Technology – Page 12 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Know How Much You’re Texting While Driving? U-M Study Says No

By Guest PostSeptember 27, 2012Technologyalarm clock, automatic behavior, driving, frequency, habit, human behavior, joseph bayer, michigan, mobile communication, public safety, scott campbell, Technology, texting, texts, university, young adults

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Texting while driving is a serious threat to public safety, but a new University of Michigan study suggests that we might not be aware of our actions.

U-M researchers found that texting while driving is predicted by a person’s level of “habit”—more so than how much someone texts.

When people check their cell phones without thinking about it, the habit represents a type of automatic behavior, or automaticity, the researchers say. Automaticity, which was the key variable in the study, is triggered by situational cues and lacks control, awareness, intention and attention. (more…)

The Original Twitter? Tiny Electronic Tags Monitor Birds’ Social Networks

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2012Nature, Sciencearchipelago, bird, brian otis, broadcast, costa rica, crow, drexel university, ecology, encounternet, forest, frequency, galapagos islands, german, internet, islands, john burt, lysanne snijders, Netherlands, new caledonia, radio tracking, radio transmitter, scotland, social behavior, social mobility, social network, South Pacific, st andrews, Technology, university, Washington, wireless sensor, woodland bird

If two birds meet deep in the forest, does anybody hear? Until now, nobody did, unless an intrepid biologist was hiding underneath a bush and watching their behavior, or the birds happened to meet near a research monitoring station. But an electronic tag designed at the University of Washington can for the first time see when birds meet in the wild.

A new study led by a biologist at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews used the UW tags to see whether crows might learn to use tools from one another. The findings, published last week in Current Biology, supported the theory by showing an unexpected amount of social mobility, with the crows often spending time near birds outside their immediate family. (more…)

Technology in the Classroom

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2012Education, Technologybamboo dock, classroom presentation, commodification, delaware, galton board simulation, google apps, google docs, google forms, mcdonaldization, multimodal communication, powerpoint presentation, predictable model, sociology course, spss, statistical formula, statistics, Technology, university, victor perez, wacom bamboo tablet

UD faculty member teaches sociology and statistics with technology

Victor Perez, an assistant professor in the University of Delaware’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, has found multiple ways to reach students using diverse technological approaches. Perez makes his classroom presentations highly interactive by combining a tablet with an engaging PowerPoint presentation.

Using the Wacom Bamboo tablet and its accompanying app, Perez creates illustrations of statistical formulas and distributions in class. “Bamboo Dock is something that I’ll use pretty frequently in the statistics course, and it looks literally like a journal. What’s great about this is that you can write any statistical formula, and it’s what students will see directly on the screen,” Perez said. (more…)

How Technology is Changing Kenya

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2012Economy, Technologyafrica, big name, blog, business, changing, data, data collection, Economy, everyday life, facility, forefront, healthcare, information technology, internet, julie, Kenya, kenyans, next, online map, online resource, paul, portable, provider, smart phone, startup, Technology, wife

It is not often you think about how technology can affect an entire country, but the upsurge of affordable smart phones and portable internet have made a huge impact on the everyday lives on Kenyans. Not only do people now have access to things around the world, but they also have educational and health opportunities they have never had before. The idea of using smart phones as makeshift computers is nothing new, especially in developing countries. Where the income is limited, a smartphone can be a costly expense. However, having access to current technology will allow Kenyans to expand and grow in the world economy. To that end, here are some examples of improvements that new technology has had in the lives of Kenyans: (more…)

Fish-tailing Robots

By Guest PostAugust 9, 2012Environment, Naturealgorithm, asian carp, common carp, environmental parameter, fish behavior, fish tailing robots, gps position, internet, invasive fish, josh vander hook, lakes, minneapolis, oregon, patrick plonski, peter sorensen, pratap tokekar, radiotagged carp, robotic boats, staring lake, Technology, track, trash fish, university of minnesota, volkan isler

Robotic boats track radio-tagged common carp in area lakes

As a stiff breeze sweeps across Staring Lake in suburban Minneapolis, a five-foot, antenna-sporting robotic boat plies the water in a back-and-forth pattern.

On the shore, Volkan Isler follows the action as two graduate research assistants launch a second boat.

Today Isler, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Minnesota, and graduate students Pratap Tokekar and Josh Vander Hook have come to the lake to test the newer of the boats. Their mission: developing a new technology to track invasive fish. (more…)

Hunter-Gatherers Expend Same Calories as Average Americans

By Guest PostAugust 3, 2012Scienceafrica, audax mabulla, brian wood, caloric intake, calories, cause, david raichlen, energetic expenditure, evolutionary science, frank w marlowe, gym membership, hazda, herman pontzer, hunter college, hunter gatherer, obesity, obesity pandemic, physical exercise, susan b racette, Tanzania, Technology, university of arizona, western population, yale anthropologist

Taking in too many calories far outweighs getting too little exercise as a cause of obesity, according to a study of a hunter-gatherer society co- authored by Yale anthropologist Brian Wood and recently published in the July issue of the journal PLoS One.

Using state-of-the-art technology to measure the daily energetic expenditure of the Hazda, a foraging people of Tanzania, Wood and co-authors Herman Pontzer (Hunter College) and David Raichlen (University of Arizona) discovered that even though these last remaining hunter-gatherers in Africa are quite physically active, they expend on average no more calories in a day than the adult population of the industrialized world. Given the total lack of obesity among the Hadza, whose average daily calorie consumption is far lower than that found in the developed world, the researchers concluded that increased caloric intake is the main source of rising obesity in Western populations. (more…)

Killing of Bin Laden Offers Insight into “The Business of Martyrdom”

By Guest PostJuly 12, 2012Politicsal qaeda, bin laden, biotechnology, business of martyrdom, david, drone, goliath, history, Iraq, jeffrey lewis, killing, ltte, metaphor, muslim world, philosophy, political goal, smart bomb, sri lanka, suicide attack, suicide bomber, suicide bombing, Technology, terrorist leader, terrorist organization, united states, us military, uslim fighter

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The way the U.S. military killed Osama bin Laden sent a message every bit as powerful as the fact that he was killed in the first place, according to the author of a new history of suicide bombing.

The fact that bin Laden was killed by a team of highly trained soldiers – and not by a drone or bomb – spoiled the grand narrative of brave Muslim fighters vs. U.S. technology that bin Laden and al Qaeda had developed in their war against the United States.

“Bin Laden had built up this image of himself and al Qaeda as a morally superior David against the technological Goliath that is the United States,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a lecturer in the International Studies program at Ohio State University. (more…)

World’s Top Tech Students Go for It All Down Under

By Guest PostJuly 6, 2012Technology2012 summer games, Argentina, australia, blog entry, brazilian brothers, bubblegum, cloud computing, darkened room, eduardo, eureka, gold medals, Greece, Iceland, imagine cup 2012, kinect fun labs, korea, let it bee, london, mathdash, Microsoft, olympic athletes, Pizza, project, robert miles, roberto sonnino, roberts quest, serbia, sydney, team, team boddymusic, team catchcake, team drexel dragons, team radiant, team symbiosis, Technology, united states, walid abu-hadba, windows, worldwide finals, xbox, xbox 360

Young technologists are looking to take the world by storm this weekend at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia.

SYDNEY – Wrapped in the flags of their countries, the competitors climb onto the podium, beaming with joy as the cameras flash. They are young, passionate, business-savvy ambassadors of their field.

These aren’t soccer players or high jumpers, but they are no less competitors than the athletes seeking gold medals at the 2012 Summer Games in London. They are the planet’s premiere young technologists. And, to slightly alter an infamous movie line, they’ve come to change the world and chew bubblegum – and they’re all out of bubblegum. (more…)

Tag Archives: Technology