Three Winners Named at the ASME ISHOW in Kenya

Three Winners Named at the ASME ISHOW in Kenya Three Winners Named at the ASME ISHOW in Kenya Three Winners Named at the ASME ISHOW in KenyaJune 9, 2017 Brian Gitta demonstrates his teams entry, Matibabu, a non-invasive Malaria testing device. Gitta was one of the three grand-prize winners at ISHOW Kenya in May. (Photo by Marilyn Parker) The creators of three new social innovations a device for detecting malaria, a portable science lab, and a glove that translates sign-language were named the grand-prize winners at the recent ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) in Nairobi, Kenya, which was the second of three regional ISHOWs the Society is unternehmensverbund this spring. A total of 10 teams presented their inventions at ISHOW Kenya, which was held May 25 in Nairobi at the Golden Tulip Westlands Nairobi Hotel. The first competition of the 2017 ISHOW season, ISHOW India, was held in Bengaluru in April. A third event, ISHOW USA, will take place later this month in Washington, D .C. Charles Antipem (far left), explains his product, Science Set, to several attendees at ISHOW Kenya. (Photo by Marilyn Parker)The 10 ISHOW Kenya finalists presented prototypes of their hardware-led innovations to a panel of judges and advisors that included entrepreneurs, academics and founders of venture-funded startup companies. The three grand-prize winners who hail from Uganda, Ghana and Kenya will share in more than $500,000 in cash prizes and in-kind technical support, including an extensive entwurf and engineering review of their products.Brian Gitta of Uganda was one of the three winners for his entry, Matibabu, a non-invasive Malaria testing device that employs custom-made hardware that is connected to a smart phone to enable easy at-home diagnoses. Gitta and his team developed Matibabu with the goal of reducing the number of people suffering from the life-threatening disease, lessen the severity of their symptoms, and decrease the amount of time and medication nece ssary to treat Malaria patients. Roy Allela (center), the founder of Sign-IO, accepts his trophy from LR Kamau Gachigi (left), CEO of Gearbox Dr. Robert Karanja (second from right), CEO of Villgro Kenya and Paul Scott (right), director of the ASME ISHOW program. (Photo by Marilyn Parker)The second grand-prize winner, Charles Antipem of Ghana, is the inventor of Science Set, an inexpensive, portable and highly scalable science lab that can fit in a students bag or on a desk top. With the affordable mini-science lab, Antipem and his team hope to transform the state of education in Ghana and the rest of Africa by making the kit widely available to students, which in turn will hopefully show them first-hand that science can be both fun and exciting.Roy Allela of Kenya, the third grand prize winner, is the creator of Sign-IO, a sign-language-to-speech translation glove that was developed to help sign language users communicate with the general public. The device is intended to help the more than 30 million speech-impaired people throughout the world better interact with those who dont understand sign language. The speech translation glove identifies letters as they are signed and transmits this data to an Android application that converts it into spoken words. Sign-IO, one of the three winning products at ISHOW Kenya, is a sign-language-to-speech translation glove that was developed to help sign language users communicate with the public at large. (Photo by Marilyn Parker)behauptung three winners of ISHOW Kenya are prime examples of the programs goal of creating a community of innovators and entrepreneurs whose products will have a positive impact on the world. The unique solutions of our three African winners will radically transform and elevate the way their beneficiaries live, allowing them to thrive in ways that were previously impossible, said Keith Roe, president of ASME. Their display of creativity and ingenuity, and that of their peers, fully embodies the spirit of the ISHOW and exemplifies the potential of tomorrows engineering problem-solvers and business leaders.Judges and advisors at ISHOW Kenya included Heather Fleming, chief executive officer of Catapult Design Dr. Kamau Gachigi, executive director of Gearbox June Madete from Kenyatta University Dr. Robert Karanja, CEO of Villgro Kenya and Thomas G. Loughlin, executive director of ASME.The third and final 2017 ASME ISHOW, ISHOW-USA, will take place June 22 from 600 p.m. to 800 p.m. at the District Architecture Center in Washington, D.C. For information on the 10 finalists who will be participating, visit https//thisishardware.org/competition/2017/usa.For more information the ISHOW program and a complete list of the ISHOW Kenya finalists, visit the competition website at https//thisishardware.org.

4 ways to deal in the office when an outside crisis is all you can think about

4 ways to deal in the office when an outside crisis is all you can think about4 ways to deal in the office when an outside crisis is all you can think aboutWith so many seasons in our lives, some are bound to be tougher than others. Heres how to cope in the office when unrest at home is taking its toll on you.Dont overshare at workWhile weve found that experts have varying opinions on this topic, you dont want to share too much at work. As emotional intelligence expert Harvey Deutschendorf told Ladders, while you dont want to completely shut people out, you shouldnt mention anything that could be held against you later or hurt your reputation.But this should be done on a case-by-case basis.Vicky Oliver, author of schwimmbad Bosses, Crazy Co-Workers and Other Office Idiots, told Ladders that you shouldassess corporate culture at your workplace before deciding to confide in someone.Just make sure that if you do decide a coworker, its someone you really trust.But dont bottle it up - ta lk to your support system outside of workIf big changes happening outside of work are making it difficult to focus, you may find it beneficial to talk those you care about the most. They can help ground you when managing a constant stream of duties both in the office and at home becomes really difficult.And who knows? Talking it out might even help you put things into perspective.Take advantage of employer resourcesThey might be right under your nose.Melody J. Wilding, a licensed social worker and Master Coach who teaches human behavior at The City University of New York, writes about this in The Muse.Many of us work for the same company for years and yet have no idea of the benefits available to us. Does your company offer childcare, counseling, or legal services? Many of these lesser-known benefits can ease the financial and emotional burden when a personal crisis strikes, she writes.Wilding goes on to mention that you should come up with a list of things that would maximize your productivity during your crisis - such as working remotely while you visit family or reducing your hours for a couple weeks - and ask your anfhrer if he or she can grant your requests.Meet with your boss about work expectationsJust be strategic about it.Amy Gallo, Harvard Business Review contributing editor and author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict at Work, features advice from Anne Kreamer, author of Its Always Personal, in the publication.Its also a good idea to loop your boss into whats happening, assuming you feel comfortable doing so. If you have a very close relationship, tell them first and brainstorm ideas for reducing or covering your workload. But, in most cases, Kreamer says, its best to talk to your manager when you already have some notion of how you intend to handle the problem. Run a tentative plan by your manager, outlining the time period you expect to be absent or working less, the colleagues who might step up for you, and whether youve already discuss ed that possibility with them. Then ask for your bosss input, Gallo writes.

The Credit Crunch Hits Home

The Credit Crunch Hits HomeThe Credit Crunch Hits HomeCredit-card companies are reducing limits and removing customers to get risk off their books.There are plenty of economic factors to consider during a job search, especially during a down economy Housing prices have slumped, and 401(k)s and other investments are in decline.Now add the global market for leistungspunkt cards to the list of factors you must watch if youre looking for a job.Credit cards and access to credit can be crucial to bridge the gap in living expenses during a stretch of unemployment and pay for the expenses of a job search, like membership to a job board or a new suit for a third interview. But that lifeline is being shortened by factors outside the control of the people who rely on them. The global crunch on corposatz credit, rising unemployment and risk-averse banks are conspiring to make credit cards costly and less available. Nationwide, credit-card providers are raising interest rates, lowering credit lim its, and closing accounts for card holders who did little or nothing wrong.More than 30 million U.S. card holders (16 percent of total card holders) saw their credit-card limits reduced in 2008, according to Fair Isaac Corp., which manages the FICO credit-score program. Twenty-two million of those affected never had a late payment, collections or other issues that would ordinarily have triggered a penalty. Most were card holders who barely used their cards or carried low balances that were unprofitable for the card provider, several credit experts said.What is happening to cause credit-card companies to cut good customers just when they need the help most?There are ways to better the odds you wont be in this group.Want to understand the pinch better? There are three global forces at work to crank up the pressure on your credit1. RiskBanks are not the only companies looking for ways to get rid of shaky debts, according to Steve Conover, founder and CEO of MyCreditABC.com, which speci alizes in helping customers check and resolve mistakes in their credit-bureau reports.Poisonous assets on the books at a bank might comprise a bundle of home loans, but bad debts on the books at a credit-card company compromise the many individual consumers who are having difficulty making ends meet.Credit-card companies are changing how they evaluate risk on a monthly basis, Conover said. They have a serious issue with the cash they have on hand and the Treasury rules on default, so they have to reduce their risk. Risk in this case is the credit-card customer, and theyre cutting a lot of them off its getting really ugly.Just as with banks, which went on a mortgage-lending spree during the early 2000s on the assumption they could bundle their loans into packages that would effectively reduce their risk, credit-card companies expanded rapidly both the number of customers and the amount of credit theyve granted.Thats not a problem when the economy is strong and people can keep making payments when its less than strong, the number of people defaulting rises. In the typical recessions in the past 50 years, the number of accounts the industry considered uncollectable (called a charge-off) rose to between 3 percent and 5 percent. In January, that rate struck 8.82 percent, the highest mark in mora than 20 years, according to Moodys Investors Services. CitiGroup and Capital One Financial, two of the leading issuers of MasterCard and Visa cards nationwide, announced that 9.33 percent of cardholders were in default for February and March respectively and American Express, which professes a more financially secure membership base, has a rate reaching 8.7 percent in March. Moodys expects the charge-off rate to ultimately reach 10.5 percent.This rapid rise in cardholders unable to repay their debt causes card issuers to do two thingsFirst, banks limit their exposure by dropping card holders they consider close to risky and lower the limits on those next in lineSecond, bank s make up some of their losses with higher interest rates and fees. Capital One raised a rate on one card from 7.15 percent to 11.9 percent and another from 8.15 percent to 13.9 percent, according to The Motley Fool columnist Selena Maranjian. Citigroup raised its top rate to 30 percent, while Capital One instituted a penalty rate of 29.4 percent for customers who are late paying their bill two months in a year.Its getting pretty brutal out there in terms of contraction and delinquencies and interest-rate increases, according to Curtis Arnold, CEO of CreditRatings.com, a credit-card rating and review site. Were seeing millions of accounts closed off that havent been used in a while, and even people who have not been carrying substantial debt or being near their credit limit arent immune to having their interest rates raised.People arent even aware of this, but the credit-card companies are getting really aggressive about getting people they identify as high risk off their books, Arn old said. If you always pay just the minimum, that will flag you as high risk.Worse, they can identify you as a bad risk and lower your credit limit below the amount you currently owe, demand that you pay the difference immediately, and then write you off as a bad debt if you dont respond, MyCreditABC.coms Conover said.Mortgage companies are more willing to work with consumers because theres a significant asset involved the house or condo. Credit-card companies dont care, Conover said. Credit cards are unsecured, so theyll just cut you off.2. Tight CreditEven in good times, credit-card companies themselves rely on credit to pay the bills. Card issuers are able to pay for your purchases and absorb your debt because they draw on corporate credit for 10- and 30-day loans from investment banks that put cash in their coffers to pay the bills and to maintain a cash-to-exposure balance (cash on hand versus the total debt exposure should every card holder reach his maximum debt limit). Whe n investment banks began to collapse and bleed money last year, the source of those loans dried up, and credit-card companies were deprived of the source of cash to cover expenses and maintain the cash-to-exposure ratio.Banks faced the prospect of operating under a less-than-preferable cash-to-exposure ratio just as many card holders were most likely to achieve maximum debt load and others were defaulting at record rates. According to Conover, the response of most credit-card companies has been to limit their exposure by reducing the maximum debt load on their books closing accounts and reducing cardholders credit limits. This is especially true for risky card holders or cardholders they consider unprofitable.If you pay the whole card off and then dont use it for a month, they identify that as high risk, too, Conover said. Thats risk they carry on their books that theyre not making money off of, so theyll cut you off in a second.3. RulesBesides the tight economy, the push is motiva ted by tighter Federal Reserve rules on how much cash a credit-card company has to have on hand and limits on changes it can make to credit rates and agreements. Although the rules have already been approved, they dont go into effect until July 2010. Until then, count on the credit-card companies to do everything they can to strip what they define as deadwood from their debt records.Credit-card companies are also racing to get ahead of consumer protections passed by Congress April 22 that also take effect in July 2010. The rules would limit increases on credit-card interest rates and fees and address how providers communicate to customers when they make changes to a cardholders credit limit.It would also ban a practice called universal default, whereby banks raise users rates or lower their limits because of late payments to completely different creditors. The new rules mean credit-card providers can only adjust your account based on your payment history with that account.With those rules looming, card providers are trying to drop potential problem customers and limit their credit exposure on others before the law limits what their ability to do so, Conover said.