Introduction & Purpose
Knowledge update and Industry update at Skyline University College (SUC) is an online platform for communicating knowledge with SUC stakeholders, industry, and the outside world about the current trends of business development, technology, and social changes. The platform helps in branding SUC as a leading institution of updated knowledge base and in encouraging faculties, students, and others to create and contribute under different streams of domain and application. The platform also acts as a catalyst for learning and sharing knowledge in various areas.
Super User
From Different Corners
New York, Dec 11 (IANS) Bestowing considerable power in the CEOs may not create value for the firm during industry-wide downturns, a study led by Indian-origin scientist has found.
"We look at severe industry downturns. The essential idea is, when you have concentrated power in the hands of the CEO or a small group of decision-makers, does that lead to better decision-making or worse?" said Vikram Nanda, Professor at the University of Texas - Dallas, US.
The study found that for innovative firms with powerful CEOs, an industry downturn results in a notable decrease in the firm's value, or book-to-market ratio, relative to a less powerful CEO.
Conversely, for competitive industries and high-discretion industries with powerful CEOs, a downturn results in a decrease in firm value.
In the study, the team wanted to look at crisis situations in which urgency -- the speed of making a decision -- could potentially be really important.
They found that a small concentration of power does not work well, even in times of crisis.
Although decisions may be made faster because only one or two persons need to weigh in, but it could be detrimental if the CEO does not get input from other sources.
Instead, companies should keep their information channels open. The search for more information should not be sacrificed by urgency, the study suggested.
Regulatory response has been to increase the power of the board or make the board independent of the CEO. Although there is some skepticism about the benefits of intervention, such as independent audit committees, on average, these regulations have helped, Nanda said.
"CEOs can actually benefit from having a board of independent members, or having different voices in the boardroom. That can lead to better decision-making. It would be positive for the firm to view it from that perspective. Many of them do, but there are always people who want more power and more authority, and don't want to have people looking over their shoulder. On the other hand, that may be what helps a firm deal with a crisis," Nanda noted.
The study was published online in the journal Group & Organization Management.
Super User
From Different Corners
New York, Dec 11 (IANS) Corn and soyabeans that are close to wind turbines grow in more favourable conditions as turbulence created by wind influences temperature and carbon dioxide concentration, a new research has revealed.
The researchers from the Iowa State University (ISU) installed research towers on a 200-turbine wind farm in Iowa and collected data from 2010 to 2013 on wind speeds and directions, temperature, humidity, turbulence, gas content and precipitation.
"Tall wind turbines disbursed throughout a field create air turbulence that may help plants by affecting variables such as temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations," said Gene Takle, professor at the Iowa State University, US.
The research revealed that turbines can lower the temperature about a half degree during the day and make it half to full degree warmer at night.
"That is because the turbulence mixes air at different elevations. That mixing cools the ground level during the daylight hours, like a fan blowing on a wet surface. But at night, as the ground loses heat, the mixing brings warmer air aloft down to ground level, resulting in a net warming effect," Takle said in a university statement.
The turbulence also suppresses the formation of dew and dries the crops, Takle said, which could combat harmful molds and fungi, the research found.
Researchers noted that the turbulence, enrich the carbon dioxide content in the air surrounding crops that can favour the growing condition of the plants.
However, it remains a challenge for the researchers to figure out if the changes actually improve plant performance.
"The next step would be to answer if this turbulence changes biomass uptake of plants, or if it affects plant size or functions or yield," Takle added.
SUC Editing Team
Information Systems
New York, Dec 11 (IANS) You may soon be able to charge cell phones and power Bluetooth headsets with the swipe of a finger as scientists have developed a device that can harvest energy from human motion.
Super User
From Different Corners
Beijing, Dec 11 (IANS) China launched a weather satellite at 12:11 a.m. local time on Sunday, marking an upgrade of China's meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit.
The Fengyun-4 satellite, the first of China's second-generation weather satellites in geostationary orbit to have been launched, is also the country's first quantitative remote-sensing satellite in high orbit, Xinhua news agency reported.
The satellite, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province, was taken into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. The launch marked the 242nd mission of China's Long March series of rockets.
The satellite will make high time, spatial and spectral resolution observations of the atmosphere, clouds and space environment of China and surrounding regions, significantly improving capabilities of weather and climate forecasts, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The China Meteorological Administration is the primary user of the satellite.
Previously, China had successfully launched 14 weather satellites, seven of which are still in orbit.
SUC Editing Team
Information Systems
New York, Dec 19 (IANS) Apple is rumoured to release iPhone 8 in OLED and LCD variants next year, of which OLED models are likely to sport curved displays.
"Apple may or may not use new technology which enables the phone to respond when users touch any side of the device," appleinsider.com reported on Sunday.
SUC Editing Team
Accounting & Finance
New York, Dec 9 (IANS) Mobile money services, which allow users to store and exchange monetary values via mobile phone, can help lift people in developing economies out of poverty, a new study suggests.
Super User
Retail and Marketing
New York, Dec 10 (IANS) The availability of Apple's wireless headphones, called AirPods, is delayed as the company is experiencing problems in getting the audio from both the earpieces at the same time, a media report said on Saturday.
According to Fortune, "technology problems with how the earpieces receive wireless signals via Bluetooth are causing delay."
Apple launched AirPods along with the iPhone 7 in September this year as a replacement for conventional earphones that require a headphone jack.
The company launched iPhone 7 without the headphone jack, however, consumers can still use wired earphones, but can be done by using a dongle to connect them via lighting port.
"The original plan was to ship the AirPods in October, but Apple decided to delay the earphones that month without giving a reason," the report added.
Super User
From Different Corners
New York, Dec 10 (IANS) Climate change is to blame for a deadly glacier collapse this year in the once stable region of the Tibetan Plateau, says a study.
On July 17, more than 70 million tonnes of ice broke off from the Aru glacier in the mountains of western Tibet and tumbled into a valley below, taking the lives of nine nomadic yak herders living there.
Glacial collapse is unprecedented in western Tibet, which for decades has resisted the effects of climate change while glaciers in southern and eastern Tibet have melted at an accelerating rate.
The most important fact about the avalanche is that it lasted only four or five minutes (according to witnesses), yet it managed to bury 3.7 square miles of the valley floor in that time, said Lonnie Thompson, Professor at The Ohio State University in the US.
Meltwater at the base of the glacier must have lubricated the ice to speed its flow down the mountain, said the study published in the Journal of Glaciology.
"Given the rate at which the event occurred and the area covered, I think it could only happen in the presence of meltwater," Thompson noted.
The researchers used satellite data and GPS to get precise measurements of how much ice fell in the first avalanche and the area it covered.
"We still don't know exactly where the meltwater came from, but given that the average temperature at the nearest weather station has risen by about 1.5 degrees Celsius over the last 50 years, it makes sense that snow and ice are melting and the resulting water is seeping down beneath the glacier," Thompson said.
Increased snowfall has even led to the expansion of some glaciers in western Tibet -- and the extra snowfall likely played some role in the avalanche by creating additional meltwater, said lead author of the paper Lide Tian from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Other nearby glaciers may be vulnerable, "but unfortunately as of today, we have no ability to predict such disasters", Thompson added.
Researchers could not have predicted, for example, that a neighbouring glacier in the same mountain range would give way just two months later, but it did in September 2016.
That avalanche appears not to have resulted in any deaths, and the cause is still under investigation.
Super User
From Different Corners
New York, Dec 10 (IANS) A $15 prosthetic hand created by a student at Ithaca College here can offer a helping hand to a person who still has the ability to move their wrist.
By moving their wrist, they can control and use the hand's fingers to grab and hold various objects.
Unlike electronic hands, which are typically made from metal and are generally expensive, Ryan Bouricius's prosthetic hand is mostly plastic.
"The nice thing about 3D printing is that the price only has to do with the amount of plastic used, not the complexity of the piece," Bouricius said.
Bouricius derived the idea for his innovation from a YouTube video but through testing and tinkering, he made changes to the original design to give the hand more functionality.
"So even though my modified pieces are trickier shapes, since it is the same amount of plastic, it's the same amount of money," Bouricius noted in a statement released by Ithaca College.
This is especially important for families with children who need prostheses. Because children outgrow them quickly, the costs of prostheses can be considerable over time.
With 3D printing, however, Bouricius' model can be affordably re-printed in larger sizes as the child grows.
Bouricius is working with eNABLE, a non-profit organisation that matches 3D-printed prostheses with those in need of them, to find a recipient for his printed hand.
Super User
From Different Corners
London, Dec 10 (IANS) Researchers in Belgium have found that 20 to 40 per cent of patients with the multiple myeloma type of leukaemia have a defect in the ribosome, the protein factory of the cell.
Multiple myeloma (MM, also known as Kahler's disease) is a blood cancer in which the plasma cells in the bone marrow start proliferating malignantly.
The disease cannot be cured and is most common among older people. Various treatments exist to temporarily suppress the disease, but the challenge is determining to which treatment the patient will respond best.
The researchers believe that the new findings - published in the journal Leukemia - can lead to tests to identify defects in the protein factory and also determine an effective therapy.
"The ribosome is the protein factory of a cell. In MM patients, one part of the ribosome is produced less in 20 to 40 percent of the patients, depending on how aggressive the cancer is. We suspect that their cells are still producing protein, but that the balance is somewhat disrupted," said Kim De Keersmaecker, Professor at University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium.
"On the basis of these findings, we can now develop tests to identify defects in the ribosome and thus determine which therapy will have most effect in a specific patient," she said.
The notion that cancer is related to ribosome defects is a relatively new concept in science.
"A few years ago, we discovered defects in the ribosome of patients with acute lymphatic leukaemia. Now we know that the same applies to MM," De Keersmaecker said.
In all likelihood, this will also hold true for other types of cancer, she noted.