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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

http://www.itworld.com/article/2956675/hardware/a-new-tool-for-pricing-used-it-

An electronics recycler has created an IT products database representing 9,000 manufacturers and 11 million equipment models. The products range from consumer to business equipment, such as network storage devices, routers, switches, as well as servers, PCs and office machines.

The database, called the Sage BlueBook, was launched this week in beta and will remain free to use. It will give prices based on condition, including non-working. It is but the latest option available to people and businesses trying to maximize the value of used electronics.

Houghton said the system scrapes data from a variety of wholesale and retail sources, including eBay and Amazon Trade-In. The "real magic," however, comes in cleaning the data to get valid model information that can be matched with transaction activity and product condition, he said. "The BlueBook tells you if the offer price is good or not," Houghton said.

Houghton sees a connection between sustainability and old electronics. "The real dream here is to eliminate the throw-away mentality for the used stuff. There is value in most used electronics," he said. Good pricing data, he reasoned, helps keep equipment in circulation.

"The transparency issue over the cost has always been a sore point for CIOs," Daoud said. There is "very little trust" in the secondary market for used electronics.

One of the problems with electronics is the velocity of price changes. For instance, an asset may have a certain value just up until the time that a new OS is released that changes hardware requirements. What will be difficult is tracking prices over time, Daoud said.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

three years ago, Stan Lyons, owner of Malamalama Farm in Honaunau, looked over his devastated coffee crop, lost to the cherry borer beetle, and asked himself, "What's next? I've got no water and no soil."

http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/no-water-no-soil-no-problem-aquaponics-provides-fresh-organic-produce

Seen the above the other day , in comments on the New Jersey article someone brought up Aquaponics .

Aquaponics is a specific arena of organic farming that is based on fish ponds and an enclosed hydro-circulation system. The foundation of Lyons' entire operation is a 5-by-10-foot fish pond that is 5 feet deep and built in cement and under cover. All the water for the system is from catchment, and fueled by 20 or so tilapia and koi that glide past in blends of orange, white and black. "In a true aquaponic system, you're supposed to eat the fish too," Lyons explained. "But we can't do that. These guys are our pets." In a typical aquaculture system, the pond water generates waste product from the fish. Aquaponics puts that by-product to work. Leading away by gravity feed from the pond, the water flows into a filter tank that divides the solid material and the water. That is the first stage of its nutrient breakdown. The bottom of the filter tank has a valve that allows the solid material to be collected. "This is incredible organic fertilizer. I put it directly on my raised beds and the results are phenomenal," Lyons added.

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fliptop writes:

Einstein once said, "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."

So 5-8 seconds seems like a (relatively) short amount of time. But, is it enough to safely take back control of a self-driving car and negotiate a road hazard? And if the driver is given less time, is it better or worse? Researchers at Stanford attempted to find out:

In this study, we observed how participants (N=27) in a driving simulator performed after they were subjected to an emergency loss of automation. We tested three transition time conditions, with an unstructured transition of vehicle control occurring 2 seconds, 5 seconds, or 8 seconds before the participants encountered a road hazard that required the drivers' intervention.

Few drivers in the 2 second condition were able to safely negotiate the road hazard situation, while the majority of drivers in 5 or 8 second conditions were able to navigate the hazard safely.

Although the participants in the current study were not performing secondary tasks while the car was driving, the 2 second condition appeared to be insufficient. The participants did not perform well and liked the car less. Additionally, participants' comfort in the car was also lower in the 2 second condition. Hence, it is recommended to give warnings or relinquish control more than 2 seconds in advance. While not necessarily the minimum required time, 5 second condition from a critical event appeared to be sufficient for drivers to perform the take over successfully and negotiate the problem. While the results of this study indicated that there was a minimum amount of time needed for transition of control, this was true when the drivers only monitored the car's activity and did not perform secondary tasks. It is possible that these results can change if the drivers are occupied with other activities.

Full research paper available here.

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takyon writes:

Stony Brook University researchers imaged rodent brains and found that a lateral sleeping position more effectively removed "brain waste":

Sleeping in the lateral, or side position, as compared to sleeping on one's back or stomach, may more effectively remove brain waste and prove to be an important practice to help reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases, according to researchers at Stony Brook University.

By using dynamic contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to image the brain's glymphatic pathway, a complex system that clears wastes and other harmful chemical solutes from the brain, Stony Brook University researchers Hedok Lee, PhD, Helene Benveniste, MD, PhD, and colleagues, discovered that a lateral sleeping position is the best position to most efficiently remove waste from the brain. In humans and many animals the lateral sleeping position is the most common one. The buildup of brain waste chemicals may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions. Their finding is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

[...] "It is interesting that the lateral sleep position is already the most popular in human and most animals – even in the wild – and it appears that we have adapted the lateral sleep position to most efficiently clear our brain of the metabolic waste products that built up while we are awake," says Dr. Nedergaard. "The study therefore adds further support to the concept that sleep subserves a distinct biological function of sleep and that is to 'clean up' the mess that accumulates while we are awake. Many types of dementia are linked to sleep disturbances, including difficulties in falling asleep. It is increasing acknowledged that these sleep disturbances may accelerate memory loss in Alzheimer's disease. Our finding brings new insight into this topic by showing it is also important what position you sleep in," she explained.

Dr. Benveniste cautioned that while the research team speculates that the human glymphatic pathway will clear brain waste most efficiency when sleeping in the lateral position as compared to other positions, testing with MRI or other imaging methods in humans are a necessary first step.

Extracellular aggregates are #6 on the SENS aging damage checklist, and all you have to do to get rid of them is sleep on your side (allegedly, or if you are a rat).

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darkfeline writes:

Police who raided a marijuana store, destroying security cameras and the DVR, harassing the store's customers, consuming edible marijuana products, and playing darts, were caught on camera. The cops claim that said recording is illegal because the cops had an expectation of privacy after destroying all of the security cameras.

I wish I could make up this stuff.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Phys.org takes on Jupiter's Big Red Spot:

The largest and most powerful hurricanes ever recorded on Earth spanned over 1,000 miles across with winds gusting up to around 200 mph. That's wide enough to stretch across nearly all U.S. states east of Texas. But even that kind of storm is dwarfed by the Great Red Spot, a gigantic storm in Jupiter. There, gigantic means twice as wide as Earth.

With tumultuous winds peaking at about 400 mph, the Great Red Spot has been swirling wildly over Jupiter's skies for the past 150 years—maybe even much longer than that. While people saw a big spot in Jupiter as early as they started stargazing through telescopes in the 1600s, it is still unclear whether they were looking at a different storm. Today, scientists know the Great Red Spot is there and it's been there for a while, but they still struggle to learn what causes its swirl of reddish hues.

Understanding the Great Red Spot is not easy, and it's mostly Jupiter's fault. A planet a thousand times as big as Earth, Jupiter consists mostly of gas. A liquid ocean of hydrogen surrounds its core, and the atmosphere consists mostly of hydrogen and helium. That translates into no solid ground like we have on Earth to weaken storms. Also, Jupiter's clouds obstruct clear observations of its lower atmosphere. While some studies of Jupiter have investigated areas in its lower atmosphere, orbiting probes and telescopes studying the Great Red Spot can only see clouds scattered high in the atmosphere.

Amy Simon, an expert in planetary atmospheres at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said learning more about Jupiter and its Great Red Spot could help scientists understand Earth's weather system better. Jupiter's weather functions under the same physics as Earth, she said, just millions of miles farther from the sun. Simon also said Jupiter studies could improve our understandings of worlds beyond our solar system. "If you just look at reflected light from an extrasolar planet, you're not going to be able to tell what it's made of," Simon said. "Looking at as many possible different cases in our own solar system could enable us to then apply that knowledge to extrasolar planets."

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found another interesting piece on phys.org:

On the eve of the 3rd anniversary since her nail biting touchdown inside Gale Crater, NASA's car sized Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover has discovered a new type of Martian rock that's surprisingly rich in silica – and unlike any other targets found before.

Excited by this new science finding on Mars, Curiosity's handlers are now gearing the robot up for her next full drill campaign today, July 31 (Sol 1060) into a rock target called "Buckskin" – which lies at the base of Mount Sharp, the huge layered mountain that is the primary science target of this Mars rover mission.

"The team selected the "Buckskin" target to drill," says Lauren Edgar, Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and an MSL science team member, in a mission update.

"It's another exciting day on Mars!"

[More after the Break]

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes with an article from phys.org:

Intensive fishing prompts much concern and debate over sustainability of fish stocks, but could it also be driving evolutionary changes that render fish of the future less catchable?

There are many examples of an evolutionary 'arms race' between predator and prey, where adaptations that help hunted animals avoid capture prompt changes in hunters that help them become more deadly.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow investigating whether commercial trawling is similarly driving evolutionary change in fish have found fitter fish are better at evading capture. They speculate that, over time, this could lead to physiological changes in future fish populations.

Dr Shaun Killen of the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, said: "There is a lot of concern on how overfishing is affecting the abundance of wild fish, consequences for the economy, employment and the ecosystem as a whole.

AndyTheAbsurd writes:

This article on PC World asks if Purism's goals for the Librem open-source-top-to-bottom laptop are even possible. The early conclusion seems to be "No", although there's a more nuanced discussion if you click through to the article.

Personally, I suspect that it's going to be very difficult without someone reverse engineering a number of pieces of the system, or someone coming up with a fully open-source, yet x86_64-compatible, CPU design - both of which seem unlikely in today's world.

What do Soylentils think of Purism and the chances of them succeeding at Librem's goals?

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Arthur T Knackerbracket finds the following story on PhysOrg:

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. This week also marks a watershed ruling by a federal appeals court striking down the controversial Texas voter ID law as violating that landmark civil rights act.

A new study conducted by the University of Houston Hobby Center for Public Policy and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy examines the impact of the contested Texas law in U.S. Congressional District 23 (CD-23).

The study suggests that the most significant impact of the Texas voter photo ID law on voter participation in one particular district was to discourage turnout among registered voters who mistakenly believed they did not possess the correct photo identification.

"One of the most striking findings of this study is that potential voters who did not vote actually did possess one of the valid forms of photo ID," said Jim Granato, professor and director of the Hobby Center for Public Policy. "An important issue to be explored is not just the voter photo ID law itself, but the actual education and outreach efforts to ensure all eligible voters understand what form of photo ID may be used to vote."

"gewg_" writes:

El Reg reports

An enzyme from the Pseudomonas putida bacterium--originally isolated from soil in a tobacco field--consumes nicotine as its sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Research from not-for-profit The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) shows that this NicA2 enzyme can be recreated in the lab while retaining its potency, thus making it a potential candidate for drug development.

The enzyme therapy would be used to seek out and destroy nicotine before it reaches the brain, depriving a smoker of the buzz from nicotine that can trigger a relapse into smoking.

"Our research is in the early phase of the drug development process, but the study tells us the enzyme has the right properties to eventually become a successful therapeutic," said Kim Janda, a professor of chemistry and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI, in a statement.

Current smoking cessation aids fail in 80-90 per cent of cases.

[...] The researchers first combined blood serum from mice with a dose of nicotine equivalent to one cigarette. When they added the enzyme, the nicotine's half-life dropped from two to three hours to just 9 to 15 minutes. A higher dose of the enzyme--and a few chemical modifications--could reduce the half-life of nicotine even further and keep it from ever reaching the brain, according to Janda and his team.

The enzyme stayed stable in the lab for more than three weeks at 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Even more importantly, the researchers detected no toxic metabolites produced when the enzyme degraded nicotine.

Related: Financial Rewards Effective in Smoking Cessation

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Phoenix666 writes:

A light topic for a summer Friday:

Bookshelves that pop out just the book you need. Kitchen tables that set themselves. Bathrooms that adjust to your personal comfort levels.

The robots in this video from The Economist do absolutely none of those things. But they're pretty adorable nonetheless. Stanford University created a motorized foot stool that can be summoned by its human captors owners. It's either the best footstool or the worst R2-D2 ripoff, and as you can see in the video, some people treated it more like the latter than the former.

There's also a chest of drawers that opens up to provide the right tool, and is also designed to respond to being tickled. (NOT CREEPY AT ALL!) Also there's a couch that can move itself around the room, and a Rubbermaid garbage can that serves as the second worst R2-D2 imitator in the video. You'll still feel bad when it collides into another, non-robotic garbage can though. Just imagine trying to get comfortable with your feet oppressing that adorable ottoman.

There's video accompanying the article as well. What would your ideal robotic furniture be?

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"gewg_" writes:

Glyn Moody reports via TechDirt

Here's another [data retention] law, this time from Peru, which has a particularly nasty twist, as the EFF reports:

The Peruvian President today adopted a legislative decree that will grant the police warrantless access to real time user location data on a 24/7 basis. But that's not the worst part of the decree: it compels telecom providers to retain, for one year, data on who communicates with whom, for how long, and from where. It also allows the authorities access to the data in real time and online after seven days of the delivery of the court order. Moreover, it compels telecom providers to continue to retain the data for 24 more months in electronic storage. Adding insult to injury, the decree expressly states that location data is excluded from the privacy of communication guaranteed by the Peruvian Constitution.

[...] The EFF post goes on to point out that the move contradicts a variety of human rights obligations that Peru has undertaken to comply with.

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Anonymous Coward writes:

Researchers at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research are closing that information gap by developing a tiny biochemical sensor that can be implanted in cancerous tissue during the initial biopsy.

The sensor then wirelessly sends data about telltale biomarkers to an external "reader" device, allowing doctors to better monitor a patient's progress and adjust dosages or switch therapies accordingly. Making cancer treatments more targeted and precise would boost their efficacy while reducing patients' exposure to serious side effects.

Their research is featured in a paper in the journal Lab on a Chip [Full paper is paywalled] that has been published online.

The sensors developed by the researchers provide real-time, on-demand data concerning two biomarkers linked to a tumor's response to treatment: pH and dissolved oxygen.

...

The sensor housing, made of a biocompatible plastic, is small enough to fit into the tip of a biopsy needle. It contains 10 microliters of chemical contrast agents typically used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and an on-board circuit to communicate with the external reader device.

...

The team successfully tested the sensors in lab experiments, including implanting them in rodents. While the sensors were only implanted for a few weeks, the researchers believed they could be used to monitor a person's health over many years.

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Raymond Chen recently posted a ten-part introduction to the ia64 architecture. Rapidly teaching me that while I might be able to write a brainfuck to perl compiler in a few minutes, there's no way in a million years that I'll ever be able to write a good compiler that targets ia64.

• Part 1: Warming up
• Part 2: Instruction encoding, templates, and stops
• Part 3: The Windows calling convention, how parameters are passed
• Part 3b: How does spilling actually work?
• Part 4: The Windows calling convention, leaf functions
• Part 5: The GP register, calling functions, and function pointers
• Part 6: Calculating conditionals
• Part 7: Speculative loads
• Part 8: Advanced loads
• Part 9: Counted loops and loop pipelining
• Part 10: Register rotation

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