Mobile battery life can be prolonged with system settings

By using crowdsourced measurements researchers explain the energy impact of smartphone system settings

2015-03-25

(Press-News.org) Mobile devices have a large number of different adjustable system settings whose energy impact can be difficult to understand for the average user, and even for the expert. Some system settings have a direct and significant correlation with energy consumption, for example screen brightness and network connectivity. The energy impact of system settings and their combinations, such as the combination of roaming, high operating temperature, and bad signal strength, are much more difficult to predict. The research article by the Finnish computer scientists demonstrates that the energy impact of these nonÂtrivial system setting combinations can be significant, and presents a new learning based method for assessing this impact. The effects of different settings need to be modelled as a whole. The research is based on a large dataset that consists of device usage data gathered from over 150,000 smartphones and tablets. The dataset covers real life daily usage patterns and together with laboratory based specific high precision measurements serves as the empirical basis for the research work. The energy model for system settings proposed in the research study makes it possible to give personalized, practical energy recommendations to the smartphone user. The research findings include the following: • WiÂFi signal strength dropping one bar can cause over 13% battery life loss • High temperature can cause even 50% battery life loss, and high temperature is not always related to high CPU load • Automatic screen brightness is in most cases better than the manual setting • In addition to CPU, battery temperature and distance traveled together offer a good predictor of battery lifetime • The research article "Energy Modeling of System Settings: A Crowdsourced Approach" is available in http://carat.cs.helsinki.fi/#Research INFORMATION: END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Drinking raw milk dramatically increases risk for foodborne illness, analysis finds

2015-03-25

An analysis conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) found that the risks of drinking raw (unpasteurized) cow's milk are significant. Consumers are nearly 100 times more likely to get foodborne illness from drinking raw milk than they are from drinking pasteurized milk. In fact, the researchers determined that raw milk was associated with over half of all milk-related foodborne illness, even though only an estimated 3.5% of the U.S. population consumes raw milk. Based on their findings, the researchers discourage the consumption ...

Mental health disorders complicate standards used by ACA to penalize hospitals for readmission

2015-03-25

DETROIT - Co-existing psychiatric illness should be considered in assessing hospital readmissions for three common medical conditions used by Medicare and Medicaid to penalize hospitals with "excessive" readmission rates. That was the conclusion of a newly published collaborative study by 11 major U.S. healthcare providers - including Henry Ford Health System - affiliated with the nationwide Mental Health Research Network (MHRN). The study is published in Psychiatric Services. The subject of readmission rates has been of increasing concern to U.S. hospitals since ...

Autistic children more likely to have GI issues in early life

2015-03-25

Scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health report that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were two-and-a-half times more likely to have persistent gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms as infants and toddlers than children with typical development. Results are published in JAMA Psychiatry. The study is based on a large longitudinal survey of Norwegian mothers who were asked about their child's GI disturbances during the first three years of life. Questionnaires were completed when the children were 18 and 36 months of age. The authors ...

Gastrointestinal symptoms reported by moms more common in kids with autism

2015-03-25

Gastrointestinal symptoms reported by mothers were more common and more often persistent in the first three years of life in children with autism spectrum disorder than in children with typical development and developmental delay, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry. Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by problems in social communication and interaction, as well as restricted/repetitive behaviors. Medical and psychiatric conditions are frequently associated with ASD and among the most common are gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and ...

Use of minimally invasive surgery could lower health care costs by hundreds of millions a year

2015-03-25

A new analysis of surgical outcomes nationwide concludes that more use of minimally invasive surgery for certain common procedures can dramatically reduce post-operative complications and shave hundreds of millions of dollars off the nation's health care bill. Results of the research, conducted by Johns Hopkins investigators and published March 25 in JAMA-Surgery, indicate that American hospitals collectively could prevent thousands of post-surgical complications and save between $280 million and $340 million a year by using more minimally invasive procedures instead ...

Imaging study suggests prenatal air pollution exposure may be bad for kids' brains

2015-03-25

A small imaging study suggests prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the toxic air pollution caused in part by vehicle emissions, coal burning and smoking, may be bad for children's brains and may contribute to slower processing speeds and behavioral problems, including attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD) symptoms, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry. PAHs are caused by the incomplete combustion of organic materials. In addition to outdoor air pollution, sources of indoor air pollution caused by PAHs can be cooking, ...

Variety of DBT interventions with therapists effective at reducing suicide attempts

2015-03-25

A variety of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) interventions helped to reduce suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury acts in a randomized clinical trial of women with borderline personality disorder who were highly suicidal, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry. DBT is a multicomponent therapy for individuals at high risk for suicide and for those with multiple severe mental disorders, particularly those who have marked impulsivity and an inability to regulate emotions. The components of DBT include individual therapy, group skills training, ...

Nanorobotic agents open the blood-brain barrier, offering hope for new brain treatments

2015-03-25

Magnetic nanoparticles can open the blood-brain barrier and deliver molecules directly to the brain, say researchers from the University of Montreal, Polytechnique Montréal, and CHU Sainte-Justine. This barrier runs inside almost all vessels in the brain and protects it from elements circulating in the blood that may be toxic to the brain. The research is important as currently 98% of therapeutic molecules are also unable to cross the blood-brain barrier. "The barrier is temporary opened at a desired location for approximately 2 hours by a small elevation of the temperature ...

ASHG and ESHG issue position statement on non-invasive prenatal screening

2015-03-25

BETHESDA, MD, USA and VIENNA, AUSTRIA - Two of the world's largest professional societies of human geneticists have issued a joint position statement on the promise and challenges of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), a new procedure to test blood drawn from pregnant mothers for Down syndrome and other chromosomal disorders in the fetus. The document addresses the current scope of and likely future improvements in NIPT technology, ways it may best fit with existing prenatal screening tools and protocols, options and priorities in its implementation, and associated social ...

Does your password pass muster?

2015-03-25

This news release is available in French. Montreal, March 25, 2015 -- "Create a password" is a prompt familiar to anyone who's tried to buy a book from Amazon or register for a Google account. Equally familiar is that red / yellow / green bar that rates the new password's strength. But when those meters give the go-ahead to passwords like Password1+, their effectiveness is called into question. New research from Concordia University exposes the weakness of password strength meters, and shows consumers should remain sceptical when the bar turns green in order to create ...

Mobile battery life can be prolonged with system settings

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: