Skip to main content

Home/ Advanced Concepts Team/ Group items matching "factor" in title, tags, annotations or url

Group items matching
in title, tags, annotations or url

Sort By: Relevance | Date Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
5More

Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups - 2 views

www.sciencemag.org/...686 intelligence team talking women
shared by Isabelle DB on 05 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Isabelle DB on 05 Nov 10
     
    What do you think of this one ?
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Luzi Bergamin on 05 Nov 10
     
    Great! Women perhaps are not more intelligent as individuals, but now at least they have more collective intelligence... Interesting research topic, though, but I doubt that any of these results can be generalized to real live situations.
  • Isabelle DB on 05 Nov 10
     
    Maybe by passing the message to ensure some men understand it would be their interest to have (more) women in their teams ? No problem at the ACT, this maybe why it works so well ? :-))
  • Luzi Bergamin on 05 Nov 10
     
    Well, that's perhaps the reason, why meetings were always so f... boring while I was at ACT :D
  • sreejanag on 08 Nov 10
     
    Lots more resources on collective intelligence: http://cci.mit.edu/
9More

Probabilistic Logic Allows Computer Chip to Run Faster - 3 views

www.azonano.com/news.asp INF MAD probabilistic computing AI
shared by Dario Izzo on 07 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Dario Izzo on 07 Dec 09
     
    Francesco pointed out this research one year ago, we dropped it as noone was really considering it ... but in space a low CPU power consumption is crucial!! Maybe we should look back into this?
  • ...6 more comments...
  • Ma Ru on 07 Dec 09
     
    Q1: For the time being, for what purposes computers are mainly used on-board?
  • Dario Izzo on 07 Dec 09
     
    for navigation, control, data handling and so on .... why?
  • Ma Ru on 07 Dec 09
     
    Well, because the point is to identify an application in which such computers would do the job... That could be either an existing application which can be done sufficiently well by such computers or a completely new application which is not already there for instance because of some power consumption constraints... Q2 would be then: for which of these purposes strict determinism of the results is not crucial? As the answer to this may not be obvious, a potential study could address this very issue. For instance one can consider on-board navigation systems with limited accuracy... I may be talking bullshit now, but perhaps in some applications it doesn't matter whether a satellite flies on the exact route but +/-10km to the left/right? ...and so on for the other systems. Another thing is understanding what exactly this probabilistic computing is, and what can be achieved using it (like the result is probabilistic but falls within a defined range of precision), etc. Did they build a complete chip or at least a sub-circiut, or still only logic gates...
  • Dario Izzo on 07 Dec 09
     
    Satellites use old CPUs also because with the trend of going for higher power modern CPUs are not very convenient from a system design point of view (TBC)... as a consequence the constraints put on on-board algorithms can be demanding. I agree with you that double precision might just not be necessary for a number of applications (navigation also), but I guess we are not talking about 10km as an absolute value, rather to a relative error that can be tolerated at level of (say) 10^-6. All in all you are right a first study should assess what application this would be useful at all.. and at what precision / power levels
  • Joris _ on 07 Dec 09
     
    The interest of this can be a high fault tolerance for some math operations, ... which would have for effect to simplify the job of coders! I don't think this is a good idea regarding power consumption for CPU (strictly speaking). The reason we use old chip is just a matter of qualification for space, not power. For instance a LEON Sparc (e.g. use on some platform for ESA) consumes something like 5mW/MHz so it is definitely not were an engineer will look for some power saving considering a usual 10-15kW spacecraft
  • Dario Izzo on 07 Dec 09
     
    What about speed then? Seven time faster could allow some real time navigation at higher speed (e.g. velocity of a terminal guidance for an asteroid impactor is limited to 10 km/s ... would a higher velocity be possible with faster processors?) Another issue is the radiation tolerance of the technology ... if the PCMOS are more tolerant to radiation they could get more easily space qualified.....
  • Joris _ on 08 Dec 09
     
    I don't remember what is the speed factor, but I guess this might do it! Although, I remember when using an IMU that you cannot have the data above a given rate (e.g. 20Hz even though the ADC samples the sensor at a little faster rate), so somehow it is not just the CPU that must be re-thought. When I say qualification I also imply the "hardened" phase.
  • Francesco Biscani on 08 Dec 09
     
    I don't know if the (promised) one-order-of-magnitude improvements in power efficiency and performance are enough to justify looking into this. For once, it is not clear to me what embracing this technology would mean from an engineering point of view: does this technology need an entirely new software/hardware stack? If that were the case, in my opinion any potential benefit would be nullified. Also, is it realistic to build an entire self-sufficient chip on this technology? While the precision of floating point computations may be degraded and still be useful, how does all this play with integer arithmetic? Keep in mind that, e.g., in the Linux kernel code floating-point calculations are not even allowed/available... It is probably possible to integrate an "accelerated" low-accuracy floating-point unit together with a traditional CPU, but then again you have more implementation overhead creeping in. Finally, recent processors by Intel (e.g., the Atom) and especially ARM boast really low power-consumption levels, at the same time offering performance-boosting features such as multi-core and vectorization capabilities. Don't such efforts have more potential, if anything because of economical/industrial inertia?
3More

Superconductors could simulate the brain - 2 views

physicsworld.com/...41916 superconductors brain
shared by pacome delva on 08 Mar 10 - Cached
  • who have shown how networks of artificial neurons containing two Josephson junctions would outpace more traditional computer-simulated brains by many orders of magnitude. Studying such junction-based systems could improve our understanding of long-term learning and memory along with factors that may contribute to disorders like epilepsy.
  • The existing design does not permit learning since the weighting of connections between synapses cannot be changed over time, but Segall believes that if this feature can be added then their neurons might allow a lifetime's worth of learning to be simulated in five or ten minutes. This, he adds, should help us to understand how learning changes with age and might give us clues as to how long-term disorders like Parkinson's disease develops.
  • Christos Ampatzis on 09 Mar 10
     
    What I don't get is how the measure the extent of matching: how "close", or realistic is the modelisation they achieve with different methods? And moreover, if weights cannot adapt and there are no direct connections between neurons and layers of neurons, isnt that a very arbitrary matching?
1More

artificial inorganic leaf (AIL) - 1 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...100325131549.htm nrg nan bio
shared by Nicholas Lan on 29 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Nicholas Lan on 29 Mar 10
     
    bit confused about what they actually have achieved so far but sounds like it might turn out to be interesting. "The scientists first infiltrated the leaves of Anemone vitifolia -- a plant native to China -- with titanium dioxide in a two-step process. Using advanced spectroscopic techniques, the scientists were then able to confirm that the structural features in the leaf favorable for light harvesting were replicated in the new TiO2 structure. Excitingly, the AIL are eight times more active for hydrogen production than TiO2 that has not been "biotemplated" in that fashion. AILs also are more than three times as active as commercial photo-catalysts. Next, the scientists embedded nanoparticles of platinum into the leaf surface. Platinum, along with the nitrogen found naturally in the leaf, helps increase the activity of the artificial leaves by an additional factor of ten."
4More

Girls Get Math: It's Culture That's Skewed - 2 views

www.livescience.com/...090601-gender-math.html sociology math
shared by pacome delva on 19 Apr 10 - Cached
  • "There's a gender stereotype that boys are better at math than girls are, and stereotypes die very hard," Hyde told LiveScience. "Teachers and parents still believe that boys are better at math than girls are." The researchers provide several possible cultural factors keeping females from excelling in math, including classroom dynamics in which teachers pay more attention to boys, while even mathematically gifted girls are not nurtured. In addition, stereotypes may drive guidance counselors and others to discourage girls from taking engineering courses.
  • Nina Nadine Ridder on 26 Apr 10
     
    The guidance counselor at my high school discouraged me to study physics but was very excited when I was contemplating to become a teacher. Maybe I should send her this article...
  • Luzi Bergamin on 26 Apr 10
     
    Oh yeah, real new!! And in the 90s it was obvious that girls are smarter but discriminated, today its obvious that the poor boys are neglected; some years ago female teachers were proven to discriminate even stronger against girls than male teachers and today politicians demand more male teachers... because they would pay more attention to the neglected boys! Great, that's what I like about sociological research, every couple of years one can sell the same old story again and again and again... sorry, I'm in a real bullshitter mood today!
  • Nicholas Lan on 27 Apr 10
     
    gotta agree with luzi here. girls at secondary school in the UK have been outperforming boys for years now after numerous government programmes. As to guidance counsellors - if they were any good at guidance wouldn't they have better jobs?
3More

Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore - 5 views

arstechnica.com/...re-very-much-about-tablets.ars inf
shared by Francesco Biscani on 22 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Francesco Biscani on 22 Feb 11
     
    There it goes :)
  • Ma Ru on 22 Feb 11
     
    "So a new tablet will never be exciting the way that a new, luxury gel ink pen will be exciting" Man, I immediately felt like ordering some new luxury gel ink pens!
  • LeopoldS on 22 Feb 11
     
    like also this one: "Some of the really savvy new media efforts like Flipboard are exciting, but after the initial "wow" factor wears off, these apps mainly serve to remind me that there's already too much good stuff to read out there, and that my life is slipping away from me in an infinite stream of interesting bits about smart animals, dumb criminals, outrageous celebs, shiny objects, funny memes, scientific discoveries, economic developments, etc.. I invariably end up closing the app in a fit of guilt, and picking up one of the truly fantastic dead tree or Kindle books that I'm working my way through at the moment, so that I can actually exercise my brain (as opposed to simply wearing it out)."
2More

What Open Source shares with Science - Khaotic Musings - conz's Blog at ZDNet.co.uk Com... - 0 views

community.zdnet.co.uk/...7,10012939o-2000630136b,00.htm open source
shared by Francesco Biscani on 14 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Francesco Biscani on 14 Jun 09
     
    Beautiful and inspirational piece.
  • Francesco Biscani on 14 Jun 09
     
    Thinking about it, probably Open Source today is more faithful to the "scientific method" than most science, as far as the communication and sharing of information is concerned. We badly need to get rid of the dictatorship of journals and assorted bullshit like impact factors...
7More

Following SpaceX down the rabbit hole -- The Space Review - 4 views

www.thespacereview.com/...1 SpaceX launcher
shared by Luís F. Simões on 19 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • He then went on to remind the press that his company’s goal is to continue to lower the cost of access to space because high launch costs were “the fundamental factor preventing humanity from becoming a spacefaring civilization.”
  • First, two Falcon Heavy launches could field a return to the Moon
  • Second, a single Falcon Heavy could launch a Mars sample return mission.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Also possible with a single launch: a first ever human mission to an asteroid.
  • what effect Falcon Heavy might have on the costs of supporting the International Space Station. The ability to launch twice the supply capacity provided by the shuttle at something on the order of 20 percent of the cost changes the calculus entirely. So much so in fact, it opens the door for contemplating an entirely different future for ISS in which it never follows Mir into the Pacific.
  • Following conclusions offered by the Augustine Committee, the Obama Administration cancelled Project Constellation as unaffordable under existing budget limits, and supported instead the ambling, but cost-contained “flexible path.” If the Falcon Heavy is available, however, the rationale for selecting the flexible path—because it’s the only thing we can afford—simply doesn’t exist.
  • Luís F. Simões on 19 Apr 11
     
    an analysis of implications of the Falcon Heavy announcement
1More

Extraneous factors in judicial decisions - 1 views

www.pnas.org/...1018033108.short social behaviour
shared by LeopoldS on 18 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 18 Apr 11
     
    astonishing! whenever you go to a judge, make sure that he has a full belly ... I am sure we can apply this things also for other situations: exams etc
2More

[1107.0392] Emergence of good conduct, scaling and Zipf laws in human behavioral sequen... - 3 views

arxiv.org/1107.0392 emergence human behavior science
shared by santecarloni on 07 Jul 11 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • santecarloni on 07 Jul 11
     
    ... proof that humanity is good?
  • LeopoldS on 16 Jul 11
     
    "The dataset contains practically all actions of all players of the MMOG Pardus since the game went online in 2004 [18]. Pardus is an open-ended online game with a world- wide player base of currently more than 370,000 people. Play- ers live in a virtual, futuristic universe in which they interact with others in a multitude of ways to achieve their self-posed goals [22]. Most players engage in various economic activities typically with the (self-posed) goal to accumulate wealth and status. Social and economical decisions of players are often strongly influenced and driven by social factors such as friend- ship, cooperation, and conflict." quite impressive ...
3More

Is increased light exposure from screens and phones bad for your health? @Wired - 1 views

www.wired.com/...ificial-light-may-be-unhealthy
shared by Thijs Versloot on 19 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Thijs Versloot on 19 Mar 15
     
    As Stevens says in the new article, researchers now know that increased nighttime light exposure tracks with increased rates of breast cancer, obesity and depression. Correlation isn't causation, of course, and it's easy to imagine all the ways researchers might mistake those findings. The easy availability of electric lighting almost certainly tracks with various disease-causing factors: bad diets, sedentary lifestyles, exposure to they array of chemicals that come along with modernity. Very difficult to prove causation I would think, but there are known relationships between hormone levels and light.
  • Paul N on 21 Mar 15
     
    There is actually a windows program called flux, that changes the temperature on your screen to match normal light cycles. When the sun sets it switches to a "warmer" more reddish tint on your screen to promote sleepiness. The typically bright blue/neon white settings of most pc settings is quite "awakening" and keeps your brain running for longer. This impacts your sleeping patterns and all the consequences of that. Amazingly, this flux thing does have an effect. That being said, I wouldn't be too quick to blame it all on PC/artificial lighting time. Sedentary lifestyles, etc can very well place one in a position of long term pc/phone usage so it's quite hard to draw a causal link.
  • LeopoldS on 23 Mar 15
     
    nice - also exists for MAC btw: https://justgetflux.com/news/pages/mac/
3More

Optimised spatial planning to meet long term urban sustainability objectives - ScienceD... - 3 views

www.sciencedirect.com/...S0198971515300090
shared by darioizzo2 on 18 Jan 19 - No Cached
  • darioizzo2 on 18 Jan 19
     
    for the ACT architects .... Can we do the same for the Moon Village? We brainstorm on some mathematical simplified objectives for growing the settlement (taking inputs from the modular growth, resources, terrain suitability etc ....), we define some simple rules for growth and we optimize. ..... easy peasy (i am serious)
  • marliesarnhof on 21 Jan 19
     
    i agree, with most of the parameters that would actually be really cool. but doesn't it get very messy once economy plays a large factor?
  • darioizzo2 on 21 Jan 19
     
    We can start studying the ideal case, or add also some economical constraints on the settlement layout ...
‹ Previous 21 - 32 of 32
Showing 20▼ items per page