Thursday, October 30, 2014

Research on seismic activity by Lekic receives the Packard Fellowship

As a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkley, Lekic formulated higher-resolution images of the Earth’s mantle structure, stemming from his creation of a global seismic velocity model. Not only is the model able to give geologists a better understanding of plate tectonics, but it also helps explain the movement of continental plates and their evolution, Lekic said.


     Nearly 2 million data lines fill the screen of Vedran Lekic’s computer every day, each representing seismic waves that are detected from of the more than 1,700 seismic stations around the U.S.
From this data, Lekic is creating a map that will not only cover all 48 contiguous states, Alaska and Puerto Rico, but also dive deep into the Earth’s crust and core.

Lekic and McDonough plan to use energy to create models of the earth

     Other than his seismology research contributions, Lekic is also a forerunner in the new geological field of neutrino geoscienceNeutrinos are a type of electrically neutral subatomic particle that are created during radioactive decay or some kinds of nuclear reactions. The particle, which was only discovered geologically in 2005 and physically detected for the first time last year, moves through every kind of object, McDonough said. Lekic and McDonough are attempting to harness that energy to create another way to build a model of the Earth.
“We are both interested in the energy that moves the tectonic plates and creates the magnetic shield around the planet,” geology professor William McDonough said.
“What we do is comparable to how an ultrasound let’s us see through our bodies,” Lekic said. “But this lets us see through the Earth.”

Lekic and his students use EarthScope to collect data from United States and Puerto Rico

     Lekic’s research is based on ground vibration recordings, which he and his students use to detect the scattering of seismic waves across the North American tectonic plate. In conjunction with the National Science Foundation’s EarthScope Facility network, the data is collected from the 49 states and Puerto Rico and makes up about 3.8 million square miles, Lekic said.

“EarthScope is kind of like our Apollo mission, but not as costly,” Lekic said

Lekic has already used the seismic information to investigate why and how the crust moves over the Earth’s mantle. As of now, the deepest any machine has been able to dig was about 12 kilometers into the Earth’s crust, a minuscle fracture of the roughly 6,730 kilometers it takes to get to the Earth’s core. Using the seismic information helps geologists see the shapes and sizes of the Earth’s layers.


 Lekic receives award for his research on seismic activity in the earths core

     In recognition of his efforts to integrate computer science and geological studies, Lekic joined the ranks of 17 other early career U.S. scientists and engineers who were awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering last week. “The great thing about this fellowship is its flexibility to go chase a really good idea to wherever it leads,” said Orr, a Stanford University professor. “It is an incredibly valuable fund and gives the researchers an opportunity to take off with a good idea instead of waiting a year or more for federal money.”

     Lekic is now one of five alumni faculty members who have received the award while at this university, and he will be given access to unrestricted funds of $875,000 over a five-year period to support his extensive research on Earth’s inner structure. “If you look at the field of those who get it and try to figure out from their research summaries and letters which are the strongest candidate, it’s a difficult task,” said Franklin Orr, chairman of the Packard Fellowship panel. “We always run out of fellowships before we run out of wonderful people to give them too.” Lekic has received several other early career awards besides the Packard Fellowship. Now that a large fund has been granted to his work, he hopes to spend more time plotting the seismic information in graphs and models so that he may better understand the Earth, Lekic said

Sunday, October 19, 2014

New study finds that 91 percent of car buyers use social media to purchase their new vehicle


The Automative Social Media Trends Study recently revealed that in 2014, around 91 percent of consumers who are looking to purchase a new automotive vehicle use social media to make their decision. In general 75 percent of consumers in general use the web. This study was created by leading automotive social media and online reputation company Digital Air Strike. They are one of the fastest growing private company’s and #1 in dealers choice award. They are a reputation management company that conduct research on consumer behaviors and targeting. This basically helps dealerships with there marking strategy’s and advertising.

2000 consumers reviewed in the last 6 months of their car purchase

The study was based around these consumers which than were surveyed about there car buying process after there purchase. The study included if they used the web or other traditional methods of purchase such as newspaper or television. 

83 percent of consumers rely on star reviews in their search results

Star reviews play an important role in the consumer experience when choosing a dealership or car company. They tell a consumer a basis usually from 5 stars or 10 stars, in my experience, about how good or bad the company is. The thing about star ratings is the consumer doesn’t have to read a comprehensive review they simply can look at if the dealership has a high rating and go on from them. This helps set a standard for the consumer and limit there choices in the car buying process. Also in this years study it found that 45 percent of consumers found star reviews just as helpful as dealership websites and then 19 percent thought the dealers website was the most helpful part in the experience. Still 83 percent is a very strong statistic showing this simplistic rating system is very powerful in helping the consumer in there decision.

56 percent consumers use their mobile device when buying there vehicle

Mobile technology is todays big trend in our society. What better way of marketing than to take advantage of this trend to reach out to consumers using this technology. The mobile device is what consumers use to search and or read reviews about the dealerships they are interested in. When you think social media these days you think of mobile computing or smartphones. Taking advantage of these devices will reach out to more potential buyers meaning more consumers for your company.

Some statistics in the social media/online-buying world

Some other statistics that Digital Air Strike has found is that 74 percents of consumers will drive anywhere from 20-60 miles to reach the dealership to purchase there vehicle. This is an important statistic because its basically telling the dealers that they can expand some of there geographical advertising up to 60 miles for there consumers. Some others are that cars.com is the top ranked mobile car buyer review app. This is a social media app for people trying to purchase a new or used vehicle. Digital Air Strike also surveyed about using the popular social media site facebook. 48 percent of buyers said they would use facebooks new “click to purchase” feature to purchase a new vehicle. Also 33 percent of car buyers have clicked on a facebook ad on a mobile device. Dealerships could use facebook as a way to advertise to certain people in correlation to there geographical area. Lastly 75 percent of buyers said they would trust a review from facebook/friend vs some random review off a site. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

what interactivity means to you





Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Email is less convenient and more of a nuisance in the educational world

I chose Emily 8 tweet on how email is not a good way for students to be notified on a assignments. The article explains about how students are not used to checking there email daily. It is a new thing for them as technology is being adapted into the education world. Though I do not agree with the article in todays world because everyone has a smart phone making it easy access to check your email daily. I myself check my email everyday because its just an app away instead of having to type in a url than your user and pass which can get annoying. Alot of the students are having issues with using there school email which at the university of maryland we get updates through elms which is forwarded to our normal everyday emailing eliminating this problem of using the school systems email. I think simplicity and easy access is the point of this article and students want to have easy access so its not a stressful experience at school.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/fashion/technology-and-the-college-generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

What I would post on Twitter

What I would post on social media today is the private school in Houston who is using technology to take the place of classrooms. Its an interesting experiment where its less time in the classroom and more using and expanding technology to learn. I feel this gives kids a sense of independence in the real world and more responsibility. It also saves cost on facility's and other such resources in the educational system.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/mobile-schools-use-technology-to-break-free-of-the-classroom-1410111280