rica.web: October 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Smart Textile Technology

+Plastic Electronics: Healthcare Section

Wearable sensors help home and car designers accommodate disability
Dan Rogers - 26 Feb 2010

Smart textile technology will be used to prepare devices, vehicles and work spaces for people with disabilities and impairments.

The European Veritas project will use simulations and virtual reality to test products and services for transport, the workplace, healthcare and entertainment. Wearable electronics will be used to analyse movement and results will inform the design of products in these areas.

http://www.plusplasticelectronics.com/HealthWellbeing/Wearable-sensors-help-home-and-car-designers-accommodate-disability-11488.aspx

Students Design Prototypes of Products to Aid Disabled

05.17.2010
Posted by Chris Richter
Filed under College of Textiles, Research News, Student News
Tags: Disabled, NC State News Services, Prototypes, Scott Ryan, Senior design projects, Textile engineering, Textiles

They partnered with local members of the disabled community to determine textile solutions for problems facing those with disabilities — from a more comfortable wheelchair to a new shoe-tying system. And to come up with solutions, many students got a hands-on research experience.

Their prototypes are impressive and include two new types of wheelchairs, systems to help disabled people with everyday tasks such as buttoning a shirt and a “sensing vest that assists the visually impaired with walking by providing discrete vibrations when an object is in its path.” Scott Ryan ’10 explains the vest in the above video.

NC State University

Textiles

Problem Solved! Why Didn’t I Think TEXTILES? By J. Michael Quante

Aha!

Once, fabrics clothed us, provided some decoration to our world, and little more. How times have changed! Creative professionals use advances in fibers, treatments, printing, and fashion to solve a variety of problems. Solutions are limited only by the imagination.

Exciting breakthroughs in textile technology are happening every day. AATCC provides information, resources, and education for textile professionals. To stay at the forefront of industrial and scientific developments that impact your career, become a member of AATCC and read the award-winning bimonthly magazine AATCC Review.

Two books about textile technology, Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology and Nanofibers and Nanotechnology in Textiles, are also available from AATCC's online store.

http://aatcc.informz.net/admin31/content/template.asp?sid=11226&ptid=99&brandid=4199&uid=1004906069&mi=1048256

BHUTAN: Future higher education hub of Asia?

BHUTAN: Future higher education hub of Asia?

Kencho Wangdi
24 October 2010
Issue: 144

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is renowned for its untouched mountainous beauty. It is also known for its political innovation: its tobacco sales ban and its use of 'gross national happiness country' as a yardstick for development, for example. But could it soon become a higher education hub of Asia?

Its current plans are groundbreaking. Bhutan has a tradition of insularity that has only recently started to weaken. But its government - democratised only two years ago - is embarking on an ambitious plan to build a high-end US$1 billion education city to encourage prestigious universities and colleges worldwide to establish affiliated institutions in Bhutan.

The project aims to bring in the branches of about 30 top universities, including those from the US Ivy Leagues, and about 50,000 international students. The city would be spread over 1,000 acres (405 hectares), whose development was approved recently by the government, with a population of more than 100,000 people, including academics and support staff.

The city would have R&D (research and development) facilities, laboratories, hotels, healthcare services, sports centres, libraries, cultural and entertainment centres, and cafes. It would be located in one of the most picturesque spots in Bhutan, between the capital Thimphu and the country's only paved airport, Paro International Airport, around 20 miles (32 kilometres) away.

"World class international schools, general education colleges and specialised colleges in the fields of ICT (information and communication technologies), architecture, engineering, medicine, law, management, and design will be encouraged to open franchises/campuses ..." says the country's 'economic development policy' (EDP), unveiled in April this year. "Education in the fields of maths and science shall be the priority."

University World News

University World News is an online global higher education publication focusing on international higher education news and analysis, developments, events and announcements.

Issues covered by our world class writers include, among many other areas: international university rankings and league tables; globalisation and higher education research and analysis; international students; tertiary education systems, policies and reforms; higher education funding and liberalisation; academic posts and tenure; college accreditation; English language tuition; GATS and the Bologna Process. We are also working to highlight academic job opportunities, new academic posts, conferences and events, research grants, research jobs and further education news.

University World News is read by vice-chancellors and their deputies, professors and university managers, lecturers, higher education researchers and postgraduate students at universities and colleges worldwide, as well as by government policy-makers and officials and people working in higher education funding and advisory bodies, research councils, think tanks, donor agencies, and national and international organisations.

University World News is an online global higher education publication focusing on international higher education news and analysis, developments, events and announcements.

Privacy Type:Open: All content is public

Website:http://www.universityworldnews.com

Location:London, United Kingdom

Learning Theories with Timeline

http://www.slideshare.net/heasulli/group-5-reflection-3/download

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Improving Students’ Capacity in Foreign Languages

Why Learn Other Languages?

The answers are numerous. Some are obvious; some less readily apparent. As globalization increases, so does the volume of Americans doing business overseas. And, although it is true that a significant percentage of foreign nationals speak English, many do not. For example, about 40% of Europeans report they are able to use English. [2] But, more important, that leaves a sizable number of Europeans who cannot. And if globally only one-fourth of the world’s population reports some degree of competence in English, it means that a rather significant number of people have no skills in English at all.

Elementary Schools: Growing Up Global

Childhood is the right time to prepare our next generation for a global future. How they investigate the world, communicate ideas, and act on their beliefs can all start in the elementary years.

'Thinking About Thinking' and One Laptop Per Child | Asia Society

'Thinking About Thinking' and One Laptop Per Child Asia Society

MUMBAI, August 4, 2008 – Professor Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit association, discussed the pathbreaking XO-laptop, which is widely seen as having the potential to revolutionize primary education around the world.

What Accounts for Finland's High Student Achievement Rate? | Asia Society

What Accounts for Finland's High Student Achievement Rate? Asia Society

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2010 — A former Finnish education minister once joked that Finland's education goal is a modest and simple one: to be better than Sweden. In the twenty years since, Finland has achieved an arguably greater accomplishment: it has the top-ranked school system in the world (PISA survey, conducted by OECD).