Category Archives: Technology

New tests to discern Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

July 27, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 4 Comments

We are hearing more and more about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) nowadays, primarily as a result of the improvised explosive devices (IED) in Iraq and Afghanistan hurting our troops.Â But, even the intransigent NFL recognizes the problem (football helmets are not precluding brain trauma).Â And, last month, a batter’s broken bat knocked out Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies’ fully-helmeted catcher, who was then put on the disability list for 15 days. (He is slowly coming back to full form.)

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Medicine, Technology

Stem Cell Research to Treat Parkinson’s Disease

July 26, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 11 Comments

Our skin, part of the integumentary system, is the human’s largest organ. This system comprises some 12 to 16% of our total body weight. There are four or five layers of skin all over our body- and, one of the layers in both types of skin is the stratum germinativum- a layer of stem cells.

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Business Management, Technology

I_REALLY_WANT_2_TELL_U_SOMETHING

July 20, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 1 Comment

I know, I know, we eMail every single day (sometimes, thrice). We text one another. But, that is NOT personal contact. And, for your business and personal lives, that’s what counts. If you don’t think a personal touch is needed- think about the last time you got a note- handwritten! It touched you! This is even more important if you are a leader! Your staff/management team can feel alienated if all they see is you brusquely parading around the plant- even if there are memos from you on the bulletin board and they get eMail communiqués. Keep things personal- it really pays off. Continue reading I_REALLY_WANT_2_TELL_U_SOMETHING →

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Business Management, Economy, Technology

22.143% of Americans hop on one foot, twice a day…

July 15, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 5 Comments

So, there’s a new book- one that will probably tick you off. Not because it’s annoying, but because, if you are like most people, you had no idea that the facts reported in the paper (and CERTAINLY on the web) are highly suspect. The book: Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: the Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict, by Peter Andreas with Kelly Greenhill. (If you want to buy the book, you can find it here.)

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Business Management, Dialysis, Technology

Find the RIGHT Technology to Grow Your Business

July 14, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

Drs. Tellis and Sood (USC and Emery University, respectively) discuss the need for management to choose and back the “”right” technology to grow their business. Their premise is that management often fails to discern among different levels of technology (and, therefore, miss the boat); it believes in the orderly path for technology development (as opposed to random path); and, management feels Â that consumer taste is directed by whim (but, the authors correctly state this is untrue- consumers are motivated by existing innovation and changes).

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Medicine, Technology

Surrogate markers never provide the whole picture. What to do about cholesterol and statins…

July 6, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 5 Comments

For the last two decades, Americans have been taking statins, among the most widely used drugs in the world, with the aim of getting their cholesterol numbers down to target levels. Right now, some 24 million Americans are prescribed statins at a cost of some $ 14 billion annually. Statins are considered useful therapy because they block liver enzymes that produce cholesterol; there may be ancillary actions from taking statins, as well.

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Business Management, Technology

Time Management- and Vision, Mission, and Goals

July 5, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 2 Comments

I just had the wonderful experience of having two of my three children, my son-in-law, and my fifteen month old grandson sharing a baseball game (his very first, I might add) with me. While I love baseball (ok, maybe just the Phillies), I love my children more- much more. And, my 15 month old grandson reminded me of something very important during that game. Of course, as is true for every parent and grandparent, I recognize that my grandson is very smart. He has an extensive vocabulary. While he pointed out “ball”, “flag”, among his many other words, he saw something I forgot was actually found in center field. “Tick Tock,” he said. No one really knew that he knew the word for clock- but he recognized what it was.

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Medicine, Taxes, Technology

Health care reform? We need to change our thinking, too…

June 30, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 9 Comments

We are on the road to recovery in health care- or are we? This year we passed two bills: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Â (known as the “Senate bill”), and the “House Bill”, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R.Â 4872).Â However, neither of these bills really reformed healthcare- but they did address the healthcare insurance issue.

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Energy, Technology

Big Oil- can’t live with them, can’t live without them (at least, for now)

June 20, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 7 Comments

You might think that when we (start to, continue to ) invest in new energy-producing alternatives, we will solve our “big oil” problem. NOT! We need gasoline and/or diesel fuels for the foreseeable future. Our transportation system relies on liquid-based fuels. Yes, we can convert these vehicles to electricity (with major improvements to the existing technologies), but the transition will be much slower than you would think. If we had sufficient supplies of electric vehicles (and they were reliable) and outlawed (not likely at all) the sale of all gasoline powered vehicles tomorrow , it would be at least 10 years before there would be a noticeable drop in gasoline consumption. (Consumers don’t trade in all their cars every year, consumers buy used cars, etc.)

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Business Management, Energy, Technology

What we need to do with Big Oil (not just BP)

June 17, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 3 Comments

Disclaimer: I am a chemical engineer; when I was first being trained as an undergraduate, I was among the very, very few that had no desire to enter the petrochemical industry (even academia was slanted towards their patrons, by the way).

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