Messages

16

Applied Science / Smartphones Could Be Used As Earthquake Early Warning

« on: May 19, 2015, 10:53:33 AM »

An earthquake early warning (EEW) can save many lives, but unfortunately it’s an extremely expensive system for some countries. A group of scientists believe that smartphones could do the same work and at a much more affordable cost.



The research done at the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, published in Science Advances says that a network of phones can replace the seismographs, by turning into a crowdsourced early earthquake warning that could help notify communities nearby that an earthquake is coming their way. The study analyzed historical data of earthquakes using a Nexus 5 and found that the GPS of modern smartphones are more powerful than you’d think.

“The GPS on a smartphone is shockingly good,” said study leader Sarah Minson. “If you take your phone and move it six inches to the right, it knows with surprising accuracy that it moved six inches to the right — and that is exactly what we want to know when studying earthquakes.”

Current warning systems capture the first tremors of an earthquake, estimating where the epicenter of the quake is located and what its intensity is. However, the method is very expensive and most developing countries still cannot afford to install them. The new system using smartphones may not be as accurate, but costs much less.

Modern phones are equipped with GPS sensors and accelerometers, which turn out to be very useful as a seismic sensor. A single smartphone would not be very useful, but a network of them can generate sufficiently accurate information about the earthquake.

With millions of smartphones in the proximities of an earthquake, the researchers hope that there are at least a few thousands of them able to function as earthquakes sensors. Even with imprecise GPS sensors, they are sensitive enough to detect the earliest signs of quakes that are magnitude 7 and stronger.

The challenge right now is to distinguish an earthquake tremor from the movements of a smartphone in a person’s pocket, for example. The scientists hope to overcome this problem by only registering an earthquake if at least 100 phones record the same amount of displacement at the same time and in the same area.

The staff of the US Geological Survey should get a system pilot project in Chile, installing it on new smartphones sold in the country, which doesn’t have an earthquake warning system. “The cost is essentially zero, especially since people buy new phones every two years or so to have the latest-and-greatest model,” Minson said.

Source: Science Advances

17

Latest Technology / Emerging Technologies Are Changing the World — But Are They Ethical?

« on: May 19, 2015, 10:50:58 AM »

For decades, technology has been fundamentally changing the way we live our daily lives — and in recent years, the pace of change has become truly mind-boggling. Today’s dazzling new technologies will, in the very near future, become the mundane stuff of everyday life. The World Economic Forum recently released their list of the top 10 emergent technologies for 2015. They include driverless cars, 3D printing, fuel-cell vehicles, more precise genetic engineering technologies, and advanced AI that can produce synthetic brains smart as our own.



But these emerging technologies don’t come without serious ethical issues. When you earn a Master of Technology Management, you’ll learn not only how to work with new and emerging technologies, but how to grapple with and resolve the often-heavy ethical issues attached to them. Today’s emerging technologies could have ethical ramifications that cross legal, political, socioeconomic, and even international boundaries.

Driverless Cars Could Widen the Gap Between Rich and Poor

Google’s driverless cars are now road legal in three states: Florida, Nevada, and California. Driverless cars are expected to make the roads safer, and free up the time once spent driving so that all passengers can chat, read, watch films, surf the Web, or enjoy hobbies. “Connected vehicles” would communicate with one another, and with traffic lights and other elements of roadside infrastructure, to cut down travel times, minimize emissions, increase fuel efficiency, and reduce traffic jams.

But some worry that the advent of driverless cars will make it even more difficult for lower-income people to access transportation, since they might not be able to afford the new technology. As technology advances it will be important for companies to hire graduates who studied technology and business ethics to ensure that such future tech, like driverless vehicles, is accessible to people of all social classes.

Advanced AI Could Create a New Underclass

As the field of robotics advances, engineers are giving robots a greater capacity to react to stimuli without relying on their programming. This means that soon, robots will possess biologically-inspired neuromorphic chip technology that helps their computer-brains work the same way ours do, using synthetic neurons and synapses. This could give robots and computers the ability to learn and create new memories. One application could be in a surveillance drone, which would use its neuromorphic chip technology to recognize new objects and environmental elements and remember them for later. With time, robots and computers could develop neural capacities to rival those of their human creators.

However, the prospect of intelligent, thinking, learning computers raises some disturbing ethical concerns. Do robots and computers that can learn and think have rights similar to those of humans? It’s not just a question of redefining what are currently considered “human” rights to encompass artificially intelligent objects. There’s also the question of whether intelligent computers will recognize our rights in return. The proliferation of AI could create a new underclass of subjugated citizens — and as some have pointed out, that underclass could be us.



3D Printing Could Increase Access to Weapons and Drugs

At the moment, 3D printing is largely the province of artists, designers, and researchers in labs. But while 3D printing promises to create a future in which new, viable human organs can be manufactured at the push of a button, or consumer goods can be custom-crafted in the home without the need for a manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, it’s dangerous to assume that no one will take advantage of this technology for nefarious purposes.

3D printing could make it easier than ever to obtain guns and other weapons, made with materials that can easily foil metal detectors and other common security protocols. In fact, 3D-printed plastic guns are already a real threat. 3D printers could be used to create custom new drugs, creating new addictions and dependencies and perhaps even a Brave New World scenario in which citizens have constant access to a supply of pharmacological drugs that stave off any negative feelings whatsoever. 3D-printed organs based on individualized genetic data, as well as other genome-based treatments, could eventually make our very genetic data as vulnerable to data breaches and cyber security attacks as our financial data is today.

Emergent technologies promise to make our lives better in every way, but just as they will pave the way for new modes of transportation, new medical treatments, and new ways of doing almost everything, they’ll also pave the way for serious new ethical dilemmas. Finding solutions to those ethical dilemmas is the price of progress – but it’s a price worth paying if it fosters continued innovation.

Source: Google+

18

Internet Technology / Amazon at work building drones that deliver wherever you are

« on: May 19, 2015, 10:47:00 AM »

Amazon has been hard at work on designing and building drones that can deliver parcels to customers. Recently they have been focusing on the design of a drone that would be able to deliver to customers wherever they are, suggests a patent given to the US Patent and Trademark Office.


[Image Courtesy of Shutterstock]

Wouldn’t it be great if a drone could deliver that ingredient you forgot when you’re about to make dinner? Or deliver fresh milk to your doorstep just as your coffee maker finished its brewing cycle. This and more may all be possible in the future as Amazon have just revealed a patent application for Prime Air drones and it seems that if and when they finally make it to the market they may not be limited to delivering to homes.

Amazon is designing the Prime Air drones so that they can deliver to a GPS position. This seems to suggest that the drones may be able to track down a customer via the GPS on their smartphone and deliver the parcel to them wherever they may be.

The Bring It To Me delivery system which Amazon have put on the patent could actually bring parcels to people and it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t at home or the office. A person could essentially be sitting in a boat in the middle of the ocean and the drone could deliver the parcel to them. The patent was applied for last September and the trademark office recently made it public.

The patent says “With the implementations described herein, a user now has the ability to choose “Bring It To Me.” With this option, the actual location of the user is determined and the UAV delivers the item to the current location of the user… For example, the user may identify their current location by allowing Global Positioning System (“GPS”) data to be provided by their mobile device.”

The patent also described a communications network for the Amazon fleet of drones which relays data between the drones and helps with the route planning. Information they could share includes air traffic, weather and conditions for landing.

It was also suggested that more than one drone may be able to participate in the delivery of one item. For instance, a parcel could be picked up by one drone and taken to a relay location and another drone could take over and complete the delivery.

The Prime Air delivery service of Amazon was announced in 2013 and there was mixed responses from the general public. However it does look as though Amazon are serious about the system and do intend to roll it out. They have been talking with the Federal Aviation Administration to fast track the testing and drones are currently being tested north of the border in Canada.

Via [US Patent & Trademark]

19

Internet Technology / Solaroad Is More Productive Than Expected

« on: May 19, 2015, 10:45:07 AM »

The search for innovation and sustainable means of obtaining energy has given us a lot of new inventions lately. One of which has recently been put to use, the first solar road in the world, and it seems that the Solaroad has produced more energy than planned, and is twice as environmentally friendly since it is not intended to be used by motor vehicles, but by bikes.



The Dutch solar road opened in November of last year and has produced more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours of energy, which is enough to supply a small family household for a year! The would be equal to 70 kWh per square meter according to Solaroad spokesman Sten de Wit. “We predicted [this] as an upper limit in the laboratory stage. We can therefore conclude that it was a successful first half year,” Sten de Wit told Al-Jazeera America.

The 70-meter-long bike path stretches between the Amsterdam suburbs of Krommenie and Wormerveer. It is made of cheap photovoltaic panels protected by a thick and robust layer of transparent glass, able to support the weight of a bicycle and more. “This version can have a fire brigade truck of 12 tonnes without any damage,” said Arian de Bondt, a director at Ooms Civiel. “We were working on panels for big buses and large vehicles in the long run.”



This pilot project, which cost 3.5 million euros, started three years ago and is the result of a partnership between the Dutch province of Noord-Holland and the engineering companies TNO, Ooms Civiel and Imtech. The test was designed to ensure that the surface would be similar to asphalt and would not cause annoying reflections to drivers and cyclists. So far, about 150,000 cyclists have ridden over the Solaroad.

It’s definitely a considerable hope for the future, because so far the photovoltaic road industry, despite all the efforts, has not seemed to take off. In the US, the Solar Roadways were only able to launch thanks to their crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

One of the main limitations in developing solar roads is its low efficiency in energy production compared to solar panels installed on rooftops or fields. This is because the panels placed on the roads may not always be correctly inclined towards the sun. However, many people could benefit from this option, since it would avoid occupying vast areas of land (in the case of solar plants installed in the field), not to mention that its use in densely populated areas of the world, would produce large amounts of clean energy, helping to reduce polluted emissions from fossil fuels.

Source: Al-Jazeera America

20

Applied Science / What Happens When A Plane Is Struck By Lightning?

« on: May 19, 2015, 10:42:28 AM »

It probably takes suffering from astraphobia to even know what that is – the fear of being struck by lightning. Well, if by any chance you suffer from this kind of phobia, you might want to lower the risks of ever getting struck by a lightning bolt by doing basic things like avoiding open areas and staying away from metal during a storm. However, what most people are unaware of is that the risk of this happening increases 560 times if you are in a flying plane!




According to data collected by the Quartz, every operating aircraft in the world is struck by lightning at least once a year. But before you decide to never get on a plane again, you should know exactly what happens when a lightning bolt strikes a plane: practically nothing.

During the design process of a modern aircraft, there is always an engineer who is responsible for making sure that all the equipment, electrical systems and fuel are protected from the 30,000 amperes discharge of a lightning bolt. When the discharge strikes a plane, electricity simply travels through the outer shell of the aluminum fuselage, not causing any actual damage to the plane.

In fact, aircraft protection against lightning is so good that often passengers don’t even realize it happened and the only damage that might be left behind are slight burn marks at the entry and exit points. According to historical records, the last time a plane crashed because it was struck by a lightning bolt was in the United States in 1967 – almost 50 years ago.

Now you know, and you can keep your cool during flights. Although a large metal structure flying through clouds of charged electrical particles is an easy target for lightning – and sometimes even causes it – you will still be much safer up there than if you were taking a swim during a storm.

21

Latest Technology / Top 10 Modern European Aqueducts

« on: May 19, 2015, 10:37:01 AM »

1. Magdeburg Water Bridge, Germany.

This is the world longest navigable aqueduct with total length of 918 m. The project was started in more than a hundred years ago, in 1905, but it was stopped in 1942 due to WWII. During the Cold War all works on the water bridge were “frozen” and the building process was restored 55 years later, in 1997. After 6 years, 24 000 tons of steel and 68 000 tons of concrete, the aqueduct started operations in 2003. Since then it crosses over the Elbe River and connects the Elbe-Havel Canal to the Mittellandkanal, reducing more than 12 km (7.5 miles) of the distance passed by trading and passenger vessels.



2. Briare Aqueduct, France. It was the longest navigable aqueduct before building of the Magdeburg Water Bridge. Briare Aqueduct operates since the autumn of 1896 and carries the Canal latéral à la Loire over the River Loire in France for almost 117 years since then. The facility has overall length of 662m and is 6m wide.



3. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, UK.

The largest British aqueduct was built within 10 years, from 1795 to 1805. The facility is almost 307 m (1007 ft) long and is raised at 38.40m (126ft) above the river Dee by 18 columns and supported by 19 arches.





4. Aqueduct Ringvaart Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.

The Ringvaart canal surrounds the polder of Haarlemermmeer and crosses over the A4 Highway which connects the polder to the outer world.




5. Håverud Aqueduct, Sweden.

This aqueduct is a part of the Dalsland Canal that makes possible sailing of ships between Lake Vänern and central parts of the Dalsland and southwestern Värmland lake districts. The aqueduct is 33.5m long free-hanging bridge built by Nils Erickson between 1864 and 1868. The steel plates that form the bridge are joined by rivets and the most impressive thing is that thus far there was no need to change none of these rivets.

6. Pont du Sart Aqueduct, Belgium.

This is a concrete structure that carries the Centrumkanaal in western Belgium above the crossroads near the town of Houdeng-Goegnies. It is 498m long and its weight of roughly 65 000 tons is supported by 28 concrete columns, each with a diameter of 3m.




7. Aqueduct Veluwemeer, Netherlands.

This aqueduct connects the mainland Netherlands to an island famous for being the largest artificial one on the planet – Flevoland.




8.Naviduct Krabbersgat, Netherlands.

Naviducts are special kind of navigable aqueducts that has a lock included. Krabbersgat is located near Enkhuizen and supports ships which pass the border between Markermeer and IJsselmeer lakes.




9.Edstone Aqueduct, UK.

The Edstone Aqueduct is the longest aqueduct in England (145m/475ft) and it is a part of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in Warwickshire




10.Aqueduct Langdeel, Netherlands.

It is located near the city of Leeuwarden right above the N31 highway. The aqueduct was built between 2004 and 2007 and has the following measurements: 2.78m (9ft) depth, 25m (82ft) width and 110m (360ft) length.




An article inspired by: [cristimoise.net]

22

Hadith / Dua for the protection from all evil

« on: May 11, 2015, 11:13:41 AM »

RasulullAllah taught us to recite several du'a'as and supplications, whereby we can gain the protection of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from all evil. He said in this authentic hadith in Saheeh ibn Majah:
“There is no person who says, in the morning and evening of every day: (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ) In the name of Allah (الَّذِي لاَ يَضُرُّ مَعَ اسْمِهِ شَىْءٌ فِي الأَرْضِ وَلاَ فِي السَّمَاءِ) with Whose Name nothing on earth or in heaven harms (وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ) and He is the All-Seeing the All-Knowing (ثَلاَثَ مَرَّاتٍ) 3 times (فَيَضُرَّهُ شَىْءٌ) and is then harmed by anything.”
Remember to recite this 3 times in the morning and 3 times in the evening for protection from all evil.



بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي لاَ يَضُرُّ مَعَ اسْمِهِ شَىْءٌ فِي الأَرْضِ وَلاَ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

Bismillaahil-lathi la yaDorro ma'asmehe shay'on feel-ArDe wala fees-samaa' wa who-wa As-samee'o Al-Aleem.

23

Various Sura & Dua / Re: The Six Pillars of Iman

« on: May 06, 2015, 12:36:23 PM »

Jazakallahu khair,

24

Telecom Forum / Ericsson Radio Dot System in Bangladesh

« on: April 03, 2015, 02:54:54 PM »

বড় স্থাপনা বা ভবনে মোবাইল ইন্টারনেটের ধীরগতি ও নেটওয়ার্ক সমস্যা সমাধানে ‘রেডিও ডট’ নামে নতুন ডিভাইস নিয়ে এসেছে  টেলিযোগাযোগ সরঞ্জামাদি প্রস্তুতকারক প্রতিষ্ঠান এরিকসন।



বাংলাদেশের মোবাইল ফোন অপারেটররা এ ডিভাইস ব্যবহার করে খুব সহজেই বড় স্থপনা বা ভবনের ভেতর ইন্টারনেট ধীরগতি ও নেটওয়ার্ক সমস্যার সামাধান করতে পারবে।

বৃহস্পতিবার বাংলাদেশ এরিকসন প্রধান কাযালয়ে এক সংবাদ সম্মেলনে এ তথ্য তুলে ধরেন এরিকসন বাংলাদেশের ব্যবস্থাপনা পরিচালক রাজ।

তিনি বলেন, বড় বড় ভবন ও স্থাপনায় মোবাইল ইন্টারনেটে ধীরগতি ও নেটওয়ার্ক সমস্যা বা ভয়েস কলে সমস্যা দেখা যায়। শহরগুলোতে বড় বড় ভবন ও অন্যান্য স্থাপনা থাকতে মোবাইল তরঙ্গ (স্পেকট্রাম) বাধাগ্রস্ত হয়। এর ফলে গ্রাহকরা মোবাইল ইন্টারনেটের ধীরগতির সমস্যায় পড়েন।
এছাড়া একই স্থানে বহুসংখ্যক গ্রাহক মোবাইল ইন্টারনেট ব্যবহার করলেও একই সমস্যা হতে পারে। এসব সমস্যা সামাধানে ‘রেডিও ডট’ ডিভাইস খুব সহজেই সমাধান করবে বলে জানান রাজ।

এরিকসন বাংলাদেশের প্রধান প্রযুক্তি কর্মকর্তা আবদুস সালাম বলেন, “এ বছর বার্সেলোনায় মোবাইল ওয়ার্ল্ড কংগ্রেসে এই ডিভাইসটি উদ্বোধন করা হয়। বাংলাদেশের মোবাইল অপারেটরদের সাথে এ বিষয়ে আলোচনা চলছে। অপারেটরদের মধ্যে অনেকেই এ ডিভাইস ব্যবহারে আগ্রহ প্রকাশ করেছে।

“এ ডিভাইসটি তৈরি করা হয়েছে মূলত বাধাহীন থ্রিজি বা এর চেয়ে উচ্চগতির ইন্টারনেট ও ভয়েস সেবার জন্য।  অপারেটরা মাত্র ৩০০ গ্রাম ওজনের এ ডিভাইস ব্যবহার করে বড় স্থাপনা বা ভবনগুলোতে মোবাইল ইন্টারনেটের ধীরগতি সমস্যা সমাধান করতে পারবেন বলে আশা করি।
“রেডিও ডট এর জন্য সরাসরি বিদ্যুৎ সংযোগের প্রয়োজন নেই, ইন্টারনেট ক্যাবলের মাধ্যমে সংযুক্ত থেকে ডিভাইসটি চলে, যে  ক্যাবলটি বেস স্টেশনে সংযুক্ত অভ্যন্তরীণ রেডিও ইউনিটের সাথে যুক্ত থাকে ।”

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Allah: My belief / Re: Valuable Quote from Holly Quran (কুরআনের অমূল্য বানী)

« on: March 25, 2015, 02:19:28 PM »

তোমরাই হলে সর্বোত্তম উম্মত, মানবজাতির কল্যানের জন্যেই তোমাদের উদ্ভব ঘটানো হয়েছে। তোমরা সৎকাজের নির্দেশ দান করবে ও অন্যায় কাজে বাধা দেবে এবং আল্লাহর প্রতি ঈমান আনবে। আর আহলে-কিতাবরা যদি ঈমান আনতো, তাহলে তা তাদের জন্য মঙ্গলকর হতো। তাদের মধ্যে কিছু তো রয়েছে ঈমানদার আর অধিকাংশই হলো পাপাচারী।
তারা সবাই সমান নয়। আহলে কিতাবদের মধ্যে কিছু লোক এমনও আছে যারা অবিচলভাবে আল্লাহর আয়াতসমূহ পাঠ করে এবং রাতের গভীরে তারা সেজদা করে। তারা আল্লাহর প্রতি ও কিয়ামত দিবসের প্রতি ঈমান রাখে এবং কল্যাণকর বিষয়ের নির্দেশ দেয়; অকল্যাণ থেকে বারণ করে এবং সৎকাজের জন্য সাধ্যমত চেষ্টা করতে থাকে। আর এরাই হল সৎকর্মশীল
[সূরা আল ইমরান আয়াত সংখাঃ ১১১,১১৩-১১৪]

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Hadith / Re: One Day One Hadith (প্রতিদিন একটি হাদিস)

« on: March 25, 2015, 02:17:24 PM »

On the authority of Ibn Abbas (RA), from the Messenger of Allah (SAW), from what he has related from his Lord: Verily Allah ta’ala has written down the good deeds and the evil deeds, and then explained it [by saying]: "Whosoever intended to perform a good deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended to perform it and then did perform it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred times, up to many times multiplied. And if he intended to perform an evil deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended it [i.e., the evil deed] and then performed it, then Allah writes it down as one evil deed." [related by al-Bukhari (6491) and Muslim (131)]

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Hadith / Re: One Day One Hadith (প্রতিদিন একটি হাদিস)

« on: March 25, 2015, 02:16:40 PM »

Narrated from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) passed by Sa‘d when he was doing wudoo’, and he said, “What is this extravagance, O Sa‘d?” He said: Can there be any extravagance in wudoo’? He said, “Yes, even if you are on the bank of a flowing river.”
[Imam Ahmad (6768) and Ibn Maajah (419) ]

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Telecom Forum / Total Internet Subscribers in Bangladesh in 2015

« on: March 25, 2015, 02:15:40 PM »

The total number of Internet Subscribers has reached 42.766 million  at the end of January, 2015.

The Internet subscribers are shown below:

OPERATOR                            SUBSCRIBER

Mobile Internet                         41.303

WiMAX                                     0.223

ISP + PSTN                             1.240

Total                                     42.766

Source: BTRC

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Telecom Forum / Total PSTN Subscribers in Bangladesh in January 2015

« on: March 25, 2015, 02:13:00 PM »

OPERATOR                        SUBSCRIBER

BTCL                                       0.798

Ranks Telecom Ltd                 0.262

BanglaPhone Ltd                    0.005

World Tel                                0.015

Total                               1.081

30

Telecom Forum / Total Mobile Phone Subscribers in Bangladesh in 2015

« on: March 25, 2015, 02:09:56 PM »

OPERATOR                                                       SUBSCRIBER (IN MILLIONS)

Grameen Phone Ltd. (GP)                                               51.549

Banglalink Digital Communications Limited                     31.145

Robi Axiata Limited (Robi)                                              26.283

Airtel Bangladesh Limited (Airtel)                                    7.716

Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell)                 1.276

Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. (Teletalk)                                 3.890

Total                                                                               121.860

Source: BTRC