N1005 IBM Research: Africa

IBM and Next Einstein Forum launch visiting scientist program

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">IBM Research-Africa and the Next Einstein Forum have partnered on a new <a href="http://nef.org/next-einstein-forum-and-ibm-research-launch-visiting-scientist-program/" target="_blank">Visiting Scientist Program</a>, where five of the <a href="http://mgafrica.com/article/2016-03-04-africas-best-young-scientists" target="_blank">15 newly named NEF Fellows</a> will have the opportunity to visit and lecture at one of IBM’s 12 global research labs.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The visiting scientists – full-time scientists at prestigious institutions and universities across the world – will spend a week at the IBM Research lab where they can directly engaging with our scientists who work in their related field of study,” said Solomon Assefa, the director of IBM Research-Africa’s lab in South Africa, at the NEF’s 2016 Global Gathering in Senegal.</span><br /><a name="more"></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">During their fellowship, each will have the opportunity to lecture to the IBM scientific community, collaborate and network with IBMers, work with local lab directors, and explore the potential for future collaboration between their institutions and IBM Research.</span><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The NEF is an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and seeks to mobilize the brightest minds in Africa to address the continent’s most pressing issues, with an emphasis on the STEM disciplines and the social sciences. The foundation showcases the brilliant contributions of Africa’s young scientific community through its Fellows, all of whom are under the age of 42. The Fellows hail from across the continent, and are making enormous impacts in diverse fields at world-leading institutions, including Harvard University, Max Planck Institute, University of Cape Town, and IBM Research – Africa.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjArUL_gz_pwOloY1DLbLBGrp7hNMBYOSW1BuO0VFPnrqCAj3pvc6-xOWG69GgkKJbuPPcPVCynWtuBYDl44D69eRIm4ccHZH5fbkjkSMirL911E3gdC8xIh4ZDWuTO3UZlwkerAU67W-rA/s1600/IBM_kweldemariam_NEF_Fellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjArUL_gz_pwOloY1DLbLBGrp7hNMBYOSW1BuO0VFPnrqCAj3pvc6-xOWG69GgkKJbuPPcPVCynWtuBYDl44D69eRIm4ccHZH5fbkjkSMirL911E3gdC8xIh4ZDWuTO3UZlwkerAU67W-rA/s320/IBM_kweldemariam_NEF_Fellow.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IBM Research-Africa's Kommy Weldemariam<br />named a Next Einstein Forum Fellow</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Forum tells their stories, highlighting the innovation and scientific advancement they’ve made across the continent, while also working to build an African scientific identity. IBM’s <a href="http://nef.org/nef-fellows/komminist-weldermariam/" target="_blank">Kommy Weldemariam</a>was recognized as a Fellow in 2015 for his work creating cognitive systems for education and healthcare in Kenya, and across the continent.</span><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“What we are doing here is trying to reverse the classic technology transfer where Africa inherits innovation from the West,” Kommy told <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ibm/2015/10/29/how-african-schools-are-using-cognitive-systems-to-help-shape-the-future-of-education/#9d5bae54cf4a" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forbes</i></a>, last year.</span><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to bringing together Africa’s top scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, civil representatives, and entrepreneurs, the NEF also hosts the online NEF Platform. It serves as a hub for information on science and innovation policy in Africa, and facilitates information sharing among scientific leaders and young innovators about the transformative potential of science. The Foundation is working to change the narrative of science on the African continent from a landscape fraught with challenges to one loaded with potential.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Each NEF Fellowship is for a period of two years. The Fellows will have the opportunity to submit an application to IBM’s Visiting Scientist Program in the first six months of the Fellowship – the first of whom will begin the program this September.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5G21oPCF71zuBDx56SSUl00JSUJ0pGWwRcsaHYWMziot8wsRG88rtuVQHtX20RA3yR-JAZkLYpcTUUhkM5QhXl2_RunCK4WX2wLjQd7eU3oikYK8kgza2SmnmTaKZzvh_NplV1Qzv84iX/s1600/NEF_fellows_class.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5G21oPCF71zuBDx56SSUl00JSUJ0pGWwRcsaHYWMziot8wsRG88rtuVQHtX20RA3yR-JAZkLYpcTUUhkM5QhXl2_RunCK4WX2wLjQd7eU3oikYK8kgza2SmnmTaKZzvh_NplV1Qzv84iX/s400/NEF_fellows_class.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Next Einstein Forum's latest Fellows class.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>

Africa education South Africa IBM and Next Einstein Forum launch visiting scientist program

IBM Research-Africa and the Next Einstein Forum have partnered on a new Visiting Scientist Program , where five of the 15 newly named NEF Fe...

Measuring the Pedestrian Pulse during Johannesburg’s EcoMobility Festival

7:24 AM N1000 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj52eDx3IWlqYlTp2YK-vk2ZsaoJPLoI5zB-cBE2xCxztyXzeDxZBs3ileV8qnH2uoHMEXEcOlzvP8O9nqCn9a33HR_JjC1ztEcQIEfYT9m1ONpAzlkXB-k09lF6S9wMucClHq_gDYuMFob/s1600/profilephoto_fluus.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj52eDx3IWlqYlTp2YK-vk2ZsaoJPLoI5zB-cBE2xCxztyXzeDxZBs3ileV8qnH2uoHMEXEcOlzvP8O9nqCn9a33HR_JjC1ztEcQIEfYT9m1ONpAzlkXB-k09lF6S9wMucClHq_gDYuMFob/s200/profilephoto_fluus.png" width="173" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Editor’s note: This article is by Francois Luus, research scientist at IBM Research-Africa, Johannesburg</span></i><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">This past October, t<span style="color: #222222;">he central business district of Sandton in Johannesburg, South Africa (named for the combination of the suburbs Sandown and Bryanston) hosted the second annual <a href="http://www.ecomobilityfestival.org/">EcoMobility World Festival</a>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222;">It’s a month-long opportunity for</span> citizens to experience what it would be like to live and work in a city where active street life and social inclusivity is supported by a sustainable and forward thinking urban transportation culture and system that <span style="color: #222222;">gives priority to walking, cycling and public</span> <span style="color: #222222;">transport.</span></span><br /><a name="more"></a> </div><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: 6.75pt; margin-right: 6.75pt; mso-border-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-insideh: 1.0pt solid white; mso-border-insidev: 1.0pt solid white; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: margin; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-lspace: 9.0pt; mso-table-overlap: never; mso-table-rspace: 9.0pt; mso-table-top: 1.15pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">  <td style="border: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.25in;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: margin; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 9.0pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: 1.15pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;"><i>As one of Johannesburg’s most dense business districts, more than 100,000 cars enter and leave “Johannesburg’s richest square mile” on a daily basis. The consequences of this congestion impacts residents’ health, productivity, CO2 emissions and air pollution, and general degradation of quality of life.</i></span></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Johannesburg <a href="http://www.ibm.com/blogs/think/2015/11/17/johannesburg-ecomobility/" target="_blank">Mayor Franklyn Mpho Parks Tau</a> and Local Governments for Sustainability converted certain road spaces into ‘ecomobile zones’. Central streets were entirely or partially closed to personal automobiles; park and ride facilities were offered; temporary express lanes for public transport were organized. Priority was given to moving people versus moving vehicles, with the intention of raising awareness and changing commuters’ behavior. And they asked for IBM Research’s help to mobilize – and measure – their citizens’ participation.</span> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">One of the most accessible forms of public perception is via social media, such as Twitter. Characterizing the social media conversation around ecomobility, primarily through topic-driven sentiment, is a valuable way of measuring public opinion and understanding.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">IBM Research, which opened its <a href="https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46013.wss">latest lab</a>in Johannesburg last April, became involved in this project because of our focus on driving innovation in urban renewal. Using <a href="https://www.ng.bluemix.net/docs/#services/Twitter/index.html">IBM Insights for Twitter</a> for live social media tracking and sentiment analysis of whole tweets, we were able to build an interactive, topic-driven sentiment and opinion explorer for Twitter. The custom tool gave us, the mayor, and other city officials a direct and interactive way of differentiating conversations based on sub-topics, such as transport modes, public transport facilities, practicalities and environment issues.</span></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">Surely tonight <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ecomobility?src=hash">#Ecomobility</a>'s rules could've and should've been relaxed to help people get back to their families at a respectable hour.</div>— Marc Lewis (@MarcLewisZA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcLewisZA/status/654348963089354753">October 14, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">We have relaxed and lifted ecomobility road closures. Thanks^TK <a href="https://t.co/IEpV9qdXGG">https://t.co/IEpV9qdXGG</a></div>— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofJoburgZA/status/654349167725297664">October 14, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Untangling Tweets</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Sentiment analysis of tweets is particularly difficult because of the frequent occurrence of abbreviated and colloquial speech. Aberrations in tweets can also preclude the use of standard natural language processing, which greatly complicates the task of accurate sentiment analysis. These difficulties are mitigated in part by statistically summarizing the basic sentiment determined by IBM Insights for Twitter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">An important aspect of the tool that </span><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">IBM Research-South Africa<span style="color: black;"> developed, namely Twitter Engagement Analytics, was a visually-interactive, data-driven user experience that exposes the underlying Twitter insights in a very navigable way to users – in this case, the mayor and city officials. They could explore topics of discussion through live outlines of frequented hashtags, keywords and phrases during EcoMobility month to see – and contribute to – the greatest moments of engagement: the start of EcoMobility month in Johannesburg on 1 October 2015; the heatwave of 5-7 October; and the Grayston scaffolding collapse on 14 October.</span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">The Good, The Bad & The Future</span></b></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">I took Metrobus to work today. Was early to work and driver was so friendly <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Joburg?src=hash">#Joburg</a> Ecomobility</div>— Londiwe (@marilynmthabela) <a href="https://twitter.com/marilynmthabela/status/649460345497616384">October 1, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Commuters rediscovered the simple joys of walking as the last part of their journey when using shuttles and buses. Using services such as the Gautrain, a</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> high-speed intercity rail,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> reduced commuter stress in some instances, and new Metrobuses received good feedback from riders. Free park and rides, shuttles and public transport services were one of the main sources of positive sentiment on social media, as were dedicated lanes for taxis, as they interfered less with normal traffic.</span><br /><br /></div><table align="left" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: 6.75pt; margin-right: 6.75pt; mso-border-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-insideh: 1.0pt solid white; mso-border-insidev: 1.0pt solid white; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-left: left; mso-table-lspace: 9.0pt; mso-table-overlap: never; mso-table-rspace: 9.0pt; mso-table-top: .05pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">  <td style="border: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.25in;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 9.0pt; mso-element-top: .05pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">EcoMobility Influencers</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 9.0pt; mso-element-top: .05pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Public participation in the conversation of ecomobility has been   estimated around 6,000 participants who posted 18,000 tweets. The most influential users to post about EcoMobility were: </span><br /><ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/mrdannyglover" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Danny Glover</span></a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/News24" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">News24</span></a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/BBCAfrica" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">BBCAfrica</span></a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/eNCA" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">eNCA</span></a></li><li><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/SABCNewsOnline" target="_blank">SABCNewsOnline</a> </span></li></ul></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The role that Twitter played in helping citizens rediscover these joys of mass transportation was as an information dissemination medium constantly used by the organizers to inform the public of available public transportation and ecomobility events that highlight the benefits of urban ecomobility.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On the flip side, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">some park and rides, such as the Rosebank Gautrain parking lot, and the Gautrain ticket offices experienced high occupancy and volume at the start of EcoMobility month. General building construction around Sandton was perceived to be a serious safety hazard for pedestrians and cyclists, especially on Rivonia Road; and vehicle drivers complained that construction during EcoMobility deteriorated traffic flow. The temporary cycling lanes on Sandton Drive were also seen as a cause of traffic delay and the lack of dedicated cycling lanes on William Nicol Drive was a definite safety concern for some cyclists.</span><br /><br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">NEED CYCLE LANES ON WILLIAM NICOL! Terrifying trying to cycle there today! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EcoMobility?src=hash">#EcoMobility</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofJoburgZA">@CityofJoburgZA</a></div>— Nemanja (@Nem_ZAR) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nem_ZAR/status/651057889411506177">October 5, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Citizens expressed a great desire, on social media, for improved public transport infrastructure and safety. The government is taking great strides to transform all of Johannesburg into a pedestrian city with more seamless transportation transitions at key intersections and roadways, and by upgrading and building sidewalks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Maude and West streets, for example, in the future will host widened pedestrian sidewalks and new cycle lanes. And a permanent cycling lane will connect Sandton and Rosebank. The linking between the Gautrain and its bus service with minibus taxi services is also being considered by the City of Johannesburg, since it could better integrate public transport. The Metrobus and Rea Vaya bus services are in the process of being extended to improve area coverage, as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Express lanes for car pooling and public transport would be reintroduced on Republic, Sandton Drive and William Nicol in the future. There was an overwhelmingly positive sentiment for dedicated lanes seen on social media, which motivates this reintroduction. Park-&-ride facility ideas were also well received by the public, as measured by 33 percent positive sentiment, versus 4 percent negative sentiment. These facilities will continue at Brightwater Commons, Emperor’s Palace, Montecasino and Westgate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">All of these findings will help my city move towards a greener future, where every citizen can work and live together in harmony. I admire the community’s willingness to learn, grow and bear the demands faced by an emerging worldwide recognized city. </span></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/ICLEIAfrica">@ICLEIAfrica</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ecomobility_">@ecomobility_</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofJoburgZA">@CityofJoburgZA</a> I enjoyed spending time with you & love the work you're doing for the people & our planet!</div>— Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover) <a href="https://twitter.com/mrdannyglover/status/649835139632009216">October 2, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Africa analytics South Africa transportation Measuring the Pedestrian Pulse during Johannesburg’s EcoMobility Festival

Editor’s note: This article is by Francois Luus, research scientist at IBM Research-Africa, Johannesburg This past October, t he central ...

Containing Ebola With Mathematical Modeling

6:49 AM N1000 0

When the Ebola virus looked as if it might run rampant across Guinea,  Liberia and Sierra Leone, many groups at IBM sprang into action. One  was a team of Almaden-based researchers working primarily on a pet food  safety project with Mars Incorporated. The team organized a weekly  Wednesday morning conference call in which some 40 organizations  addressed ways to contain the spread of the disease until a cure could  be found.<br /><br />In this episode of <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ibmresearch" target="_blank">Inside IBM Research</a>, Kun Hu, a  researcher at IBM Almaden Research Center, talks about STEM, the  Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler, a mathematical tool that lets  researchers simulate the evolution of highly contagious diseases such as  Ebola with the goal of understanding them — and, ideally, preventing  their spread altogether.<br /><a name="more"></a><br /><br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/208192367&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe> <i>Inside IBM Research is recorded and edited by <a href="http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=us-bbfinkel" target="_blank">Brook Finkelstein</a>, IBM Research communications.</i>

Africa ebola ibm research almaden Containing Ebola With Mathematical Modeling

When the Ebola virus looked as if it might run rampant across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, many groups at IBM sprang into action. One ...

KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute and IBM Research Fight Tuberculosis in South Africa

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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/13267040053_3affb751e6_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/13267040053_3affb751e6_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16.899999618530273px; text-align: left;">Eamon Duffy, K-RITH Research</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">Intern reading TB culture plates</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">On <a href="http://www.stoptb.org/">World Tuberculosis Day</a>, IBM and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH) have announced plans to research new treatment approaches to fight tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa. IBM’s Big Data analytics technologies will be put to work on bacterial genetics and drug susceptibility tests to better understand the genomic mechanisms that cause resistance to antibiotics. The ultimate goal is to find new treatments and diagnostic approaches to fight TB. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The scale of the TB problem in Southern Africa is largely a result of HIV infection, lack of integration between HIV and TB treatments and historic challenges in healthcare delivery. Currently South Africa has the world's third highest burden of TB, with the province of KwaZulu-Natal being the most affected by both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant tuberculosis. Over 100,000 cases of TB are reported every year from this province alone and over 60% are also infected with HIV. </span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), which is based at the University of Kwazulu-Natal’s Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, is an independent research institute established in 2009 to conduct basic science research into TB and HIV, and translate the scientific findings into new tools to control these deadly diseases. The Institute's work has boosted the TB and HIV research capabilities of scientists in South Africa. The work with IBM involving its Big Data and deep data </span><a href="http://www.ibm.com/analytics/us/en/" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: #000061; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">analytics</span></u></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> technology-- will enable K-RITH to understand bacteria genomes from drug-resistant strains of </span><i style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">M. tuberculosis</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">-- the bacteria that causes TB. </span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">According to Associate Investigator at K-RITH, Dr. Alex Pym, the agreement with IBM is “a significant collaboration” that gives South African scientists access to IBM’s computational expertise in bioinformatics and machine learning. “This will allow us to analyze data in new and imaginative ways and it holds the promise of giving us better insight into the mechanisms of drug resistance, leading to better diagnostic tests,” said Dr. Pym.</span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The science has benefitted from IBM’s global network of research labs and world leading expertise in computational biology. Researchers from the Haifa, Melbourne, and Africa labs are working together to analyze over 200 TB genomes, each with 4.4 million base pairs, to better understand the complex clinical picture of African tuberculosis infections.</span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MHxMlpwkIBeBEAj4i4lgtxegJqPnMTrGI9Fz3nhnwkyv2wMPrlcXR3IHfYb690TdOVq24MqLFsMHZ-L3nk8KUHPM38i-NckCuIAUjORFAF6qZ3x24fnF9T7WE9-6ltji3LDMIwN0ZVU/s1600/13292840245_bdc5ff4d5f_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MHxMlpwkIBeBEAj4i4lgtxegJqPnMTrGI9Fz3nhnwkyv2wMPrlcXR3IHfYb690TdOVq24MqLFsMHZ-L3nk8KUHPM38i-NckCuIAUjORFAF6qZ3x24fnF9T7WE9-6ltji3LDMIwN0ZVU/s1600/13292840245_bdc5ff4d5f_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The classic mycobacterial stain is an acid fast <br />stain, in which TB appears red with a blue counterstain.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Michal Rosen-Zvi, senior manager of analytics at IBM’s Research Lab in Haifa, Israel said, "TB drug resistance is a far more complex genome by comparison to something like the HIV virus. The bioinformatics or computational tools needed to extract information on the disease are very new, yet cracking the code of this genomic information will help define which treatment combinations work best for different patients and how they work on different strains of TB."</span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">“For HIV, technology can look at the difference in viral load before and after treatment, and use that to understand whether the treatment was a success. But in TB, there is no single measure that defines the status of the disease. We will need to develop multiple ways to label the treatment outcomes and new methods to indicate whether a treatment was effective,” said Rosen-Zvi.</span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">IBM's work on other solutions, including the well known </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9wpjucwnaw" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: #000061; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">EuResist</span></u></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> programme, developed to help physicians select the optimal treatments for HIV patients, have paved the way for the use of bioinformatics in disease treatment. EuResist combines large databases and new prediction engines to provide predictive modeling of how HIV would react in a particular person treated with specific combination of drugs. This system, available since 2008, is the world’s largest database containing clinical and genomic information on HIV. </span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Dr. Pym said, “What we believe is that through the partnership between K-RITH and IBM we can combine and enable TB analytics from IBM to map which antibiotic treatments are successful for which TB strains. And then, by finding the associations between the genetic markers and the correct antibiotic treatment, we can improve treatment protocols. This can make a significant difference to many lives across the globe, let alone Africa.”</span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Sequencing of the KRITH strains was performed by the Broad Institute, a world leader in genomics, with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Analysis of sequencing data from the K-RITH strains and other organizations in South Africa was given first priority due to the magnitude of TB drug resistance in that country.  </span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The research work at IBM and K-RITH can interact with global initiatives like TBresist, and with leadership and collaboration from organizations such as the CDC Foundation. The intent is to add data from different parts of the world, from different strains of TB, to culture a global database that researchers and physicians can use to determine the best treatment to combat a particular strain of tuberculosis. The impact of this would be more effective treatments for patients and a reduction of the cost of treating tuberculosis in Africa and potentially around the world.</span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">In similar news, last week the New York Genome Center and IBM </span><a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43444.wss" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">announced</span></u></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> that they will test a unique IBM Watson prototype designed specifically for genomic research as a tool to help oncologists deliver more personalized care to cancer patients. </span><br /><br style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">IBM is making a long term, strategic investment in the future of Africa and the company’s new Africa research lab is at the heart of its operations. IBM has been present in Africa for over 70 years and today has a presence in over 20 African countries, including Tanzania, Senegal, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Mauritius</span>

Africa health care IBM Research - Haifa KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute and IBM Research Fight Tuberculosis in South Africa

Eamon Duffy, K-RITH Research Intern reading TB culture plates On World Tuberculosis Day , IBM and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for T...

Mom and Dad, I’m going to IBM Research in Africa to Change the World

12:51 AM N1000 0

Africa cognitive computing ibm research - Africa Kenya Mom and Dad, I’m going to IBM Research in Africa to Change the World

Oliver, Meenal and Abdigani at IBM Research - Zurich Abdigani Diriye , Meenal Pore and Oliver Bent have very little in common. They come fr...