How Smart Cities Thrive By Focusing On Positive User Experience

Learning Management Systems and the Future of E-Learning in the Workplace

Why LMS and e-learning is the future of training in the workplace> http://bit.ly/2q6psHG

#LMS #elearning

5 Questions from a Year of Education on the International Space Station

This year, we’re celebrating a Year of Education on the Station as astronauts and former teachers Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold have made the International Space Station their home. While aboard, they have been sharing their love of science, technology, engineering and math, along with their passion for teaching. With the Year of Education on the Station is coming to a close, here are some of the highlights from students speaking to the #TeacherOnBoard from across the country!

Why do you feel it’s important to complete Christa McAuliffe’s lessons?

“The loss of Challenger not only affected a generation of school teachers but also a generation of school children who are now adults.” Ricky’s personal mission was to bring the Challenger Mission full circle and give it a sense of closure by teaching Christa’s Lost Lessons. See some of Christa’s Lost Lessons here.

Have you ever poured water out to see what happens?

The concept of surface tension is very apparent on the space station. Fluids do not spill out, they stick to each other. Cool fact: you can drink your fluids from the palm of your hand if you wanted to! Take a look at this demonstration that talks a little more about tension. 

How does your equipment stay attached to the wall?

The use of bungee cords as well as hook and loop help keep things in place in a microgravity environment. These two items can be found on the space station and on the astronaut’s clothing! Their pants often have hook and loop so they can keep things nearby if they need to be using their hands for something else. 

Did being a teacher provide any advantage to being an astronaut?

Being an effective communicator and having the ability to be adaptable are great skills to have as a teacher and as an astronaut. Joe Acaba has found that these skills have assisted him in his professional development.  

Since you do not use your bones and muscles as often because of microgravity, do you have to exercise? What type can you do?

The exercises that astronauts do aboard the space station help them maintain their bone density and muscle mass. They have access to resistance training through ARED (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device) which is a weight machine and for cardio, there is a bicycle and treadmill available to keep up with their physical activity.

Learn more about the Year of Education on Station. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

How Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming App development

Internet of things (IoT) is a network of devices or objects which contain embedded technology that enables those devices and objects to communicate and interact with each other. The connectivity does not need any particular place, be it home or workplace. 

The devices include any smart gadgets or any other devices that are connected to the web or another device in some way and can be accessed and controlled from any location. IoT is becoming increasingly popular because of the tranquility of use and convenience it offers. There is a subsequent demand in apps (application) for such devices.

Following are some of the ways that IoT is impacting the mobile app development process:

Process initiation: The process initiation for IoT is not any set of pre-defined fundamentals. Most of the mobile app developers have no clear idea about where to start with the IoT, and because of its expensiveness, they don’t take any risk with any amount of money. But IoT technology is only a collection of several components that are combined to provide collective output.

Connectivity problem: One of the most essential things IoT needs is connectivity among the devices with the internet and also with other smart devices. IoT devices cannot be connected through the mobile cellular services as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth. The developers should resolve the connectivity issue with the ‘smart-things’. This refers that IoT applications require an upgraded integration gateway or standalone device as the modem.

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Marc Andreessen: audio will be ‘titanically important’ and VR will be ‘1,000’ times bigger than AR

“In a new a16z podcast with the venture firm’s founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, there’s a lot to enjoy, from Andreessen’s TV show recommendations to Horowitz’s secret to excellent barbecue. (It’s pretty much just “time,” as you might imagine.) More…”. Reblog with caption 🙃

The Future of Manufacturing Automation

With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and remote communication, automation is gaining stature in the manufacturing space. The usage of both AI and remote communication is slated to rise dramatically in the forthcoming years. 

In general, automation can be defined as taking rote tasks and designing a system that entirely performs the tasks automatically.

For example, the automation process is efficiently used in pharmaceutical manufacturing units where an automated system is used to dispense a given amount of powdered chemical. This enables numerous benefits that include mechanical precision and consistency, provides better safety, and decreased operating expenses. 

Full article: Manufacturing Automation Future

The emergence of drone technology has equipped emergency management organizations with robust capabilities that will enable them to cater more closely to the society. It has helped them to enhance their crisis management strategies and facilitate the optimization of resources. Although drones have received mixed reviews, especially in terms of privacy, their benefits during emergencies are unquestionable.

Drones can access environments that are difficult for relief workers, thus assisting in recovery efforts. Its benefits range from limited to escalated disasters, including floods, earthquakes, nuclear accidents, forest fires, and so on. Drones can be used for early detection, especially in the case of chemical accidents, where it is difficult for humans to carry out relief actions.

Nuclear and chemical accidents often lead to the release of toxic substances into the atmosphere. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive events lead to unsafe conditions for human beings. Evens In such circumstances, drones can assist in undertaking swift and effective countermeasures.

During earthquakes, drones can be deployed to monitor the extent of damage and prioritize the areas. They can be equipped with robust sensors to measure radiation, thus enabling the agencies to minimize fallout exposure for the relief workers. The drones can be used to assess the structural damage, especially buildings on the verge of collapsing. They are also useful in hard to reach areas such as tunnels and bridges.

Adopt These Five Effective Solutions to Overcome IoT Security Challenges

Internet of Things (IoT) is the trending technology nowadays, and it is gearing up fast to connect any hardware devices to the smart devices.  The increasing threat to Internet of Things has led to an urge to find practical solutions which may address this issue and reduce the rate at which cyber actors are attacking IoT devices.

Here are Five solutions that can be adapted to increase the security of IoT devices: https://goo.gl/X8tZDy

Hacking Aging: A Strategy to Use Big Data From Medical Studies to Extend Human Life

“Age is the most important single risk factor for the incidence of chronic diseases and ultimately, death. The mortality rate increases exponentially with age and doubles approximately every eight years, as described by the Gompertz law of mortality. The incidence of specific diseases, such as cancer or stroke, also accelerates after the age of about forty, and doubles at a rate that mirrors the mortality rate doubling time. It is therefore entirely plausible to think that there is a single underlying process, the driving force behind the progressive reduction of the organism’s fitness leading to the increasing susceptibility to diseases and death, that is aging itself. There is, however, no fundamental law of nature requiring exponential morbidity and mortality risk trajectories. The acceleration of mortality is thus the most important characteristics of aging process. It varies dramatically even among closely related mammalian species and hence appears to be a tunable phenotype. Here we follow how big data from large human medical studies, and analytical approaches borrowed from physics of complex dynamic systems can help to reverse engineer the underlying biology behind Gompertz mortality law. With this approach we hope to generate predictive models of aging and for systematic discovery of biomarkers of aging followed by identification of novel therapeutic targets for future anti-aging interventions”. Reblog with caption 🙃