Tag Archives: facebook
Robotic tools make learning fun for kids
Robotic tools make learning fun for kids Nivriti Butalia / 28 September 2013 Coloured LEGO bricks are familiar to most people who’ve shopped in toy stores. Those interlocking bits of plastic that children play with, creating buildings, vehicles and such like out of those bricks, only for those structures to be taken apart again. Steen Lund of LEGO Education is on a mission to make learning fun. You get this impression the moment he hands you his ‘business card’. The business card is not a conventional flat paper card, but a plastic thumb-sized LEGO brick man wearing a green cap and glasses, and white shirt. On the front of the toy man’s white shirt, it says STEEN V LUND, and on the back is written his contact details. Because this innovative toy of a business card is so tiny (but effective!), there isn’t space to fit ‘Territory Manager for Europe, Middle East and South East Asia, LEGO Education’. Lund quotes Einstein (‘Play is the highest form of research’) while unveiling the latest robot tool for classrooms called the EV3, launched by LEGO Education and Atlab. ‘There’s a new robot in class’ is the tagline of this new refined product from the education arm of LEGO toys, a company present in 60 countries. There is the necessary spiel about how they are not bringing ‘toys’ into the classroom, they’re bringing in ‘learning tools’. Robots in the classrooms? There seems to be no doubt about the fact that robots will, definitely aid teaching. “It is a resource,” says Kerry Bailey, Special Advisor, E-learning, Abu Dhabi Education Council, according to whom, there are 286 public schools within Abu Dhabi that already have robot kits that can be assembled and are assembled by eight- to 18-year-olds. “Over 1,200 schools in the GCC countries — excluding Saudi Arabia — have since 2005 adopted robot teaching resources,” says Senthil Kugan, general manager, Atlab — the official distributor of LEGO Education in the GCC. Interestingly, as Bailey says, “I have never heard of a discipline problem in a robotics class,” as all kids are head-bowed and working at their study desks, engaged and learning about Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (known as STEM; and now with an addition of arts, the acronym for learning becomes STEAM) But there is no fear of class teachers being altogether replaced by these machines (made of lego bricks, but also fitted with battery-operated touch sensors and little computing units that can be fed commands). Teacher as facilitator At the age of 13, Bora Edis and Sharan Bhatia of the Repton School are a supremely confident duo who in just four hours the previous day — by following instructions, sitting with a new interface — assembled a moving device and programmed it to move backward and forward, even installing a fork lift. Domnique Cave, their proud ICT teacher (information, communications and technology) says, “They’ve learnt more in the last two days by interacting and assembling the bricks than by sitting in a classroom.” She says her role has become that of a facilitator, “they teach themselves”. nivriti@khaleejtimes.com What is EV3? The EV3 is the next generation in robotics-based learning. The platform has reinvented science, technology, engineering and maths, also known as STEM, by integrating hands-on designing and building activities into teaching material. Continue reading
Dubai Police warn people of cyber extortionists
Dubai Police warn people of cyber extortionists Amira Agarib / 27 September 2013 Police have urged people to exercise caution while striking friendship with strangers on the Internet or sharing private photographs with ‘friends’ they have met only on the social media sites like Facebook as smart crooks are on the prowl. The Dubai Police department handling electronic crimes has recorded several cases of extortion by such culprits who courted friendship with not just women but also men to catch them in an embarrassing situation later and blackmail them, said Salem bin Salmeen, Deputy Director of Anti-Economic Crime Department. In one such case, an Arab man struck friendship with a woman on Facebook. As they became closer, he managed to make her share her private pictures with him. The trouble started when she ended the relationship later. The suspect logged into Facebook in another name and managed to court her again as a friend. Then, he threatened to circulate her private photos among others, including her friends and relatives, if she did not pay him Dh15,000. Finally, she approached the police. The police laid a trap and arrested the suspect when he received the money from the woman. When the police confronted him with the trail of correspondences and phone call records between him and the woman, he confessed to trying to extort money from her. In another case, a man courted a Syrian woman on Facebook. They got engaged but she ended their relationship later. At this, he opened another account on Facebook and met with her father. He threatened the elderly man that he would circulate the private photos of his daughter if you did not did not pay him a big amount of money. The woman’s father lodged a complaint and was stunned when the police caught his daughter’s former fiance as the culprit. The police have also come across cases of suspects abroad luring victims in the UAE through the social media networks and some smartphone applications. Some people fell into their trap. In one such case, a man pretended to be a woman and sent a good-looking woman’s photos as his own to a man. He invited the victim to chat with “her” on Skype or Facebook. He then shared some obscene videos through Skype and videographed the victim enjoying himself and threatened to circulate the footage. Bin Salmeen said the Dubai Police’s electronic patrols worked round the clock to protect people from such criminals and inform the authorities in other countries to take action against the culprits who blackmailed residents here. – news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Dh15.8b housing loans, projects for Abu Dhabi
Dh15.8b housing loans, projects for Abu Dhabi (Wam) / 26 September 2013 The Abu Dhabi Executive Council, at a meeting chaired by Gen Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Council, on Wednesday approved housing loans and infrastrucrure projects worth Dh15.8 billion. The Council adopted a number of development projects related to infrastructure and social development sectors, and endorsed a new batch of housing loans for citizens. It also discussed advancing work at a number of projects in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, including the nuclear energy project, stressing the importance of such projects and their role in adopting efficient solutions for clean energy. General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed addressing the Abu Dhabi Executive Council meeting on Wednesday as Shaikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor, looks on. — Wam — Dh3.1billion payment of housing loans for 1554 beneficiaries: The Council decided to allocate Dh3.1 billion as a new installment of housing loans for 1,554 beneficiaries. The decision clearly illustrates the keenness of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to secure a social environment with high life quality to all citizens. This would help develop a stable upbringing of individuals and their families and furthermore strengthen social cohesion, which is very essential for the development and progress of all nations. The new loans will benefit 689 beneficiaries from Abu Dhabi, 756 from the Eastern Region and 109 beneficiaries from the Western Region. Names of the beneficiaries will be announced later on and they will be notified about the procedures of imbursement in a way that serves their free choice of the designs of their new houses or they may complete their houses that are still under construction. Dh4.3 billion for Al Ain New Hospital Project: As part of the government efforts to improve health and medical services in Al Ain, the Council approved Dh4.3 billion to fund Al Ain new hospital project. Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) has been assigned to conclude an agreement with a contractor to carry out the project. Upon completion, the hospital will help provide fully integrated medical services and enhance health safety. Besides, it will upgrade the emirate’s status as a scientific hub with distinguished health and social services that could match what we can see in the developed countries. The new hospital will accommodate 719 beds distributed for general medicine, surgery, children’s ward, maternity, ICU, medical rehabilitation, VIP patients and royal suites. It will also include 104 advanced specialized clinics, 17 units for X-ray, CT Scan and MRI techniques as well as 22 specialised units for endoscopy diagnosis. Dh5.2billion for implementing 1st, 3rd and 4th stages of Al Mafraq-Al Ghuwaifat road project: During the meeting, the Council designated the Department of Transport (DoT) to conclude agreements with contractors to implement the first, third and fourth sections of the 248km-long Al Mafraq-Al Ghuwaifat Road Development Project with a total cost of Dh5.291 billion. This includes constructing 15 upper intersections and providing the road with electricity posts. The project is one of the initiatives of the DoT’s strategic plan designed to improve the transport sector and enable it work more efficiently to better serve the economy of the Emirate. Meanwhile, the project will help reduce car accidents, improve road safety, accommodate traffic curtail traffic jams and shorten travel time when travelling to the Western Region or Saudi Arabia. The DoT has already completed the second part of the project, the 80km-long Al Ruwais Road. Sections A &B of Abu Dhabi-Dubai Road Project: The Council also assigned the DoT to reach agreements with contractors to carry out construction work of sections A and B of Abu Dhabi-Dubai Highway Road Project with a total cost of Dh1.966 billion. The 62km two-way road project with four lanes for each direction extends from Seeh She’ib area to Suwaihan Road. It includes six intersections, three for each section, in addition to bridges designed to protect the gas pipelines. High-voltage cables that intersects with the road track will also be removed. Lighting work and other relevant facilities are included in the project. The project is seen as an additional strategic road linking Abu Dhabi Emirate with Dubai and the northern emirates. It will ease traffic congestion along the current Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway. The new road will also connect Khalifa Port with the industrial zone area and serve the other industrial areas and the emerging populated areas and housing projects particularly in Al Falah area. Dh810 million to finance a power generation linkage project: The Council decided to forward an Dh810 million project to contractors who will import, install and modify air cables used to link the newly established power generation stations with other stations in the area. The project aims to transport the generated electricity from the new station to other areas to meet the increasing demand on electricity as a result of the population growth and economic and urban development in the emirate particularly in the Western Region. Dh132 million allocated for sewage water treatment plant project in Al Ruwais: The Council approved a project to set up a sewage water treatment plant in Al Ruwais (Western Region) with a total cost of Dh132 million. Abu Dhabi Sewage Services Company was assigned by the council to conclude a contract with a company to execute the project. The new plant aims to meet demands resulting from the ongoing expansion in industrial zones in Al Ruwais. It goes in line with the development plans of the Higher Foundation for Specialized Economic Zones and the labour towns in Al Ruwais. The project includes the establishment of a wastewater reclamation plant with a capacity of 15000 cubic metre a day. There will be also a receiving station which could receive 16 tanks and a 10km water pumping pipeline to convey treated water to the forest areas reservoirs in Ghayathy area. The new plant takes into account any environmental damages as it is provided with a system to treat bad scents at all stages and another system for monitoring. Continue reading
