Category: Университетская жизнь /

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

On July 10, Novosibirsk State University hosted a fascinating economic quest, “Knowledge — Money,” in which 65 high school students from different schools in Novosibirsk took part. It was not just an intellectual challenge, but also a real immersion into the world of economics, where knowledge, logic, and teamwork become the key to success.

The quest was organized by the public organization "Laboratory of Economics and Business" with the support of Faculty of Economics, NSU, the “First” movement and the low-rise eco-quarter “Spectrum”.

—The Laboratory of Economics and Business was created three years ago. Our mission is to develop schoolchildren's interest in economics and to form a culture of systems thinking. The first event we held last year was a course of lectures and interactive seminars "Basics of Economics and Business for Schoolchildren". Instead of the planned 20 people, more than 60 took part in it. We realized that schoolchildren have a huge interest in economics and new educational formats. This is how the idea of a quest was born, which we decided to hold in the summer, — said Dmitry Markov, a lecturer in the Department of Management of the Faculty of Economics of NSU, head of the laboratory.

The participants united into 14 teams, each of which went through 13 stations in four thematic "economic laboratories" in three hours. At each station, the teams passed tests on knowledge, logic and ingenuity, solved problems of varying difficulty levels and earned points. The maximum for each station was 100 points, and at the end the strongest team was determined.

1. Systems Analysis Laboratory

The children were given tasks that clearly demonstrated the importance of a systematic approach to solving problems. A crossword, a fillword, and a Japanese puzzle called "Bridges" — all of this forced the participants to think logically, find patterns and relationships. And most importantly, it helped them better understand how economic processes are structured in reality.

2. Laboratory of Economic Intuition

Here, participants encountered economic puzzles, asset turnover tasks, and cases that required filling in missing terms. These tasks helped participants not only remember the terms, but also understand how they work in the context of business and finance.

3. Business Analytics Lab

It turned out to be the most difficult — and, perhaps, the most educational. The kids had to understand the financial statements of the Magnit retail chain, pass tests on formal logic, and solve numerical problems that are used when hiring in large financial companies. This gave the schoolchildren the opportunity to “try on” the role of a business analyst and understand how interesting and in-demand this profession is.

4. Bipolar Laboratory

This lab turned out to be the most creative and memorable. Participants had to not only think, but also act:

Assemble a product according to the technical specifications from a construction set. Assemble a puzzle from the logos of famous brands and compare them with the companies' missions. Restore the system by analogy with the game "Tetris". Assemble slides with company analytics to create a complete picture.

These tasks developed not only logic and economic thinking, but also teamwork skills, attentiveness and creativity.

Each laboratory had its own curators, who were students from the Faculty of Economics of NSU.

Artem Bezrukov commanded the business analytics laboratory.

— Three stations: calculation tasks, a logic storm and a hellish quiz on financial reporting. I thought that my stations would be the hardest for the participants, but the guys turned out to be great! We were especially impressed with the financial reporting of Magnit. We compared profitability, revenue, turnover — like analysts with real cases! Honestly, I thought that out of 100 points our maximum would be 50, but I was pleasantly surprised by other results!) I admit, the logic test turned out to be the most tricky. Only two teams were able to solve it 100 out of 100! Apparently, numbers are closer to them than puzzles.) Even my fifth-graders learned to calculate profitability! — said Artem.

Kira Kurmasheva was responsible for the bipolar laboratory.

—We had a great time and enjoyed it as much as the quest participants. Our lab had the most stations — four. All the tasks in my lab were interactive, the kids were asked to assemble a flower from a construction set, restore economic slides, assemble puzzles with logos of famous companies, and solve a riddle. All the tasks were quite easy, but very interesting. Our lab had the highest average score for the quest.

I am very glad that our event attracted so many children from all over the region. During the game, I received a lot of positive feedback about the quest. I hope that I will participate in many more similar projects from the laboratory of economics and business! – Kira shared.

As a result, all teams completed all stations, showed good results and acquired valuable skills. The winner of the quest was the team "EkoMi", which scored the highest number of points.

All participants were awarded raffle tickets and delicious pizza, which was a pleasant end to a busy but exciting day.

Here's what the event participants thought about the quest.

Taisiya Gershun, 8th grade, OC "Gornostay":

— Although I was never particularly interested in economics, the quest even made me think about enrolling in the economics department! An interesting format that helps to apply knowledge from economics in practice. During the quest, you learn to work together and make decisions quickly. It was especially interesting to solve economic puzzles and solve different problems. At the end, there was an announcement of the winners and pizza!!

 

Vladimir Rimmer, 9th grade, Lyceum No. 130:

— My mother signed me up for the quest, for which I am very grateful to her. I got a lot of new emotions, made new acquaintances. I really liked the idea itself, the organization and, of course, the surprise in the form of pizza after the end. If I were to rate the quest on a ten-point scale, it would definitely be 10 out of 10!

 

Daria Rakova, 9th grade, OC "Gornostay":

— Overall, the event was interesting and useful. The tasks were varied, you had to think and act. I especially liked two things: bridges and a crossword puzzle. These logic tasks are just super, and everything was exciting with the team. Overall, I spent my time usefully, learned something new and laughed.

 

The Laboratory of Economics and Business is already drawing up a plan for future events, where schoolchildren not only gain new knowledge, but also come into contact with university life.

— The guys spent the whole day at NSU, got to know the university, its teachers and students better. We are sure that many of them will choose NSU as the place of their admission and further education, — Dmitry Markov emphasized.

 

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

.

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The basic model of an autonomous intelligent assistant for visually impaired and blind patients was presented to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation — Head of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko during his visit to Novosibirsk State University. The device is being developed using large language models and artificial intelligence technologies.

The idea of the development belongs to the Novosibirsk branch of the Federal State Autonomous Institution “National Medical Research Center “Microsurgery of the Eye” named after Academician S.N. Fedorov” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, which, together with scientists Research Center in the Field of Artificial Intelligence of NSU (NSU AI Center) creates a new device designed to make it easier for visually impaired and blind people to navigate in space using modern technologies.

As noted by the director of the Novosibirsk branch of the Scientific and Technical Complex "Microsurgery of the Eye", professor, doctor of medical sciences Valery Chernykh, today there are various approaches related to the possibility of giving a blind person a chance of functional orientation in the surrounding space, his adaptation and rehabilitation with the possibility of actively and independently living a full life.

First of all, these are social and rehabilitation-educational programs that require quite large financial investments. In addition, over the past 20 years, scientists from various countries have been attempting to implant expensive and high-tech chips either into the retina or directly into the occipital part of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for the function of vision. These are very complex and expensive operations with a high risk of complications and, unfortunately, with a fairly low percentage of effectiveness, since the results obtained do not last long. Several such operations have also been carried out in our country, the results of which cannot yet be considered satisfactory.

— Considering the active development of technologies related to the capabilities of artificial intelligence, the idea was born to use the auditory analyzer of the brain for human orientation in space. When a person reads a book or listens to an audio recording, certain images of objects, etc. are formed in his brain. If a visually impaired or blind patient is given the opportunity to determine the distance to an object (doorway, window, vehicle), its size, etc. through the auditory analyzer, this will certainly help him in real life and adaptation in the social environment. Considering the previous successful experience of joint work, we decided to join forces with scientists from the Research Center for Artificial Intelligence of the Novosibirsk State University in order to create such a technology that should be autonomous and not use the Internet, — said Valery Chernykh.

At the first stage, the developers create a prototype of the device and train the model in accordance with the tasks set, which is actively carried out by the formed working group, which includes scientists from the NSU AI Center and the Scientific and Technical Complex "Microsurgery of the Eye".

— We use large language models to help this category of patients analyze the surrounding space — to create a guide for them that could give a concentrated verbal description of all objects in front of the user. The principle of this system is simple: a video camera will “see” instead of a person, the information from which will be sent to a portable computer, which will convert it into text. Then the text description is converted by a voice assistant and sent directly to the patient through headphones. This message provides the basic information that the user needs to know to navigate in space, — explained Alexey Okunev, head of the project at the NSU AI Center.

The device is developed using a multimodal language model, which allows it to already provide a fairly high-quality verbal description of surrounding rooms and objects. In the future, the user will be able to ask clarifying questions about the observed scene and receive detailed answers to them. This language model also perfectly recognizes texts, reads inscriptions, signs, obstacle warnings, etc.

Currently, a basic model has been created, a prototype of the device will be ready by the end of 2025. This is a compact wearable system consisting of a single-board 16-core computer placed in a shoulder bag, a video camera (for example, GoPro) and headphones. The device will be equipped with a battery, and all elements will be connected by wireless communication channels. The user will hold the video camera in his hand and point it in the desired direction. The total weight of the device with the battery will be about 1 kg.

According to the experts of the NSU Center for Information Technologies, it will take more than one year to develop the final product ready for replication, and now they are at the very start of the project. This concerns both the technical part and the training of artificial intelligence. After the prototype is created this year, long-term work will begin on setting up the device, setting modes, collecting a database and training AI.

The developers plan to teach the AI to prioritize information delivery, highlighting from the entire video sequence the details that are most important for the visually impaired person to orient themselves in space and assess the surrounding environment depending on the situation. It is assumed that the device will have several operating modes: a movement mode for moving in space, a reading mode for working with text documents, etc.

It will also be necessary to train a blind or visually impaired patient to work with the device in various modes and adapt it to new capabilities. As noted by the Scientific and Technical Complex "Microsurgery of the Eye", at this stage, the work of not only ophthalmologists, but also specialists in the field of neurophysiology will be required. And the third task that will need to be solved is the need to create a specialized ophthalmological rehabilitation center to prepare blind patients directly for working with the device.

“The creation of such a device is of interest in the ophthalmological community as an extremely relevant and necessary area, the implementation of which will enable blind patients to adapt to the environment, which is a socially significant project,” concluded Valery Chernykh.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

.