Computers in manufacturing

Computers are now widely used in product design and in automation of selected areas in factories. Within the next decade, the use of computers in the entire spectrum of manufacturing applications, from computer-aided design to computer-aided manufacturing and robotics, is expected to be practical and economically justified. Such widespread use of computers on the factory floor awaits further advances in computer capabilities, the emergence of systems that are adaptive to the workplace, and the development of interfaces to link islands of automation and to allow effective user communications.     

Computers and electronics for individual services

Personal computers priced for the consumer market have a wide range of applications and variable memory, computational, and display capabilities. The genesis of individual computing devices, some of their applications, and the market for personal computers are discussed in this article.     

Computers in production agriculture

Modern production agriculture in the United States is becoming so complex and sophisticated that computers may soon be an essential tool of successful farm operation and management. Farmers are vigorously seeking information on relevant computer technology and using it as rapidly as economics and availability permit. Their demand for this technology is, however, price-sensitive under current economic conditions. The agricultural research and development system has a long way to go to provide the large integrated software and hardware packages-including simulators and expert systems interfaced with monitoring and control devices-needed to help American farmers retain their competitive edge.     

Spending money on others promotes happiness

Although much research has examined the effect of income on happiness, we suggest that how people spend their money may be at least as important as how much money they earn. Specifically, we hypothesized that spending money on other people may have a more positive impact on happiness than spending money on oneself. Providing converging evidence for this hypothesis, we found that spending more of one's income on others predicted greater happiness both cross-sectionally (in a nationally representative survey study) and longitudinally (in a field study of windfall spending). Finally, participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves.