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Social media giants warn of AI moderation errors as coronavirus empties offices

The Silicon Valley tech giants have asked employees and contractors to work from home if possible, to slow the fast-spreading respiratory disease




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Government of Rajasthan selects Teradata big data solutions to improve citizen services & engagement

Rajasthan to create a common data and analytics platform for all government departments across the State to collate and utilize data more effectively and efficiently, improving the delivery of citizen services with the help of Teradata solutions.




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Key to success in data science: Domain expertise

A passion for data is a prerequisite to pursue a career in data science — datasets should instantly inspire you to infer, analyse and visualise information.




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Want to secure your critical business data? Join the automation forces

Machines can protect systems in a way humans just can’t and, for that reason, advanced automation is going to be the way forward as companies look to protect their estates in a battle-ridden landscape.




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Donald Trump announces 60-day pause on issuing green cards

This would not impact people traveling on temporary visas like the H-1B or L1, which are typically used to bring high-skilled workers to the United States




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Govt gets started to make WFH process smooth

In discussions with industry to get better software, hardware solutions and define basic parameters




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IT services companies to suspend hiring this year: Mohandas Pai

Pai said IT cos won't hire more and they will suspend recruitment, except honouring prior commitments.




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Appliances, consumer electronic makers assist customers virtually amid lockdown

Companies like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Haier and Godrej Appliance are leveraging Livechat, WhatsApp, DIY video as well as on-call assistance, and helping remotely on real time basis as their service centres are closed in compliance with the government directives.




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Smartphone makers plan sops, aggressive prices to push sales

Organic growth will be difficult and consumers will only buy a phone out of necessity or maybe settle for a refurbished one depending on their spending ability




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Millions of mobile phones, thousands of appliances pile up for repairing amidst lockdown

There are more than 30,000 microwave ovens, AC and washing machines which needs repair at a time when Indians are locked indoors and doing household chores themselves due to the lockdown.




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Mobile phone retailers' body AIMRA urges govt to not include devices in essential goods

“We did not request you to change the category of mobile phones to essential items. We again reiterate we are not asking to change the category of mobile phones,” Arvinder Khurana, National President All India Mobile Retailers Association said in a letter to Piyush Goyal.​




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Technology services and its changing role during the Covid-19 era

Since ‘virtual’ is the new normal, get imaginative on how you work, how you stay in touch and use technology to make this unique experience also a memorable on.




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Consumers want full e-commerce services in all zones: Survey

78% respondents of the survey said that the government should permit online retailers to ship all products, apart from essential items.




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Vodafone Idea, Airtel to launch NB-IoT services

New standard can make communication between machines better and cheaper. “We'll be going with a pilot in a denser way rather than just a few trial sites…in a couple of months, we will be commercially rolling out,” Ajay Chitkara, CEO, Airtel Business, told ET. Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, has already conducted commercial pilots in eight cities.




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Volty IoT plans Rs 50 crore GPS devices plant in Andhra Pradesh

The company said the proposed manufacturing facility will cater to the growing need for GPS trackers in sand and mineral mining. Its chief executive officer Konark Chukkapally said the Andhra government has made it mandatory for all the vehicles involved in the transportation of sand to have GPS trackers.




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Oppo takes IoT, services route to grow business: India President

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo expects the Covid-19 supply chain disruption to end in a week or two. It is also planning to open a 5G lab in Hyderabad.




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SenRa launched new analytics platform to manage IoT devices

With the release of the IoT analytics platform - Ginjer 2.0, SenRa is now able to provide customers with end-to-end IoT solutions while facilitating them with immediate insights on their business operations, cost savings, and overall ROI.




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Microsoft Cloud services witness massive 775% jump

Microsoft has seen a huge 775 per cent increase in its Cloud services in regions that have enforced social distancing or 'shelter-in-place orders.




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Indian IT leans on govt spends, managed services as deals slow

IT advisory IDC estimates that domestic IT spending will decline 4.5% to $55.5 billion this fiscal




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Animal Services Manager

 Catawba County Animal Services is recruiting an Animal Services Manager who possesses high integrity, ample experience with and knowledge of animals, outstanding customer service skills, and dynamic leadership ability.  In this position, you will manage the overall operation of the shelter (intake, fosters, and adoptions) and animal control services within the county.  You are responsible for the health of animals within the shelter while ensuring all state and federal animal welfare laws are met as well as maintaining current state controlled drug licenses and federal drug enforcement guidelines and certifications. 




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Success Coaches (Social Worker III)

Catawba County is recruiting for two engaging social workers with considerable knowledge in child welfare to fill the role of a Success Coach (Social Worker III). Success Coaches provide enhanced case management services to families.  In this role, you will provide on-going supportive services including assessment, crisis intervention, and skill reinforcement to families.   You will carry a caseload of 8-15 families requiring varying levels of service intensity. 
 
These Success Coaches will provide these voluntary services to post adoptive families in the Region 4 which includes Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Stanly, Cabarrus, Union and Cleveland counties.  Position involves heavy regular travel within the communities where services are provided.  For convenience to and knowledge of community resources, it is preferred that the applicant live in one of the counties served.   If not, applicant must be willing/able to travel within the counties served on a daily basis. 
 
These positions are time-limited and will end June 30, 2021. 




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Amazon Web Services launches 3rd availability zone in Mumbai

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Cloud arm of retail giant Amazon has announced the third availability zone in its Mumbai Cloud Region.




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Successful re-introduction of waterfowl depends on month of release

New EU-funded research has provided useful guidelines for re-introducing threatened species, using a waterfowl case study. The Spanish researchers developed a method for deciding the best time of year to release the species into their original habitat.




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Evaluating biodiversity and ecosystem services in France

A report commissioned by the French Government has calculated reference values for French ecosystems. These range from ???600 per hectare/per year for pastureland to ???2000 per hectare/per year for some types of forest. The methods used to calculate these values were carefully analysed.




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The importance of social and political context for classifying ecosystem services

It is important to have a single definition of 'ecosystem services', but a single classification scheme for services is not appropriate, according to researchers. There are many contexts in which ecosystem services can be used and the context should help to determine which classification scheme is the most appropriate for decision making.




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Improved biodiversity and ecosystem services go hand-in-hand

A new study has reinforced the view that biodiversity improvements and greater provision of ecosystem services are complementary. An analysis of projects that restored ecosystems indicated that restoration produced a 44 per cent increase in biodiversity and a 25 per cent increase in the provision of ecosystem services.




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REDD improves forest provision of ecosystem services

Actions to reduce emissions caused by deforestation and degradation (REDD) also enhance ecosystem services, according to a new report. Using a case study from the Amazon it indicated that REDD support schemes can also help maintain water levels and quality and protect soil from erosion.




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Mapping Europe's potential to provide ecosystem goods and services

New Europe-wide maps show the potential of landscapes to provide ecosystem goods and services over the next 20-30 years.




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Payment for environmental services needs government engagement

In theory, payment for environmental services (PES) is a market mechanism but, in practice, it depends on intervention from the state or community. This is the conclusion of a new review of case studies that indicates that PES relies on public bodies and communities to act as intermediaries in the trading of services.




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Bringing the ecosystem services concept into forestry

Practical barriers may be hampering the application of an ecosystem services approach to forests. A new analysis has outlined three strategies to overcome these barriers: fostering private markets, managing public land and raising awareness of ecosystem services.




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Implementing Natura 2000: Dutch and Italian experiences

A study of how the Natura 2000 network was implemented in the Netherlands and in Italy has been conducted. From this analysis, recommendations have been made to help other EU Member States implement and manage the network, which include providing local authorities with better information on and understanding of Natura 2000 and how to balance ecological, social and economic needs.




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Increasing green infrastructure ecosystem services in urban areas

A new model has been developed that could help metropolitan areas adapt to climate change by increasing ecosystem services provided by green spaces and farmland through calculating the percentage of evapotranspiring surface for different types of land use and the degree of fragmentation between ecosystems. To demonstrate how it works, researchers have applied this 'land use suitability strategy' model to an Italian municipality.




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Greater recognition of ecosystem services needed for food security

Global food security under a changing climate is possible if the vital role of healthy ecosystems is recognised, according to a recent study. The researchers suggest that an ecosystem-based approach must be integrated with other measures to tackle food security under climate change, to protect ecosystems and supply the essential services on which humanity depends.




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Successful conservation policy needs monitoring and knowledge

New research has explored how well different governance systems can achieve desirable conservation outcomes. Results confirmed the importance of adaptive management, which relies on regular monitoring to enable 'learning through doing' to refine actions, and suggested that leadership using expert knowledge was also significant in successful governance.




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Protect biodiversity to safeguard ecosystem services

Most species in an ecosystem could help supply essential ecosystem services, according to a recent study. The researchers found that 84% of species in the grassland ecosystems they studied contributed towards at least one ecosystem service. Losing any of these species would therefore degrade the ecosystem services such an environment could provide.




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Plant biodiversity boosts ecosystem services in drylands

Plant biodiversity is crucial to the functioning of natural ecosystems in drylands across the world, according to recent research. Preserving plant diversity will be particularly important for maintaining the quantity and quality of services provided by ecosystems found in drylands that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and desertification.




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New system of sustainable funding for global ecosystem services

Researchers argue that of the five mechanisms available for ensuring the provision of ecosystem services ??? prescription, penalties, persuasion, property rights and payments ??? only payments are likely to be effective at the global level. However, while a number of international Payments for Ecosystem Services (IPES) schemes exist, their impact on ecosystem services remains negligible.




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Cost-effective monitoring of Payments for Environmental Services (PES)

To encourage protection of the environment, payments for environmental services (PES) schemes offer direct incentives to individuals and communities to maintain or improve the provision of environmental services. A recent study suggests indicators to monitor PES must be chosen very carefully to help ensure that monitoring does not cost more than the payments themselves.




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Noise pollution affects pollination and chances of seed germination

A study on the effects of noise pollution from natural gas wells in the US reveals that it may have reduced the number of young trees growing locally by changing the types of animals that visit the area. However, in the same woodland environment, flowering plants pollinated by hummingbirds seem to benefit from the noise.




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'Soft' flood defences to protect riverside biodiversity

Riversides that are unprotected by flood defences are home to more diverse plant communities, according to a new study. According to the researchers of the study, 'soft' approaches to flood management, which work in harmony with natural processes, could help promote biodiversity in flood-prone regions.




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Mangroves provide both climate change mitigation and adaptation services

Rates of carbon storage by mangroves are substantially higher than previously thought, research suggests. Using new data, researchers have estimated that worldwide, mangroves bury 26.1 megatonnes of organic carbon per year, which is 42% more than the estimations made in 2008.




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Constructing wetlands for multiple ecosystem services

Constructed wetlands can regulate stormwater flows and improve water quality, helping humans to adapt to a changing climate. New research has now shown that, if carefully designed, they can also be used for climate change mitigation by storing carbon, while also providing biodiversity and cultural ecosystem services.




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Plastic mulching reduces farmland bird numbers and diversity

Using plastic sheeting to encourage early growth of crops reduces the number and diversity of farmland birds, new research from Poland suggests. The study shows that this effect continues even after plastic has been removed.




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Payment for forest ecosystem services: a case study in Finland

Tourists would be willing to pay for increased biodiversity and reduced clear-felling in forests, a recent Finnish case study suggests. In a survey of over 900 visitors to Lapland, most stated that they felt landscape quality and biodiversity were important, and that they would be happy to pay their share for preserving these qualities.




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High gold prices drive expansion of mining activity in the Amazon forest of Peru

Gold mining areas in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest expanded from under 10 000 hectares in 1999 to over 50 000 hectares by 2012, and now destroys more forest than agriculture and logging combined, new research has shown. Using high-resolution satellite imaging, researchers estimated gold mining areas to be twice as large as estimated by previous studies, which did not include the combined effects of thousands of small, mainly illicit, mining operations.




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Invasive alien species' impacts on ecosystem services: new tool to assess risks

Researchers have developed a new risk assessment scheme for invasive alien species that not only predicts their direct effects on biodiversity, but also their impacts on ecosystem services. Furthermore, the scheme allows sources of uncertainty in a species??? impact to be identified, and can be applied to a range of different species.




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Large-scale conservation partnerships: challenges and successes identified

Conservation partnerships that span geographic, biological and administrative boundaries are needed to deal with many global environmental problems. However, there are challenges to managing these complex, large-scale programmes that involve many partners and stakeholders. A new study examines the nature of these challenges and identifies the factors that lead to partnership success.




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New tool predicts ecosystem restoration success

A new approach to predicting whether a degraded ecosystem can be successfully restored is presented in a recent study. The researchers who developed it show how it works with the case of peatland restoration. Their method uses a computer model to link restoration success or failure with plant species and management techniques on the sites.




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Soil biodiversity reduces nitrogen pollution and improves crops’ nutrient uptake

Increased soil biodiversity can reduce nitrogen pollution, improve nutrient uptake by plants and even increase crop yields, new research suggests. The two-year study found that levels of nitrogen leaching from soil with an abundant soil life were nearly 25% lower than for soil with a reduced level of soil life. Practices which enhance soil biodiversity such as reduced tilling, crop rotation and organic farming may therefore help reduce the environmental impacts of fertilisers and improve agricultural sustainability, the researchers say.




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Citizen scientists successfully monitor bat populations

Bat populations are showing signs of recovery in the UK, according to a citizen science programme. The authors of a recent study which reports the programme’s findings say that this shows volunteers can successfully monitor wild species and produce robust data suitable for policy purposes.