News Clips
How Technology Can Help Mitigate Hurricane Harvey-Like Disasters
Unfortunately, we don’t yet have technology that can prevent a storm of the magnitude of Hurricane Harvey from devastating our cities and towns. But it can help in the response, and even provide valuable information for citizens trying to survive a catastrophic event. One key is properly locating backup and recovery systems for government agencies. Typically, most cities and towns with a backup plan for their data rely on nearby data centers. That’s fine if there is a fire at the local office building or something that forces the temporary closure of government buildings...
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Using 3D Printers to Tackle Gaza's Medical Shortages
The stethoscope, a staple device in modern medicine, is a luxury item in Gaza. At Gaza's largest hospital, al-Shifa, there are only one or two stethoscopes in each department; doctors left without one resort to pressing their ears against patients' chests to diagnose an illness. "That would be the best-case scenario," Canadian doctor Tarek Loubani told Al Jazeera. "If someone's full of blood, most doctors aren't going to put their ears to the chest. So, doctors are making decisions without that piece of information"...
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Don't Believe the Hype, AGPL Open Source Licensing Is Toxic and Unpopular
Reading Black Duck Software's newest paean to the Affero General Public License (AGPL) ("The Quietly Accelerating Adoption of the AGPL"), one could be forgiven for thinking AGPL is rocking the open source licensing planet. After all, Black Duck executive Phil Odence laced his post with fancy charts showing explosive growth of the license, ultimately declaring the AGPL "very popular," and a license his firm sees frequently in audits. Maybe, maybe not...
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Using 3D Printers to Tackle Gaza's Medical Shortages
The stethoscope, a staple device in modern medicine, is a luxury item in Gaza. At Gaza's largest hospital, al-Shifa, there are only one or two stethoscopes in each department; doctors left without one resort to pressing their ears against patients' chests to diagnose an illness. "That would be the best-case scenario," Canadian doctor Tarek Loubani told Al Jazeera. "If someone's full of blood, most doctors aren't going to put their ears to the chest. So, doctors are making decisions without that piece of information."...
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Open Data Highlights Post-Harvey Mosquito Health and Safety Threat
Cities in southeastern Texas finally saw dry weather on Wednesday, after days of unprecedented rainfall from Hurricane Harvey. But while floodwaters started receding from many Houston neighborhoods, explosions at a Crosby chemical plant and Beaumont’s lost water supply showed how vulnerable the area remains to health and safety threats. Among these post-Harvey issues, storm-related flooding could increase risk for diseases spread by mosquitoes, which breed in standing water...
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This Aid Agency Is Using Chatbots to Beat World Hunger
Smartphones and chatbots have made services from banking to transportation more accessible across Africa. Now, aid agencies are hoping they can do the same with food.
The UN’s World Food Program (WFP), has been experimenting with text and Facebook messenger chatbots to monitor food insecurity in hard-to-reach areas, turning smartphones and social media into lifelines for the most vulnerable of refugees...
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Mobile Medical Clinic Arrives To Houston To Help with Disaster Response
Stephen F. Austin Community Health Center (SFACHC) is responding to the urgent need for medical help in Brazoria and Galveston communities with the help of Clinica Sierra Vista, a community health center in California. Clinica Sierra Vista is sending a fully equipped medical and dental mobile unit to assist SFACHC care for the displaced residents along the Texas coast where catastrophic Hurricane Harvey flooded homes and vehicles and is preventing the sick and vulnerable from accessing necessary primary care. Read More »
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The Secret History of FEMA
FEMA gets no respect. Consider: The two men who are supposed to be helping run the federal government’s disaster response agency had a pretty quiet late August. Even as a once-in-a-thousand-year storm barreled into Houston, these two veterans of disaster response—Daniel A. Craig and Daniel J. Kaniewski—found themselves sitting on their hands. Both had been nominated as deputy administrators in July, but Congress went on its long August recess without taking action on either selection—despite the fact that both are eminently qualified for the jobs.
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How Robotics, Apps Can Improve Quality of Life
Recently, I worked a booth for the Southwest ADA Center at the annual Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology conference held in New Orleans. The event was filled with interactive exhibits and workshops on robotics, artificial intelligence and technologies for people with disabilities. One researcher was gathering data for a robotics engineering center working on a therapy support robot. She brought up the telepresence robot, PadBot...
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FEMA Chief Brock Long Calls Harvey a "Wake-up Call" for State, Local Officials
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long called Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey a "wake-up call" for state and local officials when it comes to budgets. "It is a wake-up call for this country for local and state elected officials to give their governors and their emergency management directors, you know, the full budgets that they need to be fully staffed, to design rainy day funds, to have your own standalone individual assistance and public assistance programs," Long said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday...
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Mesh Networks Can Keep People Connected During Natural Disasters
Natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey are a threat not only to human life but also to telecommunication systems. When they go down, entire cities and communities are cut off from each other. Mesh networks, however, can get people connected again, and during emergencies they can be a crucial link to information. "It really all boils down to the 'central point of failure' problem," said Daniela Perdomo. "If the central infrastructure goes down, everyone who plugs into it is also disconnected."...
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‘Crapshoot’ — How Sewage Contaminates Our Food Supply
The documentary, "Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes," produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 2003, investigates an important aspect of human life you likely give little consideration: sewage. Do you know what happens to the water and other items after you flush the toilet or run water down the drain?...
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Mapbox Releases Hazard Maps for Hurricane Harvey Affected Areas
Mapbox has published a new map to give Houston officials and residents the most up-to-date information on the areas with the highest risk of hazardous materials in flood waters. The most up-to-date map can be found here. Using the most recent satellite images from DigitalGlobe paired with points of interest for superfund sites, refineries and other EPA toxic hazards in the greater Houston area, Mapbox created the map to highlight the areas of highest concern to help Houston police, other first responders and city officials plan for and mitigate issues associated with chemical plants, refineries and potential toxic contamination in flood waters...
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The First Count of Fentanyl Deaths in 2016: Up 540% in Three Years
Drug overdoses killed roughly 64,000 people in the United States last year, according to the first governmental account of nationwide drug deaths to cover all of 2016. It’s a staggering rise of more than 22 percent over the 52,404 drug deaths recorded the previous year — and even higher than The New York Times’s estimate in June, which was based on earlier preliminary data. Drug overdoses are expected to remain the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, as synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl and its analogues — continue to push the death count higher...
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There’s a Disaster Much Worse than Texas. But No One Talks about It
A quick quiz. No Googling, no conferring, but off the top of your head: what is currently the world’s worst humanitarian disaster? If you nominated storm Harvey and the flooding of Houston, Texas, then don’t be too hard on yourself. Media coverage of that disaster has been intense, and the pictures dramatic. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this supposedly once-in-a-thousand-years calamity – now happening with alarming frequency, thanks to climate change – was the most devastating event on the planet...
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