ABU DHABI // Weather towers could automatically credit farmers' mobile phones as a cheap and quick form of insurance in times of drought. And small villages in isolated rural areas could one day be connected to a solar-panelled microgrid.
These are a snapshot of the ideas researchers discussed at a conference yesterday at the New York University Abu Dhabi's (NYUAD) new centre for technology and economic development.
The centre is among the first projects to benefit from a US$20 million (Dh73m) NYUAD research grant to fund science and humanities research, and is unique because it is based in Abu Dhabi, and is not an extension of a New York-based project.
"The point is to make an impact here and to help establish Abu Dhabi as a leader in the top research," said Dr Yaw Nyarko, the director of the centre.
"The focus is on poorer countries, but we are hoping that the research will even have an impact on richer countries and that the lessons learnt will be transferred here in the UAE in some way."
As the number of mobile phone users climbs in underdeveloped parts of the world, researchers at the new centre are considering the ways texting and phone credits could be used for commerce in rural markets.
The conference panel included experts from the Masdar Institute and the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, who discussed projects currently being pilot-tested in Africa and Asia.
Dr Nyarko and others are examining the practice of transferring credits, or mobile minutes, as a method of payment.
Mobile phones could also be useful for "telemedicine" to consult with doctors or detect fake drugs.
"In cases where fake drugs to treat malaria contain chalk, that could be ingested and kill someone," Dr Nyarko said.
"By taking a picture of a bar code or the pill itself, we may be able to detect fakes and save lives."
econroy@thenational.ae
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
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Goalkeepers Pickford (Everton), Pope (Burnley), Henderson (Manchester United)
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.