With the new Version Release Control in iTunes Connect, you can control when an updated version of your app goes live, rather than have the version go live as soon as it is approved by App Review.

Read the Version Release Control section of the iTunes Connect Developer Guide for more information.

Contact:
Anthony Lane
Communications Manager
(410) 455-5793
alane@umbc.edu

A new analysis shows that humans had transformed most of earth’s land-based ecosystems by the early part of the 20th century, according to a paper by Erle Ellis, a professor in UMBC’s department of Geography and Environmental Systems, and collaborators in Canada and Europe.

The researchers classified ecosystems based on human residence and land-use in 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2000, finding in the most recent year that only 22 percent of earth’s ice-free land surface had living systems that were not directly influenced by human populations and activities such as agriculture and forestry.

“We can now point our finger at a time when earth was no longer a wild planet,” Ellis said. The findings, he continued, have clear implications for ecologists, land managers and the general public: “Once we accept that this is a used planet, we can move from discussion about ‘saving’ the planet to talk about the best ways to live on it.”

The research is described in the latest issue of the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, published Aug. 5. The journal’s cover photo, taken by Ellis in 1999, shows terraced slopes near Pohkara, Nepal, that were shaped by centuries of rice production.

Ellis said the research stemmed from his attempt to answer a question posed by an audience member at his 2007 American Geophysical Union presentation on “anthromes” (a word Ellis developed to describe anthropogenic biomes, or ecosystems reshaped by human activities): “So how did the biosphere become anthropogenic anyway?”

Ellis’ answer is that it did so gradually prior to the Industrial Revolution, with changes accelerating in the 20th century as urbanization, agriculture and forestry activities spread to greater portions of the earth’s surface and intensified within areas used only lightly in the past.

According to his team’s analysis, 40 percent of all ice-free land in 2000 was being used directly for agriculture or urban settlements, with an additional 37 percent of the ice-free land area classified as “novel ecosystems” that had been reshaped by becoming embedded within these used landscapes.

Ellis said the research provides a clearer understanding that we are living in the Anthropocene, a geological epoch defined by an atmosphere and climate permanently altered by humans.

“Our findings,” he said, “demonstrate the extent to which we humans have permanently transformed the patterns of life on land.”

Ellis' blog post on the research, along with a link to maps showing anthrome classifications, can be found here.

Learning Through Experience

Students from North Bend Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore have a better grasp on their potential careers, thanks to a program called Learning Through Experience (LTE) offered by the Shriver Center at UMBC. LTE is a component of the year-long Adventures in College and Career Exploration in STEM (ACCES) program, funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Cherry Hill Elementary/Middle School also serves as an ACCES partner. 

The LTE program promotes learning by increasing awareness of a variety of careers, particularly in science, technology, engineering and math, and encourages students to work to achieve their lifetime goals. For many of these students, certain careers may feel out of reach.

“The world that these children have been exposed to has created a hyper culture in which almost everything that they are taught stresses automatic success,” said Eugene Stovall, the primary teacher liaison at North Bend. “We take ordinary adolescents and show them extraordinary careers through hands-on training.”

The three-week career and college building experience, which ran late June through mid-July, gave students an in-depth look at the professional world through guest speakers and field trips to Baltimore businesses and organizations. In addition, students had the opportunity to experience life on a college campus with an overnight stay at UMBC.

“It was similar to a career day but expanded into three weeks,” said Lori Hardesty, Shriver Center program coordinator of service-learning, K-16 partnerships. “Students had the opportunity to directly interact with professionals, hearing what inspired them to pursue their chosen careers as well as some of the challenges they overcame to get there.”

Many of the LTE participants would like to attend college, but need guidance and support in navigating the college access process.  While at UMBC, Undergraduate Admissions Associate Director Tyson Brown met with the group, discussed the admissions process and answered numerous questions related to specific courses and entrance examinations.  LTE participants also received an extensive tour of UMBC’s Imaging Research Center (IRC), where they learned about several projects that combine interactive programming and art production techniques utilized within the video game industry. Many were excited by the opportunity to interact with the technology and ask questions about design and production.

Other visits included Bank of America where students gained practical knowledge about budgeting and credit card life cycles, and local Quest Diagnostics, where students toured a medical diagnostic laboratory with Jim Hong ’73, biological sciences.  Students were exposed to the disciplines of microbiology, hematology, cytology and chemistry.  Hong remarked that the students had “some of the most intelligent questions we have received on lab tours.”

“Students have begun a relationship with the career specialists they’ve met, which allows them to intern with companies and businesses in the future,” said Stovall. “Not only does it ensure an investment in the future for businesses and the success of these students, but it ensures that signs of a brighter economy and education in America are close at hand.”

LTE and ACCES are just two examples of The Shriver Center’s and UMBC’s commitment to service. These types of programs helped contribute to the University’s selection to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, announced this spring. 

For more information on Shriver Center programs, visit www. shrivercenter.umbc.edu.

(8/6/10)

• Media - We've been working on this one long and hard and are very proud to offer this to the community. Media provides a way to share your video and images from YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr, as well as images hosted elsewhere on the web, but that's not all....
• Media Subscriptions - Yesterday we added the ability for your group to subscribe to an external RSS feed, now you can subscribe your group to a YouTube, Vimeo, or Flickr account and have that content automatically pulled into myUMBC.
• Discussion Vote CSV - You can now download the results of a poll as a CSV for whatever nefarious, statistical purposes you may desire.
• ...that's all of the big stuff today
• Tweaks
  • Thanks to suggestions from SEB:
  • We've made it so that the default title for new content clears when you click the box
  • Events now allows you to enter times like "5 PM" instead of 5:00 PM
• Bug Fixes
  • We fixed a bug causing Spotlights to show in the incorrect order or not at all on their Featured Date... we're terribly sorry about that.
  • The mail dashboard was acting up for some people, we sat it down and had a stern talk with it.
  • And as always... miscellaneous typos and fixes.

Finally, as always, please contact me with any comments, questions, problems or suggestions: collier@umbc.edu

UMBC Transit Logo Redesign

Progression from top to bottom

Cory Blische & Andy Hsu

Website updated for the launch of our revamped blog. Thanks, Andy!

• Group Feed Subscriptions - Groups can now subscribe to external content through the use of feeds.  Simply enter in the web address to an RSS or Atom feed from your groups Tumblr or Blogger blog, and ever 15 minutes or so, myUMBC will check to see if you have any new content, and pull the items in as News.  This is a great way for groups to continue to use the tools that best meet their needs, but still have their content shared with the greater UMBC community.  In the near future, we'll allow you to subscribe to feeds from YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr.

• Profile Settings Page - We've migrated over the Profile page from the old myUMBC to the new one, with a slight revamp of the layout, but nothing major.  Access it by clicking your name, just like before!
• New Frame - We've implemented a new frame for accessing content across the many, varied systems that encompass "myUMBC".  This new frame keeps your dashboard and menus visible at all times, making it easy to navigate around.  You can see an example by clicking on Student Contact Info from the Profile Settings page. (if you're a student of course)
• Bug Fixes
• Tons of fixes to the main Events, News, and Discussions pages so that they behave more consistently.
• You can now enter web addresses longer than 60 characters.
• Fixes a sneaky group invite bug that likes to reappear from time to time.
• And as always... miscellaneous typos and fixes.