Artificial intelligence to help disaster aid coordination

zunia.org - The “fragmented” coordination between relief actors in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan last month underscores the need for artificial intelligence to streamline disaster response, says a team behind such an effort. The ORCHID project — a consortium of UK universities and private firms — aims to make this possible by combining human and artificial intelligence into an efficient complementary unit known as a Human Agent Collective (HAC).

The computer systems being developed can assume tasks such as directing surveillance drones, resource management and search planning, says David Jones, head of Rescue Global, the disaster response organisation responsible for testing the software next year.

“Coordination of such a large response [after a disaster] is so challenging without technological assistance that makes data more accessible,” he tells SciDev.Net while on mission in the Philippines. “Bringing humans and artificial intelligence together is the only way to get the job done better.”

The usage and impact of internet enabled phones on academic concentration among students of tertiary institutions

online-masters-and-phds.com - Ibadan street scene. Attribution: Dassiebtekreuz

Article by: Emeka K Ezemenaka, Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique (IFRA), Nigeria

The usage of Internet enabled phones has been a 21st century phenomenon that spreads for different purposes and functions. This study looks into the usage and perceived effect implications internet enabled phones have on the academic performance of the tertiary students using University of Ibadan students in Nigeria as a case study.

William's on his way – and Cambridge should be ashamed

theguardian.com - After graduating from Cambridge this summer, I temped in a diesel factory to save money for my Master's. They were used to students in the factory, but they didn't get many from Cambridge. Telling people where I'd studied usually resulted in a bit of a double take and a question along the lines of: "What, the posh one?" Yes, the posh one.

Information systems education in Kenya: Students’ specialization choice trends

online-masters-and-phds.com - Technical University of Kenya (formerly Kenya Polytechnic University College) Article by: Atieno A Ndede-Amadi, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya The objective of this study was to determine the time and level of Information Systems (IS) awareness among Kenyan university students and the choice of IS as a field of specialization. The study posited that the choice of a field of specialization is dependent upon a student’s awareness of its existence, its utilization in the real world, its career opportunities, and its strategic importance to the country’s economic development agenda.

How animals help us understand disease

bbc.co.uk - By Dr Alison Woollard University of Oxford

For all the weird and wonderful diversity of the animal kingdom, at the genetic level many species have a surprising level of similarity. As a result we can learn a lot about the inner workings of our own human cells by studying other animals, and not all of them are mammals as you might expect.

In the 2013 Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution, titled Life Fantastic, I discuss a menagerie of creatures that help explain where life comes from and how we grow and age. I also show how the knowledge we gain from the natural world is helping to inform our understanding of human development and disease. 

Rock And Rho: Proteins that help cancer cells groove

medicalxpress.com - Biologists at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered that low oxygen conditions, which often persist inside tumors, are sufficient to initiate a molecular chain of events that transforms breast cancer cells from being rigid and stationery to mobile and invasive. Their evidence, published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Dec. 9, underlines the importance of hypoxia-inducible factors in promoting breast cancer metastasis.

Apple files new patent that could enable voice-based photo search in Siri

digitaltrends.com - According to a new application the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published this week , Apple may be working on bringing voice-based photo search to Siri. The patent, “Voice-Based Image Tagging and Searching,” describes the ability of searching photographs on a device via text strings associated, such as tags, said AppleInsider , which discovered the filing this week (the patent was submitted back in March, but only just published by the USPTO).

Top Health Trend For 2014: Telehealth To Grow Over 50%. What Role For Regulation?

forbes.com - For many years, telehealth advocates have accused payers of being unwilling to reimburse for proven telehealth interventions, which can significantly reduce medical costs. Well, we have crossed that chasm, and telehealth is about to experience explosive growth. RNCOS Business Consultancy Services has just released a report predicting 18.5 percent annual growth in telehealth worldwide through 2018.

Why Ben Silbermann Keeps Creating New Pinterest Accounts

fastcompany.com - It's fair to say that Ben Silbermann spends a lot of time on Pinterest. As the social network's founder and CEO, he's intimately familiar with its every feature. However, Silbermann says that too much attention to detail can blind an otherwise crucial aspect of running a company: a user's first experience. "One of the hard parts about building a service that you use yourself is that it's easy to forget what it was like the very first time someone someone signs up," he says.

Cybersecurity Will Get More Complex in 2014

mashable.com - Bad news for all businesses, big and small. Cybersecurity is going to get a lot more complicated in 2014. Global nonprofit IT association ISACA believes IT and cybersecurity professionals should resolve now to gear up for accelerated change and complexity in 2014, especially in cybersecurity, data privacy and big data. “The pace of change expected in 2014 will put incredible pressure on technology professionals in the workplace with a focus on keeping IT risk in check while at the same time delivering value to the business," said Bhavesh Bhagat, CEO of EnCrisp, co-founder of Confident Governance and member of ISACA's new emerging business and technology committee.