FIRST Lego League Challenges Students to Tackle Food Safety Solutions

While the high school teams in the 2012 FIRST Robotics competition built basketball-playing bots, their younger counterparts in the FIRST Lego League (FLL) faced off in the Food Factor Challenge?an educational initiative on food safety disguised as a three-part competition.

The challenge began at the start of the school year, as FIRST developed a partnership with the Polytechnic Institute at New York University (NYU-Poly) to place graduate students in local classrooms to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) principles through robotics. The NYU-Poly grads used NXT software, a simple drag-and-drop interface, to teach the elementary and middle-school-aged kids in FLL how to program tiny, autonomous Lego robots that would compete in the FLL challenge.

"[FLL] is more about providing students with access," said Ben Esner, the director of the Center for K-12 STEM Education at NYU-Poly. "In a text-driven curriculum, they don?t get many opportunities to experiment with robotics and explore STEM disciplines."

The FLL competition consisted of several parts, only one of which was the Lego robot competition, which PM saw teams compete in at the New York FIRST Robotics regional this past weekend. Teams of 10, with only two students allowed next to the table at one time, maneuvered their bots around a tabletop course; typical missions included "harvesting" corn and avoiding "bacteria" in order to preserve food and prevent contamination. The student teams were given two and a half minutes to score as many points as possible with the more difficult tasks, such as loading and reversing a Lego trailer truck into a dock, being worth more points.

In addition to programming the Lego-bots, the students also worked on a long-term research project guided by their NYU-Poly mentor. The RoboTigers team, comprised of second and third graders from Manhattan?s PS3 Elementary School, researched ways to prevent the spread of listeria bacteria in cantaloupe. The students found that the best way to get safe cantaloupes is to grow and monitor them yourself. They even measured the dimensions of their school?s roof and created a miniature display of a proposed rooftop garden.

At the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women in Brooklyn, NY, an all-girls team of seventh and eighth graders researched differences between organic and non-organic tomatoes. Their findings: While non-organic lasted longer, organic were the healthier option.

"Organic tomatoes are better for you because they have flavonoids," thirteen year-old Giselle O?Brady explained. "Those are powerful antioxidants that are really good for you." Based on their research, the girls even came up with an idea for an iPad application called "Tele-Mato"?a way to monitor tomatoes via web-connected sensors in the ground.

The joint FIRST?NYU-Poly program reached 23 New York City schools this year, exposing over 2000 students to STEM education principles through robotics. And while the Lego bots definitely garnered the largest cheering section at FLL, it was clear by the numerous project presentation rehearsals going on in the background that the students were really dedicated to their research.

"In our experience, different young people excel at different aspects of FLL," Esner said. "Which is part of what makes it such an effective and engaging program."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/first-lego-league-challenges-students-to-tackle-food-safety-solutions-7552489?src=rss

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Why Business Should Opt for Google Places Seo | Computers and ...

With how popular the web is nowadays, many business establishments have made it a point to have the names and the locations of their respective establishments added in the various online directories that many web users often go to and search for whenever they are in need of finding specific establishments. Lately, the trend is to use Google places seo for better results.

When using this type of service online, there is not much difference on how people actually search for information when surfing the actual web. One will still need to use a search engine in order to make a query and results will then be generated based on how many places and establishments are relevant enough when compared to the actual key word that is being used in making the search.

Just like how search results are ranked when one make an online search, the same thing happens if one will actually locate establishments on the internet. The internet will scour through the numerous resources that it has and then try to rank those establishments that it will deem to be relevant enough when compared to the kind of query that is being done.

It has been established by the experts that when people come online, they actually have a tendency to click the entries that are ranked higher the moment their queries return a result. Thus, if you are one of those establishments that are ranked in these search results, you get a better chance at having more people checking you out and what you have to offer.

The most popular techniques that a lot of business establishments have been doing these days are to use techniques such as Google places seo. This makes it easier for one to get a higher ranking whenever people search for establishments that are related to the kind of business that they offer. The higher ranked they get, the better chances they have at having more people get to know about them.

In a way, adding these establishments in the mapping that search engines have done when it comes to the locations of places and other relevant establishment?s works just as effectively as advertisements, maybe even more. More and more people have become quite reliant on the internet hence; the more online users get to know about you, and the better chances you get at getting more profits.

These days, there are now firms that offer their assistance to establishments and establishment owners who wish to earn the higher ranks when online queries are made. Oftentimes, they use various optimization techniques so the relevance of a particular establishment will be better boosted and thus, giving it better chance at being placed higher in the search result ranks.

of one chooses to get the assistance of these providers in order to achieve better Google places seo, it is highly advised that people will actually choose a provider who has been around for quite some time and has proven quite an impressive track record with the kind of service they provide. This way, he can easily assure himself that he will be getting the exact results that he has been hoping for.

Source: http://www.meetcoco.com/why-business-should-opt-for-google-places-seo/

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Shocker: Windows 8 will be 'retina' display friendly

We suppose Microsoft didn't have to make Windows 8 play nice with the new rash of extremely pixel-dense displays. But, that would be tantamount to OS suicide. So, we're not particularly surprised to hear that the latest and greatest Windows will support resolutions up to 2560 x 1440 on screens as small as 10.1 inches. That's a pretty impressive 291 pixels per inch. Of course, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. While in an ideal world, every UI element would be resolution independent, that's simply not the case and the infrastructure isn't there to support it. Instead graphical elements, including text, must be scaled to fill the available pixels. Microsoft's scheme will use 100 percent for standard density displays, 140 for HD and 180 for quad-XGA panels. Thankfully, the company was smart enough to include support for SVG files as UI elements, meaning that density and resolution independent future is at least one step closer. For loads more details hit up the source link.

Shocker: Windows 8 will be 'retina' display friendly originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  Building Windows 8  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/22/shocker-windows-8-will-be-retina-display-friendly/

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Clinton calls U.N. council's move on Syria "positive step"

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[ [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-calls-u-n-councils-move-syria-positive-001848734.html

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How to Take Proper Care of Your Personal ... - Travel and Leisure

Cooking is an art, and as with all art forms when cooking you need the proper tools. Most importantly you need quality, comfortable knives. A properly balanced, sharp, comfortable knife makes the whole cooking experience more enlightening, relaxing, and fun. Therefore if you intend to equip your kitchen with the ?Kitchen Knives? high quality, please visit the link and the various models offered a knife you can have with an easy and fast. Get the information right away to get attractive deals you can get.

Planning of moving to your fantasy house? One of the places where your household is always doing something is in your home so create sure you have all the necessary gadgets for planning foods particularly blades. Deciding on the best blades for region is very essential especially when you are having a household collecting in your home and you need to get ready delightful food for them. Your perform won?t be that quick and simple without a side.

Even in the past, early culture used reducing resources made out of rocks and components to search create foods and build houses. Those people noticed that a good reducing device is very essential for their success. They even used it as a device for self protection where group attack is very widespread in the modern times. This is how significant a reducing device is even before.

As time goes by, people are able to progress and think correctly. We developed new and enhanced components such as blades. These days, we now have various kinds of blades that we can use for baking. Think about lifestyle without a knife? That must be a very trial for you to create meat in to equivalent parts and dining places won?t be able to get ready creative demonstration of foods for their customers. These are just some of the many negatives of lifestyle without blades.

Choosing the right blades is also very essential based on how you will use it. These days, we have several kinds of blades designed to create different kind of reduces and shape. Select a side that you think is perfect for your hold. It is essential that you are relaxed in positioning and using the side to avoid injuries. It is smarter to get top excellent blades than to less expensive ones that won?t last. Prevent buying blades set because there is a big probability that you won?t be able to use each one of them. Buy only those you really need to be able to really get top excellent blades. Better if you end up picking a side that can be used to piece, cut, mince and cleaved bone.

Taking proper care of your blades is simple.

• Consistently improve region using a whetstone in order to maintain sharpness and balance when using it.
• When you have to piece a lot especially when you are working in a eating place as a cocinero, it is essential that you often develop your side with a maintenance precious metal to ensure precise perform.
• Shop your blades in a rut and far from the reach of children.
• Ensure that that you clean the blades every after use and create sure it is dry before you store it.
• Use wood made or nasty cut forums to avoid destructive the leading side of the side.
• Use a proper side for every food you cut. Don?t use a slim side to cut wide meat or bone. It will not only damage the side but you are also at risk of injuring yourself.

Source: http://www.heylarryhughesstoptakingsomanybadshots.com/how-to-take-proper-care-of-your-personal-cooking-knives.html

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The Importance of A Contractor ? Home and Family Sites

There are many things that can go into a construction project, especially when you are talking about remodeling something within the home. Many of us will attempt to do everything that is possible on our own, but in some cases, it is going to become necessary to hire contractors in order to take care of those jobs for us. This is particularly the case when a large-scale remodeling project is going to be done, especially on rooms such as the kitchen or the bathroom. If you are going to need to hire contractors, here are some things that you should consider to make sure that you get the most out of the entire project.

Specialized contractors may need to be brought in, depending upon the size of the job that you are doing. For example, a large-scale remodeling job may require that you hire a demolition company which will take care of, not only the actual demolition, they will also take care of the removal of anything from the job site. This type of hauling can be done by a demolition company, as they will understand how to handle the disposal of those products according to local and state regulations. For example, hauling San Francisco debris to the dump may be quite different than what you will find outside of California, due to the regulations that are within the state. Hiring a contractor that is familiar with those regulations, as well as hiring somebody that is well-known within the community can go a long way in making sure that everything works properly with your project.

Source: http://www.barnaalper.com/2012/03/the-importance-of-a-contractor/

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Zinio finally hits the PlayBook, becomes your Berry own magazine stand

Zinio's had a comfortable spot sitting on the Android and iOS stores for months, but up until now, it'd been steering clear of a certain App World. Fast forward to today and the digital magazine service is staying true to its tweet, at last making its way to that 7-inch BlackBerry slate. The PlayBook flavor brings along the usual traits, including over 5,000 mags in 33 different languages, multiple device syncing, as well as full subscriptions or à la carte issues . Early adopters have already taken the app for a spin, giving it mixed reviews, and you can do the same directly from your two-dot-oh slab or via the source link below.

Zinio finally hits the PlayBook, becomes your Berry own magazine stand originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileSyrup  |  App World  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/MjwCCPNW0TA/

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