University of North Texas

The March 2013 issue of Benchmarks Online is now available. Learn more below or from Claudia Lynch.

 Featured articles in Benchmarks Online are: 

• Campus Computing News: UNT Plans High Performance Computing Upgrade - In 2009, UNT made a major investment in supporting computational research with the purchase of a large-scale campus-wide High Performance Computing (HPC) installation that the university named Talon. The Talon system was expected to operate for three years, after which a replacement system would need to be purchased. Talon is now in its fourth year of operation, and since High Performance Computing stresses the compute servers by constantly applying 100 percent processing loads, disk and memory failures are becoming more common as the equipment ages. 
• Spring Break Hours - Spring Break is here! If you're not leaving town for the entire week, the hours for various areas noted in this article could come in handy. 
• R.K. Milholland to be Featured Speaker at UNT Comic Studies Conference - Long time readers of Benchmarks Online will probably recognize the name "Randy Milholland." Randy, AKA R.K., was a UNT student and worked as a Documentation Services Assistant for me back in the late 1990s. He is now famous as the creator of the award-winning webcomic SOMETHING POSITIVE! and is the 2013 Keynote Speaker for the UNT Comics Studies Conference.
• 2013 University Forum on Teaching & Learning - Issue 2 (January 2013) of the ITSS Quarterly Newsletter is now available. It is comprised of IT-related news relevant to anyone who uses or has an interest in shared services and applications throughout the UNT System and its member institutions.
• Today's Cartoon - information age humor.
• By the Numbers - A glimpse behind the scenes of the volumes of data and spam processed, managed and otherwise handled.
• RSS Matters - monthly column by the Research and Statistical Support Group in Academic Computing and User Services. This month we have another “oldie but a goodie“ from Dr. Jon Starkweather: “A brief reminder about Sample Size." 
• The Network Connection - This month, Philip Baczewski discusses “The Seed of an Idea.” 
• Link of the Month - This month’s link is “Mean Green Pride."
• Helpdesk FYI - This month's article is “Be Safe Out There." 
• Training - This column keeps you up-to-date on all sorts of training opportunities. The University Forum on Teaching & Learning is coming up in April. As always, SPSS and SAS courses are offered online only. R is also online only. All employees need to take an Information Security course.
• Staff Activities - New employees, people who are no longer employed by UIT, awards and recognitions and other items of interest featured here.