How to decide where you need to start is key to unlocking success.

While you can measure and chart OEE manually, today’s AI and ML-based technologies with smart sensors can help processors find the little things that can improve availability, performance and quality — leading to autonomous manufacturing.

Brazil, the world's fourth-largest natural stone producer and leading U.S. supplier, is intensifying efforts to expand its market presence through export incentives and education. 

Children's Geographies; 06/01/2023
(AN 164286261); ISSN: 14733285
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Children's Geographies; 10/01/2023
(AN 173035623); ISSN: 14733285
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The post Predatory Data Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future was curated by information for practice.

The post Building Youth Resilience: How Invisible Work Shapes Stronger Futures was curated by information for practice.

The post Strengthening Social Protection: Building a Resilient Future for Lao PDR was curated by information for practice.

The recent AI Nobel Prize win and California’s vetoed AI safety bill highlight the growing trend of placing our future in the hands of private corporations, with little public accountability.

The post Outsourcing our future to for-profit AI was curated by information for practice.

Imagine there's a virus living inside you. This virus is harmless. Most of the time. But then, something causes it to change and it could kill you unless you take one dose of a powerful drug. Now imagine there is a critical shortage of this drug. This is the scary scenario at the heart of the debut novel by Hanover resident and Dartmouth professor Charles Wheelan. It's called The Rationing, but this isn't a book about a disease. It's a political satire about how the United States government handles the unfolding public health crisis. Personalities clash. Political ambitions get in the way of productive discussion. Fake News opportunists muddy the waters and foreign countries take advantage of a vulnerable United States. Charles Wheelan joined NHPR's Peter Biello to talk about his new book.

Chief organist Olivier Latry shares recordings of music played on Notre Dame Cathedral's famed organ — and looks ahead to the church's extensive renovation process after the fire on April 15.

The name of the Indian astrologer Ajai Bhambi, who has the reputation of a prophet in his homeland, is known all over the world. No wonder, his predictions always come true. An interesting point: Bhambi always makes forecasts for the year. He always does it in March. In his opinion, it is during this time of the year, when everything comes true with an accuracy of 99 percent. In March 2021, the Indian doctor of astrology predicted that the planet would begin to forget about the "malicious coronavirus" by the end of February 2022. He said that the disease would still periodically come and go, but people would treat it like common cold.

The future of the International Space Station remains extremely vague. News reports about technical problems on board the ISS became, one might say, traditional. Is it time to decide? The service life of the International Space Station extends till 2024. At the same time, now is the time to decide what should be done to the station afterwards. Late last year, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the future of the ISS would be determined in the first quarter of 2021."The fate of the ISS has not been fully decided yet, it will be determined, probably, in the first quarter of next year," Borisov told TASS. He also added that Roscosmos corporation plans to launch a new segment of the ISS, which is expected to become the basis for the Russian orbital station in the future.It goes about "Nauka" ("Science") module, which will become a space laboratory for Russian cosmonauts. Does Russia want the ISS to last longer? Ivan Moiseev, the scientific director of the Institute of Space Policy, believes that stopping international cooperation was out of the question. "There is an official permit to run the station till 2024 - till 2025, in fact. All the countries participating in the ISS agreement agreed to consider the issue of extending the service life of the station till 2028-2030 - that was six months ago," the expert told Pravda.Ru.However, the situation took a turn due to a series of accidents on board the ISS."Those were insignificant accidents, but they create a relevant information background. The government had to decide. If it was not for those accidents, they would have quietly extended the service life of the ISS until 2028, and it would be beneficial to everyone. But when those accidents started happening, they led the general public to believe that the station was falling apart. There were official statements made about the need to finish its work," Ivan Moiseev said.However, the expert believes that the work of the station should be extended. "Therefore, the government apparently will make a decision on the matter in early 2021," he believes.

Formula 1 (F1) has been striving to become more environmentally friendly in recent years while still remaining relevant beyond the race track. The series has included more technology that is seen in street cars, such as small-displacement engines with turbos and hybridization. However, F1's CEO, Stefano Domenicali, has said in an interview with an Italian paper that the series will "never go electric." F1 sees synthetic fuels, also known as e-fuels, as the future of the series. These lab-created fuels are already in limited production but come with an extreme cost. However, this is not a problem for motorsport. F1's goal is to have e-fuels powering the grid by 2026 and then working towards finding a way to use them in passenger cars as combustion bans start to take effect in nations in the 2030s, just as F1 hopes to become carbon neutral.

China has unveiled its latest scientific development — a spheric police robot capable of pursuing criminals. The robot is equipped with artificial intelligence and can operate autonomously. Unlike Western analogues that are mostly used for surveillance purposes, the Chinese robot can effectively operate in a variety of conditions. The new Chinese robot can float and roll both on smooth asphalt and off-road terrain. Even dirt and height will not be an obstacle in its path. It can even fall from a height to continue its mission.  The robot is capable of confronting perpetrators and shooting nets to immobilise them until the human police arrive. It attacks opponents at speeds of up to 35 km/h, and also acts as part of a group with other robots. Its body is very hard to destroy. 

In addition to promises regarding domestic policy, the candidates in the current US presidential elections have released indicative statements about their attitude to major international conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have spoken about Russia as well to outline how they would build future relations with Moscow. Trump has repeatedly stated that he will quickly end the conflict in Ukraine should he return to the Oval Office. "I will literally call two people the same night that I am announced as the winner: Putin and Zelensky. We will make a deal within 24 hours," Trump said.

In October 2024, Russia announced plans to significantly increase year-round shipping through the Northern Sea Route (NSR), aiming a boost in cargo volume to over 200 million tons annually by 2030 — a critical step in transforming the Arctic into a global trade corridor. With 2023's cargo volume already reaching 36.254 million tons, despite a slight dip this year so far mainly due to delays in launching major raw material projects like Arctic LNG 2, the route continues to demonstrate its growing role in Russia's trade and energy strategy. The Northern Sea Route, stretching across Russia's Arctic coastline, has long been eyed as a potential alternative to the Suez Canal for connecting Europe and Asia. With shorter transit times — promising to reduce the distance between Asia and Europe by 10 to 14 days compared to the Suez Canal route — and bypassing congested chokepoints, the NSR offers the promise of a more direct, efficient maritime route between the two continents. This October's decision is only the latest in a series of strategic moves by Russia to establish the NSR as a primary passage for international sea-based trade, catalyzed by Russia's growing ties with both China and India, who are actively seeking reliable access to the Arctic. Amid escalating tensions, particularly the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, which has the potential to severely disrupt sea trade along the Suez Canal, the NSR's strategic importance becomes even more pronounced.

By Georgia Leybourne, Chief Marketing Officer, Linnworks.

Success in ecommerce and retail today hinges on consumer convenience. It is fast becoming a powerful tool in the e-commerce industry, transforming the way businesses engage with their customers and increasing sales through social commerce.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) provides new and profitable opportunities for increasing organisational, financial and operational performance. For instance, the retail and logistics industries can benefit from the superior RFID technology. DENSO explains why.

According to Forbes, the global smart retail market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of 29.1% by 2030. DENSO accompanies retailers into the future with RFID.

Adolescents in regions with fewer abortion restrictions and those who had an abortion were more likely to have graduated from college, earn higher incomes and have greater financial stability at two time-points over an almost 25-year period. Girls who became teen moms, conversely, were more likely to experience eviction, debt and food insecurity.

"Tell me the numbers, I'll take care of the politics." Shashi Nambisan, director of the Transportation Research Center (TRC) at UNLV, recalled a pivotal discussion in the early 1990s with then-County Commissioner Bruce L. Woodbury about the transportation needs of a region on the precipice of substantial growth.

Delivering a sustainable urban future for Europe through geoscience  British Geological Survey

The African Light Source (AfLS) project is now almost eight years old. This article assesses the history, current context and future of the project. There is by now considerable momentum in building the user community, including deep training, facilitating access to current facilities, growing the scientific output, scientific networks and growing the local laboratory-scale research infrastructure. The Conceptual Design Report for the AfLS is in its final editing stages. This document specifies the socio-economic and scientific rationales and the technical aspects amongst others. The AfLS is supported by many national and Pan-African scientific professional bodies and voluntary associates across many scientific disciplines, and there are stakeholders throughout the continent and beyond. The current roadmap phases have expanded to include national and Pan-African level conversations with policy makers through new Strategic Task Force groups. The document summarizes this progress and discusses the future of the project.

Synchrotron light sources require X-ray optics with extremely demanding accuracy for the surface profile, with less than 100 nrad slope errors and sub-nanometre height errors. Such errors are challenging to achieve for aspheres using traditional polishing methods. However, post-polishing error correction can be performed using techniques such as ion beam figuring (IBF) to improve optics to the desired quality. This work presents a brief overview of the history of IBF, introduces some of the challenges for obtaining such demanding figure errors, and highlights the work done at several in-house IBF facilities at synchrotron light sources worldwide to obtain state-of-the-art optical quality.

The first Federation of European Biochemical Societies Advanced Course on macromolecular crystallization was launched in the Czech Republic in October 2004. Over the past two decades, the course has developed into a distinguished event, attracting students, early career postdoctoral researchers and lecturers. The course topics include protein purification, characterization and crystallization, covering the latest advances in the field of structural biology. The many hands-on practical exercises enable a close interaction between students and teachers and offer the opportunity for students to crystallize their own proteins. The course has a broad and lasting impact on the scientific community as participants return to their home laboratories and act as nuclei by communicating and implementing their newly acquired knowledge and skills.

The graphics in my post about R^2 were produced by an updated version of a sixty-year old program involving the U.S. census. Originally, the program was based on census data from 1900 to 1960 and sought to predict the population in 1970. The software back then was written in Fortran, the predominate technical programming language a half century ago. I have updated the MATLAB version of the program so that it now uses census data from 1900 to 2020.... read more >>

In this third edition of "Eruptions of Hawaiian Volcanoes—Past, Present, and Future," we include information about Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption in the lower East Rift Zone—the largest and most destructive in at least 200 years—and associated summit-collapse events, the eruptions at Kīlauea’s summit since 2018, and the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa, which occurred after 38 years of quiescence.

Panelists in a discussion on ‘Mobility Megatrends 2050’, highlighted that in the next decade, with electrification, autonomous driving, smart and connected infrastructure, modal diversity, and mobility that is integrated, resilient, shared, and sustainable – powered by disruptive business models, will transform and shape up of the automotive industry. The industry is racing towards a new world, driven by sustainability and changing consumer behaviour, encompassing electric vehicles, autonomous cars, mobility fleet sharing, and always connected.

With the advent of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data analytics, banks across the world are embracing a new era of innovation to enhance their services and improve customer experiences. These innovations are empowering banks to provide personalized, efficient, reliable, and secure financial solutions to their customers.

President Barack Obama reiterated his strong support for science and technology today in a speech to members of the National Academy of Sciences at its 150th annual meeting.

Infectious disease outbreaks that turn into epidemics or pandemics can kill millions of people and cause trillions of dollars of damage to economic activity, says a new report from the international, independent Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future.

Today the science academies of the G7 countries and seven additional academies issued three joint statements to their respective governments to inform discussions during the G7 summit to be held in May in Japan, as well as ongoing policymaking.

A series of educational modules has been developed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to help students in professional schools – law, public policy, medicine, journalism, and business – understand science and its role in decision making.

Good morning. Welcome to the release of the report Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Joint statements from the national science academies of the G7 nations were released today in advance of the G7 Summit to be held in La Malbaie, Canada, on June 8 and 9, 2018.

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) is pleased to announce the recipients of three $500,000 NAKFI Challenge awards. A 15-year, $40 million dollar program funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation, NAKFI was initiated in 2003 to break down barriers between fields and to promote interdisciplinary research.

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) is pleased to announce the publication of Collaborations of Consequence - NAKFI’s 15 Years of Igniting Innovation at the Intersections of Disciplines.

NASA’s investment in new instruments to analyze extraterrestrial samples is insufficient to provide for replacement of existing instruments, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The National Academy of Sciences, in partnership with The Kavli Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will host a symposium to consider the future of science in the U.S. and how it can best serve society in the 21st century.

Rwanda’s Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program – funded in part by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) from 2012 to 2017 – more than tripled the country’s physician specialist workforce and produced major increases in the numbers and qualifications of nurses and midwives, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Feb. 26 Symposium Will Explore How Scientific Research Should Evolve in Coming Decades

Many U.S. colleges and universities responded to the COVID-19 pandemic this spring by swiftly moving courses online, but they now face a range of longer-term quandaries, from weighing how to safely reopen campuses to navigating new financial challenges.

A video created as part of the Transportation Research Board’s centennial celebration has been named the winner of three 2020 Telly Awards, which annually showcase the best work created within television and across all types of video production.

As many nations around the world have struggled with high rates of infections and deaths from COVID-19, Taiwan has kept the number of deaths from the disease to less than 10 — by drawing upon its previous experience with SARS, said chemical engineer Pam Cheng, speaking at last week’s annual meeting of the National Academy of Engineering.

Creating an aircraft that will fly in the Martian atmosphere is an engineering tour de force.

The National Academy of Sciences today released a new proceedings of a symposium that explored whether the modern research architecture that fuels U.S. innovation needs to be reconfigured to meet the challenges of our time.

The current body of evidence on dementia care does not reflect the experiences of diverse populations, including people of different races, ethnicities, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides comprehensive recommendations for improving the U.S. electric power system so that it can adequately provide electricity to the nation in a safe, reliable, clean, resilient, and equitable way, especially as the U.S. pursues decarbonization of the energy supply.

The first Nobel Prize Summit “Our Planet, Our Future” will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other esteemed leaders in the sciences, policy, business, the youth movement, and the arts to explore actions that can be achieved this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all.