How can I redirect a task at work that I do not possess the skills to complete and cannot learn how to do in a timely manner? Sometimes I know it immediately, and sometimes it takes me a bit to find out. I usually say, "Hey, I don't think I'm going to be able to address this in a timely manner because it's not part of my wheelhouse. Could we delegate it to someone else on the team?" when I am working with a manager. Is this the right route?

Example scenario: I have been asked to address accessibility issues on a marketing website. This task requires an understanding of accessibility requirements, code overrides, and the website host (Framer) in general. I've already gotten two tasks totally wrong because despite my best efforts to learn as I go, I'm a visual designer, not a front-end developer!

I initially asked a developer colleague I don't know very well for guidance, but today I admitted to him that I am out of my depth and asked if he could please address the failed tickets instead of me so they're done correctly. I cannot tell if this is diva behavior. Is it okay to essentially say "I'm not the right person to do this," when asked to do something? Should I be trying harder?

I slept poorly last night because I hate inefficiency but dislike being viewed as incompetent even more.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: OpenAI is preparing to launch a new artificial intelligence agent codenamed "Operator" that can use a computer to take actions on a person's behalf (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source), such as writing code or booking travel [...]. In a staff meeting on Wednesday, OpenAI's leadership announced plans to release the tool in January as a research preview and through the company's application programming interface for developers [...]. The one nearest completion will be a general-purpose tool that executes tasks in a web browser, one of the people said. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman hinted at the shift to agents in response to a question last month during an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. "We will have better and better models," Altman wrote. "But I think the thing that will feel like the next giant breakthrough will be agents." The move to release an agentic AI tool also comes as OpenAI and its competitors have seen diminishing returns from their costly efforts to develop more advanced AI models.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Robots operating on people has just taken a step closer to becoming a reality. Researchers led by Johns Hopkins University… Continue reading AI robot masters surgical tasks

The post AI robot masters surgical tasks appeared first on ReadWrite.

In a staff meeting on Wednesday, OpenAI's leadership announced plans to release the tool in January as a research preview

It takes years of intense study and a steady hand for humans to perform surgery, but robots might have an easier time picking it up with today's AI technology.

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Category: Robotics, Technology

Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Surgery, Surgical robot

Google Search Console (GSC) can be a helpful tool – providing you use it. This guide isn't meant for advanced users nor is it a comprehensive dive into every feature GSC has. I'm not looking to overwhelm you. Instead, we're going to go over eight simple GSC features that can provide you with actionable tasks…

The post Google Search Console – a Beginner’s Guide to Finding Actionable SEO Tasks appeared first on Sugarrae.

Prior work demonstrates the importance of introducing young children to programming and engineering content before gender stereotypes are fully developed and ingrained in later years. However, very little research on gender and early childhood technology interventions exist. This pilot study looks at N=45 children in kindergarten through second grade who completed an eight-week robotics and programming curriculum using the KIWI robotics kit. KIWI is a developmentally appropriate robotics construction set specifically designed for use with children ages 4 to 7 years old. Qualitative pre-interviews were administered to determine whether participating children had any gender-biased attitudes toward robotics and other engineering tools prior to using KIWI in their classrooms. Post-tests were administered upon completion of the curriculum to determine if any gender differences in achievement were present. Results showed that young children were beginning to form opinions about which technologies and tools would be better suited for boys and girls. While there were no significant differences between boys and girls on the robotics and simple programming tasks, boys performed significantly better than girls on the advanced programming tasks such as, using repeat loops with sensor parameters. Implications for the design of new technological tools and curriculum that are appealing to boys and girls are discussed.

Aim/Purpose: The aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of automatic assessment of programming tasks and to compare manual assessment with automatic assessment in terms of the effect of the different assessment methods on the marks of the students. Background: Manual assessment of programs written by students can be tedious. The assistance of automatic assessment methods might possibly assist in reducing the assessment burden, but there may be drawbacks diminishing the benefits of applying automatic assessment. The paper reports on the experience of a lecturer trying to introduce automated grading. Students’ solutions to a practical Java programming test were assessed both manually and automatically and the lecturer tied the experience to the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Methodology: The participants were 226 first-year students registered for a Java programming course. Of the tests the participants submitted, 214 were assessed both manually and automatically. Various statistical methods were used to compare the manual assessment of student’s solutions with the automatic assessment of the same solutions. A detailed investigation of reasons for differences was also carried out. A further data collection method was the lecturer’s reflection on the feasibility of automatic assessment of programming tasks based on the UTAUT. Contribution: This study enhances the knowledge regarding benefits and drawbacks of automatic assessment of students’ programming tasks. The research contributes to the UTAUT by applying it in a context where it has hardly been used. Furthermore, the study is a confirmation of previous work stating that automatic assessment may be less reliable for students with lower marks, but more trustworthy for the high achieving students. Findings: An automatic assessment tool verifying functional correctness might be feasible for assessment of programs written during practical lab sessions but could be less useful for practical tests and exams where functional, conceptual and structural correctness should be evaluated. In addition, the researchers found that automatic assessment seemed to be more suitable for assessing high achieving students. Recommendations for Practitioners: This paper makes it clear that lecturers should know what assessment goals they want to achieve. The appropriate method of assessment should be chosen wisely. In addition, practitioners should be aware of the drawbacks of automatic assessment before choosing it. Recommendation for Researchers: This work serves as an example of how researchers can apply the UTAUT theory when conducting qualitative research in different contexts. Impact on Society: The study would be of interest to lecturers considering automated assessment. The two assessments used in the study are typical of the way grading takes place in practice and may help lecturers understand what could happen if they switch from manual to automatic assessment. Future Research: Investigate the feasibility of automatic assessment of students’ programming tasks in a practical lab environment while accounting for structural, functional and conceptual assessment goals.

Aim/Purpose: The goal of this paper is to examine whether having female robotics teachers positively impacts girls’ performance on programming and robotics tasks Background: Women continue to be underrepresented in the technical STEM fields such as engineering and computer science. New programs and initiatives are needed to engage girls in STEM beginning in early childhood. The goal of this work is to explore the impact of teacher gender on young children’s mastery of programming concepts after completing an introductory robotics program. Methodology: A sample of N=105 children from six classrooms (2 Kindergarten, 2 first grade, and 2 second grade classes) from a public school in Somerville, Massachusetts, participated in this research. Children were taught the same robotics curriculum by either an all-male or all-female teaching team. Upon completion of the curriculum, they completed programming knowledge assessments called Solve-Its. Comparisons between the performance of boys and girls in each of the teaching groups were made. Findings: This paper provides preliminary evidence that having a female instructor may positively impact girls’ performance on certain programming tasks and reduce the number of gender differences between boys and girls in their mastery of programming concepts. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners should expose children to STEM role-models from a variety of backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, and experiences. Future Research: Researchers should conduct future studies with larger samples of teachers in order to replicate the findings here. Additionally, future research should focus on collecting data from teachers in the form of interviews and surveys in order to find out more about gender-based differences in teaching style and mentorship and the impact of this on girls' interest and performance in STEM.

Ann Arbor, MI — University of Michigan researchers have developed and tested a set of knee exoskeletons that they say help counteract fatigue during lifting and carrying tasks.

Morgantown, WV — Turning mundane manufacturing tasks into games may boost worker engagement, motivation and productivity – but it also may stress out some people, results of a recent study show.

Dropshop combines shopping, gaming and free trials to form a one-of-a-kind experience for everyone to save money

Sometimes the best way to structure your day doesn’t spring immediately to mind—a “workflow,” or a planned series of activities that help you complete a task, is needed. You may need a way to organize your thoughts and tasks in order to maximize efficiency for both yourself and your clients’ benefit. To become a go-to…

The post Creating a Workflow to Streamline Your Daily Tasks and Improve Client Communications appeared first on RISMedia.

Engaging in multiple types of memory training exercises- as opposed to repetitive tasks- helps older adults improve their working memory.

Engaging in multiple types of memory training exercises- as opposed to repetitive tasks- helps older adults improve their working memory.

Manufacturers face complex challenges, including attracting and retaining labor and adapting to a volatile market. Skilled human labor remains crucial despite advancements in automation.

ObjectWeb utility Ant tasks library

ObjectWeb utility Ant tasks library

ObjectWeb utility Ant tasks library

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is now able to handle many of an HVAC contractor’s administrative tasks, and also help employees perform their own tasks better.

Jason C. McDonald, author of the book Dead Simple Python, speaks with host Samuel Taggart about leveraging quantified tasks to improve estimation, particularly across projects. They discuss the origin of the concept and its relationship with story points, and Jason offers examples to show how quantified tasks can capture nuances in software tasks that are often lost with story points. He also points to the ability to compare them across projects as a major advantage of quantified tasks. Among other topics, they consider also how to use quantified tasks to analyze the stability of a codebase. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.

Most living rooms require flexible lighting design solutions because they serve a broad variety of changing functions. The lighting in a typical living room should comfortably serve small group conversation, larger social gatherings that include casual eating and drinking, and... Read more

The post Visual Tasks of Typical Living Room Lighting appeared first on EEP - Electrical Engineering Portal.

New Lesson Plans Entry: 'IELTS Writing Task Two tasks on feelings' has just been added to the Lesson Plans area of UsingEnglish.com.

New Articles Entry: 'Analysis of official IELTS formal letter tasks' has just been added to the Articles area of UsingEnglish.com.

Boys and girls start out on the same biological footing when it comes to math, finds the first neuroimaging study of math gender differences in children, published this month in the journal Science of Learning.

OpenAI is rumoured to be working on the next generation of its flagship large language model (LLM), however, it might have hit a bottleneck. As per a report, the San Francisco-based AI firm is struggling to considerably upgrade the capabilities of its next AI model, internally codenamed Orion. The model is said to be outperforming older models when it comes to language-based tasks but is underwhelming in certain tasks such as coding.

An analysis of thousands of cognitive tests carried out by chimpanzees finds that the number of spectators influenced their performance in different ways depending on the difficulty of the task

An analysis of thousands of cognitive tests carried out by chimpanzees finds that the number of spectators influenced their performance in different ways depending on the difficulty of the task

Human cognitive performance can be significantly influenced by the presence of audience members.

The post Study: Chimps Perform Better on Challenging Computer Tasks When They Have Audience appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

From assembling delicate electronics to constructing safety-critical aerospace components, the margin for error has shrunk to almost nothing. To meet these rigorous standards, the manufacturing industry increasingly relies on robotic precision. Modern robotics, equipped with advanced sensors, grippers, and AI, allow manufacturers to complete intricate tasks with extraordinary accuracy. Technological Innovations Driving Robotic Precision Today’s […]

The post Robotic Precision in Manufacturing: Achieving High Accuracy for Complex Tasks appeared first on Chart Attack.

An analysis of thousands of cognitive tests carried out by chimpanzees finds that the number of spectators influenced their performance in different ways depending on the difficulty of the task

The power situation has improved in the last decade. But there is a tangle with respect to distribution, transmission issues

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC) has reacted to the Supreme Court’s nullification of the conviction of a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu. Also nullified was the judgement against his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and Jones Udeogu, a former Director of Finance and Account of Abia State Government. The apex court […]

Supreme Court verdict: Orji Kalu’s travails, political lesson to redouble tasks ahead – Ohanaeze

Katy Perry is getting real about her hormonal changes and mood swings during pregnancy. On Saturday, during the SHEIN Together livestream event--a virtual festival led by the clothing...

Katy Perry is getting real about her hormonal changes and mood swings during pregnancy. On Saturday, during the SHEIN Together livestream event--a virtual festival led by the clothing...

Katy Perry is getting real about her hormonal changes and mood swings during pregnancy. On Saturday, during the SHEIN Together livestream event--a virtual festival led by the clothing...

Millions, if not billions, of specimens reside in the world’s natural history collections, but most of these have not been carefully studied, or even looked […]

The post Using digitized Botany specimens, AI excels in simple curatorial tasks appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Writing is a quite ambivalent word. For some students, it causes their worst nightmares to come to mind (or it is just a boring assignment) and for some, it’s the fun way to express their thoughts to...

This paper addresses the problem of efficiently achieving visual predictive control tasks. To this end, a memory of motion, containing a set of trajectories built off-line, is used for leveraging precomputation and dealing with difficult visual tasks. Standard regression techniques, such as k-nearest neighbors and Gaussian process regression, are used to query the memory and provide on-line a warm-start and a way point to the control optimization process. The proposed technique allows the control scheme to achieve high performance and, at the same time, keep the computational time limited. Simulation and experimental results, carried out with a 7-axis manipulator, show the effectiveness of the approach.

Time is important, especially when it comes to the brain. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about how our brains process and understand Time, and how we can reorient out goals within tasks to stay motivated and get more done.

Laundry. Built deer protection for my garden. Purchased materials for deer protection for my apple trees. Dishes. Mended one sweater and one pair of jeans. Reinforced neckline on another sweater in an attempt to have it fit better. Culled my wardrobe. Verified that garden deer protection withstands wind warning type winds.

By Leo Babauta I recently talked with a couple of people who are just absolutely slammed with business because of the current crisis, and feel like they are drowning in busyness and stress. I can relate to that feeling — I’ve experienced it a bunch of times, including recently. So I’m writing this guide to […]