Smart Economy

Getting Smart on Intelligent Cities

The National Building Museum (NBM) is launching a year-long initiative that will gather and analyze data on how new technologies are shaping cities.

Dubbed Intelligent Cities, the goal is to make technology and data more useful to urban planners, professionals in design and building, and the public, enhancing perception of the built environment that we live in. Emphasis will be placed on the interrelationship between information sets, described on www.nbm.org as the “connections between the size of our homes and the energy we consume as a nation, walkable neighborhoods and our health, and where we work and our infrastructure.” In line with this relational approach, the first advertisement for the project will explore the connection between home size, household residents and energy consumption, pointing out that while energy efficiency has increased over the last several decades, the benefits are offset by the combination of increased square footage and smaller families.

Intelligent Cities will begin with a six-month national public campaign through advertisements in TIME magazine and TIME.com. Public polling questions will be posted on www.nbm.org and via social media through March 2011, followed by research and consultation by the Museum and an advisory committee. A public forum will be held in June 2011, and the initiative will culminate with a publication scheduled for the fall of 2011 that will summarize the ideas and suggestions produced from the public outreach and forum.

The first poll questions, available now, inquire about choice of living location, asking for the top two reasons for choosing one’s current home or apartment, if those choices would be the same at this point in time, and if the priorities that led to the decision have changed, why? As www.nbm.org notes, the end result for these questions and the subsequent polls will help us “understand where we are, where we want to be, and how to get there.” National Building Museum president and executive director Chase W. Rynd provides this statement: “Through Intelligent Cities, we have the means to share their viewpoints with experts in the design and building industries so that there is a true give and take between constituencies. Experts need input from the community and can use it to make the planning and design process more open, participatory and democratic.”

The National Building Museum is a cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by education through exhibitions, educational programs and print and online content. Intelligent Cities is a collaborative effort between the NBM, TIME, IBM and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. To access the poll, and find more information on NBM, please visit their web site

http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/construction-forecast/news/2010/10/getting-smart-on-intelligent-cities

Singapore Seeks Help to Become a Smart Grid Economy

Singapore's EMA Seeks Help to Become a Smart Grid Economy

By Mini Swamy

In an effort to support Singapore to develop a smart energy economy, Singapore's Energy Market authority has sought the help of Accenture and ST Electronics Pte Ltd, to design and implement Phase 1 of its Intelligent Energy System pilot project.

The IES pilot project is an advanced metering infrastructure and smart grid pilot funded by the Government of Singapore and Singapore Power, a leading energy utility company in Asia Pacific. It will test and evaluate new applications and intelligent technologies in a bid to deploy a smart grid throughout Singapore.

Scheduled to be conducted in two phases, the first phase of the IES pilot will focus entirely on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure, and is expected to commence in the last quarter of 2010 and be completed in 2012. The second phase, focusing on smart grid applications will be carried out from 2012 to 2013.

 see

http://smart-grid.tmcnet.com/topics/smart-grid/articles/112266-singapores-ema-seeks-help-become-smart-grid-economy.htm

“Ultimate Intelligence Test" tests 12 pillars of Wisdom ie. Find Out If You’re Ultimately Smart

There are many different kinds of intelligent. Are you book smart? Street smart? Good at school and test-taking smart? Good at schmoozing your way out of deadlines and into jobs smart? Better at writing or math?

One new intelligence test, put online today by New Scientist and the Discovery Channel, claims to be the best test of overall smarts. The test was designed by neuropsychologist Adrian Owen to test 12 different “pillars” of wisdom, and to work every part of your mind.  [ See http://cbstrials.com/Open/Default.aspx?B_ID=279 ]

From Owen’s article about the test for New Scientist:

Like many researchers before us, we began by looking for the smallest number of tests that could cover the broadest range of cognitive skills that are believed to contribute to intelligence, from memory to planning.

But we went one step further. Thanks to recent work with brain scanners, we could make sure that the tests involved as much of the brain as possible – from the outer layers, responsible for higher thought, to deeper-lying structures such as the hippocampus, which is involved in memory.

As an intrepid blogger, I went ahead and took the test. Some of the exercises resembled classic games like “Memory” (to test paired associates learning, you’re asked to remember what items are hidden where) and “Simon” (to test working memory, you have to remember sequences). Others are more similar to cognitive psychology tests like the Stroop test (which tests focused attention), and there are also some puzzle-solving tests (to test your ability to plan for the future).

The 12 tests are designed to test 12 different aspects of working memory, reasoning, focus, and planning. I did the worst on the “verbal working memory” test, which was reading a string of numbers and typing it in from memory. This actually makes sense, because I’ve always known myself to be a physical learner, and highlight or write down everything I hear that I need to remember. I wonder if there is a correlation there?

You can only take the test once, so make sure to do some mental push-ups first before diving in. Then come back here and tell us what you thought! Also, visit www.cambridgebrainsciences.com to play additional games, to train your brain, and to test your 12 pillars.

Related content:
DISCOVER: Teen Genius: 5 Promising Scientists Under 20
DISCOVER: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About… Genius
The Intersection: ‘Are Men Smarter Than Women?‘ The Verdict
Gene Expression: More exercise = more I.Q.?
Not Exactly Rocket Science: Single memory training task improves overall problem-solving intelligence

Replikin Count in H5N1 at Record High for 2010, signals next global pandemic outbreak?

Replikins Global BioRadar Surveillance System™ Shows Replikin Count in H5N1 at Record High for 2010

 Boston, MA, October 27, 2010 — BioRadar™ software correctly predicted the 2009 H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak a year in advance (http://www.replikins.com, Replikins Press, 2008). The same rise in Replikin Count of these genomic Replikin genes, this time in the H5N1 (Bird Flu) virus, may similarly warn of the coming of severe outbreaks in H5N1.

Specifically, BioRadar™ analyzed two separate Replikins* genes, one for infectivity and one for lethality. The high H5N1 lethality gene Replikin Count, rising since 2006 (6.0+/-7.0), has continued to rise to a high in 2010 (9.1+/-8.5) (p<0.001). BioRadar™ predicted in 2009 an increase in H5N1 outbreaks and more outbreaks appeared in 16 countries by mid-2010. The previous low infectivity of H5N1, correlated with a low Replikin Count, has been reassuring. The finding in 2010 of a significant increase in the Replikin Count of the H5N1 infectivity gene as well, in scout viruses to 8.4, its highest level in 53 years, is of concern.

By means of BioRadar™ software, Replikins were identified in all sequences (N, H5N1=25,358) from PubMed and from Global BioRadar Surveillance System™ participants.

The studies were conducted by Samuel Bogoch, M.D., Ph.D. and Elenore S. Bogoch, M.D., Boston University School of Medicine and BioRadar UK, Ltd.

*About Replikins

Replikins are a new group of genomic peptide structures in viruses, other infectious disease agents, and cancer cells, which are associated with rapid replication (http://www.replikins.com). Two genes have been isolated in silico in viruses and relate to infectivity and lethality respectively. The increase in Replikin concentration (Replikin Count=Number of Replikins per 100 amino acids) in the virus Infectivity Gene precedes an increase in clinical infectivity and spread; and an increase in the virus Lethality Gene precedes an increase in lethality clinically.

N.B. Confirms my previous posts

See the Rockerfeller Foundation Lock Step scenario for a virulent global  flu pandemic in 2012, which I wrote about earlier on the Smart Economy Blog

Scenario Narratives>  LOCK STEP

A world of tighter top-down government control and more authoritarian leadership, with limited innovation and growing citizen pushback

In 2012, the pandemic that the world had been anticipating for years finally hit. Unlike 2009’s H1N1, this new influenza strain — originating from wild geese — was extremely virulent and deadly. Even the most pandemic-prepared nations were quickly overwhelmed when the virus streaked around the world, infecting nearly 20 percent of the global population and killing 8 million in just seven months, the majority of them healthy young adults. The pandemic also had a deadly effect on economies: international mobility of both people and goods screeched to a halt, debilitating industries like tourism and breaking global supply chains. Even locally, normally bustling shops and office buildings sat empty for months, devoid of both employees and customers.

http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/uploads/files/bba493f7-cc97-4da3-add6-3deb007cc719.pdf

 

New study re-examines bacterial vaccine studies conducted during 1918 influenza pandemic

Secondary infections with bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes pneumonia, were a major cause of death during the 1918 flu pandemic and may be important in modern pandemics as well, according to a new article in the Journal of Infectious Diseases co-authored by David M. Morens, M.D., senior advisor to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The researchers examined 13 studies published between 1918 and 1920. During this time, many scientists erroneously believed that influenza was caused by bacteria, not a virus. As a result, researchers began performing and publishing results from clinical trials testing bacterial vaccines designed to prevent the flu. In their new study, Dr. Morens and his colleagues used modern statistical and evaluation methods to re-analyze the vaccine effectiveness data from these old studies in an attempt to correct for any statistical biases in the original analysis.

In addition to confirming the importance of bacterial infections associated with the 1918 influenza pandemic, the new analysis suggests that the use of bacterial vaccines containing S. pneumoniae could reduce pneumonia rates and deaths in modern influenza pandemics as well. During the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the authors write, autopsy results implicated bacterial infections in 29 to 55 percent of deaths. In light of this study, the authors recommend more research into the use of bacterial vaccines to prevent illness and death associated with influenza.

###

ARTICLE: Y-W Chien et al. Efficacy of bacterial vaccines in preventing pneumonia and death during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Journal of Infectious Diseases. DOI: 10.1086/657144 (2010).

WHO: David M. Morens, M.D., Senior Advisor to the Director, NIAID, is available to comment on this article.

CONTACT: To schedule interviews, please contact Nalini Padmanabhan, 301-402-1663, [email protected].

More information about NIAID research on flu is available at the NIAID Influenza Web portal (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/flu/Pages/default.aspx).

NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH)—The Nation's Medical Research Agency—includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases, For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

When will the Recession End ? Part 116 Live from Seoul, South Korea- Allan Greenspan's take on the economy and recovery

I'm attending the fifth annual Global HR Forum  in Seoul,  South Korea presenting my workshop on smart technology and the smart economy, The Opportunity Clinic and Designing winning business models.

(see  http://www.ghrforum.org/ and press the English Tab  [English] on the top right of the web page)

Opening address http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMlbz-Nwv0Y

Alan Greenspan spoke live from Washington DC via a web conference, for about an hour and a half yesterday AM about the state of the US recovery and the economy in general.

He categorically stated that the chance of a double dip recession in the USA is practically nil...which worries me to no end. Greenspan  and the FRB got it wrong in the first place in 2007 so why should I suddenly believe his predictive powers today, assuming that his logic is that by towing the no double dip line, that it should manifest itself as a self fulfilling prophecy....after all banks can,t be telling their customers and the world that the economy is not growing and expanding, even when it isn't. The double dip may not happen in the USA, but it will directly affect it.

I was waiting for Greenspan to admit he was wrong..he didn't, Which reminds me of the quote:

"Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes."-John Ruskin

More on this later.

Walter Derzko

Too Much SP2 Protein Turns Healthy Stem Cells Into “Evil Twin” Tumor-forming Cancer Cells

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that the overproduction of a key protein in stem cells causes those stem cells to form cancerous tumors. Their work may lead to new treatments for a variety of cancers.

Dr. Jon Horowitz, associate professor of molecular biomedical sciences, and a team of NC State researchers looked at the protein SP2, which regulates the activity of other genes. They knew that elevated amounts of SP2 had been observed in human prostate-cancer patients, and that these levels only increased as the tumors became more dangerous. They then showed that precisely the same thing occurs in mouse skin tumors.

Horowitz and the team decided to look at SP2 as a possible cause of tumor formation in epithelial cell-derived tumors, which comprise about 80 percent of all human tumors; epithelial cells cover the body’s internal and external surfaces. They found that overproduction of the SP2 protein in epithelial stem cells stopped them from spawning mature descendants. The affected stem cells, unable to produce mature cells, just kept proliferating, resulting in the formation of tumors.

The researchers’ results are published in the Nov. 3 edition of the journal Cancer Research.

“Something happens to normal stem cells that changes the way SP2 is regulated, and it starts being overproduced,” Horowitz says. “SP2 basically hijacks the stem cell, and turns it into its evil twin – a cancer cell.”

Now that the link between tumor formation and SP2 has been shown, Horowitz says, scientists can turn their attention to looking at ways to target the overproduction of this protein. “Our hope is that we can find an ‘antidote’ to SP2, to restore normal cell proliferation to those cancer stem cells and reverse the process.”

The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences is part of NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

 

Abstract of the paper follows.

“Overexpression of Transcription Factor Sp2 Inhibits Epidermal Differentiation and Increases Susceptibility to Wound and Carcinogen-Induced Tumorigenesis”

Authors: Tae-Hyung Kim, Shannon L. Chiera, Keith E. Linder, Robert C. Smart, and Jonathan M. Horowitz, NC State University; Carol S. Trempus, Metabolism and Molecular Mechanisms Group, Laboratory of Toxicology and Pharmacology, NIH, NIEHS
Published: Nov. 3 in Cancer Research

Abstract: Sp proteins are evolutionarily-conserved transcription factors required for the expression of a wide variety of genes that are critical for development and cell-cycle progression. De-regulated expression of certain Sp proteins is associated with the formation of a variety of human tumors, however direct evidence that any given Sp protein is oncogenic has been lacking. Here we report that Sp2 protein abundance in mice increases in concert with the progression of carcinogen-induced murine squamous cell carcinomas. Transgenic mice specifically overexpressing murine Sp2 in epidermal basal keratinocytes were highly susceptible to wound- and carcinogen-induced papillomagenesis. Transgenic animals that were homozygous rather than hemizygous for the Sp2 transgene exhibited a striking arrest in the epidermal differentiation program, perishing within two weeks of birth. Our results directly support the likelihood that Sp2 overexpression occurring in various human cancers has significant functional impact.

 Source: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/horowitzcrj/

Walter Derzko

Why complex life probably evolved only once

The universe may be teeming with simple cells like bacteria, but more complex life – including intelligent life – is probably very rare. That is the conclusion of a radical rethink of what it took for complex life to evolve here on Earth.

It suggests that complex alien life-forms could only evolve if an event that happened just once in Earth's history was repeated somewhere else.

All animals, plants and fungi evolved from one ancestor, the first ever complex, or "eukaryotic", cell. This common ancestor had itself evolved from simple bacteria, but it has long been a mystery why this seems to have happened only once: bacteria, after all, have been around for billions of years.

The answer, say Nick Lane of University College London and Bill Martin of the University of Dusseldorf in Germany, is that whenever simple cells start to become more complex, they run into problems generating enough energy.

See  Nature, vol 467, p 929 and   http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18734-why-complex-life-probably-evolved-only-once.html

Can neuroscience help Gap produce a better logo?

 

After Gap’s new logo failed, Neuromarketing company NeuroFocus used EEG and eye-tracking techniques to investigate the neural responses of a group of volunteers who were shown both Gap logos.

Neurofocus explained that the new logo didn’t register as novel or stylish in the volunteer’s brains, two big no-nos for a successful logo. The old logo on the other hand was a big hit, scoring high in the company’s “stylish” metric.

Source: New Scientist Short Sharp Science, Oct 20, 2010

New Princeton search method traces origins and spread of ideas

October 21, 2010

Princeton computer scientists have developed a new way of tracing the origins and spread of ideas, a technique that could make it easier to gauge the influence of notable scholarly papers, buzz-generating news stories and other information sources.

The method relies on computer algorithms to analyze how language morphs over time within a group of documents — whether they are research papers on quantum physics or blog posts about politics — and to determine which documents were the most influential.

“The point is being able to manage the explosion of information made possible by computers and the Internet,” said David Blei, an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton and the lead researcher on the project. “We’re trying to make sense of how concepts move around. Maybe you want to know who coined a certain term like ‘quark,’ or search old news stories to find out where the first 1960s antiwar protest took place.”

Blei said the new search technique might one day be used by historians, political scientists and other scholars to study how ideas arise and spread.

While search engines such as Google and Bing help people sort through the haystack of information on the Web, their results are based on a complex mix of criteria, some of which — such as number of links and visitor traffic — may not fully reflect the influence of a document.

Scholarly journals traditionally quantify the impact of a paper by measuring how often it is cited by other papers, but other collections of documents, such as newspapers, patent claims and blog posts, provide no such means of measuring their influence.

Instead of focusing on citations, Blei and Sean Gerrish, a Princeton doctoral student in computer science, developed a statistical model that allows computers to analyze the actual text of documents to see how the language changes over time. Influential documents in a field will establish new concepts and terms that change the patterns of words and phrases used in later works.

“There might be a paper that introduces the laser, for instance, which is then mentioned in subsequent articles,” Gerrish said. “The premise is that one article introduces the language that will be adopted and used in the future.”

Previous methods developed by the researchers for tracking how language changes accounted for how a group of documents influenced a subsequent group of documents, but were unable to isolate the influence of individual documents. For instance, those models can analyze all the papers in a certain science journal one year and follow the influence they had on the papers in the journal the following year, but they could not say if a certain paper introduced groundbreaking ideas.

To address this, Blei and Garrish developed their algorithm to recognize the contribution of individual papers and used it to analyze several decades of reports published in three science journals: Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Association for Computational Linguistics Anthology. Because they were working with scientific journals, they could compare their results with the citation counts of the papers, the traditional method of measuring scholarly impact.

They found that their results agreed with citation-based impact about 40 percent of the time. In some cases, they discovered papers that had a strong influence on the language of science, but were not often cited. In other cases, they found that papers that were cited frequently did not have much impact on the language used in a field.

They found no citations, for instance, for an influential column published in Nature in 1972 that correctly predicted an expanded role of the National Science Foundation in funding graduate science education.

On the other hand, their model gave a low influence score to a highly cited article on a new linguistics research database that was published in 1993 in the Association for Computational Linguistics Anthology. “That paper introduced a very important resource, but did not present paradigm-changing ideas,” Blei said. “Consequently, our language-based approach could not correctly identify its impact.”

Blei said their model was not meant as a replacement for citation counts but as an alternative method for measuring influence that might be extended to finding influential news stories, websites, and legal and historical documents.

“We are also exploring the idea that you can find patterns in how language changes over time,” he said. “Once you’ve identified the shapes of those patterns, you might be able to recognize something important as it develops, to predict the next big idea before it’s gotten big.”

Adapted from materials provided by Princeton University

see http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/pues-nsm102010.php

Walter Derzko