Renee Hoh – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:20:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Renee Hoh – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Potential move to year-round daylight saving time: student response https://stanforddaily.com/2017/08/13/potential-move-to-year-round-daylight-saving-time-student-response/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/08/13/potential-move-to-year-round-daylight-saving-time-student-response/#respond Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:20:14 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1129763 Students enjoy the summer sunshine later into the evenings with daylight saving time, but a new California bill could keep the long summer days going year round.

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Afternoons flooded with sunlight, casual fountain hopping and dinner on the outdoor Tresidder seating illustrate the summer scene at Stanford. Students enjoy the summer sunshine later into the evenings with daylight saving time, but a new California bill could keep the long summer days going year round.

California’s Daylight Saving Time Act which established daylight saving time during the summer was originally implemented to make more use out of natural sunlight to conserve energy. If this act is repealed by the bill, state legislature could possibly implement everlasting daylight saving time, which entails sunlight that stretches later into the day but also darker mornings year round.

Some students appreciate the longer summer days but like the return to standard time when the season changes.

“It’s nice for it to be lighter in the evenings for sure,” said Margo Warnock ’18. “That’s probably my favorite part of the summer. Darker mornings in the winter is a little bit discouraging.”

If the repeal is successful, California’s time change would differ from the majority of the states. Tom N., a graduate student in electrical engineering, shared his thoughts on how this divergence might cause problems traveling between the states.

“Other states in the same time zone are still going to have daylight saving,” Tom said. “It’s going to be really inconvenient to have to change my clock if I travel to some other state. My phone already automatically changes between daylight saving and they would have to update the software to get it to stop. It seems like a big hassle.”

California would join states Arizona and Hawaii, both of which have not observed time change in decades. Arizona native Khalid Ahmad ’20 who grew up with year-round mountain standard time quickly adapted to the time change and long summer days but would welcome a permanent time setting in California.

“I’m personally not into the whole idea of [switching from] daylight saving time at all,” Ahmad said. “[In Arizona,] the days feel more consistent. I think it would be worth the change––a move in the right direction.”

While daylight saving time allows for longer days, it can be a double-edged sword. The early risers of Stanford campus would encounter an extra hour of darkness in the mornings.

“It was really inconvenient because I would wake up, and it would still be dark out,” Tom said in reference to waking up early for his past summer job, a contrast from his typical afternoon classes. “It is impossible to get out of bed when it’s still dark out.”

On the other hand, Stanford synchronized swimmer Joanna Langner ’19 is well-adjusted to life before the sun rises. Typically at the pool by 5:45 a.m., Langner sees permanent daylight saving time having little to no effect on her practicing schedule, especially with stadium lights artificially illuminating the pool.

With year-round daylight saving time, students can stay up later doing school-related activities, but office hours will still end at as late as 10:00 p.m. Daylight saving time would not help with Langner’s late night commutes back to the dorms.

“Honestly, I would be waking up and going to bed in the dark no matter what,” Langner said. “Daylight savings does not make a huge difference.”

Despite facing an hour commute to his summer job on campus, J.B. Horsley ’19 echoes the sentiment that the one hour shift forward may not have a meaningful impact on students’ lives.

“There were talks about driving from work [and] wanting to have it be sunny outside, which I guess is reasonable; it’s safer, but it seems like a lot of work and effort for something, to me, that has very little reward, if any,” Horsley said. “The costs outweigh the benefits.”

Although it may take years for the bill to get on the ballot, Californians may get an opportunity to vote for or against this bill and update the 67 year-old act with much-needed affirmation or change.

“I don’t have a really strong opinion either way, but daylight saving is a bit outdated,” Warnock said. “It is probably a good idea to get with the times.”

 

Contact Renee Hoh at renee.hoh ‘at’ gmail.com

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Activity inequality raises obesity rates, Stanford researchers find https://stanforddaily.com/2017/07/26/activity-inequality-raises-obesity-rates-stanford-researchers-find/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/07/26/activity-inequality-raises-obesity-rates-stanford-researchers-find/#respond Wed, 26 Jul 2017 08:00:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1129512 Stanford researchers found Americans are widely distributed in terms of physical activity, a trend that correlates with high obesity levels. The study reveals the desired, lower activity inequality can be achieved with more “walkable” environments.

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Using data collected from a smartphone app, Stanford researchers found Americans are widely distributed in terms of physical activity, a trend that correlates with high obesity levels. The study revealed that lower activity inequality can be achieved with more “walkable” environments.

“[When activity inequality is high,] the obesity levels are extremely high, [and] the gap between men and women is high,” said Jure Leskovec, lead researcher in the study.

In collaboration with Azumio’s smartphone app Argus, the researchers not only studied the overall average steps taken by 717,000 individuals in 111 countries but what fraction of a country’s population got a certain amount of steps. This distribution curve revealed the U.S.’s high activity inequality, an indication of unhealthy trends.

A high inequality and wide distribution means that there is a large gap between those that are active and those that are sedentary. Countries with this quality will experience high levels of obesity. The study revealed that low activity inequality indicates not only less deviation in the number of steps taken, but also typically more average steps for the population as a whole.

Activity inequality raises obesity rates, Stanford researchers find
Across the globe, America has one of the highest activity inequality levels (Courtesy of Althoff et al., Nature 2017).

The researchers designated 69 big cities with a walkability score, which factors in how pedestrian-friendly a city is. The walking routes to nearby amenities, population density and block lengths within a city all contribute to the its score.

For instance, the suburbs of Arlington, TX, may be more car-dependent than the cityscape in San Francisco, CA and will have a lower walkability score. San Francisco’s high score indicates less inequality and a narrow distribution curve, meaning most individuals get similar, high amounts of activity.

According to Mobilize Lab data science director Jennifer Hicks M.S. ’06 Ph.D. ’10, more walkable environments will likely boost the physical activity level of women, who currently walk much less than men in the U.S., and close the activity gap.

“When a city is more walkable, it doesn’t seem to be the case that the already active people are more active,” Hicks said. “It seems to benefit everyone.”

Changing the environment would also have more long-term effects than fitness app or device usage, according to the paper’s first author Tim Althoff, who is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science. The researchers are interested in actively encouraging smartphone users in hopes they adopt healthy, long-term habits through reminders and social networks.

“It’s not an individual problem,” Althoff said. “It is more like a societal problem — about how we can create and design environments, our neighborhoods, our cities in a way that allows us to be more active.”

 

Contact Renee Hoh at renee.hoh ‘at’ gmail.com

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Stanford-designed adhesive designed to clean space debris https://stanforddaily.com/2017/07/07/de-gb-stanford-designed-adhesive-destined-to-clean-space-debris/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/07/07/de-gb-stanford-designed-adhesive-destined-to-clean-space-debris/#respond Fri, 07 Jul 2017 08:00:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1129332 Stanford engineers from the Cutkosky Lab designed a robotic gripper equipped with gecko-inspired adhesives to remove space debris in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Stanford engineers designed a robotic gripper equipped with gecko-inspired adhesives to remove space debris. Researchers extensively tested the adhesive material’s ability to withstand the brutal conditions of outer space in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Stanford engineers including Mark Cutkosky, professor of mechanical engineering and senior author on the paper, started working with the gecko-inspired adhesives ten years ago with the creation of the original Stickybot, a climbing robot that uses adhesives.

Now, Stanford engineers are putting more focus on applications of the adhesive material in outer space. The robotic gripper is capable of grasping large pieces of debris such as satellites or rocket boosters. The gecko adhesive is one of few materials that can withstand the extreme temperature and zero-gravity conditions according to Cutkosky.

“You can’t use suction cups [and] you can’t use magnets because most of the [debris] is not magnetic, and any kind of sticky tape will not work at the very low temperatures and vacuum of space,” Cutkosky said. “But the gecko adhesives will work, and they’ll work just as well as they do on Earth.”

The adhesive material consists of microscopic wedges of silicon rubb

er that mimic hairs found on gecko palms. Neither gecko hairs nor the adhesive are sticky to the touch and are only activated when force is applied.

The unsticky nature of the material is an advantage to grasping objects in zero gravity, according to lead author on the paper Hao Jiang M.S.’14 Ph.D’17.

“You can very gently put [the adhesive] on the surface, and it sticks,” Jiang said. “This is very important in space where everything is floating. You want to grasp [objects] but not push them away.”

Stanford-designed adhesive designed to clean space debris
Strips of adhesive were sent to the International Space Station for further testing (Courtesy of NASA’s JPL).

Where a gecko uses its hairs to climb against gravity, the robotic gripper has cables that tighten flaps of the adhesive to provide the necessary force to move in zero-gravity.

The robotic gripper is supplied with motors that tighten and relax the cables, sensors to align the robot with the surface of the debris and extendable arms equipped with adhesive to grasp curved objects.

The robotic gripper was tested in JPL’s Robodome as well as in a zero-gravity plane to simulate the vacuum of space. Researchers conducted a total of 80 20-second zero-gravity experiments over the course of two days.

Small versions of the adhesive were sent up to the International Space Station (ISS) for testing, with interest among some engineers for designing small robots equipped with the adhesive, allowing them to climb on the outside of the ISS.

But the gecko adhesive is useful for more than just climbing and debris removal in space. It can also be used on Earth.

“On Earth, all these gripper ideas or prototypes we’ve built––no matter small or large––can be used in industrial applications or tasks such as handling glass panels or generally grabbing things,” Jiang said. “Even on earth, it has advantages over suction cups.”

 

Contact Renee Hoh at renee.hoh ‘at’ gmail.com

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