Writing and grammar in the age of social media

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Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging are inflicting tremendous violence on writing and grammar at alarmingly unimaginable scales.
The annoying, sometimes frustratingly cryptic, abbreviations that social media have spawned in the last few years among young people are finding their way not only to formal interpersonal and organization communication but to student academic writing and other serious contexts.
Teachers of grammar and writing all over the world are concerned not only because these sorts of abbreviations are intellectually impoverished and thwart clear thinking and writing but also because young people who employ these social media-induced linguistic mutilations in their quotidian communicative activities seem incapable of realizing that it is grossly inappropriate to extend their peculiar usage norms to serious, formal contexts and that not everybody finds them “cool.”
In the past few months, I’ve been gathering data on the abbreviations that Nigerian youth have invented to communicate online. I’ve also been examining how these frankly irritating and occasionally brainless abbreviations are making unwelcome incursions into serious communication. For instance, Nigerian youth online render the pronoun “my” as “ma” and write “life” as “laif.” If the object of these alternative spellings is to save space, I don’t see what space is saved since the original spellings and the alternative spellings have the exact same number of letters. There are several such examples in Nigerian social media language, but I will save that for the week I choose to write exclusively on this phenomenon.
I personally feel offended when people I hardly know—and whom I am clearly older than and socially superior to—write to me using these exasperating and dim-witted abbreviations, especially if it is email communication or Facebook message sent through a computer, which imposes no space limit like phones do.
This week, I’ve chosen to share with you an insightful news report on the decline of writing and grammar in America and the United Kingdom. The report, titled “Does it matter if students can’t write well?,” was published in UK’s Financial Times on June 26, 2013. It was written by Michael Skapinker and can be found at http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/670a5802-d9b7-11e2-98fa-00144feab7de.html#axzz2XWYjo6vI. Enjoy.It is odd that the problem persists when parents try to give their children every advantage
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a US-based professor, whose Dean had reprimanded him for trying to teach his students how to write. “That is not a writing class,” the professor was told.
The professor, who has been teaching business and law students at some of America’s top universities for 50 years, told an MBA class that clear writing would be essential in their careers.
Each week in his class, they would compose a one-page memorandum, which he would read and mark (or grade). The memos would answer a simple question from their textbooks. “I wanted the assignment to be more about conveying their analyses than testing their ability to get the analyses right,” he said.
Were they grateful? “The students complained so vigorously to the Dean that I was asked to stop.” The students said that in today’s business, they did not need to know how to write. “E-mails and tweets are the medium of exchange. So, they argued, the constant back-and-forth gives one an opportunity to correct misunderstandings caused by unclear thinking and writing.”
The Dean insisted that the professor should make the writing exercise voluntary. By the end of the term, only one student, a non-native English speaker, was submitting the assignments.
The professor’s worry about writing is widely shared. According to 2008 research, 46 per cent of first-year California State University students needed writing help. 
The deficiency is not confined to undergraduates. A study published in 2009 in the journal Current Issues in Education found that a group of 97 US masters and doctoral students did no better in a diagnostic writing test than the typical college-bound high school senior.
Teachers at even the UK’s top universities say the same. David Abulafia, a Cambridge history professor, said in a talk this year: “People do not know how to write. Command of grammar, punctuation and spelling is atrocious.”
There was a need, Prof Abulafia said, to recover “an art (I shan’t call it a skill) that has been lost and has to be instilled in first-year undergraduates even at Oxford and Cambridge: the ability to write continuous prose, clearly, elegantly, concisely, setting out an argument”.
Is students’ writing really worse, or are professors imagining a golden age of literacy that never existed?
People have been complaining about writing for a while. “If your children are attending college, the chances are that when they graduate they will be unable to write ordinary, expository English with any real degree of structure and lucidity,” Newsweek Magazine said in a famous essay called “Why Johnny can’t write”. That was in 1975, and the experts blamed “the simplistic spoken style of television”.
Today, Prof Abulafia says poor writing “may reflect a society in which fewer young people read and much of their informal writing consists of Twitter and Facebook messages”. He does, however, also worry about rote learning in schools and that pupils receive no reward in examinations for having read more widely. He adds that many more students are now sitting school-leaver A-level examinations, which means teachers and examiners have less time to spend on each candidate.
Whether poor writing is new or old, it is odd that it persists at a time when parents are vying to provide their children with any possible advantage, exposing them to Paul Klee at the age of four, as the New York Times recently reported, and teaching them to sing “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes” in Mandarin.
If there is such a shortage of competent writers, why are ambitious parents not rushing to make sure their kids can compose an elegant English essay, and why are MBA students not scrambling to do the same?
One possible answer is that there really isn’t much of a demand and that being a decent writer commands no premium in the job market. Are the US professor’s students right in thinking that Twitter, Facebook and text messaging are all they need?
I doubt it. There are still jobs where good writing matters. It is hard to see those law students stepping up to the bench without being able to render a literate judgment. And I can’t be the only customer who assumes that a banker who doesn’t know where an apostrophe goes is going to be equally careless with my money.
There’s a gap in the market and the smarter parents and students should get on to it. Good writing is far easier to master than Mandarin.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Is Nokia new Asha phones for rappers?

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Global mobile device maker, Nokia at the weekend got behind Nigerian rap musicians in what it called Don’t Break Da Beat campaign, apparently to popularise its two latest Asha range of smartphones in the country.

The two new entry level smartphones and the rap competition were unveiled simultaneously, Friday night, with thousands of Nigerian youths turning the Grandeur Events centre, Ikeja, venue of the launch into beehive of activity from midnight Friday to Saturday morning.

Popular Rap stars, Modenine, Eva, phenone as well as a growing number of other upcoming rap artistes did their thing and thrilled scores of youths who took delight in Rap genre of music.

Shortly before the event became more of entertainment than technology,Nokia’s MD, West and Central Africa, Mr Nick Imudia, introduced the two devices, Nokia Asha 501 and 210. He described Asha 501 as the first of its kind in the next generation of Nokia Asha devices, using the new Asha operating system. He dubbed it perfectly suited to consumers in emerging markets looking to buy their first smartphone. The device features two main screens; ‘Home’ and ‘Fastlane’, for launching software and taking action on new notifications.

Both smartphones come with the Nokia Xpress browser which enables up to 85% data compression making it faster and cheaper for consumers to access the internet, browse, use web apps and update social networks.

He also described Asha 210 as an affordable all-in-one smartphone built to satisfy users’ need to be socially connected. It is a dual SIM smartphone with a 2.4 inch LCD display, fast and responsive QWERTY keypad and WiFi. It also comes with two dedicated buttons on the keyboard for users to access camera and social networks. The device offers a range of smart features such as voice guidance for taking perfect self-portraits, fast editing of images directly from the camera app and Nokia’s innovative Slam feature for transfer of content such as images or videos to another Bluetooth-enabled phone without the need to pair devices.

However, on why the company flagged off round 2 of Nokia Don’t Break Da Beat rap competition, marketing manager, Nokia Nigeria, Kesiena Ogbemi said it was to encourage and reward talent. he promised that this year’s competition would be bigger, better and more exciting. “The participants will be required to follow and like the Nokia Nigeria Twitter handle and Facebook page. The Judges – Modenine, Eva – will send out rap lines on both social network channels and contestants will then reply with their own lines to enter the competition. The judges will select the top 300 lines from across the country, and those entrants will then move on to the next phase of the competition. The winner of this year’s competition will get a whooping sum of $20,000″, he added.

World’s biggest smartphone now in Nigeria

As Nigerian market keeps attracting devices other markets crave to have, Samsung may have taken the shine off other vendors by introducing what can be described as the world’s largest smartphone.

Tagged Galaxy Mega, the device is a combination of a phone and a tablet, describing why it is pretty larger than normal smartphones in the market. It combines the portability and convenience of a smartphone with the power, multitasking capabilities and extensive viewing experience of a tablet.

Meanwhile, the company also debuted with two new models from its Wi-Fi-enabled Galaxy Tab 3 portfolio – the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 and the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1.

Director of Hand Held Products, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. EmmanouilRevmatas, said the initiative was to empower the lives of consumers through Samsung’s advanced technologies. People expect a better viewing experience with larger screens on smartphones; the Samsung Galaxy Mega enables users to experience the essence of a smartphone and the power of a tablet. We are very excited and proud to introduce the device to Nigeria, fulfilling our consumers’ varying needs, whilst maintaining the high-quality features of the Galaxy series.”

The Galaxy Mega balances an optimal viewing experience on a 5.8-inch HD screen, yet is ultra-thin and portable enough to fit in a user’s pocket or in the palm of one hand. Powered by the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system and 1.4GHz dual core processor, the Galaxy Mega features an 8-megapixel rear camera, as well as a 2-megapixel front facing camera. It comes with 8GB internal memory and up to 64GB expandable storage. The device also boasts Samsung’s proprietary ‘Air View’ feature, which lets users preview photos, speed dial contacts and information in e-mails, without opening them.

The two new models from its Wi-Fi-enabled Galaxy Tab 3, blend the familiar Galaxy family feel in sleek and slim designs, with, compelling content and services designed for consumers’ everyday use. The latest Galaxy Tab family comes with Samsung’s proprietary SaFE (Samsung for Enterprise) feature, allowing users to work and play with confidence that their photos, e-mails and contacts are protected.

Avoiding hazards of your device

By LAJU ARENYEKA

Typing with your thumb is not as harmless as it seems. In actual fact, health experts say that it causes a condition known as repetitive strain injury (RSI). Last week, we learned that prolonged use of ear phones can lead to deafness or mental disorientation. Here are safe tips to ensure that that device doesn’t harm or make you sick.

Problems from the computer screen?

Studies show that eye strain has become a common work-related health complaint, particularly among office workers. But some ophthalmologists argue that there are many misconceptions about sitting in front of a computer or TV screen for hours on end. Problems such as headaches usually stem from poor posture or distance from the screen, rather than the eyes being strained. While there is no evidence to show that computers cause long-term vision deterioration, sitting in front of a screen all day causes your blink rate to reduce from 20 times a minute to once or twice a minute, this has a tendency to dry the eyes.  To protect your eyes, take frequent breaks and intentionally blink more often.

Blackberry thumb,iPod finger

Are your thumbs sore or wrists aching? If you are an excessive mobile phone or iPod user, you could have “BlackBerry thumb” or “iPod finger”. Health experts in Australia are noticing a rise in repetitive strain injury (RSI)-style injuries, particularly with the advent of the internet on pocketsized hand-held devices. The American Society of Hand Therapists has issued a consumer alert, warning users of small electronic gadgets that heavy thumb use could lead to painful swelling of the sheath around the tendons in the thumb. The group recommends taking frequent breaks during emailing and resting your arms on a pillow for support.

Back breaking work?

No one could compare sitting at a computer screen to back breaking work until recently. To save your back and neck from torture, viewing distances that are too long can cause you to lean forward and strain to see small text.  This can fatigue the eyes and place stress on the torso because the backrest is no longer providing support.

Viewing distances that are too short may cause your eyes to work harder to focus and may require you to sit in awkward postures. For instance, you may tilt your head backward or push your chair away from the screen causing you to type with outstretched arms. Generally, the preferred viewing distance is between 20 and 40 inches (50 and 100 cm) from the eye to the front surface of the computer screen

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Nigeria: Confusion over closure of 662 schools in Delta

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Asaba — THE recent closure of 662 private primary and secondary schools in Delta State is causing ripples as the fate of the affected pupils and students hangs in the balance.

Investigations showed that while some of the proprietors of the affected school are pleading for time to enable them move to their permanent sites at the commencement of the 2014 academic year, which is one of the reasons for the closure, some others are threatening to drag the state Ministry of Education to court over the action.

Some others interviewed, however, claimed that they were being victimised for no just cause.

But the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, dismissed allegation of witch-hunting, saying “standards must be maintained. We are out to correct things. If they comply with requirements and we go and confirm compliance, why not, we will re-open such schools.”

The state government, closing the schools had said “it  is hereby, announced for the information of the general public and particularly parents, guardians and owners of private schools in Delta State to note that the ministry has decided to close down the 662 illegal schools in the various local government areas with immediate effect.

“As a result of this, parents and guardians are advised to take proper note of this announcement and act accordingly in their interest. Furthermore, owners of private schools operating in temporary sites beyond the approved period are hereby, given two months deadline from the date of this day of publication to move to their permanent sites.”

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo University inaugurates N600m ICT centre

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Ile-Ife (Osun) –  The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Tuesday launched a centre of excellence in software engineering built and equipped at a cost of  N600 million.

The construction of the N450 million building housing the centre was funded by Skye Bank Nigeria Plc.

Procurement and installation of ICT equipment at the centre, valued at $3 million (N450 million), was funded through the Step B/World Bank Project.

The institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole, who inaugurated the centre, said that the mission of the university with regard to ICT was to harness modern technology for effectiveness and efficiency.

“The problem of large classes will soon be a thing of the past as lecturers and students can interact real time online,’’ he said.

He appealed to financial institutions, the private sector as well as the institution’s alumni to take a cue from the gesture of Skye Bank.

In his remark, the Group Managing Director of Skye Bank, Mr Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, said that the decision of the bank to build the centre was in line with the organisation’s philosophy.

“It is our desire to support causes that are of benefit to aid the extension of the frontiers of education.

“The application of information technology in our education has assumed a more important dimension as it confers several advantages.

“It is expected that the ICT centre will enhance the operational efficiency of the university,’’ he said.

Prof. Rowland Ndoma-Egba, Pro Chancellor of the university, commended Skye Bank for the gesture, saying the desire of the university council was to leave the institution better than it met it.

“With this magnanimity from Skye Bank, the university should maintain its lead in ICT education with a view to developing software that is technologically advanced, but purposely indigenous.

“OAU is coming to a point where we should be able to produce indigenous computers, IPADs, IPODs  and other gadgets to address the realities facing Nigeria,’’ Ndoma-Egba said.

The facilities at the centre include a tele-presence centre, cloud computing laboratory, software studio and students’ internet access laboratory.

The centre can accommodate 700 students at a time. (NAN)

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Made-in-Nigeria car dream still alive – NAC boss

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The country’s dream of assembling and patronising its own cars is still alive, says National Automotive Council, NAC.

NAC Director-General, Mr. Aminu Jalal, said the country must not give up on the pursuit of its automotive agenda.

To ensure that the dream is kept alive, Jalal said the Council has set aside the sum of N3.5billion as seed money for a fund to be accessed at single digit interest rate to those who purchase locally assembled vehicles, all in the effort to encourage Nigerians to buy made-in-Nigeria vehicles.

He said the implication of killing the dream of Nigerian made car means that the country will continue to fund jobs projects abroad to the tune of over $3.5billion annually at the expense of its teeming masses of unemployed and the existing huge investment in manufacturing and assembly.

“The Nigerian market, estimated at N600 billion annually is sufficient to sustain a local automotive industry if the investment environment is right. The automotive technology is over a hundred years old and no one needs to reinvent the wheel”

He lamented that about 50,000 new and 150,000 used vehicles were imported into Nigeria yearly.

Nigerians spend an average of N400 billion on importing passengers’ cars and by the time you add trucks and other vehicles, the amount Nigerians spend on imported vehicles will be running to N600billion annually, adding that the money can be plowed into the country’s automotive industry.

“Apart from the existing Assembly plants with a combined capacity of nearly 100,000 vehicles per annum, there exist numerous automotive body building facilities with impressive capacities”.

NAC he said remains relevant because the industry is strategic and its activities must be integrated to be meaningful. It is essential that an agency is in place to plan, coordinate and provide common infrastructure just as he adviced government on appropriate policy intervention. This is the practice in all countries that similarly aspires.

“Nigerians have mastered the act of vehicle assembly and even the production of a long list of automotive components and parts including all automotive glass, brake pads, all light and reinforced plastic parts, Seats, exhausts systems, fuel, air and oil Filters, some pressed parts, wire harnesses, tyres, batteries, cables, trim etc”.

An entirely green plant, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Limited, IVM, supported by NAC in Nnewi, is recorded to have produced over 2,000 pickups vans buses in only three (3) years of its existence. The IVMs are what you would call a Nigerian brand as they are named after the Chairman and Chief executive –INNOSON. IVMs have very high local content and the company continues to pursue this program vigorously with the support of NAC. The Council has extended support to over 20 component manufacturers including Dunlop which received over N1.4 billion to establish its Radial Steel Truck tyres, although the lowering of import duty on truck tyres in 2005 crippled the tyre industry.

Several motorcycle plants and indeed the first Motorcycle Tyre manufacturing plant in Nigeria have received NAC support. The Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association, NAMA, the Automotive Local Content Manufacturers Association, ALCMAN, the auto sector of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, can all attest to this.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NIGERIA: House Seeks Uniform Cut off Marks in Varsity Admission

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The House of Representatives Tuesday asked  the Federal Ministry of Education to prevail on  universities  not to apply arbitrary  cut-off marks for candidates of the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The House also mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency  to  investigate the  operations  of Union Bank of Nigeria over alleged unwholesome practices.

In the second motion sponsored by Hon. Afamefuna Ogene, the attention of the House was drawn to the alleged  disregard of government’s directive on cut-off marks  for admission into  federal universities in Nigeria.

Ogene said although  the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquayatu Ahmed Rufa’i, recently  announced the approved cut-off marks for universities as 180 and polytechnics/ Colleges of Education at 150 respectively, in the current 2013/2014 admission exercise in Nigeria, some universities were in breach of the directive.

He said while 180 marks was approved by government, eligibility for post-UTME entrance examination into federal universities and institutions such as  the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Benin (UNIBEN), Obafemi Awolowo University ( OAU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), have pegged theirs cut off points  at 200 and above.

Similarly, he said the Federal University of Technology, Minna and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (UNIZIK), put theirs at 190 and 200 for science courses respectively.

Ogene said unless the government guideline of 180 marks for universities and 150 for polytechnics and colleges of education were strictly adhered to by these federal institutions, many Nigerian youths who scored less than 200 marks, but met the government approved cut-off marks of 180 and 150 respectively,  would  be denied  admission into their chosen tertiary institutions.

The House resolved to  mandate the House Committee on Education to interface with both the Ministry of Education and the authorities of federal universities and allied institutions, with regard to ensuring strict adherence to government policy on education, especially when it is not in conflict with the provisions of the Nigerian constitution.

Meanwhile, the probe by the Committee on Banking and Currency  into the operations of Union Bank followed a motion sponsored by  Hon.  Akpan  Umoh, in which the lawmaker alleged that the tenure of Funke Osibodu as Managing Director was fraught with a lot of malpractices.

Umoh disclosed  that  in spite of all genuine efforts by the government to sanitise the banking sector, the  management of some of the banks engaged in practices that undermined the interest of shareholders and  the goals of the  reforms in the sector.

Umoh said it was ironical that  the Central Bank of Nigeria's intervention in UBN in 2009 was premised on the charges of inadequate liquidity, poor corporate governance and inadequate capital, while some  Chief Executives that came in the course of the reform embarked  on a voyage along the same path of ruin  including  skewed book keeping to create the false impression that the bank was run down.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Breakthrough Could Lead to ‘Artificial Skin’ That Senses Touch, Humidity and Temperature

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Using tiny gold particles and a kind of resin, a team of scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has discovered how to make a new kind of flexible sensor that one day could be integrated into electronic skin, or e-skin. If scientists learn how to attach e-skin to prosthetic limbs, people with amputations might once again be able to feel changes in their environments.

The findings appear in the June issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

The secret lies in the sensor's ability to detect three kinds of data simultaneously. While current kinds of e-skin detect only touch, the Technion team's invention "can simultaneously sense touch, humidity, and temperature, as real skin can do," says research team leader Professor Hossam Haick. Additionally, the new system "is at least 10 times more sensitive in touch than the currently existing touch-based e-skin systems."

Researchers have long been interested in flexible sensors, but have had trouble adapting them for real-world use. To make its way into mainstream society, a flexible sensor would have to run on low voltage (so it would be compatible with the batteries in today's portable devices), measure a wide range of pressures, and make more than one measurement at a time, including humidity, temperature, pressure, and the presence of chemicals. In addition, these sensors would also have to be able to be made quickly, easily, and cheaply.

The Technion team's sensor has all of these qualities. The secret is the use of monolayer-capped nanoparticles that are only 5-8 nanometers in diameter. They are made of gold and surrounded by connector molecules called ligands. In fact, "monolayer-capped nanoparticles can be thought of as flowers, where the center of the flower is the gold or metal nanoparticle and the petals are the monolayer of organic ligands that generally protect it," says Haick.

The team discovered that when these nanoparticles are laid on top of a substrate — in this case, made of PET (flexible polyethylene terephthalate), the same plastic found in soda bottles — the resulting compound conducted electricity differently depending on how the substrate was bent. (The bending motion brings some particles closer to others, increasing how quickly electrons can pass between them.) This electrical property means that the sensor can detect a large range of pressures, from tens of milligrams to tens of grams. "The sensor is very stable and can be attached to any surface shape while keeping the function stable," says Dr. Nir Peled, Head of the Thoracic Cancer Research and Detection Center at Israel's Sheba Medical Center, who was not involved in the research.

And by varying how thick the substrate is, as well as what it is made of, scientists can modify how sensitive the sensor is. Because these sensors can be customized, they could in the future perform a variety of other tasks, including monitoring strain on bridges and detecting cracks in engines.

"Indeed," says Dr. Peled, "the development of the artificial skin as biosensor by Professor Haick and his team is another breakthrough that puts nanotechnology at the front of the diagnostic era."

The research team also included Meital Segev-Bar and Gregory Shuster, graduate students in the Technion's Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, as well as Avigail Landman and Maayan Nir-Shapira, undergraduate students in the Technion's Chemical Engineering Department.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Microsoft creates mood sensing software for smartphones

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Microsoft Research Asia has been working on creating software called MoodScope that notes how a user uses his or her phone, and then uses that information to guess that user's mood. Initial testing of the device has shown it to be 66 percent accurate; when tailored to an individual user, the team reports that the accuracy rate jumped to 93 percent. The research team includes Nicholas Lane and Robert LiKamWa of Rice University, and Lin Zhong and Yunxin Liu from Microsoft Research Asia. They built a prototype and posted their test study results on Microsoft's website.

Most people realize that their smartphone has a lot of embedded technology in it that interacts with the world at large—GPS hardware, accelerometers, etc. all monitor activity and use that data to provide useful functions, such as automatically switching from landscape to portrait mode when a phone is rotated. In this new effort, the researchers sought to discover whether software that monitors phone activities could reveal the users' moods.

To find out, the team wrote code that monitored email, texting, app usage, phone calls, location information, and browsing history, then added algorithms to guess mood based on that data. Next, they enlisted the assistance of 32 volunteers to help them test the accuracy of their code. The volunteers were asked to use the system for two months while also completing mood assessments to provide data for comparison. With no training or tweaking, the software was found to provide answers of happy, tense, calm, upset, excited, stressed, or bored that matched the actual mood reported by the volunteers, on average 66 percent of the time. After optimizing the system for the individual habits of each of the volunteers, the rate increased to 93 percent.

The researchers suggest third party hooks could be added to the software to allow for automatically transmitting user moods to applications like Facebook. They also acknowledge that privacy concerns could arise if the software were to be delivered to the public, but suggest the benefits of such software would likely outweigh such concerns. They note that sites like Netflix or Spotify could use data from MoodScope to offer movies or other content based on specific users' moods.
 

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Remote-controlled Superman takes to the skies

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Designing duo Otto Dieffenbach and Ed Hanley have created radio-controlled planes that can look like your favourite comic book characters.

 A small start up company has produced a life-sized radio-controlled plane in the shape of Superman.

But if Superman isn't your favourite comic-book character, the company's website says: "If you can imagine it, we can make it fly."

They want to make the 'planes' catch people's attention and use them in a variety of circumstances, including advertising.

"We envision just about any character you can think of flying and add a dimension that's never been used before.

"There are banners and there's planes that fly pulling a big banner but to actually see a character, a life-size character fly in the stadium or at an event, down the beach, wherever is just brand-new.

 "No one's ever seen that, it just blows everybody's mind," said business partner Ed Hanly.

Designer and engineer Otto Dieffenbach said that the products weren't really for sale "because they are so custom-built and there are a lot of man hours that go into construction".

He added: "But the cost of the actual materials to build them is well under $500."

Source: ITN

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

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NIGERIA: FG Fixes 180 Cut-off Mark for Varsities, 150 for Others

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The federal government has released the cut-off marks for admission to tertiary institutions for the 2013/2014 academic session with students seeking to enter any of the nation’s universities expected to score about 180 in this year's Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Their counterpart seeking admission to polytechnics, monotechnics and  colleges of education are, however, expected to have a minimum score of 150 in the UTME; down from 160 in the previous year.

Announcing the cut-off scores after a combined policy committee meeting on admissions to tertiary institutions organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja, Tuesday, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqqayatu Ahmed Rufa'i, said the carrying capacity of the nation's universities had increased slightly to over 500,000 from about 469,000 in the last academic session.

This expansion, she said, was because of rehabilitation  and expansion  in the universities,  which were made possible by the N259.46 billion disbursed to tertiary institutions by the Tertiary Trust Fund (TETFUND) in the last three years.
The cut-off marks were arrived at after debates by representatives of various stakeholders on the need for a slight reduction in the prerequisite score for non-degree awarding institutions.

The cut off marks for the last academic year was 180 for universities and 160 for non-degree awarding institutions.
The decision to reduce the cut-off marks for the non-degree awarding institutions was hinged on the need to encourage candidates to apply  to the institutions.

Rufai, who moderated the meeting, harped on the need to encourage enrolment into technical and vocational training institutions, which still record low applications by admission seekers.

"A committee to work out modalities on how to boost the interest of students in the  vocational training institutions and expand the schools’ capacity has already been inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan under the chairmanship of Alhaji Aliko Dangote," she added.

"We should therefore collectively work towards encouraging more of our youths to enrol in these institutions, especially the innovation enterprise institutions, most of which are still having challenges filling their quotas" she said.

Rufa'i urged strict adherence to the federal government’s admission guidelines, which stipulate 70:30 technology/non-technology ratio for national diploma programmes and 60:40 science /arts ratio for degree and Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes.

She added that the admission considerations would be based on merit and catchment area and consideration for less educationally developed states.

Earlier, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, had said submission  of admission lists by tertiary institutions would not be considered after October 31, adding that 86 innovative enterprise institutions have been approved to run programmes leading to the award of the National Innovative Diploma.

He explained that  the University of Benin (UNIBEN) had the highest number of applicants followed by the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) and University of Lagos (UNILAG), while the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, had the highest number of applicants seeking admission to polytechnics.

About 1.7 million candidates sat for this year's UTME  with 91,000 opting for the newly introduced computer based test.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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