monitoring – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Establishing World-Class Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring in Okinawa

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2013Environmentacoustic doppler current, amber york, carbon, coral reef ecosystem, diversity, endemic species, energy, environmental impact, glenn mcdonnald, indian ocean, Japan, liquid jungle lab, ljl, monitoring, motobu peninsula, ocean circulation, oceancube, oist, okinawa, okinawa institute, oshima cubes, pacific, panamanian isthmus, pattern, plankton, profiler, scott gallager, whoi

Enduring two typhoons over a three-week period in August, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers, working in partnership with the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), have successfully deployed an OceanCube Observatory System in waters off Motobu Peninsula, Japan — a biodiversity hotspot that is home to ecologically significant coral reefs. The observatory system enables real-time monitoring of temperature, salinity, and other chemical, biological and physical data critical to understanding the health of and changes in the coral reef ecosystem.

Okinawa is situated at the northernmost end of the border between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. The coral reefs there support the highest diversity of endemic species, plants and animals in the world. These coral reefs are also economically valuable, generating as much as 3 trillion yen ($30 billion) globally, and 250 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in Japan. (more…)

IBM, STMicroelectronics and Shaspa Advance Smarter Home Initiative

By Guest PostJanuary 8, 2013Technology1933, 3d, batteryless, bruce anderson, carbon dioxide, chicago world fair, cloud enabled electronics, cloud platform, co2 level, data, ecosystem, electronics exhibition, energy efficiency, forecast, gui, home gateway, human motion, ibm, ibm cloud, ibm worklight, industry standard, internet of things, ipv6 network, it efficiency, las vegas, mobile application platform, mobile device, monitoring, multiple user interfaces, new era, oliver goh, osgi, parks associates, physical gestures, preset scenarios, save energy, shaspa, smart home, smarter home initiative, stih416, stmicroelectronics, system on chip, temperature, time based, value add services, voice recognition

Cloud computing enhances control of “Internet of Things” in the home to help manage heating, lighting, security and more via multiple user interfaces including gestures and voice recognition

LAS VEGAS, CES – 08 Jan 2013: IBM, STMicroelectronics and Shaspa today announced a collaboration to tap cloud and mobile computing for manufacturers and service providers to provide innovative ways for consumers to manage and interact with their homes’ functions and entertainment systems using multiple user interfaces such as voice recognition and physical gestures for a smarter home.

A “smart home” brings networking functions together, creating a gateway that connects a television, computer or mobile device with smart meters, lights, appliances, plugs and sensors within the home as well as services from outside. Parks Associates forecasts that more than 8 billion devices will be connected on the home network by year-end 2015.[1] (more…)

Better Monitoring of Food Quantity Makes Self-Control Easier

By Guest PostAugust 27, 2012Healthamerica, carlson school, consumption, eat less, food quantity, joseph redden, kelly haws, mechanism, minneapolis, monitoring, obesity problem, satiation, self control, st paul, twin cities, university of minnesota

UMN study shows eating less is about reduced desire as well as willpower

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL — New research from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management suggests learning how to stop enjoying unhealthy food sooner may play a pivotal role in combating America’s obesity problem. The research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, explores how satiation, defined as the drop in liking during repeated consumption, can be a positive mechanism when it lowers the desire for unhealthy foods.

“When people talk about self-control, they really imply that self-control is willpower and that some people have it and others don’t when facing a tempting treat,” says Joseph Redden, an assistant professor of marketing at the Carlson School and lead author of the ‘Healthy Satiation: The Role of Decreasing Desire in Effective Self-Control.’ “In reality, nearly everyone likes these treats. Some people just stop enjoying them faster and for them it’s easier to say no.” (more…)

Acid Rain

By Guest PostMay 4, 2012Environmentacid rain, acidic, acidity, air, basic, canopy, cape henlopen, carbonic acid, clean air act, concentration, copper, delaware rain, ecosystem, joseph scudlark, lake sediments, lead, lewes, marine studies, mercury, monitoring, nitric, organism, ph, pollutant, precipitation, rainwater, state park, sulfuric, thomas church, trace metal, zinc

UD’s long-term monitoring shows 60 percent reduction in acidity of Delaware rain

Several decades ago, precipitation in Delaware was among the most acidic in the country. Pollutants in the air reacted with rainwater to sprinkle sulfuric, nitric and carbonic acids onto the ground below, affecting crops and ecosystems statewide.

The scientific consensus is that pollution controls enacted through the Clean Air Act Amendments in the 1990s and other measures have helped decrease the acidity of rain by approximately 60 percent to less harmful levels, as reflected in data gathered nationwide and by UD researchers in Lewes, Del., as part of a longstanding study. (more…)

NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2011Scienceaeroshell, astronauts, atomic and subatomic particles, boulder, cape canaveral, christian albrechts university, curiosity rover, distant supernovas, don hassler, doug mccuistion, earth, energetic particle radiation, gale crater, Germany, human missions, kiel, mars, mars science laboratory, microbes, monitoring, NASA, rad, radiation assessment detector, red planet, signs of life on mars, sources, southwest research institute, Space, space radiation, spacecraft, sun, surface of mars, trajectory

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red Planet.

Curiosity launched on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources. (more…)

Pakistan Floods Last Summer Could Have Been Predicted

By Guest PostFebruary 5, 2011Environment, Scienceanna ghelli, Bangladesh, computer models, disaster, downpours, environmental prediction, european weather forecasting center, flood forecasting technique, floods, hydrological model, meteorological agency, monitoring, monsoonal deluges, Pakistan, peter Webster, rainfall, terrain

WASHINGTON — Five days before intense monsoonal deluges unleashed vast floods across Pakistan last July, computer models at a European weather-forecasting center were giving clear indications that the downpours were imminent. Now, a new scientific study that retrospectively examines the raw data from these computer models, has confirmed that, if the information had been processed, forecasters could have predicted extremely accurate rainfall totals 8-10 days beforehand.

The study also finds that the floods themselves could have been predicted if this data, which originated from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF), had been processed and fed into a hydrological model, which takes terrain into account. (more…)

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