Today, missile defense is under attack. This is not a new thing, however. Opponents tried to eliminate funding for ballistic missile defense when Ronald Reagan was President, sneeringly calling it "Star Wars" to denote how foolish they thought the idea to be. Under President Bill Clinton, defenses against long-range missiles were zeroed out in his first defense budget, along with nearly 40 percent of defenses against rockets of shorter range.
After eight years, despite a new legislative requirement to deploy a missile defense for the continental United States, President Clinton decided not to go forward with a missile defense system to defend the U.S. population. In the 2000 presidential campaign, the Democratic Party platform warned about "ill-conceived" missile defenses, warning about a new arms race should they be pursued.
The critics no doubt thought they had won the policy battle. But no, the fight was just being joined. In 2001, his first year in office, President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the ABM Treaty, the 1972 Cold War era agreement with the Soviet Union whereby the United States agreed not to build a missile defense system for the country.
The critics' reaction? They had a collective stroke. They warned such a move would end "arms control" and ignite another arms race. These critics had said the same thing in 1983, too, when President Reagan proposed the two-track approach of simultaneously modernizing our nuclear deterrent, developing missile defenses, and pursuing major reductions in nuclear weapons.
Similarly, after President Bush shed the ABM Treaty and its detailed restrictions on missile defenses he then signed an arms control agreement with Russia in 2002 that reduced deployed nuclear warheads by a record 67 percent. At the same time, President Bush pushed for the deployment of a multilateral, layered, global missile defense that consisted of nearly two dozen elements including radars, space-based sensors, and interceptors. And he worked to secure the cooperation of our allies in and out of NATO, especially Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan and Israel.
In 2008, at the end of President Bush's two terms, when all the tests were added up since the program began in 1983, there were more than 50 intercept tests that were successful. Missile defense worked. Some 25 countries worldwide had become partners with the United States in ballistic missile defense developments and deployments. By the middle of this decade, if current acquisition plans continue, the United States and its allies will have in their inventory well over 1,500 interceptors of all kinds, exactly what the U.S. military combat commanders insist they need to provide for both our security and deterrence.
But just as missile defense has become a normal everyday part of our security strategy, the critics have come back seeking to curtail this work. New attacks call missile defense a "scam." Some claim it just "cannot work." Others say no country will launch a ballistic missile against the United States because once we know where it originates, we will retaliate and obliterate the offending country. Even others claim we are building a "shield" only so we can better use our "swords," the implication being missile defense is no defense at all.
Is missile defense flawless? No. There are a number of technical challenges. For example, long-range missile warheads once in outer space could also carry what are known as decoy warheads. They could fool midcourse interceptors because of the difficulty in outer space of telling the difference between the real warhead and the fake ones. North Korea and Iran have not yet developed such a capability but critics assume they will. They thus want to eliminate the initial U.S. missile defenses that do not yet fully discriminate the real warheads from the decoys but which can deal with the current threats.
Can the United States build such defenses against future, enhanced threats? Yes. Decoys deploy only after the missile upon which they sit has burned out. From launch to burn out is called the boost phase. So the boost phase interceptor must be in a location near enough to the launch and fast enough to impact the enemy missile early in its flight.
A ship-borne interceptor, for example, with sufficient speed, could intercept such missiles and avoid the decoy problem. Or an interceptor could be launched from orbiting satellites in space. Better yet, interceptors could be launched from platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles or manned combat aircraft such as the F-15 or F-22. And they have the added benefit of dealing with threats from our maritime regions that currently are not covered.
Missile defense critics have repeatedly been proven wrong over their 30 years of efforts to stop such defenses. For example, one prominent critic, a favorite of the media, said Iran could not construct multi-stage missiles or solid fuel missiles. Staged rockets allow a missile to reach intercontinental range; solid fuel allows a missile to be ready for launch at any time. Only days after his report, Iran launched missiles proving the assessment wrong.
Do these critics want to protect America but with the "right defense"? You be the judge. In 30 years of nay saying, two proposals have been put forward. One top critic proposed we defend against North Korean missiles by having the Russians build a missile defense system in Vladivostok, Russia! Another critic proposed a Rube Goldberg drone system, without the range, payload and endurance needed.
Most others take a novel approach. As one top analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists proclaimed "No defense is better than any defense"! Iran seeks nuclear weapons and has made considerable progress on ballistic missiles, now having an offensive rocket inventory in the thousands. They support, finance and arm terror groups. They have transferred rockets to Hamas, Hezbollah and to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
We face missile defense challenges, for sure. But critics have an obligation beyond denigrating the progress made to date. For example, in just three years, Israel deployed the new "Iron Dome", which has now shot down 80 percent of the rockets it engaged. Hamas launched some 200 rockets from Gaza in March. America is now a partner in further Iron Dome system deployments.
2012年4月27日星期五
2012年4月26日星期四
VA tests iPhone EHR app for summer rollout
Clinicians at the Washington, D.C., veterans’ medical center have developed an electronic health record application for the Apple iPhone that the Veterans Affairs Department hopes to begin rolling out this summer.
VA is distributing a limited number, up to 1,000, of mobile devices, starting with the Apple iPhone and iPad, when there is a business case for them, such as at the D.C. VA medical center.
It is one of the examples of how VA is demonstrating that it is incorporating up-to-date technology in its operations, said Roger Baker, VA CIO.
The “clinic in hand” mobile app enables a physician to have on his or her handheld device information about the patients to be seen that day, be able to review that information when the clinician wants to, and to use it while visiting patients. A number of clinicians at the D.C. facility conduct their rounds with the app, which uses encryption to protect personal data, to prove it out, Baker said at an April 25 tele-briefing with reporters.
“The EHR app is really powerful. It is reported to be a significant time saver, and I would use the phrase morale improver, but primarily it makes it clear that we’re using the latest technology at the VA again and not just older technology,” he said.
VA anticipates the app being deployed once a more robust mobile device manager (MDM) is in place this summer than the current one. The more robust MDM will be able to manage and secure up to 100,000 mobile devices across the department as they are acquired, he said. Over time, VA will add other mobile platforms, such as the Android system.
Other technology that VA is putting in place is enhanced Wi-Fi capabilities across all VA campuses. So far, VA has deployed it at about one-third of VA facilities and will complete it at the remainder of facilities over the next two or three years. VA network access will be kept separate from Wi-Fi access available to patients to safeguard personal information.
Wi-Fi will be used as the backbone for VA’s real-time location system (RTLS) to track equipment and even patients and augment it in in certain cases where more specific location is required, Baker said.
For example, Wi-Fi is good up to a certain point for identifying where a device is. A surgeon wants to know that everything that is needed to perform surgery is in the room before starting. A different technology to do that kind of RTLS than Wi-Fi is needed “because Wi-Fi sees through the walls and can’t tell you whether it’s room A or B. So we’ll augment the WiFi, which will be our general signal, and do the backbone of our work with some fine-grained capabilities that will help us on the medical side,” he said.
VA is distributing a limited number, up to 1,000, of mobile devices, starting with the Apple iPhone and iPad, when there is a business case for them, such as at the D.C. VA medical center.
It is one of the examples of how VA is demonstrating that it is incorporating up-to-date technology in its operations, said Roger Baker, VA CIO.
The “clinic in hand” mobile app enables a physician to have on his or her handheld device information about the patients to be seen that day, be able to review that information when the clinician wants to, and to use it while visiting patients. A number of clinicians at the D.C. facility conduct their rounds with the app, which uses encryption to protect personal data, to prove it out, Baker said at an April 25 tele-briefing with reporters.
“The EHR app is really powerful. It is reported to be a significant time saver, and I would use the phrase morale improver, but primarily it makes it clear that we’re using the latest technology at the VA again and not just older technology,” he said.
VA anticipates the app being deployed once a more robust mobile device manager (MDM) is in place this summer than the current one. The more robust MDM will be able to manage and secure up to 100,000 mobile devices across the department as they are acquired, he said. Over time, VA will add other mobile platforms, such as the Android system.
Other technology that VA is putting in place is enhanced Wi-Fi capabilities across all VA campuses. So far, VA has deployed it at about one-third of VA facilities and will complete it at the remainder of facilities over the next two or three years. VA network access will be kept separate from Wi-Fi access available to patients to safeguard personal information.
Wi-Fi will be used as the backbone for VA’s real-time location system (RTLS) to track equipment and even patients and augment it in in certain cases where more specific location is required, Baker said.
For example, Wi-Fi is good up to a certain point for identifying where a device is. A surgeon wants to know that everything that is needed to perform surgery is in the room before starting. A different technology to do that kind of RTLS than Wi-Fi is needed “because Wi-Fi sees through the walls and can’t tell you whether it’s room A or B. So we’ll augment the WiFi, which will be our general signal, and do the backbone of our work with some fine-grained capabilities that will help us on the medical side,” he said.
2012年4月25日星期三
System to Ease Flood Danger in Memphis in Works
A year after the historic Memphis flood, emergency officials are teaming up with federal agencies to create a network of river gauges and weather stations in surrounding Shelby County to better monitor the Mississippi River tributaries that overflowed, forcing hundreds from their homes.
Shelby County Office of Preparedness director Bob Nations told The Associated Press that the new gauges and stations will provide real-time information about water heights, river activity and rainfall along the Wolf and Loosahatchie rivers and the Nonconnah Creek – three Mississippi River tributaries that caused much of the flooding in the Memphis area in April 2011.
Nations said the system also will include cameras that will show the current state of the tributaries. County officials have been meeting with the National Weather Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey to get the system up and running this year.
Nations said the system is a positive next step, helping county emergency officials and volunteers respond in the same safe, efficient manner that they did during last year's flood
"The focus is on, 'What will we do next time, and how will we do it?" Nations said Tuesday. "We try to keep that right in front of us."
The flood of 2011 saw the Mississippi fall about a foot short of the record crest of 48.7 feet set in 1937. The National Weather Service recently set the official crest of the flood at 48.03 feet on the Memphis gauge, slightly higher than the initial estimate of 47.8 feet.
Flood waters from the Mississippi River engulfed farms in West Tennessee and eastern Arkansas. But most of the flooding in Memphis and surrounding Shelby County came from the tributaries, which wind their way from eastern Tennessee and north Mississippi toward the Mississippi River.
In all, about 2,000 homes and businesses were affected by flood waters in Shelby County, but no deaths were reported. Almost $8 million was distributed to families that needed some sort of financial assistance from the federal government, Nations said.
Flood waters encroached on homes and businesses in low-lying areas, leading to evacuations of hundreds of mostly low-income residents in neighborhoods in north Memphis, south Memphis and the suburb of Millington. Water reached the roofs of some homes and forced road closings.
The flood forced the World Barbecue Championship, held in mid-May, to move from its traditional location at a park that lies along the Mississippi. But tourist attractions such as Graceland, Elvis Presley's longtime Memphis home, and Beale Street, the tourist drag known for blues music and barbecue, were not affected.
Damage control went into high gear after national TV news reporters stood in waist-high water as they reported on the flooding, making it appear that the situation was worse than it was. In all, only 20 percent of the county was affected by flooding, Nations said.
Nations delivered a memorable quote when asked if the flood was going to hit Graceland.
"I want to say this: Graceland is safe. And we would charge hell with a water pistol to keep it that way and I'd be willing to lead the charge," Nations said on May 9, 2011.
The tourist attractions may have been spared, but trailer parks were hit hard.
About 750 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed, Nations said. Residents of the parks fled rising waters in late April of last year, heading to shelters or staying with relatives. When they returned in late May, they were told that the parks would be closed and they could no longer live there.
Shelby County Office of Preparedness director Bob Nations told The Associated Press that the new gauges and stations will provide real-time information about water heights, river activity and rainfall along the Wolf and Loosahatchie rivers and the Nonconnah Creek – three Mississippi River tributaries that caused much of the flooding in the Memphis area in April 2011.
Nations said the system also will include cameras that will show the current state of the tributaries. County officials have been meeting with the National Weather Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey to get the system up and running this year.
Nations said the system is a positive next step, helping county emergency officials and volunteers respond in the same safe, efficient manner that they did during last year's flood
"The focus is on, 'What will we do next time, and how will we do it?" Nations said Tuesday. "We try to keep that right in front of us."
The flood of 2011 saw the Mississippi fall about a foot short of the record crest of 48.7 feet set in 1937. The National Weather Service recently set the official crest of the flood at 48.03 feet on the Memphis gauge, slightly higher than the initial estimate of 47.8 feet.
Flood waters from the Mississippi River engulfed farms in West Tennessee and eastern Arkansas. But most of the flooding in Memphis and surrounding Shelby County came from the tributaries, which wind their way from eastern Tennessee and north Mississippi toward the Mississippi River.
In all, about 2,000 homes and businesses were affected by flood waters in Shelby County, but no deaths were reported. Almost $8 million was distributed to families that needed some sort of financial assistance from the federal government, Nations said.
Flood waters encroached on homes and businesses in low-lying areas, leading to evacuations of hundreds of mostly low-income residents in neighborhoods in north Memphis, south Memphis and the suburb of Millington. Water reached the roofs of some homes and forced road closings.
The flood forced the World Barbecue Championship, held in mid-May, to move from its traditional location at a park that lies along the Mississippi. But tourist attractions such as Graceland, Elvis Presley's longtime Memphis home, and Beale Street, the tourist drag known for blues music and barbecue, were not affected.
Damage control went into high gear after national TV news reporters stood in waist-high water as they reported on the flooding, making it appear that the situation was worse than it was. In all, only 20 percent of the county was affected by flooding, Nations said.
Nations delivered a memorable quote when asked if the flood was going to hit Graceland.
"I want to say this: Graceland is safe. And we would charge hell with a water pistol to keep it that way and I'd be willing to lead the charge," Nations said on May 9, 2011.
The tourist attractions may have been spared, but trailer parks were hit hard.
About 750 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed, Nations said. Residents of the parks fled rising waters in late April of last year, heading to shelters or staying with relatives. When they returned in late May, they were told that the parks would be closed and they could no longer live there.
2012年4月24日星期二
Supply chain: ERP
Over the past decade, technology has transformed the broader world of business and consumer applications. Workers interact through mobile devices and social media, with applications increasingly connected over the web. But many ERP deployments remain static in spite of these changes.
According to research by Forrester, “approximately half of ERP customers are currently on releases that are two versions behind the current release, which may be four years old or more.” It’s hard to believe that an outdated, five-year-old ERP system can be relevant to a business in the modern world in which last year’s smartphone is passé and a business like Groupon can grow from a start-up to $700 million-plus in revenue in just a few years.
Today’s speed of change places stresses on business process. Worker expectations have changed on how they want to engage with business systems, and customers have changed how they want to engage with businesses. Running an ERP system that is only upgraded every four or five years (at best) is simply not sufficient to take advantage of change and maintain competitiveness with your peers, especially in an uncertain and volatile market. Business and technology are now moving so quickly that even if you do invest six months and 500k in an ERP upgrade, the end result will likely be out of date by the time it’s completed. Worse still, old ERP systems are fundamentally incompatible with the way companies need to be structured for success today.
The key to knowing how aligned your ERP systems are with your business imperatives is measuring how much of the IT budget is devoted to innovation rather than maintenance. Analysts from Forrester to Gartner measure this closely, and have found maintenance spend ranges from 50 per cent to more than 90 per cent of a typical IT budget.
Simply changing the equation and reallocating the IT budget from maintenance to innovation is almost impossible with old, on-premise ERP because every costly upgrade, patch and fix equals money and time that isn’t spent on tailoring ERP to meet the needs of the business.
New regulatory changes are increasingly common today, whether for data protection, financial regulation or information security. Out-of-date ERP systems struggle to cope with these changes, typically requiring time-consuming patches or additional manual processes.
The web enables business to go global instantly—reaching many millions of customers in a year or two, whereas it used to take a decade or more to make that type of progress.
Groupon stands as an example of the kind of disruption that the internet enables. Labelled the ‘fastest-growing company in history’, it grew to revenues of $700 million-plus in 2010 from $30 million in 2009—a stunning growth rate of 2,241 per cent. This would have been unthinkable just five years ago. Furthermore, with the dramatic growth in emerging markets, businesses are looking to quickly tap opportunities in the space of months, not years— before their competitors get there. Outdated ERP, unable to react to and take advantage of change, restricts the agility that is crucial in our increasingly online world.
According to Forrester, up to 50 per cent of businesses will increase the number of mobile applications available to employees, customers or partners as part of their upcoming IT priorities. Our computing time is spread across any number of devices and platforms—an iPhone or Android device in the morning, a PC and tablet in the daytime and maybe a MacBook in the evening. We’ve transitioned to what Steve Jobs called the “post-PC era,” with powerful mobile devices offering anywhere, anytime web access.
Using outdated ERP means either completely giving up on accessing your information from anywhere outside of your office or enduring sluggish client-server experiences over virtual private networks (VPNs). It also means having no visibility into business operations when on the road, or having to drive into the office to approve a sales order. The result is that employees are simply less productive than they could be, and important business decisions cannot be made as efficiently.
Businesses as a whole are becoming more distributed. A June 2011 survey by McKinsey illustrates the trend: more than 50 per cent of companies anticipate a rise in part-time and temporary workers, 25 per cent a rise in telecommuting and more than 20 per cent expect growth in offshoring and outsourcing.
Old ERP forces you into an expensive centralised structure, unless you can afford to dispatch IT teams to every corner of the globe. It means maintaining desktops at multiple locations, upgrading clients and dealing with information fragmentation across local clients.
According to research by Forrester, “approximately half of ERP customers are currently on releases that are two versions behind the current release, which may be four years old or more.” It’s hard to believe that an outdated, five-year-old ERP system can be relevant to a business in the modern world in which last year’s smartphone is passé and a business like Groupon can grow from a start-up to $700 million-plus in revenue in just a few years.
Today’s speed of change places stresses on business process. Worker expectations have changed on how they want to engage with business systems, and customers have changed how they want to engage with businesses. Running an ERP system that is only upgraded every four or five years (at best) is simply not sufficient to take advantage of change and maintain competitiveness with your peers, especially in an uncertain and volatile market. Business and technology are now moving so quickly that even if you do invest six months and 500k in an ERP upgrade, the end result will likely be out of date by the time it’s completed. Worse still, old ERP systems are fundamentally incompatible with the way companies need to be structured for success today.
The key to knowing how aligned your ERP systems are with your business imperatives is measuring how much of the IT budget is devoted to innovation rather than maintenance. Analysts from Forrester to Gartner measure this closely, and have found maintenance spend ranges from 50 per cent to more than 90 per cent of a typical IT budget.
Simply changing the equation and reallocating the IT budget from maintenance to innovation is almost impossible with old, on-premise ERP because every costly upgrade, patch and fix equals money and time that isn’t spent on tailoring ERP to meet the needs of the business.
New regulatory changes are increasingly common today, whether for data protection, financial regulation or information security. Out-of-date ERP systems struggle to cope with these changes, typically requiring time-consuming patches or additional manual processes.
The web enables business to go global instantly—reaching many millions of customers in a year or two, whereas it used to take a decade or more to make that type of progress.
Groupon stands as an example of the kind of disruption that the internet enables. Labelled the ‘fastest-growing company in history’, it grew to revenues of $700 million-plus in 2010 from $30 million in 2009—a stunning growth rate of 2,241 per cent. This would have been unthinkable just five years ago. Furthermore, with the dramatic growth in emerging markets, businesses are looking to quickly tap opportunities in the space of months, not years— before their competitors get there. Outdated ERP, unable to react to and take advantage of change, restricts the agility that is crucial in our increasingly online world.
According to Forrester, up to 50 per cent of businesses will increase the number of mobile applications available to employees, customers or partners as part of their upcoming IT priorities. Our computing time is spread across any number of devices and platforms—an iPhone or Android device in the morning, a PC and tablet in the daytime and maybe a MacBook in the evening. We’ve transitioned to what Steve Jobs called the “post-PC era,” with powerful mobile devices offering anywhere, anytime web access.
Using outdated ERP means either completely giving up on accessing your information from anywhere outside of your office or enduring sluggish client-server experiences over virtual private networks (VPNs). It also means having no visibility into business operations when on the road, or having to drive into the office to approve a sales order. The result is that employees are simply less productive than they could be, and important business decisions cannot be made as efficiently.
Businesses as a whole are becoming more distributed. A June 2011 survey by McKinsey illustrates the trend: more than 50 per cent of companies anticipate a rise in part-time and temporary workers, 25 per cent a rise in telecommuting and more than 20 per cent expect growth in offshoring and outsourcing.
Old ERP forces you into an expensive centralised structure, unless you can afford to dispatch IT teams to every corner of the globe. It means maintaining desktops at multiple locations, upgrading clients and dealing with information fragmentation across local clients.
2012年4月23日星期一
User-friendly 'Media' Series Links Patrons And Suppliers
Crane Merchandising Systems will unveil a new vending machine platform at the National Automatic Merchandising Association's OneShow this month in Las Vegas. The line features integrated cashless payment capability, wireless and Ethernet network access and contemporary user interface options, all "right out of the box."
The company is the vending and payment business unit of Crane Co. (Stamford, CT), with offices in Bridgeton, MO, and manufacturing facilities in Williston, SC. Crane explained that the Media concept was developed to bring the experience of shopping at vending machines in line with the expectations and desires of today's consumers.
The next-generation line of snack, cold beverage and food venders will be marketed under the "Media" brand. The series has been conceived to chart a new course in machine design that will deliver a more engaging, rewarding and reliable customer experience.
"The solution is long overdue," said Tom Edwards, Crane Merchandising Systems vice-president of global food and beverage initiatives. "It answers a need by being built around the consumer, who has never been linked into the equation effectively."
The new vending platform is the culmination of three years of development inspired by NAMA research that identified lack of consumer confidence in vending as a root cause of declines in same-store sales in recent years. Consumers cited high product cost, low value, worn and dirty machines and the lack of cashless acceptance, among factors that deterred them from using vending machines.
"We built the Media platform to attack those issues and to help restore consumer confidence," Edwards said. He added that the goals of the new equipment offering align with those of NAMA's Industry Growth Strategy, which aims to revitalize vending by engaging 18- to 27-year-old "Gen Y" consumers, communicating a positive message and changing obsolete paradigms.
"Media represents revolutionary change in technology, functionality, look and feel. These combined attributes are changing consumer perception and driving growth," Edwards explained. "There is opportunity to forge stronger relationships with current users, and to make a stronger appeal to nonusers."
Crane's Media machines are designed to turn heads and draw consumers with sleek, modern styling highlighted by a high-impact LED lighting scheme, which conveys high technology.
In the vanguard of the new line are the Merchant Media snack vender and BevMax Media drink machine. Both have larger cabinet footprints than their predecessors, permitting increased product variety to spur incremental sales. The added capacity also allows for more inventory on site, reducing out-of-stocks and service visits.
The new snack machines can support up to 50% more spirals than standard five-wide models, and the beverage venders can accommodate 10 additional selections, amounting to 80 more bottles (three-plus cases) of additional inventory. Both variations offer powerful product presentation through a wide glass front.
A new delivery door on the Merchant Media is one of several key consumer-focused improvements. When the user pushes the door downward, the bottom of the bin elevates to present the purchased product in full view, eliminating the need to fish around in a dark bin to retrieve a purchase.
The new BevMax Media uses the theatrical appeal of an XY-positioning robotic arm to conveniently deliver cold drinks, upright and in full view, through a newly designed delivery port.
The delivery mechanisms, along with the two machines' user interfaces and payment systems, comply with the new ADA requirements.
The company is the vending and payment business unit of Crane Co. (Stamford, CT), with offices in Bridgeton, MO, and manufacturing facilities in Williston, SC. Crane explained that the Media concept was developed to bring the experience of shopping at vending machines in line with the expectations and desires of today's consumers.
The next-generation line of snack, cold beverage and food venders will be marketed under the "Media" brand. The series has been conceived to chart a new course in machine design that will deliver a more engaging, rewarding and reliable customer experience.
"The solution is long overdue," said Tom Edwards, Crane Merchandising Systems vice-president of global food and beverage initiatives. "It answers a need by being built around the consumer, who has never been linked into the equation effectively."
The new vending platform is the culmination of three years of development inspired by NAMA research that identified lack of consumer confidence in vending as a root cause of declines in same-store sales in recent years. Consumers cited high product cost, low value, worn and dirty machines and the lack of cashless acceptance, among factors that deterred them from using vending machines.
"We built the Media platform to attack those issues and to help restore consumer confidence," Edwards said. He added that the goals of the new equipment offering align with those of NAMA's Industry Growth Strategy, which aims to revitalize vending by engaging 18- to 27-year-old "Gen Y" consumers, communicating a positive message and changing obsolete paradigms.
"Media represents revolutionary change in technology, functionality, look and feel. These combined attributes are changing consumer perception and driving growth," Edwards explained. "There is opportunity to forge stronger relationships with current users, and to make a stronger appeal to nonusers."
Crane's Media machines are designed to turn heads and draw consumers with sleek, modern styling highlighted by a high-impact LED lighting scheme, which conveys high technology.
In the vanguard of the new line are the Merchant Media snack vender and BevMax Media drink machine. Both have larger cabinet footprints than their predecessors, permitting increased product variety to spur incremental sales. The added capacity also allows for more inventory on site, reducing out-of-stocks and service visits.
The new snack machines can support up to 50% more spirals than standard five-wide models, and the beverage venders can accommodate 10 additional selections, amounting to 80 more bottles (three-plus cases) of additional inventory. Both variations offer powerful product presentation through a wide glass front.
A new delivery door on the Merchant Media is one of several key consumer-focused improvements. When the user pushes the door downward, the bottom of the bin elevates to present the purchased product in full view, eliminating the need to fish around in a dark bin to retrieve a purchase.
The new BevMax Media uses the theatrical appeal of an XY-positioning robotic arm to conveniently deliver cold drinks, upright and in full view, through a newly designed delivery port.
The delivery mechanisms, along with the two machines' user interfaces and payment systems, comply with the new ADA requirements.
2012年4月22日星期日
Local volunteers give planet a helping hand
They can’t talk or even walk but 37 babies wrapped in cloth spent Saturday promoting environmentally friendly alternatives to disposable diapers just in time for Earth Day and an afternoon nap.
Parents held up their laughing, cooing — and even sleeping — babies, after attempting to break last year’s Guinness World Record of 5,026 cloth diapers simultaneously changed at more than 230 locations spread across 13 countries.
They won’t know until later this week if they succeeded.
The diaper challenge was one of several events held on the weekend for Earth Day, which officially was Sunday.
It’s the second year Margaret Deneau, 32, hosted the Great Cloth Diaper Change in her Sweetheart Diapers store at 4782 Wyandotte St. E. as a tribute not only to Earth Day but International Cloth Diaper Awareness Week.
“The whole point of this event is to raise awareness and educate people about cloth diapers, or real diapers,” Deneau said. “It’s a fun, silly thing but it really does raise awareness about cloth diapers.”
Deneau has been using cloth diapers for the past 4 years on her two children, including six-month-old Cole who participated in the diaper change. A baby crawling race followed the diaper change, with parents trying to lure their tots to the finish line with food and glowing cellphones.
“In a nutshell, the new modern diapers are a lot easier than what your grandparents used. So I tell people, come into the store and just look at what’s out there today. They will save you money, they’re better for the environment and better for your baby’s health.”
Cloth diapering can save families from $2,300 up to $5,000 and pay for themselves within a six-month period, according to Diapering Decisions, a Canadian home-based cloth diaper business.
Meanwhile, at Black Oak Heritage Park, a team of volunteers spent Saturday filling four dumpsters with garbage that had been carelessly strewn through the park.
“You could furnish a full house with the stuff we found,” said Peter Berry, the harbour master for the Windsor Port Authority. “It’s horrific.”
In partnership with The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, the City of Windsor, the Essex Region Conservation Authority and the Windsor-Essex County Environment Committee, Berry and close to 50 volunteers cleaned a section of Black Oak Heritage Park and a drain that leads to the Detroit River near Ojibway Parkway and Broadway Avenue.
Almost 200 tires, a kitchen sink, a vacuum cleaner and even a boat were pulled from the path.
ERCA’s Caroline Biribauer had a simple message for the people responsible for the mess.
“Stop and have a conscience,” she said after a gruelling morning. “Think twice about dumping.”
Berry said all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles riding through the park have done “substantial damage and destroyed drainage.
“People don’t even know this is a park. It doesn’t even look like a park.”
The organizers were happy with the turnout and surprised when people noticed the crowd and randomly stopped to offer a helping hand.
Biribauer had no time to rest after that event. On Sunday she was busy orchestrating a massive tree planting.
For the 13th year in a row, ERCA spent Earth Day planting thousands of trees with the help of local corporate and cultural groups.
Percy Hatfield, a Windsor city councillor who chairs the ERCA board, said about 500 people braved the blustery weather to line McHugh Park, just east of the WFCU Centre, with pin oak and white cedar trees. After years of planting a total of 16,000 trees at Malden Park, ERCA chose McHugh as its new location. This was the first year at the new location, which also served as a site to sell rain barrels and collect e-waste.
“For a lot of the groups and families, it’s become an annual tradition and a way to continue to honour Earth Day -— though we say every day is Earth Day,” Biribauer said.
Parents held up their laughing, cooing — and even sleeping — babies, after attempting to break last year’s Guinness World Record of 5,026 cloth diapers simultaneously changed at more than 230 locations spread across 13 countries.
They won’t know until later this week if they succeeded.
The diaper challenge was one of several events held on the weekend for Earth Day, which officially was Sunday.
It’s the second year Margaret Deneau, 32, hosted the Great Cloth Diaper Change in her Sweetheart Diapers store at 4782 Wyandotte St. E. as a tribute not only to Earth Day but International Cloth Diaper Awareness Week.
“The whole point of this event is to raise awareness and educate people about cloth diapers, or real diapers,” Deneau said. “It’s a fun, silly thing but it really does raise awareness about cloth diapers.”
Deneau has been using cloth diapers for the past 4 years on her two children, including six-month-old Cole who participated in the diaper change. A baby crawling race followed the diaper change, with parents trying to lure their tots to the finish line with food and glowing cellphones.
“In a nutshell, the new modern diapers are a lot easier than what your grandparents used. So I tell people, come into the store and just look at what’s out there today. They will save you money, they’re better for the environment and better for your baby’s health.”
Cloth diapering can save families from $2,300 up to $5,000 and pay for themselves within a six-month period, according to Diapering Decisions, a Canadian home-based cloth diaper business.
Meanwhile, at Black Oak Heritage Park, a team of volunteers spent Saturday filling four dumpsters with garbage that had been carelessly strewn through the park.
“You could furnish a full house with the stuff we found,” said Peter Berry, the harbour master for the Windsor Port Authority. “It’s horrific.”
In partnership with The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, the City of Windsor, the Essex Region Conservation Authority and the Windsor-Essex County Environment Committee, Berry and close to 50 volunteers cleaned a section of Black Oak Heritage Park and a drain that leads to the Detroit River near Ojibway Parkway and Broadway Avenue.
Almost 200 tires, a kitchen sink, a vacuum cleaner and even a boat were pulled from the path.
ERCA’s Caroline Biribauer had a simple message for the people responsible for the mess.
“Stop and have a conscience,” she said after a gruelling morning. “Think twice about dumping.”
Berry said all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles riding through the park have done “substantial damage and destroyed drainage.
“People don’t even know this is a park. It doesn’t even look like a park.”
The organizers were happy with the turnout and surprised when people noticed the crowd and randomly stopped to offer a helping hand.
Biribauer had no time to rest after that event. On Sunday she was busy orchestrating a massive tree planting.
For the 13th year in a row, ERCA spent Earth Day planting thousands of trees with the help of local corporate and cultural groups.
Percy Hatfield, a Windsor city councillor who chairs the ERCA board, said about 500 people braved the blustery weather to line McHugh Park, just east of the WFCU Centre, with pin oak and white cedar trees. After years of planting a total of 16,000 trees at Malden Park, ERCA chose McHugh as its new location. This was the first year at the new location, which also served as a site to sell rain barrels and collect e-waste.
“For a lot of the groups and families, it’s become an annual tradition and a way to continue to honour Earth Day -— though we say every day is Earth Day,” Biribauer said.
2012年4月19日星期四
Stadium Woods allows hands-on, free education
In regards to the need for expansion of Virginia Tech’s athletic facilities, I believe this need is no greater than the need for the preservation of the last expanse of healthy, functioning forest on campus.
I attended Tech from 2002-2007 and graduated with a natural resources conservation degree. I worked as lab manager and photographer for the Collegiate Times student newspaper, played 4 years with the men’s club lacrosse team and spent two years as president of the Natural Resources Recreation Society. As an alumnus of the University, with many friends still in Blacksburg today, I ask you to hear my story about my experience with these woods.
While I sometimes struggled in lecture-style courses during my years at Tech, I always learned best when the curriculum involved “hands on” learning.
When I entered the College of Natural Resources I began taking lab courses that involved exploring the parks and forests both on and off campus. The Stadium Woods was one of the most frequently visited locations during my semester studying Dendrology.
John Seiler is a passionate teacher who loves trees. He provoked us to feel the texture of a tree’s leaf, sample a black cherry twig on the tongue, or smell the sweet fragrance of a freshly crushed sassafrass leaf. I found this multi-sensory way of learning to be quite exilharating. Seiler would point to a tree, “Quiz number one. I need the common name, genus, and species.” My classmates and I would dig around the base of the tree for fallen fruits, sample twigs for a closer look and peer upwards at the leaves looking for clues.
I remember poison ivy, toxicodendron radicans, was on the ID list the first week of class. For obvious reasons, they wanted us to learn this one so that we could walk the forest more carefully in the coming weeks.
Well it turned out one of my classmates wasn’t paying attention that day, so when the quiz came the following week he pulled a twig from the toxic vine and popped it in his mouth for a taste. A few days later his swollen lips matched the color of the ink on his quiz sheet. He learned this one the hard way.
Once, a quiz was presented as a medium-sized tree in the middle story of the Stadium Woods. Everyone knew it was a type of Hickory, but most of us still needed a closer look at the twig to define its species. And the tree was about 15 feet tall, so the leaves were just out of reach.
It turned into a group effort, and after a human pyramid was established, a determined Derek Sokolowski ascended and shimmied up the pole to grab a slender twig for proper identification.
“Carya Ovata!” we all silently nodded so as not to spill the answer. It was time for the inevitable bad joke from Mr. Peterson. He pointed to a stump, which had been chainsawed flush with the ground. Yes, we were supposed to identify a tree that was not there.
All we could see was the purplish bark. This was the only clue that was supposed to hint at the Eastern Hemlock. Then it came from Peterson: “Have you been stumped?” Slightly annoyed at both the difficult quiz and the bad joke the class responded “BOOOOO.” While dendrology was the first class that got me out into the Stadium Woods, many more were to follow. Eric Wiseman led our urban forestry class up to the corner of the lot one day to assess the health of a large White Oak across from the Cranwell International Center. An assignment in my computer applications for natural resources involved a geographic information system project, which required us to plot out a digital map of the wooded area.
Our forest measurements and management classes both required us to practice inventorying forest resources in the forest behind Lane Stadium. And just when I thought identifying trees was tough, I enrolled in an ornithology class.
While dendrology required us to identify still plants, ornithology required us to identify moving targets. We spent Wednesday mornings with binoculars and eyeballs pointed upwards at the towering trees of this great bird sanctuary.
Many of these classes took our students on field trips to woods often and nature preserves off campus.
I attended Tech from 2002-2007 and graduated with a natural resources conservation degree. I worked as lab manager and photographer for the Collegiate Times student newspaper, played 4 years with the men’s club lacrosse team and spent two years as president of the Natural Resources Recreation Society. As an alumnus of the University, with many friends still in Blacksburg today, I ask you to hear my story about my experience with these woods.
While I sometimes struggled in lecture-style courses during my years at Tech, I always learned best when the curriculum involved “hands on” learning.
When I entered the College of Natural Resources I began taking lab courses that involved exploring the parks and forests both on and off campus. The Stadium Woods was one of the most frequently visited locations during my semester studying Dendrology.
John Seiler is a passionate teacher who loves trees. He provoked us to feel the texture of a tree’s leaf, sample a black cherry twig on the tongue, or smell the sweet fragrance of a freshly crushed sassafrass leaf. I found this multi-sensory way of learning to be quite exilharating. Seiler would point to a tree, “Quiz number one. I need the common name, genus, and species.” My classmates and I would dig around the base of the tree for fallen fruits, sample twigs for a closer look and peer upwards at the leaves looking for clues.
I remember poison ivy, toxicodendron radicans, was on the ID list the first week of class. For obvious reasons, they wanted us to learn this one so that we could walk the forest more carefully in the coming weeks.
Well it turned out one of my classmates wasn’t paying attention that day, so when the quiz came the following week he pulled a twig from the toxic vine and popped it in his mouth for a taste. A few days later his swollen lips matched the color of the ink on his quiz sheet. He learned this one the hard way.
Once, a quiz was presented as a medium-sized tree in the middle story of the Stadium Woods. Everyone knew it was a type of Hickory, but most of us still needed a closer look at the twig to define its species. And the tree was about 15 feet tall, so the leaves were just out of reach.
It turned into a group effort, and after a human pyramid was established, a determined Derek Sokolowski ascended and shimmied up the pole to grab a slender twig for proper identification.
“Carya Ovata!” we all silently nodded so as not to spill the answer. It was time for the inevitable bad joke from Mr. Peterson. He pointed to a stump, which had been chainsawed flush with the ground. Yes, we were supposed to identify a tree that was not there.
All we could see was the purplish bark. This was the only clue that was supposed to hint at the Eastern Hemlock. Then it came from Peterson: “Have you been stumped?” Slightly annoyed at both the difficult quiz and the bad joke the class responded “BOOOOO.” While dendrology was the first class that got me out into the Stadium Woods, many more were to follow. Eric Wiseman led our urban forestry class up to the corner of the lot one day to assess the health of a large White Oak across from the Cranwell International Center. An assignment in my computer applications for natural resources involved a geographic information system project, which required us to plot out a digital map of the wooded area.
Our forest measurements and management classes both required us to practice inventorying forest resources in the forest behind Lane Stadium. And just when I thought identifying trees was tough, I enrolled in an ornithology class.
While dendrology required us to identify still plants, ornithology required us to identify moving targets. We spent Wednesday mornings with binoculars and eyeballs pointed upwards at the towering trees of this great bird sanctuary.
Many of these classes took our students on field trips to woods often and nature preserves off campus.
2012年4月18日星期三
Pinpoint positioning through geospatial and big data
There's been a lot of talk about ‘big data' since McKinsey published its Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity report last May.
McKinsey wrote: "The amount of data in our world has been exploding, and analysing large data sets, so-called big data, will become a key basis of competition."
The company explained that the insurance sector could benefit from big data, as long as it was able to overcome barriers to its use. With this in mind, Ordnance Survey recently compiled research, in conjunction with IDC, to find out what insurers need to do to unlock this powerful mine of information.
Insurers churn through escalating volumes of transactional or event data every second, creating trillions of bytes of information about their customers, brokers, clients and suppliers.
Real-time event and transactional data may include implicit location data: addresses, place names or regions. Some mobile and sensor event data may include explicit location data: coordinates, elevations, building footprints or shapes.
The key to bringing vast data sets together to create a single customer view is the ability to transform between these two data types.
For example, underwriters need the precise location (explicit) of the property they are insuring, right down to co-ordinates. Marketing managers will use regional or district location (implicit) data to identify areas with a common profile to target, and risk managers need to understand the accumulation within a given area.
Customers using smartphone claims apps already have the ability to pinpoint pictures and their account to the exact time and co-ordinates, or explicit data, of an accident. Combining and having the ability to switch between the data sets will provide competitive edge.
Taking this location, or geospatial, approach is different from traditional methods, which focus on documents first to analyse data and isolate keywords to understand meaning or sentiment. Using a geospatial approach will enable the linking of disparate legacy systems by matching the key theme used across these systems: location.
But it's not enough to just match it. Analytics is at the heart of the big data revolution. By applying location to big data analytics, insurers can develop the capability to leverage more insight from their data and understand risk and customer behaviour in greater detail.
As technology moves towards real-time big data analytics, most analytics will have to be explicitly location-specific. Two key areas driving this need for real-time analysis are underwriting and fraud.
Underwriters are desperate for a real-time analysis of their cumulative exposure, and fraud managers are keen to spot fraudulent claims in real time using location-specific analytics.
But insurers will need the right type of talent to make the most of data analytics, and McKinsey forecasts a shortage of analytics graduates within five years.
The opportunities presented by big data are clear: improved productivity, growth and innovation providing a competitive edge. It will be interesting to see which insurers take the lead in ensuring that the true power of data is understood.
McKinsey wrote: "The amount of data in our world has been exploding, and analysing large data sets, so-called big data, will become a key basis of competition."
The company explained that the insurance sector could benefit from big data, as long as it was able to overcome barriers to its use. With this in mind, Ordnance Survey recently compiled research, in conjunction with IDC, to find out what insurers need to do to unlock this powerful mine of information.
Insurers churn through escalating volumes of transactional or event data every second, creating trillions of bytes of information about their customers, brokers, clients and suppliers.
Real-time event and transactional data may include implicit location data: addresses, place names or regions. Some mobile and sensor event data may include explicit location data: coordinates, elevations, building footprints or shapes.
The key to bringing vast data sets together to create a single customer view is the ability to transform between these two data types.
For example, underwriters need the precise location (explicit) of the property they are insuring, right down to co-ordinates. Marketing managers will use regional or district location (implicit) data to identify areas with a common profile to target, and risk managers need to understand the accumulation within a given area.
Customers using smartphone claims apps already have the ability to pinpoint pictures and their account to the exact time and co-ordinates, or explicit data, of an accident. Combining and having the ability to switch between the data sets will provide competitive edge.
Taking this location, or geospatial, approach is different from traditional methods, which focus on documents first to analyse data and isolate keywords to understand meaning or sentiment. Using a geospatial approach will enable the linking of disparate legacy systems by matching the key theme used across these systems: location.
But it's not enough to just match it. Analytics is at the heart of the big data revolution. By applying location to big data analytics, insurers can develop the capability to leverage more insight from their data and understand risk and customer behaviour in greater detail.
As technology moves towards real-time big data analytics, most analytics will have to be explicitly location-specific. Two key areas driving this need for real-time analysis are underwriting and fraud.
Underwriters are desperate for a real-time analysis of their cumulative exposure, and fraud managers are keen to spot fraudulent claims in real time using location-specific analytics.
But insurers will need the right type of talent to make the most of data analytics, and McKinsey forecasts a shortage of analytics graduates within five years.
The opportunities presented by big data are clear: improved productivity, growth and innovation providing a competitive edge. It will be interesting to see which insurers take the lead in ensuring that the true power of data is understood.
2012年4月17日星期二
UK government set to green light risky gas drilling?
A controversial gas extraction method caused two earthquakes in the UK last year, a government panel of experts reported. Yet, despite the environmental dangers fracking may cause, its resumption has been recommended, albeit under strict regulation.
The report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) backs up an inquiry by energy company Cuadrilla late last year, after which the company admitted culpability for the small earthquakes which measured 2.3 and 1.5 on the "local magnitude" system under which three is classed as "moderate".
Gas drilling by Cuadrilla at the Preese Hall well in north-west England was suspended in 2011 after two earthquakes in Lancashire were felt at the surface.
Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into shale rock at very high pressures in order to release the reserves of natural gas which are stored within.
Britain holds significant receivers of shale gas which is regarded as a means of providing relatively cheap energy supplies and a lucrative alternative to importing fossil fuels.
A government decision on whether to allow Cuadrilla to continue fracking is due in six weeks' time, with ministers expected to give it the go-ahead.
But green groups and local anti-fracking groups have denounced the report and warn against possible side effects, including the contamination of groundwater supplies, air pollution and an increased risk of earthquakes.
Elsie Walker, a member of the Frack Off group that has organised protests at Cuadrilla rigs and rallies in London, said: "This report is a seriously dangerous distraction. People need to understand that the wave of unconventional gas development that is threatening the British Isles will bring with it far greater consequences than a number of small earthquakes."
"Even within the narrow context of earthquakes, this report misses all the real issues such as sub-surface damage to wells causing them to leak, the much larger earthquakes seen in the US as a result of widespread shale gas development and the potential effects on sensitive infrastructure like nuclear power stations and railway lines."
Such criticism of the process is not confined to the UK. In the US, shale gas has scaled up rapidly to account for around a quarter of the country's natural gas extraction, but so has the opposition to fracking following the release of the 2010 documentary "Gasland". This showed residents of a small town in Colorado setting alight tap water they claimed was soured by nearby oil industry activity. Then in 2012 a whistleblower claimed fracking could poison New York's drinking water. Such concerns have seen France and Bulgaria ban fracking.
However, the DECC report, written by Peter Styles, professor at Keele University, Dr Brian Baptie of the British Geological Survey, and Dr Christopher Green, an independent fracking expert from GFrac Technologies, concludes that the risk of damage caused by earthquakes from franking was minimal.
However, the panel recommends the following measures to mitigate the risk of any damaging seismic activity regarding Cuadrilla's Preese Hall operation and other projects in the Bowland Shale area of Lancashire:
That the hydraulic fracturing procedure should include a smaller pre-injection and monitoring stage.
That an effective monitoring system to provide near real-time locations and magnitudes of any seismic events should be part of any future hydraulic fracturing operations.
That future fracking operations for shale gas should be subject to a “traffic light” control regime. A red light at activity levels of magnitude of 0.5 or above means fracking should be stopped and remedial action taken
The DECC’s chief scientific advisor, David MacKay, said: “If shale gas is to be part of the UK’s energy mix, we need to have a good understanding of its potential environmental impacts and what can be done to mitigate those impacts. This comprehensive independent expert review of Cuadrilla’s evidence suggests a set of robust measures to make sure future seismic risks are minimised – not just at this location but at any other potential sites across the UK.”
However, this is unlikely to satisfy those critics who view fracking as an inherently unsafe means of energy extraction. The report's authors themselves concede that further fracking-induced earthquakes are possible.
Even though these would be small, no higher than around magnitude three and unlikely to cause structural damage, the experts added: "Such an event would be strongly felt by people within a few kilometres from the epicentre and could cause some alarm."
The report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) backs up an inquiry by energy company Cuadrilla late last year, after which the company admitted culpability for the small earthquakes which measured 2.3 and 1.5 on the "local magnitude" system under which three is classed as "moderate".
Gas drilling by Cuadrilla at the Preese Hall well in north-west England was suspended in 2011 after two earthquakes in Lancashire were felt at the surface.
Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into shale rock at very high pressures in order to release the reserves of natural gas which are stored within.
Britain holds significant receivers of shale gas which is regarded as a means of providing relatively cheap energy supplies and a lucrative alternative to importing fossil fuels.
A government decision on whether to allow Cuadrilla to continue fracking is due in six weeks' time, with ministers expected to give it the go-ahead.
But green groups and local anti-fracking groups have denounced the report and warn against possible side effects, including the contamination of groundwater supplies, air pollution and an increased risk of earthquakes.
Elsie Walker, a member of the Frack Off group that has organised protests at Cuadrilla rigs and rallies in London, said: "This report is a seriously dangerous distraction. People need to understand that the wave of unconventional gas development that is threatening the British Isles will bring with it far greater consequences than a number of small earthquakes."
"Even within the narrow context of earthquakes, this report misses all the real issues such as sub-surface damage to wells causing them to leak, the much larger earthquakes seen in the US as a result of widespread shale gas development and the potential effects on sensitive infrastructure like nuclear power stations and railway lines."
Such criticism of the process is not confined to the UK. In the US, shale gas has scaled up rapidly to account for around a quarter of the country's natural gas extraction, but so has the opposition to fracking following the release of the 2010 documentary "Gasland". This showed residents of a small town in Colorado setting alight tap water they claimed was soured by nearby oil industry activity. Then in 2012 a whistleblower claimed fracking could poison New York's drinking water. Such concerns have seen France and Bulgaria ban fracking.
However, the DECC report, written by Peter Styles, professor at Keele University, Dr Brian Baptie of the British Geological Survey, and Dr Christopher Green, an independent fracking expert from GFrac Technologies, concludes that the risk of damage caused by earthquakes from franking was minimal.
However, the panel recommends the following measures to mitigate the risk of any damaging seismic activity regarding Cuadrilla's Preese Hall operation and other projects in the Bowland Shale area of Lancashire:
That the hydraulic fracturing procedure should include a smaller pre-injection and monitoring stage.
That an effective monitoring system to provide near real-time locations and magnitudes of any seismic events should be part of any future hydraulic fracturing operations.
That future fracking operations for shale gas should be subject to a “traffic light” control regime. A red light at activity levels of magnitude of 0.5 or above means fracking should be stopped and remedial action taken
The DECC’s chief scientific advisor, David MacKay, said: “If shale gas is to be part of the UK’s energy mix, we need to have a good understanding of its potential environmental impacts and what can be done to mitigate those impacts. This comprehensive independent expert review of Cuadrilla’s evidence suggests a set of robust measures to make sure future seismic risks are minimised – not just at this location but at any other potential sites across the UK.”
However, this is unlikely to satisfy those critics who view fracking as an inherently unsafe means of energy extraction. The report's authors themselves concede that further fracking-induced earthquakes are possible.
Even though these would be small, no higher than around magnitude three and unlikely to cause structural damage, the experts added: "Such an event would be strongly felt by people within a few kilometres from the epicentre and could cause some alarm."
2012年4月16日星期一
Voyage Manager And Omnisense To Improve Safety At Sea
Travel technology specialist Voyage Manager has teamed up with real time location company Omnisense in a joint venture to provide state of the art solutions for ensuring the safety of passengers and crew at sea.
In this 100th anniversary year of the Titanic, the recent Costa Concordia disaster illustrates that despite the many improvements in maritime safety in the intervening century, avoidable deaths continue to haunt us. In such situations, the speed of the rescue process has proven to be a key determinant of survivability, but this is hampered by a total lack of information about passenger and crew locations, necessitating a slow and painstaking room by room search of the vessel.
With this in mind, Cambridge based Voyage Manager and Omnisense have teamed up to develop the world's most advanced system for locating passengers and crew in real time, aimed at improving response times in the case of an emergency and reducing the chance of fatalities.
The system delivers an easy to use, easy to manage method for tracking the location of people as they move about a ship, one which places no additional demands on its users. This is essential as it's by achieving near-100% usage rates that the value of the system will be maximised in the case of an incident.
“The technology developed through this partnership will not only benefit passenger ships, but also cargo and production vessels, as well as on-shore and off-shore oil installations“ says John Scott, CEO of Voyage Manager.
“Our systems for sensing position and behaviour are uniquely flexible and easy to deploy, providing added assurance in the ability to account for everyone on board in the case of an incident. We are delighted to be working with Voyage Manager. ” says Andy Thurman, CEO of Omnisense.
Voyage Manager is a Cambridge, UK based travel technology company specializing in automated travel tracking and monitoring solutions.
The Voyage Manager travel tracking solution is a suite of online services that provides businesses with a flexible, easy to use and cost efficient platform for managing and monitoring employee travel. These services are completely automated and accessible from any location by web, SMS and mobile phone.
In this 100th anniversary year of the Titanic, the recent Costa Concordia disaster illustrates that despite the many improvements in maritime safety in the intervening century, avoidable deaths continue to haunt us. In such situations, the speed of the rescue process has proven to be a key determinant of survivability, but this is hampered by a total lack of information about passenger and crew locations, necessitating a slow and painstaking room by room search of the vessel.
With this in mind, Cambridge based Voyage Manager and Omnisense have teamed up to develop the world's most advanced system for locating passengers and crew in real time, aimed at improving response times in the case of an emergency and reducing the chance of fatalities.
The system delivers an easy to use, easy to manage method for tracking the location of people as they move about a ship, one which places no additional demands on its users. This is essential as it's by achieving near-100% usage rates that the value of the system will be maximised in the case of an incident.
“The technology developed through this partnership will not only benefit passenger ships, but also cargo and production vessels, as well as on-shore and off-shore oil installations“ says John Scott, CEO of Voyage Manager.
“Our systems for sensing position and behaviour are uniquely flexible and easy to deploy, providing added assurance in the ability to account for everyone on board in the case of an incident. We are delighted to be working with Voyage Manager. ” says Andy Thurman, CEO of Omnisense.
Voyage Manager is a Cambridge, UK based travel technology company specializing in automated travel tracking and monitoring solutions.
The Voyage Manager travel tracking solution is a suite of online services that provides businesses with a flexible, easy to use and cost efficient platform for managing and monitoring employee travel. These services are completely automated and accessible from any location by web, SMS and mobile phone.
2012年4月15日星期日
Fans concerned about weather, not Red-White Game cancellation
On a Saturday when weather conditions were ripe for disaster, football wasn't the priority for Husker fans.
With most of eastern Nebraska anticipating severe weather and a likely tornado outbreak, NU officials canceled Saturday's annual Red-White Spring Game.
Minutes after the scheduled 1 p.m. kickoff time, Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne announced the decision on HuskerVision screens, noting that the game would be played Sunday if conditions improve.
A little more than an hour later, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini took to the microphone to announce that the game will be canceled.
"I don't think that's going to work out," Pelini said of a Sunday scrimmage. "When we met with the team, there's a lot of issues that go with playing (Sunday). When you talk about family issues ... I had a show of hands of guys who had a problem with tomorrow — you have projects, academic things, a banquet coming up — it's not going to work."
Fans, initially, weren't too beat up about the decision.
Conditions had been deteriorating since morning, with rain and hail having already moved into the area. Tornadoes, they said, weren't to be taken lightly.
"I think it's a good idea, given the risk," said Justin Kallhoff of Lincoln. "We'll find something to do indoors."
"Golf's not an option," laughed Jeff Georgeson, also of Lincoln. "We'll just go drink some more."
Sen. Bill Avery said he and his wife, Ann, were almost to their indoor seats at Memorial Stadium when they found out about the cancellation.
Fans were restricted to the stadium's concourse before the scheduled kickoff, and the stands remained empty for the most part, arousing speculation.
Avery applauded the decision to cancel the game Saturday.
"They made the right decision because the forecast is for more bad weather this afternoon," he said. "Tornadoes are not something you want to mess with."
Donning ponchos and raincoats, and hoisting umbrellas, thousands filed out of Memorial Stadium in the immediate aftermath of the announcement, racing to the parking lots.
One thing was immediately clear Saturday: nobody was surprised. Fans were constantly briefing each other on the latest conditions, and once the announcement was made, word spread almost immediately.
Scott Auxier of York was walking toward the stadium when he found out the news. He said he'd been tracking the weather Saturday, and that an early-afternoon lull in the storm should have allowed the Huskers to play.
But like thousands of other dedicated fans, Auxier thought he'd be making a second trip.
"I still have the tickets," he said, before the cancellation announcement was made. "I'll be back."
With most of eastern Nebraska anticipating severe weather and a likely tornado outbreak, NU officials canceled Saturday's annual Red-White Spring Game.
Minutes after the scheduled 1 p.m. kickoff time, Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne announced the decision on HuskerVision screens, noting that the game would be played Sunday if conditions improve.
A little more than an hour later, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini took to the microphone to announce that the game will be canceled.
"I don't think that's going to work out," Pelini said of a Sunday scrimmage. "When we met with the team, there's a lot of issues that go with playing (Sunday). When you talk about family issues ... I had a show of hands of guys who had a problem with tomorrow — you have projects, academic things, a banquet coming up — it's not going to work."
Fans, initially, weren't too beat up about the decision.
Conditions had been deteriorating since morning, with rain and hail having already moved into the area. Tornadoes, they said, weren't to be taken lightly.
"I think it's a good idea, given the risk," said Justin Kallhoff of Lincoln. "We'll find something to do indoors."
"Golf's not an option," laughed Jeff Georgeson, also of Lincoln. "We'll just go drink some more."
Sen. Bill Avery said he and his wife, Ann, were almost to their indoor seats at Memorial Stadium when they found out about the cancellation.
Fans were restricted to the stadium's concourse before the scheduled kickoff, and the stands remained empty for the most part, arousing speculation.
Avery applauded the decision to cancel the game Saturday.
"They made the right decision because the forecast is for more bad weather this afternoon," he said. "Tornadoes are not something you want to mess with."
Donning ponchos and raincoats, and hoisting umbrellas, thousands filed out of Memorial Stadium in the immediate aftermath of the announcement, racing to the parking lots.
One thing was immediately clear Saturday: nobody was surprised. Fans were constantly briefing each other on the latest conditions, and once the announcement was made, word spread almost immediately.
Scott Auxier of York was walking toward the stadium when he found out the news. He said he'd been tracking the weather Saturday, and that an early-afternoon lull in the storm should have allowed the Huskers to play.
But like thousands of other dedicated fans, Auxier thought he'd be making a second trip.
"I still have the tickets," he said, before the cancellation announcement was made. "I'll be back."
2012年4月12日星期四
Access and cost revolution sweeping through utilities
On a January evening, Anand is shelling betel nuts by the light of an electric lamp in Halliberu, his village in India's Karnataka state.
As his friends gather on the lamp-lit porch to swap stories, children play in the yard. Inside, after decades of cooking in the dark, Anand's mother prepares the evening meal while a visiting neighbor weaves garlands of flowers.
In October, Bangalore-based Simpa Networks Inc. installed a solar panel on Anand's whitewashed adobe house along with a small metal box in his living room to monitor electricity usage. The 25-year-old rice farmer, who goes by one name, purchases energy credits to unlock the system via his mobile phone on a pay-as-you-go model.
When his balance runs low, Anand pays 50 rupees ($1) -- money he would have otherwise spent on kerosene. Then he receives a text message with a code to punch into the box, giving him about another week of electric light. When he pays off the full cost of the system in about three years, it will be unlocked and he will get free power.
Before the solar panel arrived, Anand lit his home with kerosene lamps that streaked the walls with smoke and barely penetrated the darkness of the village, which lacks electrification. Twice a week, he trudged 45 minutes to a nearby town just to charge his phone.
“Things are much easier now,” Anand says, describing how he used to go through 5 liters (1 gallon) of fuel a month, almost half of it bought from the black market at four times the price of government kerosene rations. “There was never enough.”
Anand is on the crest of an electricity revolution that's sweeping through power markets and threatening traditional utilities' dominance of the world's supply.
From the poorest parts of Africa and Asia to the most- developed regions in the U.S. and Europe, solar units such as Anand's and small-scale wind and biomass generators promise to extend access to power to more people than ever before. In the developing world, they're slashing costs in the process.
Across India and Africa, startups and mobile phone companies are developing so-called microgrids, in which stand-alone generators power clusters of homes and businesses in places where electric utilities have never operated.
In Europe, cooperatives are building their own generators and selling power back to the national or regional grid while information technology developers and phone companies are helping consumers reduce their power consumption and pay less for the electricity they do use.
The revolution is just beginning, says Jeremy Rifkin, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Third Industrial Revolution (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Disruptive to the economic status quo, the transformation opens up huge opportunities to consumers who may find themselves trading power in the future much as they swap information over the Internet today, he says. “This is power to the people,” says Rifkin, who was once best known as a leading opponent of the Vietnam War.
India has 30 gigawatts of mainly diesel generators that could be replaced by cheaper solar power tomorrow, says Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Within a decade, installing photovoltaic panels may be cheaper for many families than buying power from national grids in much of the world, including the U.S., Japan, Brazil and the U.K., according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The ultimate losers in this shifting balance of power may be established utilities. They've invested billions of dollars in centralized networks that are slowly being edged out of markets they've dominated.
As it is, with big utilities also generating more and more power with alternative fuels, renewables provided 20 percent of the European Union's power in 2010, up from 14 percent five years earlier, according to the Paris-based Renewable Energy Observatory. The EU aims to raise that share to about 34 percent by 2020.
European utility stocks are already suffering as entrants using new technologies pour in to meet demand. The Bloomberg European Utilities Index touched a seven-year low in September, and German power futures contracts were in the doldrums as of March 12.
In many underdeveloped regions, it hasn't made economic sense for utilities to build the capital-intensive infrastructure required to deliver energy from traditional sources.
As his friends gather on the lamp-lit porch to swap stories, children play in the yard. Inside, after decades of cooking in the dark, Anand's mother prepares the evening meal while a visiting neighbor weaves garlands of flowers.
In October, Bangalore-based Simpa Networks Inc. installed a solar panel on Anand's whitewashed adobe house along with a small metal box in his living room to monitor electricity usage. The 25-year-old rice farmer, who goes by one name, purchases energy credits to unlock the system via his mobile phone on a pay-as-you-go model.
When his balance runs low, Anand pays 50 rupees ($1) -- money he would have otherwise spent on kerosene. Then he receives a text message with a code to punch into the box, giving him about another week of electric light. When he pays off the full cost of the system in about three years, it will be unlocked and he will get free power.
Before the solar panel arrived, Anand lit his home with kerosene lamps that streaked the walls with smoke and barely penetrated the darkness of the village, which lacks electrification. Twice a week, he trudged 45 minutes to a nearby town just to charge his phone.
“Things are much easier now,” Anand says, describing how he used to go through 5 liters (1 gallon) of fuel a month, almost half of it bought from the black market at four times the price of government kerosene rations. “There was never enough.”
Anand is on the crest of an electricity revolution that's sweeping through power markets and threatening traditional utilities' dominance of the world's supply.
From the poorest parts of Africa and Asia to the most- developed regions in the U.S. and Europe, solar units such as Anand's and small-scale wind and biomass generators promise to extend access to power to more people than ever before. In the developing world, they're slashing costs in the process.
Across India and Africa, startups and mobile phone companies are developing so-called microgrids, in which stand-alone generators power clusters of homes and businesses in places where electric utilities have never operated.
In Europe, cooperatives are building their own generators and selling power back to the national or regional grid while information technology developers and phone companies are helping consumers reduce their power consumption and pay less for the electricity they do use.
The revolution is just beginning, says Jeremy Rifkin, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Third Industrial Revolution (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Disruptive to the economic status quo, the transformation opens up huge opportunities to consumers who may find themselves trading power in the future much as they swap information over the Internet today, he says. “This is power to the people,” says Rifkin, who was once best known as a leading opponent of the Vietnam War.
India has 30 gigawatts of mainly diesel generators that could be replaced by cheaper solar power tomorrow, says Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Within a decade, installing photovoltaic panels may be cheaper for many families than buying power from national grids in much of the world, including the U.S., Japan, Brazil and the U.K., according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The ultimate losers in this shifting balance of power may be established utilities. They've invested billions of dollars in centralized networks that are slowly being edged out of markets they've dominated.
As it is, with big utilities also generating more and more power with alternative fuels, renewables provided 20 percent of the European Union's power in 2010, up from 14 percent five years earlier, according to the Paris-based Renewable Energy Observatory. The EU aims to raise that share to about 34 percent by 2020.
European utility stocks are already suffering as entrants using new technologies pour in to meet demand. The Bloomberg European Utilities Index touched a seven-year low in September, and German power futures contracts were in the doldrums as of March 12.
In many underdeveloped regions, it hasn't made economic sense for utilities to build the capital-intensive infrastructure required to deliver energy from traditional sources.
2012年4月11日星期三
6 Glasses With Integrated Displays That You Can Buy Today
While Google’s augmented-reality glasses are receiving immense attention — and scrutiny — they’re certainly not the first pieces of eyewear to include an integrated display.
A company called Vuzix released its first pair of augmented-reality glasses, the iWear VR920, in 2009. The glasses contain two LCD displays that mimic a 62-inch screen sitting nine feet away. An add-on camera routes real-time footage of the real world to the LCDs, overlaying augmented-reality elements powered by LinceoVR software.
The Vuzix glasses were perhaps the first low-cost integrated-display glasses on the market that didn’t outright suck. Nonetheless, that distinction hasn’t translated into mass-market appeal and sales.
The same can be said for the Sony Glasstron personal video headset that was released in 1997. And even the 3-D monochromatic Virtual Boy with its powerhouse Nintendo pedigree couldn’t entice gamers to shove over-sized glasses onto their faces for a more immersive experience.
But none of these stumbles have stopped companies from dipping their toes into the dubious waters of integrated-display eyewear. From augmented-reality glasses to headsets that render movies and games, you can actually purchase a number of integrated-display products — right now, today.
So, while Google leaves us hanging with very little actual information about Project Glass, the following headsets are doing their best to entice us into a world of integrated-display eyewear.
Recon has been in the head-up display (HUD) game since 2010. The company’s first product, the Transcend, was a partnership with Zeal Optics to bring a HUD to the eyes of skiers and snowboarders. The HUD goggles use a rider’s GPS location to display elevation, speed, and time of day in a small screen that sits at the bottom-right of the user’s field of vision — and it’s all in real time. All the cumulative data from a day on the slopes can be downloaded to a computer, and the GPS information can be associated with interactive maps so users can chart their speeds against location.
Recon’s current MOD ($300) and MOD Live ($400) products augment the original Transcend goggles with features that include jump analytics, buddy tracking, music playback, navigation, and smartphone connectivity. The goggles won’t tell you that the subway is running late, but Android connectivity will alert you when you have an incoming call or text.
Of course, you might want to wait until you’ve reached the bottom of that double black diamond before responding.
Project Glass has been a pet project of Google for two years. Meanwhile, Vuzix’s Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses are the company’s third generation of AR headsets — and, at $5,000, they suggest just how difficult augmented reality is to pull off. Starting with the previously mentioned iWear VR920, Vuzix has continued to bring integrated-display glasses to the market with limited success.
Still, Vuzix was selling display glasses when Google with still trying to convince us that Google Wave was an awesome idea.
The Vuzix Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses display 2-D and 3-D visuals on transparent lenses. Two cameras — a lightweight compact camera for general applications, and a 1080p HD camera for applications that require high-definition visuals — record the world at large, and transfer this video to augmented-reality software that identifies objects and environs for interactive use.
But there’s a serious downside to the system: The glasses need to be plugged into a Windows computer or an iPhone in order to work. It’s not the self-contained unit Google is promising, but having an actual product on the market is arguably better than simply sending someone to a party with a possibly working, possibly dummy prototype.
A company called Vuzix released its first pair of augmented-reality glasses, the iWear VR920, in 2009. The glasses contain two LCD displays that mimic a 62-inch screen sitting nine feet away. An add-on camera routes real-time footage of the real world to the LCDs, overlaying augmented-reality elements powered by LinceoVR software.
The Vuzix glasses were perhaps the first low-cost integrated-display glasses on the market that didn’t outright suck. Nonetheless, that distinction hasn’t translated into mass-market appeal and sales.
The same can be said for the Sony Glasstron personal video headset that was released in 1997. And even the 3-D monochromatic Virtual Boy with its powerhouse Nintendo pedigree couldn’t entice gamers to shove over-sized glasses onto their faces for a more immersive experience.
But none of these stumbles have stopped companies from dipping their toes into the dubious waters of integrated-display eyewear. From augmented-reality glasses to headsets that render movies and games, you can actually purchase a number of integrated-display products — right now, today.
So, while Google leaves us hanging with very little actual information about Project Glass, the following headsets are doing their best to entice us into a world of integrated-display eyewear.
Recon has been in the head-up display (HUD) game since 2010. The company’s first product, the Transcend, was a partnership with Zeal Optics to bring a HUD to the eyes of skiers and snowboarders. The HUD goggles use a rider’s GPS location to display elevation, speed, and time of day in a small screen that sits at the bottom-right of the user’s field of vision — and it’s all in real time. All the cumulative data from a day on the slopes can be downloaded to a computer, and the GPS information can be associated with interactive maps so users can chart their speeds against location.
Recon’s current MOD ($300) and MOD Live ($400) products augment the original Transcend goggles with features that include jump analytics, buddy tracking, music playback, navigation, and smartphone connectivity. The goggles won’t tell you that the subway is running late, but Android connectivity will alert you when you have an incoming call or text.
Of course, you might want to wait until you’ve reached the bottom of that double black diamond before responding.
Project Glass has been a pet project of Google for two years. Meanwhile, Vuzix’s Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses are the company’s third generation of AR headsets — and, at $5,000, they suggest just how difficult augmented reality is to pull off. Starting with the previously mentioned iWear VR920, Vuzix has continued to bring integrated-display glasses to the market with limited success.
Still, Vuzix was selling display glasses when Google with still trying to convince us that Google Wave was an awesome idea.
The Vuzix Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses display 2-D and 3-D visuals on transparent lenses. Two cameras — a lightweight compact camera for general applications, and a 1080p HD camera for applications that require high-definition visuals — record the world at large, and transfer this video to augmented-reality software that identifies objects and environs for interactive use.
But there’s a serious downside to the system: The glasses need to be plugged into a Windows computer or an iPhone in order to work. It’s not the self-contained unit Google is promising, but having an actual product on the market is arguably better than simply sending someone to a party with a possibly working, possibly dummy prototype.
2012年4月10日星期二
Geographic information systems demonstrate links
The neighborhoods in which children and adolescents live and spend their time play a role in whether or not they eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise or become obese, concludes a collection of studies in a special theme issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Each of the six studies uses the latest concepts and methods in geographic information systems (GIS)-based research to determine how the geographic location affects physical health. A study titled “Spatial Classification of Youth Physical Activity Patterns” shows, for example, that while rural youth get the largest proportion of their physical activity while at school, urban and suburban youth are most active when commuting. Not only does this finding suggest that the walk to school might be just as important to some children’s health as is the physical education they receive as part of the school curriculum, it is also important given that adolescent health behaviors are predictive of behaviors in adults.
Another study by researchers in the United Kingdom concludes that adolescents in rural areas ate fast food more often when fast-food outlets were easily accessible, whereas the opposite was true for adolescents living in urban areas. The researchers, led by Lorna J. Fraser of the University of Leeds, conclude that although the need continues to exist for nutritional education regarding fast food, placing restrictions on the location of fast-food outlets may not decrease consumption of fast food in the same ways in all areas.
Brian E. Saelens and Lawrence D. Frank, along with their colleagues, authored two papers for the theme issue. “Obesogenic Neighborhood Environments, Child and Parent Obesity: The Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study” evaluated child and parent weight status across neighborhoods in Seattle and San Diego and ultimately found evidence that GIS-based definitions of obesogenic neighborhoods that consider both physical activity and the availability of healthy food options were strongly related to childhood obesity.
In a second study, the researchers used GIS-based measures to determine the ‘walkability’ and proximity to healthy food of certain neighborhoods in the San Diego and Seattle regions. The study recommends that such measures be used to study physical activity, nutrition and obesity outcomes.
In a paper titled “Obesogenic Environments in Youth: Concepts and Methods from a Longitudinal National Sample,” Janne Boone-Heinonen and colleagues describe the challenges inherent to longitudinal neighborhood environment research, as well as the insights they gained and the advances and remaining gaps in study design. The researchers note that understanding which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups is essential to effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
Two commentaries included in the theme issue examine the ways that computer-based GIS systems—which transform geospatial data into visual representations of the real world—can help prevent childhood obesity. “Thinking About Place, Spatial Behavior, and Spatial Process in Childhood Obesity” by Stephen A. Matthews, outlines the content of the theme, concluding that although GIS is not a panacea, it “offers an important means of better understanding and dealing with some of the most pressing problems of our time, and provides valuable tools for researchers and policymakers alike.”
Each of the six studies uses the latest concepts and methods in geographic information systems (GIS)-based research to determine how the geographic location affects physical health. A study titled “Spatial Classification of Youth Physical Activity Patterns” shows, for example, that while rural youth get the largest proportion of their physical activity while at school, urban and suburban youth are most active when commuting. Not only does this finding suggest that the walk to school might be just as important to some children’s health as is the physical education they receive as part of the school curriculum, it is also important given that adolescent health behaviors are predictive of behaviors in adults.
Another study by researchers in the United Kingdom concludes that adolescents in rural areas ate fast food more often when fast-food outlets were easily accessible, whereas the opposite was true for adolescents living in urban areas. The researchers, led by Lorna J. Fraser of the University of Leeds, conclude that although the need continues to exist for nutritional education regarding fast food, placing restrictions on the location of fast-food outlets may not decrease consumption of fast food in the same ways in all areas.
Brian E. Saelens and Lawrence D. Frank, along with their colleagues, authored two papers for the theme issue. “Obesogenic Neighborhood Environments, Child and Parent Obesity: The Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study” evaluated child and parent weight status across neighborhoods in Seattle and San Diego and ultimately found evidence that GIS-based definitions of obesogenic neighborhoods that consider both physical activity and the availability of healthy food options were strongly related to childhood obesity.
In a second study, the researchers used GIS-based measures to determine the ‘walkability’ and proximity to healthy food of certain neighborhoods in the San Diego and Seattle regions. The study recommends that such measures be used to study physical activity, nutrition and obesity outcomes.
In a paper titled “Obesogenic Environments in Youth: Concepts and Methods from a Longitudinal National Sample,” Janne Boone-Heinonen and colleagues describe the challenges inherent to longitudinal neighborhood environment research, as well as the insights they gained and the advances and remaining gaps in study design. The researchers note that understanding which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups is essential to effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
Two commentaries included in the theme issue examine the ways that computer-based GIS systems—which transform geospatial data into visual representations of the real world—can help prevent childhood obesity. “Thinking About Place, Spatial Behavior, and Spatial Process in Childhood Obesity” by Stephen A. Matthews, outlines the content of the theme, concluding that although GIS is not a panacea, it “offers an important means of better understanding and dealing with some of the most pressing problems of our time, and provides valuable tools for researchers and policymakers alike.”
2012年4月9日星期一
They're Lazy. Here's How to Fix Mobile Privacy
Beware the evil zombies! Location-based apps are grinding the bones of your privacy and sucking the marrow of your personal data! Certainly that’s what you might think if you’ve been following the flap about Girls Around Me. You know, the “creepy” stalker app for rapists in shopping malls?
This is all overstated, of course, but the hyperbole points to the very real vulnerabilities that some users feel about how much of their personal information they are transmitting in public and with what consequences. Some intrepid users, like our own Kashmir Hill, are more interested in how to transmit in public than in limiting their visibility. As Josh Constine wrote yesterday on TechCrunch, whipping up paranoia about privacy fears deters users from the actual, useful innovations that location-based apps can provide.
It’s beholden on the app maker to convince us of that utility, but, like it or not, some app you use on a daily basis has, or will soon have, a location-based execution. Facebook and Foursquare, sure, their public data was the basis of Girls Around Me. But they have been joined by AroundMe, Yelp, Banjo and a host of others.
The secret to the adoption of location-based or ubiquitous apps is what Scott Jenson has identified as the value vs. pain equation. Apps need to demonstrate their usefulness and minimize the pain, not only of using the app, but of worrying about it’s privacy implications.
We judge apps by the number of downloads and, eventually, by the number of active users. The more useful metric, perhaps, is the number of active users per download. That would tell us how well the app is communicating its value proposition and how positive that value/pain ratio turns out to be. Location-based apps are not really evil, for the most part, but in the attempt to be fast and painless they have been lazy about making sure users know what they are exposing and when. it’s just easier to expose everything, all the time, and not have to futz with different scenarios.
But what am I suggesting, that responsible app makers be penalized for being responsible to their users? No, of course not. I’ve talked to enough first-rate mobile developers to realize that speed is the lifeblood of mobile.
What I want to propose (and I realize this is a tall order comparable with my request to the digital universe for unstrippable content attribution tags) is a dead simple, device level function for managing private data on devices. In order not to put app makers at a disadvantage for incorporating this functionality into their app in a one-off way, what I imagine is a universal standard that would operate on all platforms and be interoperable with any app on those platforms.
The goal is for users to be aware and in control of their mobile data in real time. These setting should be able to be applied app-by-app or globally at any time. Think of something as simple as a traffic light.
This is all overstated, of course, but the hyperbole points to the very real vulnerabilities that some users feel about how much of their personal information they are transmitting in public and with what consequences. Some intrepid users, like our own Kashmir Hill, are more interested in how to transmit in public than in limiting their visibility. As Josh Constine wrote yesterday on TechCrunch, whipping up paranoia about privacy fears deters users from the actual, useful innovations that location-based apps can provide.
It’s beholden on the app maker to convince us of that utility, but, like it or not, some app you use on a daily basis has, or will soon have, a location-based execution. Facebook and Foursquare, sure, their public data was the basis of Girls Around Me. But they have been joined by AroundMe, Yelp, Banjo and a host of others.
The secret to the adoption of location-based or ubiquitous apps is what Scott Jenson has identified as the value vs. pain equation. Apps need to demonstrate their usefulness and minimize the pain, not only of using the app, but of worrying about it’s privacy implications.
We judge apps by the number of downloads and, eventually, by the number of active users. The more useful metric, perhaps, is the number of active users per download. That would tell us how well the app is communicating its value proposition and how positive that value/pain ratio turns out to be. Location-based apps are not really evil, for the most part, but in the attempt to be fast and painless they have been lazy about making sure users know what they are exposing and when. it’s just easier to expose everything, all the time, and not have to futz with different scenarios.
But what am I suggesting, that responsible app makers be penalized for being responsible to their users? No, of course not. I’ve talked to enough first-rate mobile developers to realize that speed is the lifeblood of mobile.
What I want to propose (and I realize this is a tall order comparable with my request to the digital universe for unstrippable content attribution tags) is a dead simple, device level function for managing private data on devices. In order not to put app makers at a disadvantage for incorporating this functionality into their app in a one-off way, what I imagine is a universal standard that would operate on all platforms and be interoperable with any app on those platforms.
The goal is for users to be aware and in control of their mobile data in real time. These setting should be able to be applied app-by-app or globally at any time. Think of something as simple as a traffic light.
2012年4月8日星期日
Time To Augment It
I spend a good portion of my day thinking, researching, and analyzing our industry, our world, consumer habits, and the technology products that enhance and cause fundamental change within it. My job is quite literally to see where the puck is going and get there first. My goal is to gain insight into the direction before the shot is hit, before the trajectory is set, and if possible, before the puck is even dropped into play.
Over the past months I’ve been mentally mulling over the profundity of Real Estate. Throughout history, real estate has been the most coveted, fought-over, and valuable resource to humanity. Entire civilizations were created, and wiped out, on their level of success in securing it and the access it provided for their people. In the modern age, this has meant the creation of vast amounts of wealth for those who control and monetize it according to their needs, for both countries and individuals alike.
In our lifetime we’ve had the spectacular fortune of playing a part in the creation of an entirely new dimension of real estate – the World Wide Web. Like it’s analog counterpart, those who are able to amass surface area and provide enough value to users are rewarded with tremendous wealth. As I look ahead with the eyes of an investor, I ask myself what is the next dimension of real estate and how can it be most opportunistically exploited?
The rapid advancement of mobile technologies over the past ten years has created a paradigm shift in user behavior, and thus consumer technology products. “Mobile First” is the strategy of the day, and the inclusion of location-aware data layers is the new fabric of real estate – one that blends physical and digital – resulting in a final product that is much greater than the sum of its parts.
We’re at the very beginning, the opportunity is fast upon us to create and own this new Augmented Real Estate, where digital landmarks exist in our physical world. There are a number of companies approaching the landscape with different perspectives, here are a few:
Companies like Goldrun and Ogmento create branded augmented reality experiences in our physical world. They’re focusing on enabling brands and media companies to reach their potential customers in a rich, more engaging way. They turn the mobile device into the viewing portal to see unique experiences. Leveraging location data, Goldrun is most famous for it’s 24-hour augmented reality pop-up stores for Airwalk that appeared in Washington Square Park and Venice Beach. Here, users could purchase limited edition shoes only available in these “invisible” AR stores. Ogmento is focused on enriching experiences with media content and most famously released an AR app that coincided with the launch of the Paranormal Activity film in 2010. This location-based mobile game turns the real world into the set for supernatural conflicts, where the user battles “demonic forces” interacting in the areas surrounding the user.
While these campaigns are lighthouse examples of the creation of new Augmented Real Estate, it’s clear that they are high-touch engagements with the brands. While they’re clearly leveraging strong technology, they may want to consider how to more productize their offering to enable AR across a mass of mobile application developers in a more self-serve model.
Over the past months I’ve been mentally mulling over the profundity of Real Estate. Throughout history, real estate has been the most coveted, fought-over, and valuable resource to humanity. Entire civilizations were created, and wiped out, on their level of success in securing it and the access it provided for their people. In the modern age, this has meant the creation of vast amounts of wealth for those who control and monetize it according to their needs, for both countries and individuals alike.
In our lifetime we’ve had the spectacular fortune of playing a part in the creation of an entirely new dimension of real estate – the World Wide Web. Like it’s analog counterpart, those who are able to amass surface area and provide enough value to users are rewarded with tremendous wealth. As I look ahead with the eyes of an investor, I ask myself what is the next dimension of real estate and how can it be most opportunistically exploited?
The rapid advancement of mobile technologies over the past ten years has created a paradigm shift in user behavior, and thus consumer technology products. “Mobile First” is the strategy of the day, and the inclusion of location-aware data layers is the new fabric of real estate – one that blends physical and digital – resulting in a final product that is much greater than the sum of its parts.
We’re at the very beginning, the opportunity is fast upon us to create and own this new Augmented Real Estate, where digital landmarks exist in our physical world. There are a number of companies approaching the landscape with different perspectives, here are a few:
Companies like Goldrun and Ogmento create branded augmented reality experiences in our physical world. They’re focusing on enabling brands and media companies to reach their potential customers in a rich, more engaging way. They turn the mobile device into the viewing portal to see unique experiences. Leveraging location data, Goldrun is most famous for it’s 24-hour augmented reality pop-up stores for Airwalk that appeared in Washington Square Park and Venice Beach. Here, users could purchase limited edition shoes only available in these “invisible” AR stores. Ogmento is focused on enriching experiences with media content and most famously released an AR app that coincided with the launch of the Paranormal Activity film in 2010. This location-based mobile game turns the real world into the set for supernatural conflicts, where the user battles “demonic forces” interacting in the areas surrounding the user.
While these campaigns are lighthouse examples of the creation of new Augmented Real Estate, it’s clear that they are high-touch engagements with the brands. While they’re clearly leveraging strong technology, they may want to consider how to more productize their offering to enable AR across a mass of mobile application developers in a more self-serve model.
2012年4月5日星期四
Train tracking system on trial to check mishaps
According to a Railway Board official, the GPS device which will cost about Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh each would be fitted in about 100 trains on a trial basis. The greatest advantage of the device would be prevention of any collision or mishaps on tracks as it would give details about train movement to the nearest railway control room, he said, adding the railways intends to implement it successfully by 2013 end across the country.
Under the new system, passengers can easily know exact location of trains as the CRIS is working to integrate the GPS application with Google maps. Besides, ISRO's INSAT-3C satellite would also provide assistance in locating train position, a Board official said, adding success of the GPS-based system could also help the railways in running high speed trains.
According to sources, the railways had earlier introduced the 'real train information system' ( RTIS) in the first phase. It was based on the satellite imaging for rail navigation. However, it proved that information being transmitted under this system about train movement was not correct, sources said.
Thus, the railways has decided to launch the new system to fulfill the needs of passengers across the country. "Much would depend on the success and efficacy of the new device which is being taken up under a pilot project of the railways," a Board official said, adding the new system is completely based on ultra high frequency (UHF) communication system.
According to sources, the Indian Army, has of late, shifted to this device to keep a close vigil on the Navy warship and Coast Guard vessels in the country to get accurate information about movement of ships in the sea. Besides, the new system has been adopted in other wings of the Army to assist Navy's submarines, torpedoes, ground-based vehicles, ships and aircraft under any emergency, sources said.
According to East Central Railway (ECR) CPRO Neeraj Ambastha, the new technology would prove to be a boon for the railways during foggy weather condition. The Delhi-Patna-Howrah mainline route is the most vulnerable during winter as visibility becomes zero due to dense fog. Besides, passengers would get the exact information about train movement, particularly long-distance mail and express trains, during foggy weather condition, he said.
Under the new system, passengers can easily know exact location of trains as the CRIS is working to integrate the GPS application with Google maps. Besides, ISRO's INSAT-3C satellite would also provide assistance in locating train position, a Board official said, adding success of the GPS-based system could also help the railways in running high speed trains.
According to sources, the railways had earlier introduced the 'real train information system' ( RTIS) in the first phase. It was based on the satellite imaging for rail navigation. However, it proved that information being transmitted under this system about train movement was not correct, sources said.
Thus, the railways has decided to launch the new system to fulfill the needs of passengers across the country. "Much would depend on the success and efficacy of the new device which is being taken up under a pilot project of the railways," a Board official said, adding the new system is completely based on ultra high frequency (UHF) communication system.
According to sources, the Indian Army, has of late, shifted to this device to keep a close vigil on the Navy warship and Coast Guard vessels in the country to get accurate information about movement of ships in the sea. Besides, the new system has been adopted in other wings of the Army to assist Navy's submarines, torpedoes, ground-based vehicles, ships and aircraft under any emergency, sources said.
According to East Central Railway (ECR) CPRO Neeraj Ambastha, the new technology would prove to be a boon for the railways during foggy weather condition. The Delhi-Patna-Howrah mainline route is the most vulnerable during winter as visibility becomes zero due to dense fog. Besides, passengers would get the exact information about train movement, particularly long-distance mail and express trains, during foggy weather condition, he said.
2012年4月4日星期三
Governor Quinn announces new employment system
In his latest effort to boost the Illinois economy, Governor Pat Quinn today announced a new “help-wanted” system that connects job-seekers with jobs and makes hiring easier and more cost-effective for businesses. Illinois JobLink, developed by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), allows businesses to post job ads and individuals to post multiple resumes for free. Currently, there are nearly 92,000 total statewide job postings and more than 51,000 resumes posted on the system.
“We can increase economic growth in Illinois by connecting people who are looking for a job with employers who are looking to hire,” Governor Quinn said. “During this difficult economy, Illinois JobLink is helping workers market their job skills and allowing employers to successfully find the help they need at no cost.”
“Hiring is time-consuming and expensive for employers. Illinois JobLink makes hiring easier by allowing employers to focus in like a laser on job seekers that possess the unique skill sets that they need,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said. “It also helps our working families identify what job best fits their needs and puts them in a better position to pitch themselves to multiple employers at one time.”
While the Illinois JobLink service is available to everyone, including those who are currently employed, individuals collecting unemployment insurance are required to participate in Illinois JobLink. It also serves as another tool to connect veterans to jobs when they return home.
"We in the veteran advocacy community are excited by what Illinois Job Link offers to veterans,” Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Erica Borggren said. “Helping employers find veterans is one of the most difficult pieces of the veteran unemployment 'puzzle,' and all job-seeking veterans can benefit from this powerful tool which allows the State's Veteran Employment Representatives to match veterans and employers."
Illinois JobLink replaced the previous Illinois SkillsMatch system and individuals and businesses with SkillsMatch accounts are encouraged to update their profiles, which were automatically transferred to the new system. IDES encourages job-seekers to set their resumes to public to ensure maximum exposure to businesses.
“We can increase economic growth in Illinois by connecting people who are looking for a job with employers who are looking to hire,” Governor Quinn said. “During this difficult economy, Illinois JobLink is helping workers market their job skills and allowing employers to successfully find the help they need at no cost.”
“Hiring is time-consuming and expensive for employers. Illinois JobLink makes hiring easier by allowing employers to focus in like a laser on job seekers that possess the unique skill sets that they need,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said. “It also helps our working families identify what job best fits their needs and puts them in a better position to pitch themselves to multiple employers at one time.”
While the Illinois JobLink service is available to everyone, including those who are currently employed, individuals collecting unemployment insurance are required to participate in Illinois JobLink. It also serves as another tool to connect veterans to jobs when they return home.
"We in the veteran advocacy community are excited by what Illinois Job Link offers to veterans,” Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Erica Borggren said. “Helping employers find veterans is one of the most difficult pieces of the veteran unemployment 'puzzle,' and all job-seeking veterans can benefit from this powerful tool which allows the State's Veteran Employment Representatives to match veterans and employers."
Illinois JobLink replaced the previous Illinois SkillsMatch system and individuals and businesses with SkillsMatch accounts are encouraged to update their profiles, which were automatically transferred to the new system. IDES encourages job-seekers to set their resumes to public to ensure maximum exposure to businesses.
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