Tag: Technology

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University of Memphis Researchers Awarded Key Patents

The University of Memphis’ Office of Technology Transfer, housed out of the Division of Research & Innovation, received word that a number of patents submitted have been allowed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as internationally in Australia, Japan, and China.

Dipankar Dasgupta, a professor in Computer Science at the U of M and director of the Center for Information Assurance, was the lead designer on the patent, with assistance from Roy Arunava, Ghosh Debasis, and Kumar Nag Abhijit.

The patent, which is for “Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication System with Multi-User Permission Strategy to Access Sensitive Information,” allows admin users the ability to give different permissions to other users based on their positions in a network. The goal of this system is to allow companies and government entities more control when handling sensitive data.

“Classified data breach and sensitive information leakage continues to be a major concern,” says Dasgupta. “We need a robust auditing mechanism of such information access, and the novelty of this innovation lies in combining adaptive multi-factor authentication to verify identity of the user and permission-based user access to sensitive information, providing end-to-end non-repudiated accountability in cyber systems.” 

The University of Memphis and SweetBio Inc. also received patent allowances from Australia and Japan, and an issued patent from China for their work in tissue regeneration. The patent for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Healing and Regeneration of Bone and Soft Tissue” lists Gary Bowlin, a professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Isaac Rodriguez, a former postdoctoral fellow in Biomedical Engineering and co-founder and chief science officer at SweetBio Inc., as the named inventors.

The patent outlines a technique in which soft and hard tissue could be regenerated using polymer, honey, and a synthetic filler. The invention is currently being commercialized by SweetBio, Inc. for wound-care applications.

“Honey has been used for millennia as a topical, short term, yet slightly messy material to treat wounds,” Says Rodriguez “These newly granted patents push the boundaries of how honey can be used for tissue regeneration both outside and inside the body.” 

More information on these patents as well as other work done by the Office of Technology Transfer can be found at the University of Memphis’ website.

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Local CodeCrew Students Win National Awards

CodeCrew, a local nonprofit that works to empower children and adults to be tech innovators and leaders, announced that several of their students were accepted into the TED-Ed Student Talks Program and placed first in Tennessee’s Congressional App Challenge.

Johnathan Sherrill and Jayda Murray were accepted into the TED-Ed Student Talks Program as well as the Raising Good Gamer program. TED-Ed and Raising Good Gamers recently partnered to gain insights from young people on video game culture and how the medium can be used for change.

Johnathan and Jayda are two of only 30 high school students worldwide to be selected for the TED-Ed student talks program. The program will culminate with the opportunity for five of the 30 students to receive support from TED-Ed coaches for a speaking engagement at the 2021 Games for Change Festival, which will take place July 12th-14th.

Jayda Murray

Johnathan, Jayda, and her sister, Anaya, also placed first in Tennessee’s Congressional App Challenge. The Congressional App Challenge is for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science.

Johnathan Sherrill

Johnathan, Jayda, and Anaya won with their app. Walk In My Shoes: Raising Awareness and Change, was created as a way to allow others to go through a day in the life of a middle-class Black man and show the impact of micro-aggressions and racism from a first-person view. Their app and the other winners’ apps will be displayed in the Capitol building and be featured on the House of Representatives’ website. The winning students are also invited to the House of Code Capitol Hill Reception in Washington, D.C.

The CodeCrew team received both local and regional praise for their accomplishments. Meka Egwuekwe, executive director for CodeCrew, said, “We are so proud of all Johnathan, Jayda, and Anaya have accomplished and learned while with CodeCrew.” U.S. Representative Steve Cohen also extended words of congratulations, writing “I admire your efforts to help others understand the experiences and struggles of their fellow Americans in a time when compassion and understanding is critically important … I look forward to seeing where the future takes you.”

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PayPal Brings Crypto to the Masses

Photo by Bitcoin BCH

Last month, PayPal announced that its users would be able to buy, sell, and hold four prominent cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin – via Paypal.com. Through its website, users will be able to buy and manage their cryptocurrency in one place.

Globally cryptocurrency has quickly been growing in popularity as an alternative form of currency since its inception in 2009. Cryptocurrency, as the name implies, is a digital form of currency that is meant to take the place of, and function as, a real form of currency. Unlike traditional forms of currency, nothing physical exchanges hands, and its value is not backed by a bank in the same way most modern currencies are. Instead, users hold their “currency” in digital wallets and make all their transactions digitally, with the vast majority of cryptocurrency being backed by their communities.

The “currency” in cryptocurrency, usually referred to as tokens, is a unique string of numbers and letters that is tied to the specific cryptocurrency being used. While in a traditional transaction users would exchange money, cryptocurrency users exchange tokens. When users trade tokens, the transaction is sent to a continuously growing list of transactions called a blockchain. The transactions added to the blockchain are then verified by users through a process called mining. Users’ work for mining does not go unrewarded and the “miners” are rewarded in tokens for each successful transaction that they verify.

Buying is as simple as a few button clicks.

Due to the various steps and knowledge needed to jump into the cryptocurrency world crypto had long been pursued by few. As the popularity of cryptocurrency began to grow in early 2018 websites began popping up advertising easy ways to buy and sell crypto but PayPal is one of the largest and most recognizable names to join the cryptocurrency wave.

I tested out PayPal’s new crypto service, throwing in $10 for the opportunity to play around with buying and selling. For someone that has never bought cryptocurrency, the entire process was quick and easy. Within minutes I was the proud owner of $10 worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The Crypto screen gives an accurate representation of the market trends for PayPal crypto partners.

After setting up my account, I was presented with a screen showing my present balance, as well as guides explaining the ins and outs of crypto. For someone less familiar with the technical aspects, the guides were helpful and gave me a better understanding of where my $10 had gone. They also assured me that the prices would rise and fall naturally depending on the current exchange rate of my specific currency.

The move to PayPal has made breaking into the cryptocurrency sphere a reality for the average person. It’s cool and an easy process, and PayPal recommends investing just a dollar to play around with it before making more rash decisions. Though it may not be the most feasible way to diversify your assets, PayPal’s expansion into the crypto market is a great way for the average person to jump into the world of cryptocurrency.

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Tech Nonprofit CodeCrew Receives Major Donation

CREDIT: bbb.co.uk

Courtesy of CodeCrew

Students practice computer coding with CodeCrew.

Memphis nonprofit CodeCrew was donated $50,000 by Verizon to help the tech startup continue to impact the city of Memphis. The donation also marked a partnership between Verizon and CodeCrew. Through the donation, Verizon has pledged to co-sponsor and fund CodeCrew’s after-school and summer programs at Lester Community Center and to establish four new after-school programs at local schools.

“We are proud to invest $50,000 into CodeCrew programs to further their impactful work in our most underserved communities,” said Sheleah Harris, local and state government affairs officer for Verizon. “With a hyper-local focus, Verizon will continue to cultivate relationships with grassroots organizations to actively address the digital divide in Memphis.”

CodeCrew was founded in 2015 as a summer camp program at Lester Community Center and, since then, has taught more than 2,000 thousand students across Memphis. Students in the CodeCrew program learn a wide variety of topics ranging from web and mobile app development to robotics and drone programming.

“CodeCrew is excited to partner with Verizon as they empower us to continue eradicating the digital divide through tech and computer science education,” said Meka Egwuekwe, CodeCrew’s Executive Director.

CodeCrew’s after-school program is geared around teaching kids in grades 5-12 how to use the entry-level coding language scratch, build Android apps, practice JavaScript coding, and work on entry-level game development. During their Hour of Code of events in December and May, students get the opportunity to show off their skills to friends and family. CodeCrew’s Summer Program functions in a similar light with students competing in an annual hackathon after the camp.

More information about the code crew program can be found here.

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House Blocks Amendment To Bar U.S. Military Recruiting on Video Game Sites

An amendment proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that would bar the U.S. military from using the popular video game streaming site, Twitch, was struck down in the House last week.

Launched in 2011, Twitch is now one of the largest video game streaming sites in the world, with more than 15 million average users per day. Users tune in to watch personalities play games as well as interact with them through the chat feature. `

The proposed amendment to the House Appropriations Bill would have prohibited the use of funds for military recruitment via Twitch and other esports activities. The amendment was introduced in response to the aggressive recruiting that had been used by all branches of the military on the site, with the U.S Army being the most prevalent.

The U.S military branches had been cited on multiple occasions for their predatory recruitment tactics that seemed to target children visiting the site. In early July, the U.S Army was given a warning by the site for using fake giveaway links that directed people to recruitment pages.

Piyush Kumar, founder of Memphis-based esports team, Glaive Esports, was critical of the practice.

“I think that U.S Army recruitment is important, but there is a reasonable place for it,” said Kumar. “There is a section on Twitch called “Just Chatting,” where content creators can directly speak to viewers about a range of topics, and many of them can be educational. I see no harm in the military giving educational presentations on the platform about joining the military, but baiting viewers with false giveaways is not the right way to go about it.”

The tactic was also condemned by Ocasio-Cortez.

Though the draft of the amendment was initially approved, Ocasio-Cortez relayed frustration at her colleagues’ lack of knowledge regarding the amendment via Twitter following the vote.

House Blocks Amendment To Bar U.S. Military Recruiting on Video Game Sites (2)

Both the U.S Army and the U.S Navy have denied wrongdoing and have stated that they will continue to stream on Twitch.

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U of M Research Aims at Tech Innovations in Health, Transportation

CREDIT: University of Memphis/Facebook

University of Memphis/Facebook

The University of Memphis took steps into the future of health care and transportation recently with a $5.9 million federal grant and a new research center.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the grant to a group at the U of M focused on artificial intelligence (AI), mobile computing, wearable sensors, privacy, and precision medicine. Think of the way an Apple Watch can detect falls or monitor a heart rate; this group works to expand the idea into applications that could help people quit smoking or to adapt a healthier diet.

It’s a national group from U of M, Harvard University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California at San Francisco. The group is called the mHealth Center for Discovery, Optimization & Translation of Temporally-Precise Interventions (mDOT) and will be headquartered at the MD2K Center of Excellence at the U of M.

“Researchers and industry innovators can leverage mDOT’s technological resources to create the next generation of (mobile health, mHealth) technology that is highly personalized to each user, transforming people’s health and wellness,” said Santosh Kumar, mDOT’s, director of MD2K Center of Excellence, and U of M computer science professor.

All of the work takes aim at the rising cost of healthcare spending for patients with chronic diseases, many of which are linked to daily behaviors and exposures like dietary choices, sedentary behavior, stress, and addiction.

The U of M also created the Center for Transportation Innovation, Education and Research (C-TIER) to shape issues affecting the country’s multimodal transportation system and “to increase its economic competitiveness, and reduce economic, racial, and gender inequality.”

“In recent years, the transportation sector has seen introduction of disruptive technologies such as connected autonomous vehicles, battery electric vehicles, ride-share and mobility enhanced travel to make cities more safe, efficient, resilient, and environmentally friendly,” said Dr. Sabya Mishra, an U of M civil engineering professor who will serve as the center’s director. “Memphis is one of the national hubs of transportation.

“There is a need for interdisciplinary research at the University of Memphis to address the impact of innovative technologies, and forthcoming newer challenges.”

C-TIER’s work will improve mobility, accessibility, and safety and focus on transportation sustainability that will promote “smart, equitable cities” and improve efficiency of transportation systems that move freight and people.

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New App Can Help Track Social Distancing, Possible COVID-19 Exposure

There is now an app that can help track social distancing thanks to researchers based at the University of Memphis.

The free app, mContain, was developed by the Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge, headquartered at the U of M. It is meant to reduce community transmission in the Memphis area amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The app uses location and Bluetooth technologies on smartphones to detect encounters within six feet for several minutes with other app users. The app displays the number of daily encounters by users.

If users and their COVID-19 test provider both agree to share the results, the app can notify others about their possible exposures to the disease.

mContain

The app also has a map feature that shows the level of crowding at particular places to help users avoid entering crowded areas. Though as of Tuesday morning, enough users have not downloaded the app for the map to show hot spots. To have sufficient data, at least 1,000 users must download the app. So far, 22 people have downloaded it.

mContain


mContain is currently available online and on the Google Play Store, and will soon be downloadable from the Apple App Store.

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TECH: New Site Shows City Issues at a Glance

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Community Foundation of Greater Memphis CEO Bob Fockler and Executive Vice President Sutton Mora Hayes

Memphis has problems and hundreds of organizations fighting to ease them; a new tool maps them together, making it easier to find out who’s fighting what where and how you can help.

The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis (CFGM) launched two websites in 2015. One (Where We Live MidSouth) was a clearing house of information about the region, rich with data about everything from air quality to the unemployment rate mapped by ZIP Code, Census tract, and more. Another, (Where to Give MidSouth) was a clearing house of information about nonprofit agencies working on problems here from housing to healthcare.

“There were two systems and you could flip back and forth between them but it wasn’t a single, unified system and that was a little frustrating,” said Bob Fockler, president of the CFGM.

The two systems were also built by two different groups, one by the University of Memphis and the other by Guidestar, the nonprofit information service. For the new site, CFGM hired Thriving Cities Group, an urban advocacy group based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The new CFGM site (Live Give MidSouth) is built on Thriving Cities’ City RoundTable platform. “Philanthropy is a centerpiece of our civic ecosystem that urgently needs to be reconfigured and redirected,” according to Thriving Cities. Its platform shines a brighter, more-complete light on cities’ problems, helping donors invest their funds with greater accuracy.

Community Foundation of Greater Memphis

Where in Memphis are education rates low? What organizations are working to fix that? With a couple of clicks on the new CFGM site, you can filter the hundreds of nonprofits here down to those working on education, for example. Another click will show you which nonprofits are working in neighborhoods with the lowest education rates. Another click will give you a full, uniform description of the nonprofit, its leadership, financials, and more.

Olivia Wilmot, CFGM’s director of community information, says the site can help donors look under the hood of a nonprofit before they invest with them. But she’s seeing nonprofits dig into the data, too.

Community Foundation of Greater Memphis

”What we found in the nonprofit side was that organizations were actually using data for the first time and accompanying their grant applications with Census data and baseline information about the communities that they serve and maps,” Wilmot said. “I helped two organization use the map to help them figure out where to put a new location.”

All of the data on the site — from the environment to the economy — is publicly available, Wilmott said. But finding it and piecing it together is tough. The new platform seeks to pull that data from many silos, pour it all together, and make it easier for anyone who wants a more-clear (and data-driven) picture of what’s really happening in the Memphis community.
[pullquote-1] “We’ve always said that people respond when they understand what the problems are,” Fockler said. “To the extent that the problems are informed by data and the better access people have to the data, the more willing they are to step up and get involved: volunteer, or write a check, or serve on a board. Data informs everything, directly or indirectly.“

The new Live Give MidSouth site from CFGM launches Friday, November 15th.

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New App Aims to Promote Green Living on U of M Campus

A new app created by a professor at the University of Memphis is meant to encourage green living activities on the campus and beyond.

Green Fee, developed by Susan Elswick, a professor in the social work department at the U of M, is a game-based app that allows users to track their green-living efforts, as well as green-living issues they encounter.

In creating the app, Elswick, who is also a master gardener in the region, said she “nailed her love for horticulture, technology, and social behavior sciences together. Green living is a behavior that we can easily see and track.”

University of Memphis

Green living app developer Susan Elswick

Elswick said the app is similar to Waze, an app drivers can use to track road conditions and incidents to give other drivers on the road a heads-up. With the green-living app, users can identify and geotag a green-living issue or problem they see, such as trash on the ground. Elswick said they can “take it a step further” by taking action to address the issue and then tagging that activity.

Examples of green-living activities could include carpooling, walking, or biking to campus, picking up trash, or turning the lights off when leaving home. Green activities can also include reducing blight, pulling weeds, or working in a community garden.

A big, green issue in Memphis is abandoned tires that litter the city, Elswick said. “Tires are a huge problem so someone could even see some tires on the side of the road and decide to pick them up and repurpose them. It’s that easy.”

[pullquote-1]

Each time users identify an issue, they get one point. For addressing the issue or doing their own green activity, users get two points.

The points aren’t tied to an external reward outside of the game, but Elswick said that could be a possibility in the future.

Green Living

A screenshot from the green living app

Elswick hopes the app will raise awareness about and get more students involved in green-living practices. She also said the app will help show the university’s green footprint in the community.

“To be able to visually see our impact on a map is huge,” Elswick said. “We know our outreach on campus is pretty good, but there’s a lot of students who participate in green living that live in the community and we want to highlight those practices.”


The app is slated to launch in the Android and Apple app stores in two weeks, Elswick said. It will be free to all university students, faculty, and staff.

Elswick said she anticipates the app being widely used on campus, as she says all of the university’s green programming is “pretty well-received.”

“We have two community gardens on campus, we have pop-up gardens, and a lot of students across all departments who are engaged in green programming and research,” Elswick said. “I’m confident the app will get support on campus ”

Eventually, Elswick said the app will be available to community partners and businesses who want to track their philanthropic efforts and outreach in the city related to green living.

“For example, if a local company goes out and cleans a flower bed, they can geo-locate that,” Elswick said. “That would then show up on a map with their brand on it.”

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Verizon 5G Network Hyped as Boon to Memphis Transportation, Agriculture, Manufacturing

CREDIT: Verizon/Facebook

Verizon/Facebook

“Feature-length HD movies can be downloaded faster than you can read this sentence.”

That’s a quote from the Verizon website about just how fast its 5G Ultra Wideband mobile service will be for consumers.

Verizon’s network is coming to 20 U.S. cities this year. And, as a surprise to the cynical Memphian inside some of us, Memphis made the cut, and the network is expected to radiate across the city soon.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s office announced Thursday that Verizon had chosen the city. The service is already live in Chicago and Minneapolis.

“Today’s announcement is just the start for Memphis and we’re excited to bring the game-changing power of 5G Ultra Wideband service to consumers, business, and government agencies in 2019,” Kyle Malady, Verizon’s chief technology officer said in a statement.

How big of a deal is this? Well, according to Strickland and Verizon, it’s a big deal.

Strickland seemed convinced that making the cut was “another testament that our momentum is real and will play a large part in continuing to advance equitable economic development throughout our city.” (The statement from Memphis City Hall ensured Strickland’s election-year buzzword “momentum” was introduced somewhere into the news cycle.)

Verizon said the new network has the potential to affect ”artificial intelligence, education, healthcare, robotics, virtual reality, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, wearables, and the Internet of Things (IoT).”
[pullquote-1] “With its gigabit speeds and unprecedented response times, 5G can be thought of as the ’secret sauce’ that will make driverless cars, cloud-connected traffic control, and other applications that depend on instantaneous response and data analysis live up to their potential,” reads the Verizon website on its 5G network. “The possibilities are limitless.”

Verizon website says 5G isn’t just another iteration of the wireless network. It’ll be 20 times faster than the current 4G network, “making lag times nearly impossible to detect.” With this, augmented reality and virtual reality applications can work “seamlessly,” Verizon said. Also, industrial and machinery and robotics can be controlled remotely, it said.

Verizon/Facebook

Verizon said 5G will create jobs (but it didn’t specify what kinds of jobs those are or where they’d be located).

“By 2035, 5G will enable $12.3 trillion of global economic output and support 22 million jobs worldwide,” Ronan Dunne, executive vice president and group president of Verizon Wireless said in a statement. “Much of that growth will come from the digitization of transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and other physical industries.” Transportation. Agriculture. Manufacturing. A whole lot of each of those exists in the Memphis economic region. But you’ll only be able to connect to the lightning-fast new 5G network with a 5G-enabled device. If you have one, and you leave the 5G network zone, you’ll be automatically handed off to the current 4G network, Verizon said.

The other cities to get 5G this year are: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Little Rock, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City, and Washington D.C.