From his perch on top of his father’s house in Breezy Point, N.Y., Ken Court can see an array of health disasters in the making.
“There are asbestos roofs that have collapsed near the ocean,” says Court, a 52-year-old roofer. “There is a lot of dust. You see people walking around with masks on. You use the hand cleaners all day long.”
Breezy Point sits at the tip of the peninsula jutting into the waters south of Brooklyn where Jamaica Bay, New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean come together. Much of the close-knit, blue-collar neighborhood was destroyed when Superstorm Sandy hit three weeks ago – swamped in the storm surge, roofs ripped by flailing winds or burned to the ground in a six-alarm fire that took out block after block of homes.
Now it’s one of the last places left without power or clean water, with no ETA on when either will be restored. And as Court works day in and day out to clean up the mess, he sees long-term trouble wherever he looks.
"You should really wear masks. I remember that everyone in 9/11, when they went there to help, they got sick,” Court told NBCNews in a telephone interview.
Asbestos and other chemicals from the collapsed World Trade Centers created a pall of dust that persisted in lower Manhattan for months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Firefighters, police and other rescue workers are eligible for federal compensation for the illnesses they have developed since the cleanup – most recently 50 different types of cancer.
People who were in the area have higher death rates in general than similar populations, and were especially likely to develop respiratory diseases and asthma. Asbestos can cause a rare type of lung cancer called mesothelioma.
While the dust caused by the Sandy cleanup isn’t nearly as bad, Court isn't taking chances. Asbestos is only a problem if it is kicked up in dust and breathed in – but he’s seeing plenty of dust being generated as wrecking crews pile up and remove the debris. "Those corrugated roofs on the houses down by the ocean – they’re all asbestos,” he said.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene advises on its website that "While Sandy has not caused problems with outdoor air quality, indoor dust, mold, fumes from temporary heating sources and the use of strong cleaning products can be irritating to the eyes, throat, and lungs. Dust can also be produced by repair and debris removal. In addition, debris removal and repair work can lead to injuries of various types.”
What concerns Court most, however, is mold. His 79-year-old father, Rod, has emphysema and needs supplemental oxygen. “We got a foot of water up into the first floor. We are just ripping everything out and starting fresh,” said Court, who grew up in Breezy Point and who now lives in Port Jefferson Station on Long Island.
“Right now I have men ripping out the tile. We can’t take a chance with mold with my dad,” Court added. “Now that we took up the tile floor, it’s all wet under there and it’s black.”
Health officials say Court’s doing the right thing. Anything that might turn moldy should be removed or cleaned with a bleach solution. Mold spores can cause allergic reactions or asthma in people who are sensitive to them.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has done many studies on the health dangers that linger after hurricanes, but the CDC's parent agency, the Health and Human Services Department, is not making federal officials available to talk about Sandy's aftermath.
Despite the flooding that swamped water treatment plants, poured into subway tunnels and flushed raw sewage into rivers, most of New York City’s tapwater supply remained clean. But Breezy Point’s water pipes were damaged so badly that the water still isn’t safe to drink, according to local authorities.
“Breezy Point Cooperative is in the process of re-establishing its internal drinking water system and the City will meet with the Breezy Point Cooperative to ensure that it can safely and reliably provide potable water to its residents," the New York health department said in a statement.
“We measure Enterococcus,” he said. It’s found in the guts of warm-blooded animals, including people. “If you find it in the environment, you know it was recently in the body of a warm-blooded animal.” While enterococci are not themselves a big threat to health, if they’re in the water, so are other germs. These include anything that the people and animals in the area contribute to sewage, from hepatitis to parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia lamblia that may cause diarrhea and stomach cramps.
One thing that people may fear is cholera, but cholera isn’t commonly found in New Yorkers, and so it’s very unlikely to be in the sewage or water.
“The most common illness that people get is gastrointestinal problems,” Juhl says. “They get nausea, diarrhea, cramping, skin rashes, eye infections -- that kind of thing.”
You don’t have to drink the water to get ill – people who touch the water can touch their eyes, mouths and noses and become infected. Juhl’s team sampled flooded basements in Queens and found the water was teeming with bacteria commonly found in sewage. They also found germs all over dried-out storm debris.
2012年11月25日星期日
2012年11月20日星期二
The right visit at the right time
Critics in the United States and around the world offered plenty of reasons why President Barack Obama shouldn't have gone to Myanmar on Monday.
Some called the visit premature, saying the country's military junta has yet to atone for decades of human rights atrocities. Others worried it will be counterproductive, leaving the relatively new, nominally civilian government feeling complacent as political prisoners remain locked up. Ethnic and religious violence continues to make headlines and worry the global community.
Instead of listening to the naysayers, Mr Obama seized a historic opportunity in Myanmar and history may bear him out. "This is not an endorsement of the Burmese government," he told reporters in Thailand. "This is an acknowledgment that there is a process under way inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."
Mr Obama visited a country at a crossroads, poised for a huge transition into what some consider the next Asian economic frontier. After five decades of military rule and international pariah status, Myanmar shows signs of becoming a politically open society and an emergent economic powerhouse, with major corporations and investors looking to capitalise on the expected boom.
Many business leaders who travel there see Myanmar, a nation of 60 million, as the centre of gravity for the Asian economy in a decade's time, in part because of its strategic location between India and China. No country is better physically situated to capitalise on its vast wealth of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, timber, tin, fisheries, and the potential to again become one of the world's top rice exporters.
Others see Mr Obama's visit in highly politicised terms, as another move in the pivot toward Asia and a strategy designed to check an increasingly assertive China and its sway over Myanmar as the latter seeks new openings to the West.
The first visit by a sitting American President - and the country's "first Pacific President", as he calls himself - is a clear signal of US engagement and encouragement for democratic advances. In Yangon, Mr Obama met two of the dominant players in Myanmar's democratic changes - reformist President Thein Sein, who took office last year, and pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose release from house arrest and election to Parliament is a highly visible symbol of the growing openness.
Myanmar's steady movement toward political and economic change comes without Arab-Spring like street protests and desperate social media posts. The government faced no urgent domestic or international crises to prompt real change.
Yet Myanmar's ruling generals have long known that for the country to develop economically, it needs to become more outward-reaching, cut back on its political and economic reliance on China, work to end the punishing economic sanctions imposed by the US and other Western nations, and re-engage its neighbours and the West.
Along with rolling back economic sanctions against Myanmar and offering financial assistance, Mr Obama's visit encourages the progress that has been made to date. But outcomes are uncertain.
In addition to resolving deep-seated ethnic strife between the country's Buddhists and Muslims, easing the desperate poverty of the people, and moving away from its history of political repression, Myanmar will not succeed as an emergent economy if it cannot build an adequate infrastructure to support the living standards and economic security the country aspires to. That includes not just roads, bridges, investment laws, an open media, etc, but individual access to banking, health care and education.
Mr Obama is right: The ongoing reforms could not have been foreseen just a few short years ago, and other nations can play a role in encouraging Myanmar to re-join the global community. The naysayers have legitimate concerns, but at least Mr Obama cannot be accused of letting a historic opportunity go by.
His visit sends a clear message - not just to Myanmar, but to other countries in the world leaning towards greater openness and democracy - that the US will lend its support "if you are willing to unclench your fist".
Some called the visit premature, saying the country's military junta has yet to atone for decades of human rights atrocities. Others worried it will be counterproductive, leaving the relatively new, nominally civilian government feeling complacent as political prisoners remain locked up. Ethnic and religious violence continues to make headlines and worry the global community.
Instead of listening to the naysayers, Mr Obama seized a historic opportunity in Myanmar and history may bear him out. "This is not an endorsement of the Burmese government," he told reporters in Thailand. "This is an acknowledgment that there is a process under way inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."
Mr Obama visited a country at a crossroads, poised for a huge transition into what some consider the next Asian economic frontier. After five decades of military rule and international pariah status, Myanmar shows signs of becoming a politically open society and an emergent economic powerhouse, with major corporations and investors looking to capitalise on the expected boom.
Many business leaders who travel there see Myanmar, a nation of 60 million, as the centre of gravity for the Asian economy in a decade's time, in part because of its strategic location between India and China. No country is better physically situated to capitalise on its vast wealth of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, timber, tin, fisheries, and the potential to again become one of the world's top rice exporters.
Others see Mr Obama's visit in highly politicised terms, as another move in the pivot toward Asia and a strategy designed to check an increasingly assertive China and its sway over Myanmar as the latter seeks new openings to the West.
The first visit by a sitting American President - and the country's "first Pacific President", as he calls himself - is a clear signal of US engagement and encouragement for democratic advances. In Yangon, Mr Obama met two of the dominant players in Myanmar's democratic changes - reformist President Thein Sein, who took office last year, and pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose release from house arrest and election to Parliament is a highly visible symbol of the growing openness.
Myanmar's steady movement toward political and economic change comes without Arab-Spring like street protests and desperate social media posts. The government faced no urgent domestic or international crises to prompt real change.
Yet Myanmar's ruling generals have long known that for the country to develop economically, it needs to become more outward-reaching, cut back on its political and economic reliance on China, work to end the punishing economic sanctions imposed by the US and other Western nations, and re-engage its neighbours and the West.
Along with rolling back economic sanctions against Myanmar and offering financial assistance, Mr Obama's visit encourages the progress that has been made to date. But outcomes are uncertain.
In addition to resolving deep-seated ethnic strife between the country's Buddhists and Muslims, easing the desperate poverty of the people, and moving away from its history of political repression, Myanmar will not succeed as an emergent economy if it cannot build an adequate infrastructure to support the living standards and economic security the country aspires to. That includes not just roads, bridges, investment laws, an open media, etc, but individual access to banking, health care and education.
Mr Obama is right: The ongoing reforms could not have been foreseen just a few short years ago, and other nations can play a role in encouraging Myanmar to re-join the global community. The naysayers have legitimate concerns, but at least Mr Obama cannot be accused of letting a historic opportunity go by.
His visit sends a clear message - not just to Myanmar, but to other countries in the world leaning towards greater openness and democracy - that the US will lend its support "if you are willing to unclench your fist".
2012年11月18日星期日
The Next Generation Of Gaming Begins Now
Innovation is something that is something that is part of the lifeblood of Nintendo. The 123-year-old company has been creating unique products dating back to their time as a playing card company. Over the course of the last century Nintendo has branched out their business in a variety of directions, some more successful than others, but in the early 1980s they finally found one that stuck – video games. The release of the Nintendo Entertainment System quickly established a little known company out of Japan as the biggest name in the industry, and one of the few that has endured as a major player for almost 30 years.
Fast forward to today, where Nintendo is riding the wave of their most successful home gaming console, the Wii, by following it up with something they hope is an even more hit, the Wii U. It's the first video game console to offer a fully integrated second screen gaming experience, as well as Nintendo's first real push to establish an online gaming community for their fans, and they're even making a grab to take over you TV. As the first out of the gate for the next generation of gaming consoles Nintendo is hoping to get a jump on consumers, and take over their living rooms before their competitors even announce what they have next.
The Wii U is an intriguing piece of hardware and it's symbolic of a lot of firsts for Nintendo. It's the first time that a Nintendo console is in HD. It's the first time that a Nintendo system home to an online gaming community. It's the first time that Nintendo will be making full console releases available as digital downloads. Sadly, these are all things that Microsoft and Sony have been doing for years, and, for the most part, doing well. Nintendo's wait and see attitude may have paid off for them as a company, but it may have also lost countless gamers to the competition in the meantime. That's not to say that Nintendo hasn't crafted an amazing machine in the Wii U, in fact, it's the console that will singlehandedly change the way people play games for years to come.
Being released as two different models, the Basic and the Deluxe, the Wii U offers gamers choices as to how they want to play. The Basic model retails for $299 and includes a white Wii U console with 8 GB of storage space, the GamePad, appropriate AC adapters, an HDMI cable, and a sensor bar similar to the one that the Wii used. The Deluxe model includes a black Wii U with 32 GB of storage space, everything that's included in the Basic edition, and GamePad cadle, as well as stands for the controller and the system. Retailing for $349, the Deluxe edition also includes Nintendo Land as a pack in game.
The Wii U's system is sleek, and familiar. In terms of the interface it bridges the gap between the Wii and the 3DS, and mixes it with the Mii Plaza (now updated, and called WaraWara Plaza) on the second screen. Navigation is easy as a swipe and click on the GamePad's screen to get everything going. Depending on your proximity to your TV, you don't even need it on to get a game started and loaded up. In fact, for the games that support off screen play, you might not have to turn your TV on at all. Getting stuff loaded in advance might be a good idea, as that seems to be one of the places that the system struggles – booting up disc based software and loading system applications. Just expect that it is going to take longer (really only a few seconds) than you're likely used to.
Nintendo has made it clear that they fully supporting pushing the Wii U into the digital age, and that's evident by the extent of downloadable content that has been promised to be on the horizon. However, they don't really provide a place for it all. The Basic model of the Wii U comes with only 8 GB of internal storage and the Deluxe model has only 32 GBs available – 4.2 GBs of which is taken up by the operating system. Leaving only 3 GBs of available space on the Basic model might be enough for owners looking to store a ton of Virtual Console games, but don't expect it to replace those discs at retail. Fortunately, Nintendo has allowed for hard drives up to 2 TB to be connected to the system via USB and serve as a second storage location. So, problem solved, as long as you have an extra USB hard drive lying around.
High definition graphics are clearly here to stay, and Nintendo has openly embraced them on the Wii U. The preferred output for this system is an HDMI cable (which is included in the box), a serious upgrade from the Wii's component and composite cables, providing crisp graphics that can not only finally compete with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, with underlying technology that is seven years newer, this console might even be able to surpass them in due time.
Fast forward to today, where Nintendo is riding the wave of their most successful home gaming console, the Wii, by following it up with something they hope is an even more hit, the Wii U. It's the first video game console to offer a fully integrated second screen gaming experience, as well as Nintendo's first real push to establish an online gaming community for their fans, and they're even making a grab to take over you TV. As the first out of the gate for the next generation of gaming consoles Nintendo is hoping to get a jump on consumers, and take over their living rooms before their competitors even announce what they have next.
The Wii U is an intriguing piece of hardware and it's symbolic of a lot of firsts for Nintendo. It's the first time that a Nintendo console is in HD. It's the first time that a Nintendo system home to an online gaming community. It's the first time that Nintendo will be making full console releases available as digital downloads. Sadly, these are all things that Microsoft and Sony have been doing for years, and, for the most part, doing well. Nintendo's wait and see attitude may have paid off for them as a company, but it may have also lost countless gamers to the competition in the meantime. That's not to say that Nintendo hasn't crafted an amazing machine in the Wii U, in fact, it's the console that will singlehandedly change the way people play games for years to come.
Being released as two different models, the Basic and the Deluxe, the Wii U offers gamers choices as to how they want to play. The Basic model retails for $299 and includes a white Wii U console with 8 GB of storage space, the GamePad, appropriate AC adapters, an HDMI cable, and a sensor bar similar to the one that the Wii used. The Deluxe model includes a black Wii U with 32 GB of storage space, everything that's included in the Basic edition, and GamePad cadle, as well as stands for the controller and the system. Retailing for $349, the Deluxe edition also includes Nintendo Land as a pack in game.
The Wii U's system is sleek, and familiar. In terms of the interface it bridges the gap between the Wii and the 3DS, and mixes it with the Mii Plaza (now updated, and called WaraWara Plaza) on the second screen. Navigation is easy as a swipe and click on the GamePad's screen to get everything going. Depending on your proximity to your TV, you don't even need it on to get a game started and loaded up. In fact, for the games that support off screen play, you might not have to turn your TV on at all. Getting stuff loaded in advance might be a good idea, as that seems to be one of the places that the system struggles – booting up disc based software and loading system applications. Just expect that it is going to take longer (really only a few seconds) than you're likely used to.
Nintendo has made it clear that they fully supporting pushing the Wii U into the digital age, and that's evident by the extent of downloadable content that has been promised to be on the horizon. However, they don't really provide a place for it all. The Basic model of the Wii U comes with only 8 GB of internal storage and the Deluxe model has only 32 GBs available – 4.2 GBs of which is taken up by the operating system. Leaving only 3 GBs of available space on the Basic model might be enough for owners looking to store a ton of Virtual Console games, but don't expect it to replace those discs at retail. Fortunately, Nintendo has allowed for hard drives up to 2 TB to be connected to the system via USB and serve as a second storage location. So, problem solved, as long as you have an extra USB hard drive lying around.
High definition graphics are clearly here to stay, and Nintendo has openly embraced them on the Wii U. The preferred output for this system is an HDMI cable (which is included in the box), a serious upgrade from the Wii's component and composite cables, providing crisp graphics that can not only finally compete with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, with underlying technology that is seven years newer, this console might even be able to surpass them in due time.
2012年11月14日星期三
The Letterpress of Mogadishu
In a tiny, damp, oil-soaked cellar tucked behind one of Mogadishu's bullet-pocked central streets, fragile remnants of a city's survival clutter the rickety shelves. Their location, hidden just beneath Mogadishu's shelled fa?ade, is perhaps their only reason for survival.
For 45 years, Daha Printing Press has accumulated an inked archive of Mogadishu's intricate, vibrant and violent political and social history. As governments, dictators, warlords, and militias battled for control of the streets above, Daha operated like a well-oiled machine, printing for all who walked in their door. Everybody, it seems, has something to print.
"Even warlords needed to collect taxes," Liban Egal, the son of Daha's original owner, asserts.
Customs declaration forms for Mogadishu's bustling port, still written in Italian from early post-colonial days, sit freshly pressed on the table; they are being repurposed for Somalia's new government. Tax collection slips and Central Bank account ledgers from the military rule of Mohamed Siad Barre -- whose ousting in 1991 launched two decades of civil war -- litter the stock room. Business cards, like that of notorious warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who was the target of a failed American assassination attempt (which in turn resulted the infamous 'Black Hawk Down' incident), fill old wooden drawers. Even United Nations Development Program reports from the 1980's hide under crumbling shelves.
Originally opened in central Mogadishu in 1967, Daha Printing Press was founded by 25 year-old Abdi Egal Hassan. Hassan took skills he mastered studying printmaking in Germany through a scholarship, and built a thriving enterprise.
By 1969, General Mohamed Siad Barre staged a successful military coup and took control of Somalia. He experimented with Chinese-influenced 'scientific socialism,' and in 1971 all private sector workers became government employees. All large businesses became government businesses. Daha was shut down.
Barre eventually switched sides during the Cold War, aligning with the US. In 1983 Abdi was able to reopen Daha Printing Press. The small letterpress shop has remained unchanged in location, machinery and employees, ever since.
Liban Egal, Abdi Egal Hassan's son, currently owns Daha. Liban, who grew up working the printing press after school, has recently returned to Mogadishu after spending more than twenty years abroad. In addition to resuming work at the press, he is founding the First Somali Bank -- Somalia's first since the collapse of the country's Central Bank in 1991 -- along with Somalia Wireless, a mobile internet company.
With Mogadishu quivering on the edge of sustained peace for the first time in two decades, Kasim and Liban are ready to welcome the arrival of Somalia's first real government in as many years. On August 20th, the Federal Parliament of Somalia was inaugurated, and the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government since 1991, replaced the Transitional Federal Government. On September 16th, Hassan Sheik Mohamud, a political activist and academic, was sworn in as Somalia's newest President.
"As soon as this new government begins, that's when we begin," exclaims Liban "Every Ministry will need some kind of paper."
The old Heidelberg printing press, its slickly oiled gears churning beneath the shell-shocked streets, will also press on. "We can't forget this machine," Kasim expresses with a wide grin. "It's like family."
"They spend their whole day learning these new technologies and learning ways to try to meet children, said FBI agent Wesley Tagtmeyer, a cyber specialist.
Investigators across the country told Target 11 that they are seeing more and more cases where predators are seeking out potential victims on online video games.
"Any time there's a forum where children are at, predators looking to meet them are going to go to those areas," said Tagtmeyer.
"It's very dangerous because it's only a matter of time before these predators will start asking for personal information, whether it be an email address, a telephone number or anything that can be an identifier for the physical location of that child," Wallace explained.
And the experts said there are some things parents can do to protect their children. The most important tool is to make sure the parental controls are turned on, and they said it's critically important to talk to your children and monitor their movements on line.
For 45 years, Daha Printing Press has accumulated an inked archive of Mogadishu's intricate, vibrant and violent political and social history. As governments, dictators, warlords, and militias battled for control of the streets above, Daha operated like a well-oiled machine, printing for all who walked in their door. Everybody, it seems, has something to print.
"Even warlords needed to collect taxes," Liban Egal, the son of Daha's original owner, asserts.
Customs declaration forms for Mogadishu's bustling port, still written in Italian from early post-colonial days, sit freshly pressed on the table; they are being repurposed for Somalia's new government. Tax collection slips and Central Bank account ledgers from the military rule of Mohamed Siad Barre -- whose ousting in 1991 launched two decades of civil war -- litter the stock room. Business cards, like that of notorious warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who was the target of a failed American assassination attempt (which in turn resulted the infamous 'Black Hawk Down' incident), fill old wooden drawers. Even United Nations Development Program reports from the 1980's hide under crumbling shelves.
Originally opened in central Mogadishu in 1967, Daha Printing Press was founded by 25 year-old Abdi Egal Hassan. Hassan took skills he mastered studying printmaking in Germany through a scholarship, and built a thriving enterprise.
By 1969, General Mohamed Siad Barre staged a successful military coup and took control of Somalia. He experimented with Chinese-influenced 'scientific socialism,' and in 1971 all private sector workers became government employees. All large businesses became government businesses. Daha was shut down.
Barre eventually switched sides during the Cold War, aligning with the US. In 1983 Abdi was able to reopen Daha Printing Press. The small letterpress shop has remained unchanged in location, machinery and employees, ever since.
Liban Egal, Abdi Egal Hassan's son, currently owns Daha. Liban, who grew up working the printing press after school, has recently returned to Mogadishu after spending more than twenty years abroad. In addition to resuming work at the press, he is founding the First Somali Bank -- Somalia's first since the collapse of the country's Central Bank in 1991 -- along with Somalia Wireless, a mobile internet company.
With Mogadishu quivering on the edge of sustained peace for the first time in two decades, Kasim and Liban are ready to welcome the arrival of Somalia's first real government in as many years. On August 20th, the Federal Parliament of Somalia was inaugurated, and the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government since 1991, replaced the Transitional Federal Government. On September 16th, Hassan Sheik Mohamud, a political activist and academic, was sworn in as Somalia's newest President.
"As soon as this new government begins, that's when we begin," exclaims Liban "Every Ministry will need some kind of paper."
The old Heidelberg printing press, its slickly oiled gears churning beneath the shell-shocked streets, will also press on. "We can't forget this machine," Kasim expresses with a wide grin. "It's like family."
"They spend their whole day learning these new technologies and learning ways to try to meet children, said FBI agent Wesley Tagtmeyer, a cyber specialist.
Investigators across the country told Target 11 that they are seeing more and more cases where predators are seeking out potential victims on online video games.
"Any time there's a forum where children are at, predators looking to meet them are going to go to those areas," said Tagtmeyer.
"It's very dangerous because it's only a matter of time before these predators will start asking for personal information, whether it be an email address, a telephone number or anything that can be an identifier for the physical location of that child," Wallace explained.
And the experts said there are some things parents can do to protect their children. The most important tool is to make sure the parental controls are turned on, and they said it's critically important to talk to your children and monitor their movements on line.
2012年11月11日星期日
Maxis offers logistic solution for SMEs
Maxis’ Managed M2M solution is the country’s first and only self-managed web-based fleet management solution in Malaysia.
M2M offers business owners more information about their business processes, more automation with which to manage assets and increase productivity, and enables enterprise to offer customers a new generation of services with a lower cost to serve. Combined with Maxis’ 2G and 3G network, the widest and fastest in the country, enterprises can monitor their mobile vehicles and perform remote diagnosis anytime and wherever they are.
This provides benefits such as increased driver productivity based on location-based tracking anytime, anywhere; reduced driver overtime enabled by way of monitoring trip reports; and remote monitoring facilitated through automatic notifications of violations such as speeding, off-hour operations, among others. This will also ensure that SMEs gain greater visibility across their business, mitigate risks and increase overall efficiency.
The Logistics & Warehouse Management system via Maxis Cloud’s enables SMEs to run back-end business processes smoothly with the lowest capital expenditure while offering overall operation visibility in real-time and increasing efficiency. Maxis Cloud also offers customers comprehensive total logistics management software and applications for freight and forwarding, as well as shipping, transport and warehouse. In addition, companies will also be able to lower administrative costs through automated tendering, shipment creation and consolidation processes.
Maxis FLS enables SMEs to enjoy savings offered by Maxis mobile rate plans with their office fixed line phone. With free calls of up to 38 hours between company lines, whether fixed or mobile, within one office location or between branches, companies can enjoy savings of up to 40% on their company’s monthly phone expenses. With Maxis FLS, warehousing and logistics companies who do not have fixed coverage at their site offices will have access to a proper communications system, allowing them to connect with their workforce in different locations. The revolutionary FLS bundled with Unity Hotline solution also enables customers to distribute up to 30 concurrent incoming calls to a maximum of 100 Maxis mobile lines from one single business number.
“Built for SME – Logistics & Transportation provides logistics SMEs with end-to-end solutions from mobile to applications and software under one bundled offering that is designed to help their business run efficiently and in the most cost-effective manner. This solution will benefit price-conscious SMEs who require communications technology at low upfront investments
and maintenance costs, and will enable them to access these services through a single provider to address all their communications needs,” remarked Fitri Abdullah, Head of Maxis Business Services.
Telecom analyst Chetan Sharma says that the telecom industry has been through three distinct revenue waves in its history. First there was the voice wave, then messaging and finally data.
Both the first and second of these waves produced phenomenal profits for decades but now are in serious decline due to market saturation and the rise of consumer-friendly OTT alternatives. While many in the industry see the third wave as being a replacement cash cow, others believe operators must look beyond data revenue to the fourth wave: OTT and Value Added Services (VAS).
Having become accustomed to diets of “all you can eat” data bundles, consumers naturally expect the price of data to drop over time, not rise. If operators bump up data costs, we can assume consumers will respond by flocking to services like Freedom Pop, which relies on Wi-Fi as the main source of data, switching only to cellular data when Wi-Fi is unavailable. So while data will undoubtedly continue to be a major part of operators’ revenue, there is only so much cash they can directly extract from it. And more importantly it’s highly unlikely that that revenue will ever compensate for those lost from the decline in voice and text use.
The fourth wave is already building rapidly, as people are now using their mobiles to do everything from paying their grocery bills and online shopping to downloading digital media or even checking their medical records. Virtually all of these services are provided not by operators but by third parties. This has understandably rattled most operators’ cages. Many have panicked and gone so far as to throttle their users’ service in response – or even completely blocked them from using services such as Skype.
M2M offers business owners more information about their business processes, more automation with which to manage assets and increase productivity, and enables enterprise to offer customers a new generation of services with a lower cost to serve. Combined with Maxis’ 2G and 3G network, the widest and fastest in the country, enterprises can monitor their mobile vehicles and perform remote diagnosis anytime and wherever they are.
This provides benefits such as increased driver productivity based on location-based tracking anytime, anywhere; reduced driver overtime enabled by way of monitoring trip reports; and remote monitoring facilitated through automatic notifications of violations such as speeding, off-hour operations, among others. This will also ensure that SMEs gain greater visibility across their business, mitigate risks and increase overall efficiency.
The Logistics & Warehouse Management system via Maxis Cloud’s enables SMEs to run back-end business processes smoothly with the lowest capital expenditure while offering overall operation visibility in real-time and increasing efficiency. Maxis Cloud also offers customers comprehensive total logistics management software and applications for freight and forwarding, as well as shipping, transport and warehouse. In addition, companies will also be able to lower administrative costs through automated tendering, shipment creation and consolidation processes.
Maxis FLS enables SMEs to enjoy savings offered by Maxis mobile rate plans with their office fixed line phone. With free calls of up to 38 hours between company lines, whether fixed or mobile, within one office location or between branches, companies can enjoy savings of up to 40% on their company’s monthly phone expenses. With Maxis FLS, warehousing and logistics companies who do not have fixed coverage at their site offices will have access to a proper communications system, allowing them to connect with their workforce in different locations. The revolutionary FLS bundled with Unity Hotline solution also enables customers to distribute up to 30 concurrent incoming calls to a maximum of 100 Maxis mobile lines from one single business number.
“Built for SME – Logistics & Transportation provides logistics SMEs with end-to-end solutions from mobile to applications and software under one bundled offering that is designed to help their business run efficiently and in the most cost-effective manner. This solution will benefit price-conscious SMEs who require communications technology at low upfront investments
and maintenance costs, and will enable them to access these services through a single provider to address all their communications needs,” remarked Fitri Abdullah, Head of Maxis Business Services.
Telecom analyst Chetan Sharma says that the telecom industry has been through three distinct revenue waves in its history. First there was the voice wave, then messaging and finally data.
Both the first and second of these waves produced phenomenal profits for decades but now are in serious decline due to market saturation and the rise of consumer-friendly OTT alternatives. While many in the industry see the third wave as being a replacement cash cow, others believe operators must look beyond data revenue to the fourth wave: OTT and Value Added Services (VAS).
Having become accustomed to diets of “all you can eat” data bundles, consumers naturally expect the price of data to drop over time, not rise. If operators bump up data costs, we can assume consumers will respond by flocking to services like Freedom Pop, which relies on Wi-Fi as the main source of data, switching only to cellular data when Wi-Fi is unavailable. So while data will undoubtedly continue to be a major part of operators’ revenue, there is only so much cash they can directly extract from it. And more importantly it’s highly unlikely that that revenue will ever compensate for those lost from the decline in voice and text use.
The fourth wave is already building rapidly, as people are now using their mobiles to do everything from paying their grocery bills and online shopping to downloading digital media or even checking their medical records. Virtually all of these services are provided not by operators but by third parties. This has understandably rattled most operators’ cages. Many have panicked and gone so far as to throttle their users’ service in response – or even completely blocked them from using services such as Skype.
2012年11月8日星期四
Next Week’s Australian Total Solar Eclipse Available Online
As the total solar eclipse takes place next week for Australians, those people residing in other places in the world do not need to feel left in the dark.
Slooh announced it will be broadcasting a free, real-time feed of the total solar eclipse live from Cairns, Australia, giving the rest of the world an on look of the cosmic event.
The eclipse, which will be taking place on November 13, will be covered by a three-person crew at the prime observing location by Slooh. The team will include, photographer Anjali Bermain, astro-imager Matt Francis and Astronomy Magazine’s Bob Berman. BBC contributor, Dr. Lucie Green, solar researcher at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, will be joining the broadcast along with Slooh’s President, Patrick Paolucci, and Paul Cox, Slooh’s Public Outreach Coordinator.
Viewers will be able to watch the event on their computer or mobile device and will have the ability to ask questions of the Slooh team.
“We are ecstatic to have a world-class team on-site in Cairns bringing the power and beauty of this spectacular event live to our worldwide audience,” Slooh President, Patrick Paolucci, said in a statement. “We are ramped up and ready to go to handle millions of viewers.”
As the Moon races across the sky next Wednesday, its dark umbral shadow will touch Earth and create a long narrow path in which the stars can be seen in the daytime.
Observers will be able to witness the solar coroner, or atmosphere, and pink prominences along the Sun’s edge. A total solar eclipse occurs just once every 375 years on average, for any given region on Earth.
For this total solar eclipse, the path will be about 108 miles wide and will cover 9,000 miles over a 3-hour period.
“Nothing in nature can equal the sheer spectacle of a total solar eclipse, and this time the event is a dramatic sunrise apparition in the tropics, low over the ocean off the Great Barrier Reef,” Astronomy Magazine’s Bob Berman, author of ‘The Sun’s Heartbeat’, said in a press release. Occurring as it does within months of the expected Solar Max, the solar corona should take on a ‘wound up’ circular shape, with a high potential for tongues of pink nuclear fire leaping from the Sun’s edge.”
MY parents hail from Ogun State but I was born and brought up in Lagos. I had my primary education in Lagos State and had my secondary school education partly in Ogun. After a couple of JAMB retakes, I took up a diploma form to study Theatre Arts in the University of Ibadan. The exams went well and my practicals quite impressed the panel and I was given admission for diploma. Shortly after, the UME result was released I made it into it UI for the same course at degree level. So, I had to opt for that. In 2007, I had my Bachelor's Degree in Art and in 2009, I went back for a Masters Degree, which by God's grace, I'm done with. Right now, it is getting a PH.D that is in view.Let's see how that goes.
Slooh announced it will be broadcasting a free, real-time feed of the total solar eclipse live from Cairns, Australia, giving the rest of the world an on look of the cosmic event.
The eclipse, which will be taking place on November 13, will be covered by a three-person crew at the prime observing location by Slooh. The team will include, photographer Anjali Bermain, astro-imager Matt Francis and Astronomy Magazine’s Bob Berman. BBC contributor, Dr. Lucie Green, solar researcher at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, will be joining the broadcast along with Slooh’s President, Patrick Paolucci, and Paul Cox, Slooh’s Public Outreach Coordinator.
Viewers will be able to watch the event on their computer or mobile device and will have the ability to ask questions of the Slooh team.
“We are ecstatic to have a world-class team on-site in Cairns bringing the power and beauty of this spectacular event live to our worldwide audience,” Slooh President, Patrick Paolucci, said in a statement. “We are ramped up and ready to go to handle millions of viewers.”
As the Moon races across the sky next Wednesday, its dark umbral shadow will touch Earth and create a long narrow path in which the stars can be seen in the daytime.
Observers will be able to witness the solar coroner, or atmosphere, and pink prominences along the Sun’s edge. A total solar eclipse occurs just once every 375 years on average, for any given region on Earth.
For this total solar eclipse, the path will be about 108 miles wide and will cover 9,000 miles over a 3-hour period.
“Nothing in nature can equal the sheer spectacle of a total solar eclipse, and this time the event is a dramatic sunrise apparition in the tropics, low over the ocean off the Great Barrier Reef,” Astronomy Magazine’s Bob Berman, author of ‘The Sun’s Heartbeat’, said in a press release. Occurring as it does within months of the expected Solar Max, the solar corona should take on a ‘wound up’ circular shape, with a high potential for tongues of pink nuclear fire leaping from the Sun’s edge.”
MY parents hail from Ogun State but I was born and brought up in Lagos. I had my primary education in Lagos State and had my secondary school education partly in Ogun. After a couple of JAMB retakes, I took up a diploma form to study Theatre Arts in the University of Ibadan. The exams went well and my practicals quite impressed the panel and I was given admission for diploma. Shortly after, the UME result was released I made it into it UI for the same course at degree level. So, I had to opt for that. In 2007, I had my Bachelor's Degree in Art and in 2009, I went back for a Masters Degree, which by God's grace, I'm done with. Right now, it is getting a PH.D that is in view.Let's see how that goes.
2012年11月6日星期二
Scraggly student veterans bid for SC12 victory
A couple of old-timer teams round out the field at the upcoming SC12 Student Cluster Competition (SCC) in Salt Lake City. These contests started in 2007 and between them, these two teams have participated in a total of nine matches.
Each school has six team members plus three advisors/coaches. Let’s assume that the competition consumes six hours per week (it’s probably more) for six months: conservatively, students and faculty at these two schools have invested more than 25,000 hours in designing, building, testing, and ultimately competing against other teams with their clusters. That’s 631 weeks of a 40-hour-per-week job, or more than 12 years of real-world working life.
Team Taiwan comes to us from the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan (also known as the Windy City – because of the winds, I think). The school is one of the premiere science and engineering universities in all of Taiwan. If you’re a fan of rankings, you’ll be intrigued to know that NTHU has been ranked in the top 250 schools worldwide, and their engineering/IT program has been ranked as high as #67. They also have perhaps the most advantageous location of any school in the SCC – they’re right next door to the Hsinchu Science & Industrial Park, Taiwan’s Silicon Valley. This park is home to companies like TSMC, UMC, and Team Taiwan’s hardware sponsor, Acer.
Team Taiwan has participated in four of the five prior SCC competitions. They won Highest LINPACK in the inaugural event at SC07 in Reno with 420 Gigaflops. By comparison, the Highest LINPACK award at SC11 (The Battle in Seattle) went to Team Russia with their 1.926 Teraflops (1926 Gigaflops) score. So in just five years, we’ve seen the top SCC LINPACK increase by 4.58x… not bad at all.
The kids from NTHU won the LINPACK award again in 2008 with a 703 Gigaflop mark but then took a break from competition in 2009. They returned to the fray in 2010 (Battle of New Orleans) and claimed the Overall Winner award. In 2011, they did it again in Seattle and became the first team to repeat as SCC champions. This year, they’re going for an unprecedented three-peat. Can they pull it off?
Team Taiwan is bringing an experienced and close-knit team to Salt Lake City. All are computer science or electrical engineering majors, and all have trained hard for this competition. One of the surprises in 2011 was that Team Taiwan (along with Team China) had managed to optimize the scientific application codes so that they ran efficiently on their GPU-heavy systems.
Most observers, myself included, figured that the GPU teams might do well on a few of the apps, but that they didn’t have the time or expertise to optimize the other apps for use on GPUs. We were all proven wrong. Can Team Taiwan confound the experts again to become the first three-time champion of the student clustering world?
Team Boilermaker from Purdue University is the only team that has participated in each and every Student Cluster Competition. They’ve seen (and helped) the competition grow from an interesting sideshow at SC07 to the world’s premiere computer sporting event. When the history of the SCC is written, the folks from West Lafayette, Indiana will have a prominent place as one of the pioneering institutions that made SCC’s success possible.
The Boilermakers are packing their hammers and traveling to Salt Lake City to make a try for the 2012 SCC crown. They’re bringing a veteran team to the Salt Lake Siege, accompanied by their long-time coaching staff. As they explain in their application, they’ve worked harder in the off-season to gain a deeper understanding of the scientific applications that make up the bulk of the processing challenges. They feel that knowing these apps better will give them the insight they need to tune them for maximum performance.
“A Purdue team has never won the competition, however, we have had tremendous success with the Student Cluster Competition. Purdue believes in HPC education and benefits immensely from the competition. We have designed a curriculum with our faculty advisor that bridges the gap between domain science and HPC to support the competition. Our competition alumni have been placed in national labs, other universities and companies all in the HPC space…Although we have never won the competition Purdue has invested heavily in this educational opportunity, and as a result have made a real impact in HPC education at Purdue and our students’ careers.”
The application goes on to detail just a few of the positive outcomes (jobs received, positions held, papers published, etc) that have resulted from their participation in the Student Cluster Competitions over the years. It also outlines Purdue’s broad and deep range of HPC-related courses and discusses how these relate to both the SCC and to their greater mission of educating future HPC professionals.
It’s fun to talk about the SCC like it’s a big college football game or the Final Four. (For non-US readers, insert either World Cup or the World Series of Darts, or whatever.) But the real value in this event is how it impacts students, how much they learn, and what they’re doing with it afterwards.
Purdue has the right attitude about the competition, and it’s clear that they’re using it as a teaching tool to better prepare their students for the real world. They aren’t alone in this, however; the other participants also see SCC in this light. But Purdue has done the best job of articulating it in their proposal.
Each school has six team members plus three advisors/coaches. Let’s assume that the competition consumes six hours per week (it’s probably more) for six months: conservatively, students and faculty at these two schools have invested more than 25,000 hours in designing, building, testing, and ultimately competing against other teams with their clusters. That’s 631 weeks of a 40-hour-per-week job, or more than 12 years of real-world working life.
Team Taiwan comes to us from the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan (also known as the Windy City – because of the winds, I think). The school is one of the premiere science and engineering universities in all of Taiwan. If you’re a fan of rankings, you’ll be intrigued to know that NTHU has been ranked in the top 250 schools worldwide, and their engineering/IT program has been ranked as high as #67. They also have perhaps the most advantageous location of any school in the SCC – they’re right next door to the Hsinchu Science & Industrial Park, Taiwan’s Silicon Valley. This park is home to companies like TSMC, UMC, and Team Taiwan’s hardware sponsor, Acer.
Team Taiwan has participated in four of the five prior SCC competitions. They won Highest LINPACK in the inaugural event at SC07 in Reno with 420 Gigaflops. By comparison, the Highest LINPACK award at SC11 (The Battle in Seattle) went to Team Russia with their 1.926 Teraflops (1926 Gigaflops) score. So in just five years, we’ve seen the top SCC LINPACK increase by 4.58x… not bad at all.
The kids from NTHU won the LINPACK award again in 2008 with a 703 Gigaflop mark but then took a break from competition in 2009. They returned to the fray in 2010 (Battle of New Orleans) and claimed the Overall Winner award. In 2011, they did it again in Seattle and became the first team to repeat as SCC champions. This year, they’re going for an unprecedented three-peat. Can they pull it off?
Team Taiwan is bringing an experienced and close-knit team to Salt Lake City. All are computer science or electrical engineering majors, and all have trained hard for this competition. One of the surprises in 2011 was that Team Taiwan (along with Team China) had managed to optimize the scientific application codes so that they ran efficiently on their GPU-heavy systems.
Most observers, myself included, figured that the GPU teams might do well on a few of the apps, but that they didn’t have the time or expertise to optimize the other apps for use on GPUs. We were all proven wrong. Can Team Taiwan confound the experts again to become the first three-time champion of the student clustering world?
Team Boilermaker from Purdue University is the only team that has participated in each and every Student Cluster Competition. They’ve seen (and helped) the competition grow from an interesting sideshow at SC07 to the world’s premiere computer sporting event. When the history of the SCC is written, the folks from West Lafayette, Indiana will have a prominent place as one of the pioneering institutions that made SCC’s success possible.
The Boilermakers are packing their hammers and traveling to Salt Lake City to make a try for the 2012 SCC crown. They’re bringing a veteran team to the Salt Lake Siege, accompanied by their long-time coaching staff. As they explain in their application, they’ve worked harder in the off-season to gain a deeper understanding of the scientific applications that make up the bulk of the processing challenges. They feel that knowing these apps better will give them the insight they need to tune them for maximum performance.
“A Purdue team has never won the competition, however, we have had tremendous success with the Student Cluster Competition. Purdue believes in HPC education and benefits immensely from the competition. We have designed a curriculum with our faculty advisor that bridges the gap between domain science and HPC to support the competition. Our competition alumni have been placed in national labs, other universities and companies all in the HPC space…Although we have never won the competition Purdue has invested heavily in this educational opportunity, and as a result have made a real impact in HPC education at Purdue and our students’ careers.”
The application goes on to detail just a few of the positive outcomes (jobs received, positions held, papers published, etc) that have resulted from their participation in the Student Cluster Competitions over the years. It also outlines Purdue’s broad and deep range of HPC-related courses and discusses how these relate to both the SCC and to their greater mission of educating future HPC professionals.
It’s fun to talk about the SCC like it’s a big college football game or the Final Four. (For non-US readers, insert either World Cup or the World Series of Darts, or whatever.) But the real value in this event is how it impacts students, how much they learn, and what they’re doing with it afterwards.
Purdue has the right attitude about the competition, and it’s clear that they’re using it as a teaching tool to better prepare their students for the real world. They aren’t alone in this, however; the other participants also see SCC in this light. But Purdue has done the best job of articulating it in their proposal.
2012年11月4日星期日
When working from home goes wrong
Nearly every office dweller fantasises about the joys of working from home: Dressing in PJs instead of suits. Eating from the fridge and not the vending machine. Listening to birds chirp instead of the boss bark.
But Superstorm Sandy has created legions of people who can’t wait to get back to office.
They include parents who have struggled to juggle conference calls while their kids scream in the background. Also, families who have fought for days over the use of a single home computer. And even executives who have conducted business with the only device they had with reliable internet access: their smartphone.
About one-third of American workers work from home at least occasionally, according to Forrester Research. But massive flooding, power outages, transit shutdowns and school closings that followed Sandy forced thousands more from North Carolina to Maine to do so this week. And many learned that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Michael Lamp, a social and digital media strategist who has been working out of his one-bedroom apartment in the Brooklyn borough of New York City because his office in the Manhattan borough is closed, sums it up on his Twitter page: “I’m getting sicker of it with every hour that passes. I might be slowly losing it.”
Lamp, who converted his coffee table into a desk, says he longs for face-to-face interaction with his colleagues at Hunter Public Relations. And he’s finding it particularly difficult to share his workspace with his live-in partner.
“I love him very much, but I would rather not see him 24 hours a day,” says the 28-year-old, who proudly admits that he can’t wait to greet his manager in the office. “I’m going to run to my boss’ office and tell her I missed her face.”
Alan Hilfer, director of psychology at Maimonides Medical Centre in New York, says it’s normal to struggle with working from home. He says it “has its own set of difficulties” that people who don’t do it often aren’t always aware of.
“There are many more distractions than working in an office,” he says. “Even people who do it on a regular basis find it much harder to structure and discipline their time.”
Hilfer, who lives in Brooklyn and works in a hospital in Manhattan, knows the distractions firsthand. He was working at home on Thursday to avoid the difficult commute in the storm’s aftermath. But he kept getting distracted by Sandy updates on TV, projects he needed to get done around the house and his wife asking questions about what she should get from the supermarket.
“I had a whole list of things this morning I intended to do working from home, and I got about half of them done,” he says.
With some school districts cancelling classes for the week, children have become the biggest distraction for stranded employees who were working from home.
“I’ve had to juggle taking care of a very energetic five-year old — who only wants to jump on the couch — and trying to get as much work done as possible under the situation,” she says.
On Wednesday, with the added pressure of Halloween festivities, she gave up and took the day off. But on Thursday, she drove three hours to her parent’s home in Westhampton, New York, so that she could finally get some work done at home.
“I kind of threw my hands up in the air and said I have to go to the only place I know that has free child care, and that is my parents’ house,” says Zammit, who acknowledges that she can’t wait to get back to the office.
Drew Kerr, a public relations specialist, was also eager to return to work on Wednesday morning after losing power at his home in Westchester, New York on Monday.
But Superstorm Sandy has created legions of people who can’t wait to get back to office.
They include parents who have struggled to juggle conference calls while their kids scream in the background. Also, families who have fought for days over the use of a single home computer. And even executives who have conducted business with the only device they had with reliable internet access: their smartphone.
About one-third of American workers work from home at least occasionally, according to Forrester Research. But massive flooding, power outages, transit shutdowns and school closings that followed Sandy forced thousands more from North Carolina to Maine to do so this week. And many learned that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Michael Lamp, a social and digital media strategist who has been working out of his one-bedroom apartment in the Brooklyn borough of New York City because his office in the Manhattan borough is closed, sums it up on his Twitter page: “I’m getting sicker of it with every hour that passes. I might be slowly losing it.”
Lamp, who converted his coffee table into a desk, says he longs for face-to-face interaction with his colleagues at Hunter Public Relations. And he’s finding it particularly difficult to share his workspace with his live-in partner.
“I love him very much, but I would rather not see him 24 hours a day,” says the 28-year-old, who proudly admits that he can’t wait to greet his manager in the office. “I’m going to run to my boss’ office and tell her I missed her face.”
Alan Hilfer, director of psychology at Maimonides Medical Centre in New York, says it’s normal to struggle with working from home. He says it “has its own set of difficulties” that people who don’t do it often aren’t always aware of.
“There are many more distractions than working in an office,” he says. “Even people who do it on a regular basis find it much harder to structure and discipline their time.”
Hilfer, who lives in Brooklyn and works in a hospital in Manhattan, knows the distractions firsthand. He was working at home on Thursday to avoid the difficult commute in the storm’s aftermath. But he kept getting distracted by Sandy updates on TV, projects he needed to get done around the house and his wife asking questions about what she should get from the supermarket.
“I had a whole list of things this morning I intended to do working from home, and I got about half of them done,” he says.
With some school districts cancelling classes for the week, children have become the biggest distraction for stranded employees who were working from home.
“I’ve had to juggle taking care of a very energetic five-year old — who only wants to jump on the couch — and trying to get as much work done as possible under the situation,” she says.
On Wednesday, with the added pressure of Halloween festivities, she gave up and took the day off. But on Thursday, she drove three hours to her parent’s home in Westhampton, New York, so that she could finally get some work done at home.
“I kind of threw my hands up in the air and said I have to go to the only place I know that has free child care, and that is my parents’ house,” says Zammit, who acknowledges that she can’t wait to get back to the office.
Drew Kerr, a public relations specialist, was also eager to return to work on Wednesday morning after losing power at his home in Westchester, New York on Monday.
2012年11月1日星期四
Wireless devices answer the call for help
As a result of rising medical costs and an increasing number of patients with chronic conditions, many senior living facilities are seeking wireless monitoring solutions for managing patients' health in addition to life-safety. For all patients or residents, any change or decline in their condition needs to be detected as quickly as possible to allow for early intervention.
According to a study conducted by IMS Research, more than 50 million wireless health monitoring devices will ship for consumer monitoring applications during the next five years. Such devices offer personalized care for a variety of health scenarios, including fall risks.
Falls are a major health risk. It is estimated that one in three persons over the age of 65 is likely to fall at least once a year. Personal emergency response systems can help by providing a "panic button" device that a senior can press if an accident occurs. However, a 2008 study by the British Medical Journal found that 80% of people over the age of 90 who wore monitoring devices never pushed the alert button after a fall, either because they didn't want to bother anyone or were unable to do so. If a fall goes undetected, the results can be devastating for both the patient and the senior living facility. Remaining on the floor, even for a few hours, can lead to problems such as dehydration, low body temperature and skin sores due to pressure. Additionally, senior living facilities can face the loss of revenue, lawsuits and license revocation if falls go undetected.
To prevent undetected falls, senior living facilities are now looking for solutions that feature a built-in accelerometer that measures movement and orientation, and can automatically sense falls. When a fall is detected, it sends an alert where it is deemed appropriate, such as a caregiver or nurse station. With automatic alerts, caregivers are able to act more quickly to provide assistance. In addition, automatic detection allows a trend to be developed over time that may indicate an increase in instability over time. If the system also determines the location of the resident, a pattern of difficulty with certain locations or time of day may emerge.
Of course, it is everyone's goal to prevent falls before they happen. Most falls are associated with one or more identifiable risk factors such as weakness, confusion and certain medications. Research has shown that identification and attention to these risk factors can significantly reduce fall rates. Companies such as AFrame Digital have introduced technology that is designed to detect changes so medical personnel and caregivers can be alerted before a fall happens.
AFrame's MobileCare? Monitor system, a wrist watch-like device, wirelessly communicates a user's motion and location data to a cloud-based monitoring and alerting system. The AFrame system's capabilities include emergency call, impact detection, location tracking, along with activity and vitals tracking and trending. The solution uses ZigBee wireless technology, provided by Digi International, to connect to the network, and the iDigi Device cloud to make system management easy.
Additional sensors can be added as needed to detect environmental changes, like humidity or motion, and or health changes for vitals tracking using weight scales, pulse oximeters, glucometers and blood pressure cuffs. This data is automatically pulled in to the system for real-time analysis and trending.
According to a study conducted by IMS Research, more than 50 million wireless health monitoring devices will ship for consumer monitoring applications during the next five years. Such devices offer personalized care for a variety of health scenarios, including fall risks.
Falls are a major health risk. It is estimated that one in three persons over the age of 65 is likely to fall at least once a year. Personal emergency response systems can help by providing a "panic button" device that a senior can press if an accident occurs. However, a 2008 study by the British Medical Journal found that 80% of people over the age of 90 who wore monitoring devices never pushed the alert button after a fall, either because they didn't want to bother anyone or were unable to do so. If a fall goes undetected, the results can be devastating for both the patient and the senior living facility. Remaining on the floor, even for a few hours, can lead to problems such as dehydration, low body temperature and skin sores due to pressure. Additionally, senior living facilities can face the loss of revenue, lawsuits and license revocation if falls go undetected.
To prevent undetected falls, senior living facilities are now looking for solutions that feature a built-in accelerometer that measures movement and orientation, and can automatically sense falls. When a fall is detected, it sends an alert where it is deemed appropriate, such as a caregiver or nurse station. With automatic alerts, caregivers are able to act more quickly to provide assistance. In addition, automatic detection allows a trend to be developed over time that may indicate an increase in instability over time. If the system also determines the location of the resident, a pattern of difficulty with certain locations or time of day may emerge.
Of course, it is everyone's goal to prevent falls before they happen. Most falls are associated with one or more identifiable risk factors such as weakness, confusion and certain medications. Research has shown that identification and attention to these risk factors can significantly reduce fall rates. Companies such as AFrame Digital have introduced technology that is designed to detect changes so medical personnel and caregivers can be alerted before a fall happens.
AFrame's MobileCare? Monitor system, a wrist watch-like device, wirelessly communicates a user's motion and location data to a cloud-based monitoring and alerting system. The AFrame system's capabilities include emergency call, impact detection, location tracking, along with activity and vitals tracking and trending. The solution uses ZigBee wireless technology, provided by Digi International, to connect to the network, and the iDigi Device cloud to make system management easy.
Additional sensors can be added as needed to detect environmental changes, like humidity or motion, and or health changes for vitals tracking using weight scales, pulse oximeters, glucometers and blood pressure cuffs. This data is automatically pulled in to the system for real-time analysis and trending.
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