Topics

76

Teaching & Research Forum / Language Teaching Methods: An Overview

« on: November 20, 2017, 03:23:18 PM »

According to academic research, linguists have demonstrated that there is not one single best method for everyone in all contexts, and that no one teaching method is inherently superior to the others.

Also, it is not always possible – or appropriate – to apply the same methodology to all learners, who have different objectives, environments and learning needs.
An experienced professional language teacher always adopts the Principled Eclecticism approach, deciding on the most suitable techniques and applying the most appropriate methodology for that learner’s specific objectives, learning style and context.

Methods of teaching English have developed rapidly, especially in the previous 40 years. As a language learner, training manager, or teacher, it is important to understand the various methods and techniques so that you are able to navigate the market, make educated choices, and boost your enjoyment of learning a language.

Source:TJ Taylor Blog

77

Software Engineering / Intel Optane SSD 900P review: Optane finally starts to live up to the hype

« on: November 20, 2017, 03:19:52 PM »

The 900P’s low-queue 4K reads (below) were the real eye-opener—literally 6 times faster than the closest competitor. This can be a major advantage if you're running a program that keep lots of small files open, opening all those small config files when you first boot your operating system, or feeding something like a video encoder.

By Jon L. Jacobi

78

EEE / Locky ransomware used to target hospitals evolves

« on: November 20, 2017, 09:00:28 AM »

   Locky is one of the most prolific types of ransomware out there.

Joining the likes of WannaCry and Petya, Locky comes in many different flavors, including Diablo6, Zepto, Thor, and Osiris, and does not seem to be slowing down.

Some of the most famous cases linked to Locky are attacks on core services, including US hospitals.

In February 2016, Locky was used to disrupt the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, which declared an "internal emergency" as systems, databases, and critical information were encrypted and staff members were locked out.

Hospitals rely on electronic records to look after their patients properly and schedule everything from appointments to operations, and faced with a long backup process and catastrophic disruption, the hospital gave in and paid $17,000 in Bitcoin for a decryption key.

Locky has also been linked to a ransomware campaign in August this year in which as many as 23 million phishing emails were sent in only 24 hours.
 Charlie Osborne

By Charlie Osborne

79

Software Engineering / A city is US still suffering from ransomware attack

« on: November 19, 2017, 05:55:16 PM »

A city in Tennessee is still suffering from a ransomware attack after refusing to pay the $250,000 ransom demand.



ORIGINAL SOURCE: SC Magazine

80

Software Engineering / NSA hack blamed on Microsoft Software

« on: November 19, 2017, 11:38:32 AM »

Using its own forensic analysis, Kaspersky said the breach of the NSA worker’s computer took place between September and November 2014, rather than 2015 as the Journal reported.

Kaspersky said what was stolen included essential source code for some Equation Group malware, as well as classified documents. Based on the materials, it said the computer appeared to belong to someone involved in creating malware for the Equation Group.

The company claimed, however, that the computer was infected by other malware, including a Russian-made “backdoor tool” hidden in Microsoft Office.

Kaspersky said that the malware was controlled from a computer server base in Hunan, China, and would have opened a path into the computer for anyone targeting an NSA worker.

“Given that system owner’s potential clearance level, the user could have been a prime target of nation-states,” it said.

Kaspersky’s own software would have detected that malware, the company said, except that its software had been turned off.

“To install and run this malware, the user must have disabled Kaspersky Lab products on his machine,” it claimed.

Posted by: Dean Alvarez

81

Software Engineering / Brussels vs Britain: GDPR preparation gap exists between IT professionals across

« on: November 19, 2017, 11:36:23 AM »

New research of European businesses, conducted by Kaspersky Lab, has revealed surprising variations in the levels of preparedness for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). With less than nine months to go before the regulations become enforceable, there’s a surprising – and worrying – inconsistency of readiness levels across IT decision makers in Europe.

With businesses that process personal data within the EU continuing to grapple with their GDPR obligations, Kaspersky Lab set out to shed further light on the levels of awareness and preparedness for the regulation across Europe. Despite its decision to leave the EU, the UK will still fully comply with the GDPR. It joins France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands in demonstrating much higher levels of readiness compared to their counterparts in Belgium, Portugal, Denmark and Norway.

When it comes to being aware of the GDPR, due to come into force on 25 May 2018, Belgian IT professionals ironically showed the lowest levels of awareness by a considerable degree – despite the law being passed in their capital. Worryingly, considering the potential financial penalties of non-compliance (up to 4 per cent of an organisation’s global turnover), a third (32 per cent) stated they had no awareness other than hearing the name and 16 per cent admitted they had no awareness at all.

This response was in stark contrast to the UK, where half (49 per cent) of respondents felt they have a good knowledge of the GDPR, closely followed by France (47 per cent), Germany (46 per cent) and Italy (46 per cent). This is certainly positive news for consumers, who are now paying more attention to how businesses handle their personal data.

The low level of awareness displayed by Belgian employees also translates into a lack of confidence in the ability to comply with GDPR, with 29 per cent of IT professionals in Belgium believing their organisation will not be fully compliant by the deadline, compared to only 13 per cent in Italy and 18 per cent in Spain. In addition, a third (33 per cent) of IT decision makers in Belgium and 46 per cent of those in Norway admitted they are not confident that those responsible for handling personal data in their organisations are aware that existing laws are changing.

The outlook is more positive for the EU “big five,” which are leading the way in terms of preparation. Four out of five of those questioned in the UK (82 per cent), France (82 per cent), Germany (84 per cent), Italy (85 per cent) and Spain (84 per cent) stated that preparations are well underway. However, 29 per cent of IT professionals in Denmark have made little or no preparations, closely followed by Portugal (26 per cent), Norway (25 per cent) and Belgium (18 per cent).

One in five (19 per cent) Belgian IT professionals are also unsure if preparations within their company have even started – a serious concern given that businesses have less than a year to become compliant, or face the risk of hefty financial penalties and reputational damage.

“The lack of awareness and action towards the GDPR by the IT profession across pockets of Europe is worrying. Many businesses are putting themselves and their clients at risk by not making vital preparations and changes now to the way personal information is harvested and secured. Many of the businesses affected by the legislation will have operations across Europe so the preparation gap is particularly alarming as such businesses should be sharing information about compliance across their business and have a clear point of responsibility within their company.

“The deadline is the same for every company no matter their size, industry or location, so action needs to be taken now to get data handling practices up to scratch before the wrath of the regulators makes the impact of GDPR a bitter pill to swallow, rather than a good thing for the data health of an organisation,” commented Adam Maskatiya, General Manager, UK & Ireland.

The research questioned over 2,000 IT decision makers in organisations with more than 50 employees. It was conducted in 11 European countries; the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Posted by: Japonica Jackson

82

Software Engineering / Processor

« on: June 05, 2017, 12:48:13 PM »

Can we reach 1 THZ processor?

83

Software Engineering / Linux

« on: May 09, 2017, 08:36:32 AM »

Is Linux really better than Windows in terms of system architecture?

84

Software Engineering / A survey on developers

« on: April 20, 2017, 11:43:02 AM »

Each year since 2011, Stack Overflow has asked developers about their favorite technologies, coding habits, and work preferences, as well as how they learn, share, and level up. This year represents the largest group of respondents in our history: 64,000 developers took our annual survey in January.

As the world’s largest and most trusted community of software developers, we run this survey and share these results to improve developers’ lives: We want to empower developers by providing them with rich information about themselves, their industry, and their peers. And we want to use this information to educate employers about who developers are and what they need.

We learn something new every time we run our survey. This year is no exception:

    A common misconception about developers is that they've all been programming since childhood. In fact, we see a wide range of experience levels. Among professional developers, 11.3% got their first coding jobs within a year of first learning how to program. A further 36.9% learned to program between one and four years before beginning their careers as developers.
    Only 13.1% of developers are actively looking for a job. But 75.2% of developers are interested in hearing about new job opportunities.
    When we asked respondents what they valued most when considering a new job, 53.3% said remote options were a top priority. A majority of developers, 63.9%, reported working remotely at least one day a month, and 11.1% say they’re full-time remote or almost all the time.
    A majority of developers said they were underpaid. Developers who work in government and non-profits feel the most underpaid, while those who work in finance feel the most overpaid.

Want to dive into the results yourself? In a few weeks, we’ll make the anonymised results of the survey available for download under the Open Database License (ODbL). We look forward to seeing what you find!

85

Software Engineering / Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Financial Globalization

« on: April 20, 2017, 11:25:50 AM »

As many have argued, economic theory leaves no doubt about the potential advantages of capital account liberalization. It can allow the international capital market to channel world savings to their most productive uses across the globe. Developing countries with little capital can borrow to finance investment, thereby promoting their economic growth without requiring commensurate increases in their own saving. But equally, there is little doubt about the existence of genuine hazards of openness to foreign financial flows. This duality of benefits and risks is simply a fact of life in the real world.

The experience of countries with financial opening/openness bears this out. As Ostry and others (2009) and many subsequent studies have shown, the link between financial globalization and economic growth turns out to be complex. While some capital flows such as foreign direct investment boost long-run growth, the impact of other flows is weaker and critically dependent on a country’s other institutions (the quality of its legal framework; protection of property rights; level of financial development; quality of financial supervision) and how openness is sequenced relative to other policy changes.

Moreover, openness to capital flows has tended to increase economic volatility and the frequency of crises in many emerging markets and developing economies. As a recent study (Ghosh, Ostry, and Qureshi, 2016) has shown, about 20% of the time, surges end in a financial crisis, of which one-half are also associated with large output declines—what one might call a growth crisis (see chart). The ubiquity of surges and crashes gives credence to the claim by Harvard economist Dani Rodrik that “boom-and-bust cycles are hardly a sideshow or a minor blemish in international capital flows; they are the main story.