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Santiago P.

Can robots stop Gulf of Mexico oil spill? | Crave - CNET - 1 views

  • robotic submarines in an effort to contain the spill
  • BP quoted National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts
  • They are monitoring the leak, which was discovered Saturday, as well as trying to activate the blowout preventer, a
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  • stop the oil flow.
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    The IT system in this case is the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) created by the oilfield engineering company Oceaneering. These robots monitored the leak deep down in the Transocean Deepwater Horizon, where humans could not reach to check out the oil spill. The major stakeholders are BP (the company responsible for the oil spill), experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who control and protect the environment in the Gulf of Mexico, Oceaneering, which created the ROVs, and the people living in the coast who were impacted by the massive oil spill in the gulf. The area of impact is that of science and the environment. The area of science applies to the robotics and artificial intelligence aspect, and the environment side deals with the environmental concern. The social and ethical issue is that of people and machines, and policies and standards. Experts in the field of environment must issue and enforce the policies that they stipulate, so as to protect the environment.
T Graham

PIA Information Services - Philippine Information Agency - 0 views

  • SM, NOKIA partner for cellphone waste collection
    • T Graham
       
      This is an interesting topic because the actual cell phone providers are helping to recycle their own products. Usually it's a private group or organization.
  • promote promise of electronic recycling.
    • T Graham
       
      Promotion is the key because it educates large numbers of people, making it easier to enforce the movement. Promotion from large companies makes it eaiser to reach the stakeholders.
  • She said this activity is in support to the earlier tie up of SM Supermalls where collaboration was made with concerned institutions and entities last September 2007
    • T Graham
       
      With the large coporations and the concerned private groups joining together they will make a bigger difference. The coporations can easily pitch recycling ideas to their costumers and the organizations will provide information and ideas.
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  • "This we can say that SM is no longer just a business enterprise but is a partner in helping the environment," she added.
    • T Graham
       
      This is where business and environment fuse together, to create an extremely helpful supercause. The business is not just making money its making money and saving the environment.
  • As we use, lose, abuse, and eventually upgrade our electronic tools we are leaving behind a massive transistor-filled leftover known as e-Waste. Thousands of mobile phones and all its accessories goes along with other e-Waste
    • T Graham
       
      E-waste can affect our water, air and soil. The waste that comes from cell phones can also takes hndreds of years to completely disentegrate.
Arafat Chowdhury

How Cell Phones Affect the School Environment - 0 views

    • Arafat Chowdhury
       
      I agree that cell phones are disruptive and distractive and schools should try to strictly enforce the use of them in schools.
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    When mobile cell phones were first released, they were only really used by the wealthy business man; the phones were so large that it was near impossible to carry them around.
Elisavet M

Offshore Outsourcing's Next New Wave: How High? - 1 views

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    The emergence of Business process outsourcing has transfigured the ways in which companies in developed nations, expand their services globally to businesses in developing nations. Although the cost for labor to support the extension of company engagement in third world countries is acknowledged as being relatively low (a beneficial advantage to most established business corporations), it has come to the attention of the participants (Businesses of developed countries) that it is of major importance to fully recognize the boundaries of business practices, culture, and level of intellectuality and experience within the hired portion of developing nation populace. Companies of information technology services, such as Dell, have come to form heightened concern about such global barriers, having attempted to transition call center labor in India and then deciding upon the withdrawal of such communication employment (due to the lack of consideration of business and cultural differences that impact business results). Based upon the data provided by NASSCOM (Indian software and services trade association), the conclusions drawn positively indicate that Business offshore processing has an overwhelming potential to grow in the next couple of years; although there is much room needed for consistent business growth (developing businesses, such as BPO in India, must rise at least 30 percent), the progression lies mainly upon the driving increase of skillful and educated information technology workers within India. The stakeholders, Information technology businesses in developed nations, surely stand by their statement supporting the increased use of qualified employers in the business environment of developing nations' companies (considered to also be additional stakeholders), for this will lower the cost involved in the off shoring process. The main social and ethical considerations lie upon reliability of developing nations'
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    My entire post was not posted on diigo, so here is the continuation: business functions, as developed countries' companies increasingly form reliance and trust upon the promise of the elevating skilled labor class, for it is a major component that supports the foundation of software and hardware services and networks on a globally connected basis. The reliability built within the business partnerships and bonds established in two differing cultural environments, is founded upon the agreement of mutual advancement and progress in regards to the establishment of skill by developing nations' employees. Although, the system of globalization and cultural diversity surface the obstacle of continuous intellectual and business development for developing nations, it is the gesture of surpassing cultural and business ideology that will truly trial both stakeholders involved.
T Graham

AFP: Taiwan unveils hydrogen-powered mobile phone chargers - 0 views

  • Taiwanese researchers said Friday they have developed hydrogen-powered mobile phone chargers
    • T Graham
       
      Hydrogen is a natural resource, it can be used over and over again. Hydrogen also doesn't give off any pollution in the air or give off any toxic waste.
  • "We will continue to improve the invention. We hope the hydrogen-powered device can replace current cell phone recharge systems in 2012."
    • T Graham
       
      Do they mean for all people who use cellphones, or just the users in Taiwan?
  • The charger will be key to the Taiwan government's endeavour of carving out a space for itself in future energy generation
    • T Graham
       
      Taiwan is mixing this technological move with its business endeavors and profit potential. This is mix of business and employment and environment.
Madeline Brownstone

BBC NEWS | Business | Bosses 'should embrace Facebook' - 1 views

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    ""In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional command-and-control techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity. "Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability." "
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    An interesting twist on using social networking in the workplace
helen g

Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software - NYTimes.com - 2 views

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    "Science * World * U.S. * N.Y. / Region * Business * Technology * Science o Environment o Space & Cosmos * Health * Sports * Opinion * Arts * Style * Travel * Jobs * Real Estate * Autos "
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    This article discusses advances in artificial intelligence which have allowed for legal documents to be read and processed by computers, rather than teams of lawyers. The major stakeholders in this scenario are the lawyer, who'se jobs are being taken by computer e-discovery software,such as Blackstone Discovery, due to the effiiency offered by computers as well as the fact that the services are much cheaper. The obvious concern in this situation is if computers are taking the jobs of actual people. Many argue that this is not the case, since jobs are always available. However, higher paying and more demanding jobs seem to be decreasing due to artificial intelligence. This puts an obvious restriction on people. It seems as though as time progresses, these jobs will start decreasing more and more on the job market.
Carmen M

RFID security, data protection and privacy, health and safety issues - 0 views

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    This was a rather long but interesting article to read regarding RFID. It starts out by stating what RFID is and how it is being planned on being introduced across many stores. What made this article informative was that it discussed not only the first thing that comes to mind when we hear this, privacy and security, but also possible health and environmental issues. Security was a big issue discussed. Concerns that came up was who would manage the information picked up by RFID's? Can this be used to track people? Can personal items or documents integrated with RFID track a specific person? Would they know? To what extent does this violate privacy? Are there laws to prevent any form of privacy violation? The article also stated people might have a choice whether or not to use the RFID and what would be the other option. Another issue stated was a health issue. Since this uses radio frequency waves, can this pose any damage to lets say tissue cells? The hypothesis was that no because it uses different kinds of waves than other technologies. However, this technology is too early in its stage to know for sure. Another concern was the disposal of this technology. What effect would it have on the environment. Again, it was too early to determine for sure.
Yuval S

Outsourcing to India Draws Western Lawyers - 2 views

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    There is a huge increase in India's Legal outsourcing business. Many of these companies use hundreds Indian lawyers who do the hard work that young lawyers in the United States usually have, at a fraction of the cost. Some Lawyers in the Unites States go because "they say they stay for the opportunities to build a business and manage people." Some issues of this is that the Westerners must adapt to India's environment. Managers estimate that "About 5 percent of Western transplants cannot handle it and move back home."
Madeline Brownstone

A special report on managing information: Data, data everywhere | The Economist - 1 views

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    "WHEN the Sloan Digital Sky Survey started work in 2000, its telescope in New Mexico collected more data in its first few weeks than had been amassed in the entire history of astronomy. Now, a decade later, its archive contains a whopping 140 terabytes of information. A successor, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, due to come on stream in Chile in 2016, will acquire that quantity of data every five days. "
Madeline Brownstone

Computer Aid International - 1 views

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    providing computers throughout the world to make a positive impact in education, health, and science
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    Links to short pieces about how donations of ICT makes positive impacts
Noreen C

U.S. Tries Open-Source Model for Health Data Systems - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • easily and securely share information
  • A fancy electronic patient record, unconnected, is just an expensive way to capture data.
  • Getting many different health care providers and suppliers of specialized software to agree on how to do that is no simple task.
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  • The solution the group agreed to is essentially Internet-based e-mail and public key encryption technology, tailored for health care.
  • For health care technology companies, the data-sharing standards, experts say, should stimulate the market for electronic health records and allow them to focus their efforts on making their individual offerings more affordable and easier to use.
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    This article is primarily about setting standards and protocols so that an electronic health records could world easily and securely for many health care providers and suppliers. The reason the introduction of an EHR hasn't worked before, is that there were no data-sharing standards, which would ensure that the data is transmitted securely across the internet. These standards are also in accordance of many of the interests of all of the health providers and stakeholders involved, which was a major problem previously. Without the issue of connecting the EHR from provider to provider, then the records would be a "fancy...way to capture data," and it's full potential would never be recognized. However, these new standards and protocols, filled with secure transactions based on encryptions, have made the introduction of an electronic health record possible. There are many benefits to the use of an EHR, including productivity and financial improvement for the companies and the employees. For example, doctors/nurses no longer need to spend time pulling a patient's file, or writing the details of the visit afterwards. There are also fewer repetitive tasks, and improved communication between doctor and nurse, or doctor and another doctor. Quality of care may also improve because doctors have quick access to a patient's information, there is better monitoring and discovery of chronic illnesses, and doctors can return phone calls/ provide medication refills immediately. Also, in general, the electronic charts allow for a more efficient office, which leads to a less stressful environment and more attention on the patients' care rather than searching for their charts. This can only be done through the introduction of an EHR, leading to easier queries, instant reorganization, and file management that could be transmitted to both the patient and any other doctors. This minimizes the ambiguity of not having tests results from one doctor, and allows all doctors treating a p
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    patient to see all of the patient's history. This is important in having a correct diagnosis and treatment. However, there are also some drawbacks. Initially, doctors who chose to engage in the implementation of a EHR, see some decreases in productivity. This is because entering information and learning how to use the software takes some time. Some doctors also do not have the money to invest in such software and accompanying hardware to, and others no not want to because they are accustomed to their hand-written charts. There are also some security issues, leading to greater privacy issues. The EHR maintains very personal data about a patient, and if the records are breached, then the privacy of the patient may be put at risk. There is also the issue of interoperability, which was brought up in the article. Many of the companies in different countries wishing to engage in the implementation of EHR have different standards involving the usage. This could harm the usage of an international EHR.
Madeline Brownstone

Re-Greening in Africa - World Wide Web Foundation - 1 views

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    "The project will exploit the current infrastructure consisting of Internet cafes in larger towns, mobile phones available to most families or communities, and radios that are an important way of providing information to people. We expect the following outcomes: "
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    This project looks interesting. I wonder if any issues have arisen from it. It was only established this year as a service project of W3C, but what are the potential issues here?
Kristin O

Poker Bots Invade Online Gambling - 6 views

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    This article starts out with a scenario about a professional online poker player figuring out that he was actually playing against a bot, which is designed to beat its opponents against all odds. There area of impact of this article can be arts entertatinment and leisure because the players do play for money and compete with one another online. This is from the point of view from the players however it can be also seen as business and employment because bots are being sold on line to do this specific task and to win earnings for whoever has paid for them. The Social and ethical issues here can be Security when looking at it from the point of view of the poker site owner, they are supposed to try and root out any bots to make online playing fair for everyone else. People and Machines can also be applied here because the bots are taking something that is meant for recreation by humans and extending their faculties but to the extent of not playing by the rules and playing an unfair game with some one else. The stakeholders of this issue are the online poker players, the people who own the poker playing website and the people who sell and use the poker bots. The IT system referred to in the article are the bots.
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    I found this article really interesting because I had not thought about it at all. This is an important case to pay attention to because of the fact that machines are taking over another aspect of the human life. Not only are machines capable of replacing jobs, such as the repetitive ones in factories, but they are also able to take away the fun in gambling. They are also bending the rules and creating an unfair environment for gamblers on the Internet.
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    This article piqued my interest because it made me think about my own article in a broader way. My article talked about the issue of artificial intelligence talking menial and low skill jobs from people. This article attracted me because it show AI used in another way to make money for people. It takes what is mentioned in my article and extends it to another dimension. People are using these bots to actually make money by competing against human competitors but this is occurring to players unsuspecting players, technically this is using advanced technology to steal.
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