The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's research center responsible for robotic space missions, will lay off more workers before the year ends due to budget constraints. JPL Director Laurie Leshin has announced in a memo addressed to employees that the reduction will affect 325 people, or about five percent of its whole workforce. Leshin explained that the lab took various measures to meet its budget allocation for the 2025 fiscal year and to minimize the adverse effects of a limited budget on its workers. In the end, though, JPL "reached the difficult decision" to make "one further workforce reduction."

The lab already cut 530 employees and cut over 100 contractors from its roster earlier this year because of uncertainty over the final budget that the Congress will give NASA for 2024. It also froze hiring in response to the dilemma. The main reason why the lab had to implement those measures was because the Mars Sample Return Program was allocated a much smaller budget than it needed. NASA had requested $950 million for the mission, but only $300 million was allocated for it. 

NASA's original plan was to bring home the samples collected by the mission in 2040. But its budget ballooned from $7 billion to $11 billion, and as The Washington Post notes, the government found the return date "unacceptable." For the 2025 fiscal year, NASA only requested $200 million for the project that could go through significant changes. The agency is now looking for ways to alter the mission and is even considering proposals from private companies. 

Leshin said that the layoffs will affect all areas of the lab, including its technical, business and support divisions. "[W]e had to tighten our belts across the board, and you will see that reflected in the layoff impacts," she said. JPL's director also said that the US presidential election results have nothing to do with the reduction that the "action would be happening regardless" of its outcome. 

Dr. Rossi interviews Fr. Michael Nasser, past Director of Antiochian Village Camp and Project Mexico. Fr. Michael is now priest of Holy Apostles Orthodox Mission in Bowling Green, KY.

Dr. Albert Rossi interviews Dr. Michael Legaspi about the experience of his daughter becoming a monastic.

Recorded during a forest walk, this week's broadcast considers a traditional saying regarding St. Athanasius' encounter with three monks on an island, and the relationship between doctrine and transfiguration.

Why did God become man? This week's reflection explores St Athanasius's consideration of the Son's incarnation as a response to his probing refrain, in the face of man's sin: "What was God to do?"

Learn about this beautiful new CD recorded in English and available from St. John of San Francisco Monastery

Listen to an interview with Bev Cooke about her new book from Conciliar Press: Royal Monastic: Princess Ileana of Romania. This is the true story of a princess who later became Mother Alexandra, the founder of the Holy Transfiguration monastery in Ellwood City, PA.

Learn about a new initiative from His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP to start two new women's monsteries in North America. We talk with Project Director Fr. John Anderson.

Fr. Constantine Nasr is the retired priest at St. Elijah Antiochian Orthodox Church in Oklahoma City. During his many years there, speakers and conferences were videotaped and he now makes them available on a channel on YouTube.

Today on the program we feature a lecture by Fr. Stanley Harakas, the Archbishop Iakovos Professor of Orthodox Theology, Emeritus, at Holy Cross, given at the first annual Anne and Theodore Phillips Paschal Lecture Series in Chicago, Illinois.

On this special episode of Ancient Faith Presents, Mother Abbess Gabriella speaks at the Third Annual Winter Dinner to support Holy Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in Rives Junction, Michigan. Her talk is titled “Thoughts: A Monastic Perspective.”

Interview with Mother Gabriella at Holy Dormition Monastery in Rives Junction, MI.

Bobby Maddex interviews Alexei Krindatch, the Research Coordinator for the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America and the editor of the new book Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Monasteries.

Bobby Maddex once again interviews Alexei Krindatch, the Research Coordinator of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, about the new Assembly study, Fast Questions and Fast Answers About American Orthodox Monasteries.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Thomas Colyandro and Hieromonk Mark about the new Orthodox Monastery of the Mother of God, Joy of All Who Sorrow in Monteagle, TN. Listeners can learn more and help support this amazing monastery here.

John Maddex catches up with his long time friend Fr. Constantine Nasr, retired priest at St. Elijah Antiochian Orthodox Church in Oklahoma City. Fr. Constantine has maintained his evangelistic spirit even in retirement and he shares information about a new outreach tool he recently created.

Bobby Maddex, the Director of Digital Media for Ancient Faith Ministries speaks with Hieromonk Fr. Basil and Hieromonk Archdeacon Sergius of Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, West Virginia USA. They are here today to tell us about the new church the monastery is building and how you might be able to help. If you would like to help please go to; Church donation page: https://www.holycross.org/pages/new-church Video #1, “Let the Walls of Jerusalem Be Builded”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjDsuvUIPec

Ancient Faith Radio correspondent Chrysanthe Loizos takes us "behind the scenes" at the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, PA. With the blessing of the Abbess, Mother Christophora, Chrysanthe gives us a glimpse into the daily life of the nuns as well as their purpose and goals.

2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Matthew 25: 14-30 A wasted life.

Philippians 4:4-9, John 12: 1-18. What does real spirituality look like?

Acts 11: 19 -30, John 4:5-42 The worst of the worst.

Watch the best shots from Matteo Manassero's nine-under-par third round as he takes a three-shot lead into the final round of the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Action recognition plays a vital role in analysing human body behaviour and has significant implications for research and education. However, traditional recognition methods often suffer from issues such as inaccurate time and spatial feature vectors. Therefore, this study addresses the problem of inaccurate recognition of aerobic gymnastics action image data and proposes a visualised three-dimensional convolutional neural network algorithm-based action recognition model. This model incorporates unsupervised visualisation methods into the traditional network and enhances data recognition capabilities through the introduction of a random noise perturbation enhancement algorithm. The research results indicate that the data augmented with noise perturbation achieves the lowest mean square error, reducing the error value from 0.3352 to 0.3095. The use of unsupervised visualisation analysis enables clearer recognition of human actions, and the algorithm model is capable of accurately recognising aerobic movements. Compared to traditional algorithms, the new algorithm exhibits higher recognition accuracy and superior performance.

Aim/Purpose : Share research finding about ransomware, depict the ransomware work in a format that commonly used by researchers and practitioners and illustrate personal case experience in dealing with ransomware. Background: Author was hit with Ransomware, suffered a lot from it, and did a lot of research about this topic. Author wants to share findings in his research and his experience in dealing with the aftermath of being hit with ransomware. Methodology: Case study. Applying the literature review for a personal case study. Contribution: More knowledge and awareness about ransomware, how it attacks peoples’ computers, and how well informed users can be hit with this malware. Findings: Even advanced computer users can be hit and suffer from Ransomware attacks. Awareness is very helpful. In addition, this study drew in chart format what is termed “The Ransomware Process”, depicting in chart format the steps that ransomware hits users and collects ransom. Recommendations for Practitioners : Study reiterates other recommendations made for dealing with ransomware attacks but puts them in personal context for more effective awareness about this malware. Recommendation for Researchers: This study lays the foundation for additional research to find solutions to the ransomware problem. IT researchers are aware of chart representations to depict cycles (like SDLC). This paper puts the problem in similar representation to show the work of ransomware. Impact on Society: Society will be better informed about ransomware. Through combining research, illustrating personal experience, and graphically representing the work of ransomware, society at large will be better informed about the risk of this malware. Future Research: Research into solutions for this problem and how to apply them to personal cases.

Keitaro NAKASAI,Shin KOMEDA,Masateru TSUNODA,Masayuki KASHIMA, Vol.E107-D, No.11, pp.1444-1448
To automatically measure the mental workload of developers, existing studies have used biometric measures such as brain waves and the heart rate. However, developers are often required to equip certain devices when measuring them, and can therefore be physically burdened. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of non-contact biometric measures based on the nasal skin temperature (NST). In the experiment, the proposed biometric measures were more accurate than non-biometric measures.
Publication Date: 2024/11/01

...

Jonas Bader Isn't just always traveling he has also his bike on each trip with it.

BMX Since: 2006
BMX Disziplin: BMX Street, BMX Park
Hometown: Wangen im Allgäu
Residence: Berlin
Sponsors: kunstform BMX Shop
Homespots: the streets of BLN
Favorite Spots: Ravensburg Skatepark
Favorite thing beside BMX: everything about bikes and architecture
Instagram: baderjonas
Vimeo: badbader

Our globetrotter Jonas Bader has built up his bike with some fresh parts, which we had to check out!

Yo Jonas, where do you come from and how long have you been riding?

Hey. I'm from the Allgäu and after my world trip I stranded in Berlin. I've been riding BMX for 11 years now

What is your favorite BMX video?

The CIAO Crew Barcelona Video. Great people and you can see what BMX is about! Video: Ciao in BCN

What bike setup do you have and what can you tell about it?

ALL BLACK!!

Frame: Sunday Exelsior 21.0
Fork: Odyssey R23
Bars: Odyssey Sweepstakes
Stem: Odyssey SXTN
Headset: Odyssey
Grips: ODI Longneck Softcompound
Barends: Odyssey parends
Tires: Flybikes Fuego
Rims: GSport Ribcage
FW Hub: Odyssey Antigram
BW Hub: Odyssey Antigram Cassette
Spokes: black spokes
Hubguards: Odyssey Antigram / Eclat Servo Drive
Pegs: Fiend Belmont
Seatpost: Odyssey Tripod
Seat: Fiend Morrow leather
Crank: Odyssey Calibur
Bearings: black bearings
Pedals: Odyssey Grandstand
Sprocket: Stranger Strangergram Guard
Chain: Shadow Interlock V2
Brake: Vans

Anything else to talk about? Take your chance!

Thanks to kunstform for always helping me out! Special thanks to Wendel for the shelter and his lever during my Stuttgart visits.

Yo Jonas, thank you for your answers! We are glad to have you on board and look forward to the coming time with you!

Jonas Bader - Australien BMX Trip Video

Bro Jonas Bader was in 2015 with his homies in the beautiful Australia, where the boys enjoyed the "Aussie" BMX life with the locals there! Jonas captured all his moments and adventures with his camera, to make sure to don't miss any moment. Check the full video now!

Enjoy the video, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

subscribe to our youtube channel: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

Jonas Bader filmed together with Raphael Jeroma-Williams his new street video, which they've filmed over the last months in the streets of Berlin. The whole video is a real OG video, which was filmed on tape and in 4:3 format, just awesome!

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!



Video: Raphael Jeroma-Williams



Subscribe our youtube channel: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

A worshipper holds up a cross during the Good Friday procession at the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem's Old City, March 29. — Reuters

A 76-year-old monk died on Monday after being attacked by a man shouting "I am Jesus Christ" in a monastery in southeastern Spain, the religious order...

Tyler Reddick went high and overtook Ryan Blaney on the final turn to win at Homestead-Miami on Sunday to secure a spot in NASCAR's winner-take-all finale in Arizona in two weeks. Reddick led 98 of the 267 laps, the last of them the one that mattered most.

The hardest hit that Tyler Reddick took at Homestead-Miami Speedway wasn't from a bounce into the wall or from another driver crashing into him.

Ryan Blaney had the checkered flag in sight and a spot in NASCAR's title-deciding race within his grasp last week on the last lap of a contentious battle.

Ryan Blaney celebrated his victory at Martinsville Speedway, a win that launched NASCAR's defending champion into the title-deciding season finale.

Roger Penske already won two sports car championships this season and heads to Phoenix Raceway with two chances to win a third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series title with both Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney in the winner-take-all season finale.

Drama continued to encompass NASCAR ahead of its championship-deciding season finale as the sanctioning body issued $600,000 in fines and suspended nine team members from three different teams on Tuesday for alleged race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway.

All four NASCAR Xfinity championship drivers said the right things heading into the season finale.

Bobby Allison, founder of racing's "Alabama Gang" and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, died Saturday. He was 86.

There is no such a thing as a perfect season. At least that is what Roger Penske told The Associated Press hours after winning his third consecutive NASCAR championship.

Three NASA astronauts whose prolonged space station mission ended with a trip to the hospital last month declined to say Friday which one of them was sick.

Three NASA astronauts whose prolonged space station mission ended with a trip to the hospital last month declined to say Friday which one of them was sick.

Simone Biles simply wanted to mix it up when the gymnastics superstar invited some of the top American men to join her post-Olympic Tour.

The post Savannah Bananas to return to Fenway Park for two games in summer 2025 appeared first on Boston.com.

By the time they return, Needham native Suni Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore will have logged more than eight months in space.

The post SpaceX launches rescue mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck in space until next year appeared first on Boston.com.