3½ Problems For Digital Assistants,
2017
Vocational Training Council
3½ Problems For Digital Assistants
SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute
Digital home assistants promise to make life easier and happier. But a few problems stand in their way
Ai Centaurs,
2017
Vocational Training Council
Ai Centaurs
SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute
As artificial intelligence outstrips human intelligence, AIs can now beat humans at any game. A pessimist might claim that this marks the end of the line for play. But a mythical beast has come to save playtime from the robots.
History Of Computing,
2017
Loyola University Chicago
History Of Computing, George K. Thiruvathukal, David B. Dennis
David Dennis
The social and organizational history of humanity is intricately entangled with the history of technology in general and the technology of information in particular. Advances in this area have often been closely involved in social and political transformations. While the contemporary period is often referred to by such names as the Computing and Information Age, this is the culmination of a series of historical transformations that have been centuries in the making. This course will provide a venue for students to learn about history through the evolution of number systems and arithmetic, calculating and computing machines, and advanced communication technology ...
Initial Experience In Moving Key Academic Department Functions To Social Networking Sites,
2017
Loyola University Chicago
Initial Experience In Moving Key Academic Department Functions To Social Networking Sites, David Dennis, George K. Thiruvathukal, Konstantin Läufer
David Dennis
We discuss our initial experience with the transition from conventional technology to social networking sites and other cloud-backed sites for three core business functions of an academic computer science department at a mid-size private university: course management, research collaboration, and community engagement. We first discuss the social/cultural context that informs our technology choices, as well as the evolution of the technology choices themselves. Then, we identify the targeted department functions and their actors. Next, we describe the past and present technical architectures used to support these functions. We conclude with a discussion of our preliminary experience with this transition ...
Moving Academic Department Functions To Social Networks And Clouds: Initial Experiences,
2017
Loyola University Chicago
Moving Academic Department Functions To Social Networks And Clouds: Initial Experiences, George K. Thiruvathukal, Konstantin Läufer, David Dennis
David Dennis
The ability to move locally hosted services to cloud-based technologies is a key element in the scientific programming toolbox.
Technical Note: A Minimally-Invasive Experimental System For Pco2 Manipulation In Plankton Cultures Using Passive Gas Exchange (Atmospheric Carbon Control Simulator),
2017
Western Washington University, USA
Technical Note: A Minimally-Invasive Experimental System For Pco2 Manipulation In Plankton Cultures Using Passive Gas Exchange (Atmospheric Carbon Control Simulator), Brooke Love, M. Brady Olson, Tristen Wuori
Brooke Love
As research into the biotic effects of ocean acidification has increased, the methods for simulating these environmental changes in the laboratory have multiplied. Here we describe the atmospheric carbon control simulator (ACCS) for the maintenance of plankton under controlled pCO2 conditions, designed for species sensitive to the physical disturbance introduced by the bubbling of cultures and for studies involving trophic interaction. The system consists of gas mixing and equilibration components coupled with large volume atmospheric simulation chambers. These chambers allow gas exchange to counteract the changes in carbonate chemistry induced by the metabolic activity of the organisms. The system is ...
Architecture-Based Self-Adaptation For Moving Target Defense (Cmu-Isr-14-109),
2017
Carnegie Mellon University
Architecture-Based Self-Adaptation For Moving Target Defense (Cmu-Isr-14-109), Bradley Schmerl, Javier Camara, Gabriel Moreno, David Garlan, Andrew O. Mellinger
Gabriel A. Moreno
The fundamental premise behind Moving Target Defense (MTD) is to create a dynamic and shifting system that is more difficult to attack than a static system because a constantly changing attack surface at least reduces the chance of an attacker finding and exploiting the weakness. However, MTD approaches are typically chosen without regard to other qualities of the system, such as performance or cost. This report explores the use of self-adaptive systems, in particular those based on the architecture of the running system. A systems software architecture can be used to trade off different quality dimensions of the system. In ...
Human Energy Capstone,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Human Energy Capstone
Activities
Movement is very important for humans. From our earliest days, we seem eager to get up and move around. The most celebrated moments of a child’s life seem to be geared around the ability to move: the first crawl, the first walk, the first bike ride, and (every parent’s nightmare) the first driver’s license. The ability to get around is one of the most cherished abilities and freedoms. For many Americans, our ability to get around when and how we want is almost considered a sacred right. Physics textbooks, which have many chapters devoted to motion, build ...
Efficiency,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Efficiency
Activities
The previous two activities in this module have shown us the importance of conservation laws. These laws provide extra “tools” that allow us to analyze certain aspects of physical systems and to be able to predict the motion of objects in the systems without using more complicated analysis. Even in situations wherein we cannot exactly solve the motion, these laws are incredibly useful. For instance, if someone shows us an incredibly complicated device that can seemingly produce electricity with no energy input whatsoever, we know not to invest money in this device, as it must be a sham since it ...
First Law Of Thermodynamics,
2017
Kennesaw State University
First Law Of Thermodynamics
Activities
In last week’s activity, we calculated the motion of objects by studying the forces on them. Using Newton’s Second Law of Motion, we were able to relate the forces on an object to the acceleration it experienced. The presence of constant forces led to constant accelerations, which corresponded to linearly-increasing velocities with respect to time. Comparisons made between the velocities we measured and those calculated from a study of the forces on the objects allowed us to validate Newton’s equation F = ma. In this week’s activity, we are going to investigate almost the same experimental setup ...
Newton's Second Law,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Newton's Second Law
Activities
There are two ways to study the dynamics of a system in which there is motion. One of these is to study the kinematics of the system to see if there is any acceleration. If there is an acceleration, then this implies that there is a net force on some part of the system. If there is no acceleration, then this means that either there are no forces on the system, or that the forces within the system are all balanced. The other way to study the system is from an energy standpoint. Energy can flow from potential to kinetic ...
Population Growth,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Population Growth
Activities
When George Washington started the first Presidency of the United States of America, he was governing less than 4 million people who occupied an area of 2,300,000 square kilometers. It was an agrarian society, with 95% of the population living on farms and only 5% in cities or towns of more than 2,500. There was plenty of land, and a vast array of natural resources, just waiting to be tapped. Today, we live in a country of over 294 million people. While we are one of the major food producers in the world, it is no longer ...
Age Structures,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Age Structures
Activities
One of the tools that demographers use to understand population is the age structure diagram (it is sometimes called a population pyramid, but it is not always pyramidal in shape). This diagram shows the distribution by ages of females and males within a certain population in graphic form. Figure 1 shows a diagram in which the ages and sexes for the United States population are arranged so that ages are grouped together such as 0 – 4 years, 5 – 9 years, and so on. The population of each is group is represented as a bar extending from a central vertical line ...
Population Statistics,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Population Statistics
Activities
For all of its futuristic stylings, the television show Star Trek was, like most science fiction, a commentary on the state of society at the time it was written (late 1960’s). One of the more famous episodes of that series was the one entitled The Mark of Gideon, which dealt with a planet that was so overpopulated that people did not have anywhere to sit down. At the time of the show, the Earth’s population was at about 3.5 billion, and was increasing at an incredible rate. The effects of such a large population on the environment ...
Toxic Chemicals,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Toxic Chemicals
Activities
Humans have used chemicals for a long time. The ancient Egyptians used chemicals for dyeing, soldering and coloring metal, and making jewelry. The Industrial Revolution, which began in the middle of the 18th century, spawned the development of many new chemicals and chemical processes. Since World War II, the global chemical industry has boomed. Global production of chemicals was 1 million tons in 1930 and is now over 400 million tons. Environmental scientists study chemicals to determine if they are harmful to human health and the environment. Pretty much every chemical can harm you if you ingest too much of ...
Home Chemicals,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Home Chemicals
Activities
Chemicals are everywhere, in the air you breathe, in the food you eat, and in the chair you’re sitting on. Moreover, you’re mostly chemicals. Ninety nine percent of the human body is composed of just 6 chemical elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. After you die, you’ll decompose into hydrogen, nitrogen, water, ammonia, carbon dioxide, phosphoric acid, and sulfuric acid. So, from chemicals we come and to chemicals we go. Chemical elements are substances that contain one kind of atom and cannot be separated into simpler substances. There are 116 known chemical elements, of which ...
Mineral Identification,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Mineral Identification
Activities
For this activity, we are going to try to identify ten different minerals from their properties. There is an attached listing of the major properties of the most commonly found minerals. Use it and any other resources you might have to identify the ten minerals, and list your findings on the sheet below. In order to help you by giving you a little practice with mineral identification, we suggest the following virtual identifier: http://facweb.bhc.edu/academics/science/harwoodr/Geol101/Labs/Minerals/ Your instructor will provide you with up to 10 different mineral samples for identification. To test for ...
Plate Mechanics,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Plate Mechanics
Activities
Imagine a swimming pool that is totally covered with air rafts, with the air rafts neatly lined up end to end and side by side. Then imagine someone running up and doing a cannonball jump into the pool. Logically, the rafts will be thrust about with some of them jamming into each other, others pulling apart, and still others sliding past one another—and so it is with the tectonic plates of Earth: some of the plates are colliding, others are pulling apart, and still others are sliding past one another; therefore, understandably, where there are boundaries between the tectonic ...
Plate Speed,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Plate Speed
Activities
We are truly in motion no matter where we stand on the planet. The tectonic plates that compose the crust of the Earth are in motion at a measurable rate. Everything on the crust of the Earth changes its location in relation to the planet. Yes, the plates are moving over the mantle, and we can measure this motion to determine the rate of plate movement by figuring the distances and times involved. For example, if we know the past location of a certain island, then we can measure the distance between the present location of the island and its ...
Earthquake Epicenter,
2017
Kennesaw State University
Earthquake Epicenter
Activities
In this week’s activity, we are going to try to locate the epicenter of an earthquake using readings from three different seismograph stations. This will be done by measuring the difference in time between the arrival of the P and S-waves. The difference it time of their arrivals is due to the difference in speeds for both waves. In particular, the difference in time is given by (distance to epicenter)/(Vp – Vs). Thus, we can find out how far away a particular seismograph is from an earthquake by solving this equation for distance. Since there are three stations, we ...
