaand we're off.

I'll be honest: up until now I thought Thorne was blowing his own trumpet when he said things would only get crazier, but now I believe him. We get: our usual fracture set-up, 2 Earth locations, Otherworld, Nuklo, Man-Thing, inter-dimensional shit, a legendary temple and weirdo Avengers. And it all flows and never feels clunky. Very nice.

Magic vs science (or magic x science) continues to be a thing, and I continue to be here for it. I'm a Forge fan, it comes with the territory.

Betsy calling Forge out on his bullshit, Sage trying to calm her down, Forge standing his ground - let the drama commence. I'm really loving the team dynamic.

What's Forge hiding in that terrifying brain of his? Do we even want to know? I'm now 90% sure he's causing/has caused the fractures, perhaps by upgrading himself or creating the Analog, but does he know? I sincerely hope not. At the same time my boy has a history of not dealing very well with the consequences of his own actions...

The looser Forge's ponytail is, the pervier my brain gets. This is a warning. If he doesn't take a second to sort out his *fucking magnificent* hair in the next issue, this blog will become NSFW.

Ok, I'm glad teleporting is finally mentioned, because I've been wondering. I get that Forge's power isn't to "think of everything" (see issue 1), but bringing a teleporter to a fast-paced planetary mission is just common sense. And that he should make one that fits onto the jet is also obvious, especially since it's a problem to solve, which is kind of his thing. And if for any reason he's forgotten common sense, he's got Sage, who's got enough common sense for all of us. So...yeah, plot hole. But it's all good - you gotta use Betsy and her cool sword.

I love the way Surge's comparative youth is presented. She's experienced enough to pull her weight, but she still has the fire of youth, and the ability to see the obvious when the adults have disappeared up their own asses. "Hey, guys! You might want to stop chatting and look at THAT OBVIOUS SCARY THING OVER THERE."

Drinking game for when the trade comes out: take a shot every time Sage says "processing".

Who's this "she" the psi-girls are talking about? I might have just missed something on that one. Either way, "she" sounds scary and fun, I hope she shows up.

ORORO??? I didn't expect her until issue 6 😍

That ain't really Ororo though, is it? These Avengers look like they just stepped out of a parallel world, and in any case she's currently in Atlanta coughing up blood and feeding hippos.

LOL, entire team fails at taking down Nuklo, Ororo takes him down with one lightning bolt. That's a bit embarrassing, guys.

Dishevelled Forge whispering "Ororo?" in utter shock is my new sexual orientation.

So, we're meant to get a character death next issue, if we believe the marketing. I expected this issue to lay the groundwork for this, but nope, it'll be a complete surprise. Let's see what happens! (My money was on Sage for the longest time, but now I'm not sure anymore. Could be anyone.)

Either way: I'm getting Forge and some version of Storm in the same comic next month, and I'm already freaking out. I hope my little shippy heart can take it. ❤️

[thedisabilitybookarchive]

Do you have any books with chronic pain Would prefer sci fi and fantasy but don’t really mind

I sure do!

Fantasy:

One of the MCs in the Six of Crows duology (that is Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom) is a cane user who suffers from chronic pain and a limp in his leg

Merrick Tremayne, the MC of The Bedlam Stacks, is left using a cane and living with chronic pain after a bad injury. This one is also a historical fantasy.

Bound to the Monarchs is a polyamorous fantasy erotica where one of the members of the main triad lives with chronic pain. I believe it's as a result of implied arthritis.

The Magic of the Lost series by C. L. Clark features a black female MC with PTSD and a white female MC who uses a cane and has chronic pain in her legs. Currently only The Faithless (book 2) is on the archive, but the first book is titled The Broken and I do believe there's supposed to be a third.

Sci-Fi:

I believe a few characters in Defying Doomsday live with chronic pain, although this is a dystopian short story anthology so not every character will have it.

Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler are some of my favourite sci-fic/apocalypse books. The MC, Lauren, lives with a fictional disability called Hyper-Empathy Syndrome that means she can feel the pain and pleasure of people around her. She is always/runs the risk of always being in pain, especially given the state of the world she's living in. These are quite graphic books though so I'd recommend checking the content warnings.

Unlicensed Delivery by Will Soulsby-McCreath has an MC who lives with chronic pain. This is a space opera and so far the first and only book in the Inter-Planetary Alliance series, though there should be more in the future.

Both:

This one is more urban fantasy/science-fiction, but Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots features an MC who becomes the admin assistant of a supervillain after suffering serious injuries due to the carelessness of a superhero. As well as being a cane use with chronic pain and PTSD, I think she also has a mild TBI but I've never been able to fully confirm this.

These are just a few I've cherry picked from the site, but there are more on the chronic pain tag of the archive if you're interested.

I hope this has helped! Let me know if there is anything else you need!

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Machine learning reveals meteoroid impacts may play a bigger role in triggering marsquakes

Meteoroid impacts create seismic waves that cause Mars to shake more strongly and deeply than previously thought. This is shown by an investigation using artificial intelligence carried out by an international research team led by the University of Bern. Similarities were found between numerous meteoroid impacts on the surface of Mars and marsquakes recorded by NASA's Mars lander InSight. These findings open up a new perspective on the impact rate and seismic dynamics of the red planet.

Meteoroid impacts have a significant influence on the landscape evolution of solid planetary bodies in our solar system, including Mars. By studying craters—the visible remnants of these impacts—important properties of the planet and its surface can be determined. Satellite images help to constrain the formation time of impact craters and thus provide valuable information on impact rates.

A recent study led by Dr. Valentin Bickel from the Center for Space and Habitability at the University of Bern presents the first comprehensive catalog of impacts on the Martian surface that took place near NASA's Mars lander during the InSight mission between December 2018 and December 2022. Bickel is also an InSight science team member. The study has just been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Machine learning identifies new Martian impacts

The impact events were cataloged using a machine learning approach. Tens of thousands of satellite images were searched for new craters that formed during the seismic monitoring by InSight. Using images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and the Bernese Mars camera CaSSIS the craters were classified according to their size.

"Next, we compared the distribution of the craters with the seismic recordings from InSight and looked for matches in space and time," explains first author Bickel. This innovative approach made it possible to identify a total of 123 previously unknown impacts. Based on their determined formation time, estimated magnitude and distance to InSight, the researchers found potential matches between 49 seismic events and one or more possible impact events.

"Our data show that more impacts occur on Mars than were determined in previous studies using orbital images," says Bickel. The estimated impact rate is around 1.6 to 2.5 times higher than previously assumed. "Our observations show that some of the recorded marsquakes are actually caused by meteoroid impacts and not tectonic activity. This has far-reaching implications for estimates of the frequency of marsquakes and our understanding of the dynamics of the Martian surface in general."

Wave propagation through the Martian mantle

In a companion study, the research team focused on one of the newly discovered events, a 21.5-meter impact crater in the Cerberus Fossae region, which the team linked to a specific high-frequency marsquake. The Cerberus Fossae rift system is located in a young volcanic plain on Mars that is known for its tectonic activity. This discovery enables the first direct comparison between an impact-induced seismic signal and a signal caused by internal tectonic movements.

The researchers compared the impact location and the time at which InSight registered the respective marsquake. They were able to show that some of the seismic waves propagated through the deeper Martian mantle and not, as previously assumed, only through the surface crust.

"These findings challenge previous assumptions about the propagation of seismic waves and suggest that numerous recorded marsquakes were actually further away from the Mars lander InSight than previously thought," says Constantinos Charalambous, InSight science team member at Imperial College London and lead author of the companion study also published in Geophysical Research Letters.

"In addition to re-locating the epicenters of a range of quakes, this also means that the internal structural model of Mars needs to be revised," says Charalambous.

Searching for further similarities

"Our results are not only important for the scientific community. For example, if you want to build a permanent infrastructure on Mars in the future, you need to be able to assess the risk of structural damage, such as caused by meteoroid impacts," emphasizes Bickel.

The studies show that the combination of seismic data and orbital image information is crucial for understanding the geophysical properties of Mars. Further research on Mars will aim to refine estimates of marsquake frequency and impact rates.

The studies are the result of an international, interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers from the University of Bern and other renowned institutions, including the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Imperial College London, Brown University, and ETH Zurich.

"At the University of Bern, we are ideally positioned to conduct this type of research—particularly because of our interdisciplinary expertise in planetary sciences and machine learning, as well as Bern's active participation in InSight, HiRISE and CaSSIS," concludes Bickel.

TOP IMAGE: A camera on the robotic arm of NASA’s InSight captured the lander setting down its Wind and Thermal Shield on Feb. 2, 2019. The shield covered InSight’s seismometer, which captured data from more than 1,300 marsquakes over the lander’s four-year mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGES: Top: Visualization of two large, newly discovered co-InSight impacts located near Cerberus Fossae. Bottom: Visualization of all other newly identified craters larger than 10 m (effective diameter, n = 12), as imaged by HiRISE. Images: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO, NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/MSSS. Credit: Geophysical Research Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1029/2024GL109133

[her-satanic-wiles]

Me reading a science fiction fantasy: "Reptilian people, time travel, inter-planetary colonisation. Ah yes, totally fine."

Also me reading that very same science fiction fantasy: "George IV didn't have a son. This is unrealistic."

[audiodrama]

IPNBC

[nopoodles]

Willing To Face The Consequences Of Not Answering - Whumpril short story - Inter-Planetary Alliance, no spoilers

*Choice is just trying to transport cargo–their job– when they get pulled in on suspicion of smuggling by an over-enthusiastic new commodore* Whumpril prompt: Day 17 – InterrogationBook world: Inter-Planetary Alliance novels (no spoilers), this is a new set of characters from an as-yet un-introduced book. The light above their head flickered. Words pressed against Choice’s mask but they kept…

[spokenrealms]

Spacehounds of IPC

The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith. Audible/Amazon

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Wednesday

SpaceTime 20240904 Series 27 Episode 107

New discoveries about the universe’s first galaxies

A new study has found that the universe’s first galaxies won’t overly massive after all but their central black holes made them seem brighter and bigger.

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission moving towards its October launch date

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission -- the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for inter-planetary exploration – is on track for a launch window opening on October ten.

Falcon 9 launches put on hold following a spectacular landing failure

SpaceX have placed a hold on future launches of their Falcon 9 rocket after one of them caught fire, blew up, and fell into the sea as it was attempting to land on a drone ship following a successful mission to space.

The Science Report

Study shows face masks could cut common respiratory symptoms by 3.2%.

Scientists may be missing millions of undescribed extinction-prone insect species.

Study shows taking a break from screen time works wonders for kid’s mental health.

Alex on Tech: Social media’s censorship of the truth

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[govindhtech]

SynxFlow Project: A Smooth Migration From CUDA To SYCL

The SynxFlow Project

SynxFlow, an open-source GPU-based hydrodynamic flood modeling software, in CUDA, C++, and Python Data pre-processing and visualization are done in Python while simulations are executed on CUDA. SynxFlow can simulate floods quicker than real-time with hundreds of millions of computational cells and metre-level precision on many GPUs. An open-source software with a simple Python interface, it may be linked into data science workflows for disaster risk assessments. The model has been widely utilized in research and industry, such as to assist flood early warning systems and generate flood maps for (re)insurance firms.

SynxFlow can simulate flooding, landslide runout, and debris flow. Simulations are crucial to emergency service planning and management. A comprehensive prediction of natural disasters can reduce their social and economic costs. In addition to risk assessment and disaster preparedness, SynxFlow flood simulation can help with urban planning, environmental protection, climate change adaptation, insurance and financial planning, infrastructure design and engineering, public awareness, and education.

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Issue Statement

Several variables make probabilistic flood forecasting computationally difficult:

Large dataset storage, retrieval, and management

Complex real-time data processing requires high-performance computation.

Model calibration and validation needed as real-world conditions change.

Effective integration and data transfer between hydrological, hydraulic, and meteorological models, and more.

For speedier results, a flood forecasting system must process data in parallel and offload compute-intensive operations to hardware accelerators. Thus, the SynxFlow team must use larger supercomputers to increase flood simulation scale and cut simulation time. DAWN, the UK’s newest supercomputer, employs Intel GPUs, which SynxFlow didn’t support.

These issues offered researchers a new goal to make the SynxFlow model performance-portable and scalable on supercomputers with multi-vendor GPUs. They must transition SynxFlow code from CUDA to a cross-vendor programming language in weeks, not years.

Solution Powered by oneAPI

After considering several possibilities, the SynxFlow project team chose the Intel oneAPI Base Toolkit implementation of the Unified Acceleration Foundation-backed oneAPI protocol. All are built on multiarchitecture, multi-vendor SYCL framework. It supports Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD GPUs and includes the Intel DPC++ Compatibility Tool for automated CUDA-to-SYCL code translation.

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SynxFlow code migration went smoothly. This produced code that automatically translated most CUDA kernels and API calls into SYCL. After auto-translation, some mistakes were found during compilation, but the migration tool’s error-diagnostic indications and warnings made them easy to rectify. It took longer to switch from NVIDIA Collective Communications Library (NCCL)-based inter-GPU communication to GPU-direct enabled Intel MPI library calls because this could not be automated.

To summarize, there has been a promising attempt to transfer a complicated flood simulation code that was built on CUDA to SYCL, achieving both scalability and performance-portability. The conversion has been easy to handle and seamless thanks to the Intel oneAPI Base Toolkit.

Intel hosted a oneAPI Hackfest at the DiRAC HPC Research Facility

DiRAC

The High Performance Super Computer facility in the United Kingdom serving the theoretical communities of Particle Physics, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Solar System and Planetary Science, and Nuclear Physics.

DiRAC’s three HPC services Extreme Scaling, Memory-Intensive, and Data-Intensive are each designed to support the distinct kinds of computational workflows required to carry out their science program. DiRAC places a strong emphasis on innovation, and all of its services are co-designed with vendor partners, technical and software engineering teams, and research community.

Training Series on oneAPI at DiRAC Hackfest

On May 21–23, 2024, the DiRAC community hosted three half-day remote training sessions on the Intel oneAPI Base Toolkit. The training series was designed for developers and/or researchers with varying degrees of experience, ranging from novices to experts.

The cross-platform compatible SYCL programming framework served as the foundation for a variety of concepts that were taught to the attendees. The students were also introduced to a number of Base Kit component tools and libraries that facilitate SYCL. For instance, the Intel DPC++ Compatibility Tool facilitates automated code migration from CUDA to C++ with SYCL; the Intel oneAPI Math Kernel Library (oneMKL) optimizes math operations; the Intel oneAPI Deep Neural Networks (oneDNN) accelerates hackfest and the Intel oneAPI DPC++ Library (oneDPL) expedites SYCL kernels on a variety of hardware. Additionally, the training sessions covered code profiling and the use of Intel Advisor and Intel VTune Profiler, two tools included in the Base Kit for analyzing performance bottlenecks.

DiRAC Hackfest’s oneAPI Hackath on

In order to complete a range of tasks, including parallelizing Fortran code on Intel GPUs, accelerating math operations like the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) using oneMKL’s SYCL API, and resolving performance bottlenecks with the aid of Intel Advisor and Intel VTune Profiler, the participants improvised their cutting-edge projects using oneAPI tools and libraries.

The participants reported that it was easy to adjust to using oneAPI components and that the code migration process went smoothly. The teams saw a noticeable increase in workload performance with libraries like Intel MPI. Approximately 70% of the teams who took part indicated that they would be open to using oneAPI technologies to further optimize the code for their research projects. Thirty percent of the teams benchmarked their outcomes using SYCL and oneAPI, and they achieved a 100% success rate in code conversion to SYCL.

Start Programming Multiarchitecture Using SYCL and oneAPI

Investigate the SYCL framework and oneAPI toolkits now for multiarchitecture development that is accelerated! Use oneAPI to enable cross-platform parallelism in your apps and move your workloads to SYCL for high-performance heterogeneous computing.

Intel invite you to review the real-world code migration application samples found in the CUDA to SYCL catalog. Investigate the AI, HPC, and rendering solutions available in Intel’s software portfolio driven by oneAPI.

Read more on govindhtech.com

[psatalk]

Slow progress at Ottawa plastics treaty meet

The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) for a legally binding global plastics treaty concluded in Ottawa on 29 April. The disappointing news is that no definitive decisions were taken. The ray of hope is that there were debates and discussions on primary plastic polymers, reuse, recycling, and chemical concerns. The fifth meeting will be held in Busan, South Korea, in November.

Spearheaded by Peru and Rwanda, more than 50 countries endeavored to encompass the entire lifecycle of plastic in the treaty. Oil and plastic-producing nations, just as in the previous editions of the meeting, continued their insistence that it is not an upstream issue that could require a cut in polymer and plastic production, but more of a downstream problem, which is the management of plastics.

Opinions on extended producer responsibility (EPR), which would make the producers of packaging/brands responsible for the entire life-cycle of packs, were split. Some countries favored implementing global EPR schemes. Others said they would prefer for these schemes to be voluntary or not included in the final treaty text at all, media reports said.

According to a statement issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the meeting concluded with an advanced draft text of the instrument and agreement on intersessional work ahead of the fifth session in Busan. More than 2,500 delegates representing 170 members and over 480 observer organizations, including non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and UN entities, participated in INC-4. This was the largest gathering to date, the UN said.

Delegates worked on negotiating the Revised Draft Text of the international legally binding instrument and discussed emissions and releases, production, product design, waste management, problematic and avoidable plastics, financing, and a just transition.

The members agreed on intersessional work – expert meetings between the official INC sessions. They decided to create an open-ended legal drafting group for INC-5, serving in an advisory capacity.

“We came to Ottawa to advance the text and with the hope that members would agree on the inter-sessional work required to make even greater progress ahead of INC-5. We leave Ottawa having achieved both goals and a clear path to landing an ambitious deal in Busan ahead of us,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP.

“The work, however, is far from over. The plastic pollution crisis continues to engulf the world and we have just a few months left before the end-of-year deadline agreed upon in 2022. I urge members to show continued commitment and flexibility to achieve maximum ambition,” Andersen said.

Environmentalists and experts working on plastics management see a long battle ahead. Joan Marc Simon, director-founder at Zero Waste Europe, wrote in an editorial, “All in all, this time the countries most impacted by plastic pollution managed to put up a fight in INC-4. Meanwhile, it appears the most polluting culprits got their way through further delays and derailing. There is one last round of negotiations which I hope will signal the beginning of something promising rather than the end of a nightmare. In the meantime, negotiators will continue building a wall not knowing if its purpose will be to trigger action against plastic pollution or to prevent it.”Zero Waste Europe is a European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents working to eliminate waste.

The science has been clear, Simon writes. “We need to reduce plastic production if we want to stay under 2°C warming. The question is not whether we want plastic or not, but rather how much plastic can we afford to stay within planetary boundaries and protect impacted communities and ecosystems.”

Expressing disappointment, Greenpeace International said there is a growing prospect that we may not have a robust plastics treaty as the Ottawa negotiation caved into the interests of the fossil fuels and petrochemicals industry.

Graham Forbes, Greenpeace head of delegation to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, said, “The world is burning and member states are wasting time and opportunity. We saw some progress, aided by the continued efforts of states such as Rwanda, Peru, and the signatories of the Bridge to Busan declaration in pushing to reduce plastic production. However, compromises were made on the outcome which disregarded plastic production cuts, further distancing us from reaching a treaty that science requires and justice demands. People are being harmed by plastic production every day, but states are listening more closely to petrochemical lobbyists than health scientists. The entire world is watching, and if countries, particularly in the so-called ‘high-ambition coalition’, don’t act between now and INC-5 in Busan, the treaty they are likely to get is one that could have been written by ExxonMobil and their acolytes.”

Just ahead of the Ottawa meeting, Greenpeace had released a new global survey that says eight out of 10 people in India support cutting plastic production to save the country's biodiversity and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Globally too, eight out of 10 people support cutting plastic production to stop plastic pollution.

Centre of Science and Environment's Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, who was in Ottawa, mentions in one of his reports that the Closing Plenary was marked by disappointment and dominated by like-minded groups. “The chair presented a proposal for intersessional work, inviting comments and suggestions from the committee. While several countries expressed their support for the Chair’s proposal, a brief (one-hour) consultation revealed that the like-minded countries were now the primary proponents of the new proposal for intersessional work.”

A reluctance to tackle pressing issues such as plastic reduction targets and the consensus versus voting problems stemming from Rule 38.1 of the draft Rules of Procedure raises serious concerns about the Chair’s capability and the committee’s willingness to meet the 2024 deadline for finalizing the treaty text, Singh writes.

The fourth session follows INC-1 in Punta del Este in November 2022, INC-2 in Paris in May/June 2023, and INC-3 in Nairobi in November 2023. INC-5 – set to be the end of the INC process – is scheduled for November 2024 in Busan. Only time will tell if 2024 will see a consensus on a global plastics treaty or if the Busan meeting will end in a logjam. So over to Busan.

[nopoodles]

Just Tell Me It Gets Easier - Whumpril Day 3 - An IPA Short Story (no spoilers)

*Benoit might have to officially decide he doesn’t like physiotherapy, even if he gets to spend time with an old friend.* Whumpril: Day 3 – SoreBook Universe: Inter-Planetary Alliance, no spoilers (an upcoming book but you do hear of Benoit in Unlicensed Delivery) Benoit stretched out his wing, flinching when the bones cracked together. Breaking bones wasn’t likely as a pah-rushi, but it was…

[they-loved-in-2075]

Science fiction. Time that never exists (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1403313066-science-fiction-time-that-never-exists?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=Javid117&wp_originator=wv5Y1gGFXH1TUOJCO%2F%2F%2FBZANWbarmqsBcxk7zRVI8M2zr2D5qiJFnG58MCLRRLaG4lPglESI2a64KKZh83V9%2FQXwD3VMMLrRqlmOWNfC72%2Fr3k%2B4Lx2jIZoyY8sifJHW This short scifi story is about 8 spaceships commissioned by the inter-planetary council to enter a region where time behaves differently. To the extent that one loses his/her self awareness and every sensation. To know what happens when these 8 spacecrafts enter the region, you must read this short scifi story.