June 2014

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2014

Although the purpose of advertising and marketing is intended to communicate the message about products and services to the consumer in the best possible and attractive way but the following statistics point in a different direction - Consumers are bombarded with over 5,000 marketing messages a day, up from around 2,000 just a few years ago; Two-Thirds of us are on the "Do Not Call List" to avoid telemarketing; 86% of us skip TV ads; 44% of direct mail is never opened and goes straight to the trash; 90% of emails are never opened and 99.5% of emails receive no clicks; 99.9% or more of banner ads receive no clicks; Recent eye-tracking studies show 18-34 year-old millennials do not look at banners on the web pages they visit. Long time ago advertising guru David Ogilvy suggested marketers to concentrate on the 'content of your advertising, not its form.' And today marketing leaders are advising to pubish content instead of advertising. Businesses that will potentially succeed in future will be the ones that will be able to create emotional connect with consumers and serve their information needs. Companies should publish content and entertain customers through a content strategy that holistically considers audience content and channel needs. Read on...

Forbes: Why Does Most Marketing Stink?
Author: Michael Brenner

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2014

Businesspeople have skills and expertise that can benefit nonprofits for better operations and governance. On the other hand by joining nonprofits and their boards, business executives not only provide value to themselves but also their employers. According to research by City of London, there are increased skills among volunteer leaders in categories including team building, negotiating, problem solving and financial knowledge. Moreover research by Deloitte shows that among socially engaged employers, 87% of employees had an improved perception of their company and greater loyalty. Nick Hurd, UK Minister for Civil Society, points out that potential trustees should look for opportunities to align board service 'with a social issue they care about.' Read on...

NonProfit Quarterly: The Skills Businesspeople Gain on Nonprofit Boards
Author: Eileen Cunniffe

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jun 2014

Oxford University's Global Health Network has created a technological tool (SiteFinder) to assist scientists involved in global health to find and collaborate with other research groups around the world. Researchers working in low income and developing countries will now find it easier to find collaborators that were previously out of their reach. According to Trudie Lang, Director of Global Health Network, 'What's tended to happen is that teams like the Gates Foundation's product-development partnerships stick with the sites they know, and go back to the same sites again and again. But we would like to see greater equity in research, with wider access to these collaborations, and this would empower more people to have the confidence to take part in research.' Read on...

Women News Network: Global collaborative research on disease can strengthen regional healthcare
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 jun 2014

As with any other business, innovative technologies hold a promise to transform the ways agriculture and farming are pursued by bringing better efficiency and economy. According to James Andrews of Farmers Weekly, 'Farming is becoming increasingly technical and high-tech machines allow farmers to be more accurate, decrease wastage and boost productivity and their profits margins, which are increasingly tight these days.' The recent survey of British farmers by Farmers Weekly provides list of top 10 favorite technologies - (1) GPS Steering Systems (36% votes): Guides tractors in straight lines to save seed, fertilizer & fuel; (2) Robot Milking Machines (19% votes): Save farmers time & give cows the freedom to be milked when they want; (3) Smartphones (13% votes): Used by farmers to communicate, check soil depth, register animals etc; (4) Combine Harvester Yield Meters (5% votes): Monitor, display & record grain yield; (5) Cow heat detection devices (5% votes): Increase pregnancy rates; (6) Driverless Tractors (2% votes): Not yet commercially available but could save farmers time; (7) Aerial Drones (2% votes): Used to spot weeds, calculate fertilizer needs and scare pigeons; (8) Electronic Ear Tags (2% votes): Identify domestic livestock; (9) Farm Management Software (2% votes): Used to manage all aspects of a farm; (10) Robot Livestock Feeders (2% votes): Save farms money & consistently feed a herd. Read on...

Mail Online: From robotic milk maids to self-driving tractors and drones that monitor crops - Scientists reveal the future of farming
Author: Sarah Griffiths

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 jun 2014

Education and learning are continuous evolving fields and in the present world there is a debate regarding the role of technologies to improve and enhance the learning experience of students, impart required knowledge & skills and better prepare them for the future. According to Juan Lopez-Valcarcel, Chief Digital Officer of Pearson, 46 percent of US college students do not graduate, and those that do, 40 percent are told that they do not have the right skills for a job they are applying for. Moreover there is lack of availability of courses and programs in colleges and universities that can prepare students for in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow. He suggests 7 technologies that are capable of revolutionizing education - (1) Invisible Computers (Classroom objects serve as computers & all data is availablee when needed); (2) Body Language Assessment (By becoming aware & to determine whether student is able to follow classroom learning); (3) Robot-Assisted Learning (Kids respond better with robots than a tablet); (4) Global Rockstar Teachers (Best teachers available for anyone in the world); (5) Stealth Learning (By making popular games more educational); (6) Social Learning (Use social media to deliver educational material); (7) Open Hardware (Give access to developer-aimed devices to students). Read on...

Silicon Angle: 7 Technologies that Could Revolutionize Education
Author: Mellisa Tolentino

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 jun 2014

Team of researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Professors Scott White, Jeffrey S. Moore & Nancy Sottos and graduate students Brett Krull, Windy Santa Cruz & Ryan Gergely, have developed materials that not only heal, but regenerate. The new regenerating materials are capable to fill in large cracks and holes by regrowing materials. The team advanced their previous research on vascular materials and using specially formulated fibers that disintegrate, the researchers can create materials with networks of capillaries similar to biological circulatory systems. For regenerating materials, two adjoining, parallel capillaries are filled with regenerative chemicals that flow out as a result of damage. A gel is formed when the two liquids mix with each other, spreads and fills the gap created by the damage. Finally the gel hardens into a strong polymer and restores platic's mechanical strength. In addition to variety of commercial usage, these self-repair materials will find particular use for parts and products that are difficult to replace or repair, like in aerospace applications. Read on...

University of Illinois News Bureau: Regenerating plastic grows back after damage
Author: Liz Ahlberg