Do the words that we use to describe the various stages and conditions of human life really matter?

When we are silently aware of the presence of Christ, the whisper of His name will bring healing to us and spill out to others.

Dr. Rossi talks about the jungle of wicked thoughts in our minds and the need to not judge others.

Dr. Rossi speaks about the power of a soft smile on our heart and mind.

Dr. Albert Rossi calls us to vigilance in the words that we use.

Fr. Philip LeMasters reads an essay he wrote for Jacob's Well, the official magazine of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey (OCA). "What is the border between Christ’s Kingdom and the kingdoms of the world? The Savior said clearly that His Kingdom “is not of this world,” but the world is where we have to live out our lives as His followers. Throughout the Divine Liturgy, we pray for the salvation of all, peace for the world, and the wellbeing of our civil authorities and armed forces. To do this with integrity, we must discern how to deal with political and social matters in ways that not only convey the transcendence of the Kingdom, but also show how God’s will can be done, albeit imperfectly and partially, here on earth. The border between these realms is real, but not impermeable." Read the essay at https://issuu.com/jacobswell/docs/jacob_s_well_spring_2021_final/s/12860328.

Combined, Fr. John and Fr. Stephen have been involved with prison ministry for well over 50 years. From their experiences in this work, they speak on the important concept of "Ministry of Presence" that is truly vital for all Orthodox Christians to understand. This concept is brought to life by the stories they share from their ministries. This presentation was given in Houston as part of an Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry gathering. Fr. John Kowalczyk is the priest of St. Michael's Church in Jermyn, PA, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania, a Chaplain at S.C.I. Waymart's Forensic Treatment Center for over 27 years, teaches at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary, and is the Director of their Field Education Program. Fr. John is a member of the Board of Directors of Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry. Fr. Stephen Powley is the priest of St. John the Baptist Church in Pueblo, CO, and is the Assistant Director of Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry. He served as a Prison Chaplain for almost 26 years until his retirement in August of 2010. During that time he served as a chaplain in every security level of prison from minimum to maximum.

Fr. Stephen Powley, the Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry, speaks at Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church in Livonia, Michigan.

Is faith alone enough to save us? Father Barnabas Powell, an Orthodox priest and former Protestant, joins Steve to consider this important question.

Acts 26: 1, 12-20, John 9: 1-38 Utterly blind and now seeing Christ-God face to face. You too.

Because social proof has become such a mainstay in marketing, it's easy for marketers to grow numb to it. You forget that social proof is one of Cialdini's most persuasive principles. So here are 5 new studies to remind you about the persuasive power of social proof.

The post Social Proof: 5 new studies that prove its continued persuasive power appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

The decades long battle between a small Scottish community and Donald Trump's golf dream

UK Power Networks says it is aware of the incident and is looking to install bird diverters.

Alpine have officially announced they will use Mercedes power units when Formula 1 introduces its new engine regulations in 2026.

It’s been 11-years since I have written about the PowerShell Toolkit that was originally created by the development team in SDL.  Back then I was able to fumble my way through setting it up, editing a few files, and automating the creation of a project in Trados Studio.  In all the time since then it’s … Continue reading Trados Studio – Powershell Trilogy Part 1

As IOT develops drastically these years, the application of cloud computing in many fields has become possible. In this paper, we take low-voltage current transformers in power systems as the research object and propose a TCN-BI-GRU power measurement method that incorporates the signal characteristics based on the transformer input and output. Firstly, the basic signal enhancement extraction of input and output is completed by using EMD and correlation coefficients. Secondly, multi-dimensional feature extraction is completed to improve the data performance according to the established TCN network. Finally, the power prediction is completed by using BI-GRU, and the results show that the RMSE of this framework is 5.69 significantly lower than other methods. In the laboratory test, the device after being subjected to strong disturbance, its correlation coefficient feature has a large impact, leading to a large deviation in the prediction, which provides a new idea for future intelligent prediction.

Elections hold immense significance in shaping the leadership of a nation or organisation, serving as a pivotal moment that influences the trajectory of the entity involved. Despite their centrality to modern democratic systems, elections face a significant hurdle: widespread mistrust in the electoral process. This pervasive lack of confidence poses a substantial threat to the democratic framework, even in the case of prominent democracies such as India and US, where inherent flaws persist in the electoral system. Issues such as vote rigging, electronic voting machine (EVM) hacking, election manipulation, and polling booth capturing remain prominent concerns within the current voting paradigm. Leveraging blockchain for electronic voting systems offers an effective solution to alleviate the prevailing apprehensions associated with e-voting. By incorporating blockchain into the electoral process, the integrity and security of the system could be significantly strengthened, addressing the current vulnerabilities and fostering trust in democratic elections.

In view of the problems of low accuracy, long time consuming and low efficiency of the existing engineering investment risk assessment method; this paper puts forward the investment risk assessment method of power grid construction project based on grey correlation analysis. Firstly, classify the risks of power grid construction project; secondly, determine the primary index and secondary index of investment risk assessment of power grid construction project; then construct the correlation coefficient matrix of power grid project investment risk to calculate the correlation degree and weight of investment risk index; finally, adopt the grey correlation analysis method to construct investment risk assessment function to realise investment risk assessment. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of evaluating the investment risk of power grid construction projects using the method is 95.08%, and the maximum time consuming is 49 s, which proves that the method has high accuracy, short time consuming and high evaluation efficiency.

Aim/Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of mentor’s work with immigrant children and adolescents at risk, using the Elements Way. Background: The New Media offers our “screen kids” a lot of information, many behavioral models, and a new type of social communication. The Elements Way is an educational method designed to enhance openness, development, breakthroughs, goal achievement, and transformation in the age of media and social networks. Methodology: The Elements Way was developed following research on communication in the diversified media, especially new media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and television reality shows, and the study is an examination of the effectiveness of mentors’ work with immigrant children and adolescents at risk, using the Elements Way. All mentors had been trained in the Elements Way. The study population included 640 mentors working with immigrants’ children in Israel. The work was conducted in 2010-2013. The mixed-methods approach was selected to validate findings. Contribution: Empowering children and enhancing their ability to cope; Creating openness and sharing, making children more attentive to the significant adults in their lives; Supporting children who face the complex reality that characterizes our age. Findings: Significant differences were found in the mentors’ conduct with the children. Work programs were designed and implemented with care and consistency, and mentors succeeded in generating change within the children and achieving desired goals. Of the 640 participating mentors, 62 were not able to promote the child, and interviews with them revealed that their work with the children was not consistent with the Elements Way and began from a different vantage point. Recommendations for Practitioners: Success factors: Self-awareness and awareness of one’s surroundings. Empathy. Willingness to engage in significant interactions. Self-cleansing and self-reflection. Ability to engage in a personal and interpersonal dialogue. Ability to accept and contain the child. Cooperation with the child in creating a work program and assisting the child to achieve the goals that were set in the program. Recommendation for Researchers: Future studies should focus on analyzing the discussions of children and adolescents, to add depth to our insights regarding children and adolescents’ perception of the mentors’ work from their perspective. Impact on Society: Finding the “keys” to openness, development, goal achievement, and transformation in our work with “screen kids.” Future Research: Studies that are designed to examine the effectiveness of mentor’s work with immigrant children and adolescents at risk, using the Elements Way.

Aim/Purpose: The proposed Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) for Empowerment (PKM4E) Framework expands on the notions of the Ignorance Map and Matrix to support the educational and informing concept of a PKM system-in-progress. Background: The accelerating information abundance is depleting the very attention our cognitive capabilities are able to master, contributing to widening individual and collective opportunity divides. Support is urgently needed to benefit Knowledge Workers irrespective of space (developed/developing countries), time (study or career phase), discipline (natural or social science), or role (student, professional, leader). Methodology: The Design Science Research (DSR) project conceptualizing the PKM System (PKMS) aims to support a scenario of a ‘Decentralizing KM Revolution’ giving more power and autonomy to individuals and self-organized groups. Contribution: The informing-science-related approach synthesizes and visualizes concepts related to ignorance and entropy, learning and innovation, chance discovery and abduction to inform diverse audiences and potential beneficiaries. Findings: see Recommendation for Researchers Recommendations for Practitioners: The PKM4E learning cycles and workflows apply ‘cumulative synthesis’, a concept which convincingly couples the activities of researchers and entrepreneurs and assists users to advance their capability endowments via applied learning. Recommendation for Researchers: In substituting document-centric with meme-based knowledge bases, the PKMS approach merges distinctive voluntarily shared knowledge objects/assets of diverse disciplines into a single unified digital knowledge repository and provides the means for advancing current metrics and reputation systems. Impact on Society: The PKMS features provide the means to tackle the widening opportunity divides by affording knowledge workers with continuous life-long support from trainee, student, novice, or mentee towards professional, expert, mentor, or leader. Future Research: After completing the test phase of the PKMS prototype, its transformation into a viable PKM system and cloud-based server based on a rapid development platform and a noSQL-database is estimated to take 12 months.

Power differences affect implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in a way that creates differences in ICT use. Involuntary non-use of new ICT at work occurs when employees want to use the new technology, but are unable to due to factors beyond their control. Findings from an in-depth qualitative study show how involuntary non-use of new ICT can be attributed to power differences between occupational groups in the same organization. The findings suggest that experience is a moderating variable and that closeness to formal power holders as well as closeness to the new technology increases the probability for expert control of the ICT-organization processes. These power differences favor ICT experts over ICT novices and result in a high-quality learning environment for the ICT experts characterized by autonomy, inclusion, and adequate work processes and technological solutions. The ICT novices try to navigate in a learning-hostile work environment characterized by marginalization through expert control, isolation, and inadequate work processes and technological solutions. This led to involuntary non-use by the ICT novices, while the experts became more proficient in ICT use. These findings give managers facing a technological organizational change tools to understand important mechanisms for implementing the change in their own organization, and help them take the right actions to integrate new technology and new organization of work.

Helping a company organize and capture the knowledge used by its employees and business processes is a daunting task. In this work we examine several proposed methodologies and synthesize them into a new methodology that we demonstrate through a case study of an electric power distribution company. This is a practical research study. First, the research approach for creating the knowledge map is process-oriented and the processes are considered as the main elements of the model. This research was done in four stages: literature review, model editing, model validation and case study. The Delphi method was used for the research model validation. Some of the important outputs of this research were mapping knowledge flows, determining the level of knowledge assets, expert-area knowledge map, preparing knowledge meta-model, and updating the knowledge map according to the company’s processes. Besides identifying, auditing and visualizing tacit and explicit knowledge, this knowledge mapping enables us to analyze the knowledge areas’ situation and subsequently help us to improve the processes and overall performance. So, a process map does knowledge mapping in a clear and accurate frame. Once the knowledge is used in processes, it creates value.

Aim/Purpose: Accurate detection of vacant parking spaces is crucial for autonomous parking. Deep learning, particularly Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), holds promise for addressing the challenges of diverse parking lot appearances and complex visual environments. Our GNN-based approach leverages the spatial layout of detected marking points in around-view images to learn robust feature representations that are resilient to occlusions and lighting variations. We demonstrate significant accuracy improvements on benchmark datasets compared to existing methods, showcasing the effectiveness of our GNN-based solution. Further research is needed to explore the scalability and generalizability of this approach in real-world scenarios and to consider the potential ethical implications of autonomous parking technologies. Background: GNNs offer a number of advantages over traditional parking spot detection methods. Unlike methods that treat objects as discrete entities, GNNs may leverage the inherent connections among parking markers (lines, dots) inside an image. This ability to exploit spatial connections leads to more accurate parking space detection, even in challenging scenarios with shifting illumination. Real-time applications are another area where GNNs exhibit promise, which is critical for autonomous vehicles. Their ability to intuitively understand linkages across marking sites may further simplify the process compared to traditional deep-learning approaches that need complex feature development. Furthermore, the proposed GNN model streamlines parking space recognition by potentially combining slot inference and marking point recognition in a single step. All things considered, GNNs present a viable method for obtaining stronger and more precise parking slot recognition, opening the door for autonomous car self-parking technology developments. Methodology: The proposed research introduces a novel, end-to-end trainable method for parking slot detection using bird’s-eye images and GNNs. The approach involves a two-stage process. First, a marking-point detector network is employed to identify potential parking markers, extracting features such as confidence scores and positions. After refining these detections, a marking-point encoder network extracts and embeds location and appearance information. The enhanced data is then loaded into a fully linked network, with each node representing a marker. An attentional GNN is then utilized to leverage the spatial relationships between neighbors, allowing for selective information aggregation and capturing intricate interactions. Finally, a dedicated entrance line discriminator network, trained on GNN outputs, classifies pairs of markers as potential entry lines based on learned node attributes. This multi-stage approach, evaluated on benchmark datasets, aims to achieve robust and accurate parking slot detection even in diverse and challenging environments. Contribution: The present study makes a significant contribution to the parking slot detection domain by introducing an attentional GNN-based approach that capitalizes on the spatial relationships between marking points for enhanced robustness. Additionally, the paper offers a fully trainable end-to-end model that eliminates the need for manual post-processing, thereby streamlining the process. Furthermore, the study reduces training costs by dispensing with the need for detailed annotations of marking point properties, thereby making it more accessible and cost-effective. Findings: The goal of this research is to present a unique approach to parking space recognition using GNNs and bird’s-eye photos. The study’s findings demonstrated significant improvements over earlier algorithms, with accuracy on par with the state-of-the-art DMPR-PS method. Moreover, the suggested method provides a fully trainable solution with less reliance on manually specified rules and more economical training needs. One crucial component of this approach is the GNN’s performance. By making use of the spatial correlations between marking locations, the GNN delivers greater accuracy and recall than a completely linked baseline. The GNN successfully learns discriminative features by separating paired marking points (creating parking spots) from unpaired ones, according to further analysis using cosine similarity. There are restrictions, though, especially where there are unclear markings. Successful parking slot identification in various circumstances proves the recommended method’s usefulness, with occasional failures in poor visibility conditions. Future work addresses these limitations and explores adapting the model to different image formats (e.g., side-view) and scenarios without relying on prior entry line information. An ablation study is conducted to investigate the impact of different backbone architectures on image feature extraction. The results reveal that VGG16 is optimal for balancing accuracy and real-time processing requirements. Recommendations for Practitioners: Developers of parking systems are encouraged to incorporate GNN-based techniques into their autonomous parking systems, as these methods exhibit enhanced accuracy and robustness when handling a wide range of parking scenarios. Furthermore, attention mechanisms within deep learning models can provide significant advantages for tasks that involve spatial relationships and contextual information in other vision-based applications. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research is necessary to assess the effectiveness of GNN-based methods in real-world situations. To obtain accurate results, it is important to employ large-scale datasets that include diverse lighting conditions, parking layouts, and vehicle types. Incorporating semantic information such as parking signs and lane markings into GNN models can enhance their ability to interpret and understand context. Moreover, it is crucial to address ethical concerns, including privacy, potential biases, and responsible deployment, in the development of autonomous parking technologies. Impact on Society: Optimized utilization of parking spaces can help cities manage parking resources efficiently, thereby reducing traffic congestion and fuel consumption. Automating parking processes can also enhance accessibility and provide safer and more convenient parking experiences, especially for individuals with disabilities. The development of dependable parking capabilities for autonomous vehicles can also contribute to smoother traffic flow, potentially reducing accidents and positively impacting society. Future Research: Developing and optimizing graph neural network-based models for real-time deployment in autonomous vehicles with limited resources is a critical objective. Investigating the integration of GNNs with other deep learning techniques for multi-modal parking slot detection, radar, and other sensors is essential for enhancing the understanding of the environment. Lastly, it is crucial to develop explainable AI methods to elucidate the decision-making processes of GNN models in parking slot detection, ensuring fairness, transparency, and responsible utilization of this technology.

Aim/Purpose: This study was undertaken to shed light on how the use of a heteronormative mobile dating application creates an environment to promote psychological empowerment among female users within the online dating scene. The study focused on a mobile dating application which specifically challenges traditional gender roles, namely Bumble. Background: Mobile dating applications have become an increasingly popular medium for people to meet potential partners. However, users’ pre-existing social norms and biases inform how they communicate on these platforms, and stereotyped judgment about women perpetuates ideologies which continue to oppress them within the cyber world. Despite this, very little research has investigated the experiences of female users of mobile dating applications. Methodology: The study was qualitative in nature, and 10 semi-structured interviews of female Bumble users were conducted. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Contribution: The study contributes to knowledge by highlighting how key features of mobile dating applications influence various aspects of psychological empowerment as articulated in the findings. Findings: The findings show that the Bumble application supports Intrapersonal variables of Psychological Empowerment of female users relative to Domain Specific Perceived Control and Self-Efficacy, Motivation to Control and Perceived Competence. However, Domain Specific Perceived Control can also be negatively impacted due to self-doubt when female users receive little to no matches. Interactional variables of psychological empowerment are also supported, as Bumble allows female users to be critically aware of the need to screen potential partners, understand relevant causal agents, develop skills relative to initiating conversations and mobilize resources. However, Bumble is not effective in supporting behavioral variables of psychological empowerment because of limitations in the tool’s functionality and the behavior of the people interacting on the platform. Recommendations for Practitioners: The findings are important as they suggest the need to enhance the features available to female users in order to better suit their needs and desire to take control of their lives in the context of dating and/or friendship. Recommendation for Researchers: The findings reveal the need for a change of perceptions and attitudes on the part of some users to create a safer and more considerate virtual dating space, to truly achieve psychological empowerment. Future Research: More research is required on how male and female users domesticate mobile dating applications and how the use of these applications influence their daily lives from a socio-cultural point of view.

Aim/Purpose: This study builds upon existing research by investigating the elements contributing to or buffering the onset of burnout symptoms. We examine the relationship between empowering leadership and burnout, considering the concurrent mediation effects of interpersonal workplace conflict, work-home conflict, and support from coworkers. Background: Burnout is a phenomenon that has been widely considered in the scientific literature due to its negative effect on individual and organizational well-being, as well as implications for leadership, coworker support, and conflict resolution. A deeper understanding of burnout prevention strategies across various professional contexts is paramount for enhancing productivity and job satisfaction. Methodology: Using a survey-based cross-sectional design, we employed a combination of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to investigate the direct and indirect influences of empowering leadership on four dimensions of employee burnout, mediated by coworker support, interpersonal conflict at work, and work-home conflict. Contribution: This study provides initial insights into the direct and indirect influences of empowering leadership on various dimensions of burnout, highlighting the complex interplay with coworker support, work-home conflict, and workplace interpersonal conflicts. Ultimately, the study provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and mitigating burnout. Findings: Empowering leadership and coworker support can significantly reduce burnout symptoms, while high levels of work-home conflict and interpersonal conflict at work can exacerbate them. Our findings underscore the paramount role of interpersonal conflict in predicting burnout, urging organizations to prioritize resolving such issues for burnout prevention. Recommendation for Researchers: Following our findings, organizations should (a) promote empowering leadership styles, (b) foster coworker support and work-life balance, and (c) address interpersonal conflicts to reduce the likelihood of employee burnout while ensuring that these strategies are tailored to the specific context and culture of the workplace. Future Research: Future research should broaden the exploration of leadership styles’ effects on burnout, identify additional mediators and moderators, expand studies across sectors and cultures, examine differential impacts on burnout dimensions, leverage advanced analytical models, and investigate the nuanced relationship between work contract types and burnout.

Power in business schools is ubiquitous. We develop individuals for powerfull positions. Yet, the way we deal with power is limited by our utilitarian focus, avoiding the visceral nature of power. In relation to this we address two questions business schools don't ask: what is the experiential nature of power? How are we teaching power? We use experiential, aesthetic developments on power in the social sciences to critique the rational-utilitarian stance on power found in business schools, drawing on the work of Dewey and French philosopher Levinas to treat power as a lived phenomenon. We overview and critique approaches to teaching power in business curricula informed by our own research on Executive MBA students learning through choral conducting. Taking an appreciative-positive stance, this research showed students developing new, non-rational, non-utilitarian understandings of power. They developed nuanced learning on the feeling, relationality and responsibility of exercising power. Coming out of this we argue for more experiential and reflexive learning methods to be applied to the phenomena of power. Finally we shine a reflexive light on ourselves and our 'power to profess', suggesting ways we can change our own practice to better prepare our students for the power they wield.

Psychological empowerment has been studied extensively over the past few decades in a variety of contexts and appears to be especially salient within dynamic and complex environments such as healthcare. However, a recent meta-analysis found that psychological empowerment relationships vary significantly across studies, and there is still a rather limited understanding of how empowerment operates across levels. Accordingly, we advance and test a multi-level model of empowerment which seeks to better understand the unique and synergistic effects between unit and individual empowerment in hospital units. Analysis of data involving 544 individuals in 78 units, collected from multiple sources over three different time periods, revealed that unit empowerment evidenced a synergistic interaction with individual-level psychological empowerment as related to individuals' job performance, as well as an indirect effect on performance via individual empowerment, while controlling for previous performance levels. Notably, these effects were significant at relatively high, but not at relatively low levels of unit empowerment. Furthermore, we found that unit voice climate increased unit empowerment and thereby enhanced individual psychological empowerment. These findings suggest that, in complex and dynamic environments, empowering work units is an important means by which leaders can enhance individuals' performance.

Agency theory-grounded research on boards of directors and firm legitimacy has historically viewed CEO power as de-legitimating, often taking this fact for granted in theorizing about external assessors' evaluations of a firm. With few exceptions, this literature has focused exclusively on capital market participants (e.g., investors, securities analysts) as the arbiters of a firm's legitimacy and has accordingly assumed that legitimate governance arrangements are those derived from the shareholder-oriented prescriptions of agency theory. We extend this line of research in new ways by arguing that customers also externally assess firm legitimacy, and that firms potentially adjust their governance characteristics to meet customers' norms and expectations. We argue that the cultural-cognitive institutions prevalent in customers' home countries influence their judgments regarding a firm's legitimacy, such that firms competing heavily in high-power distance cultures are more likely to have powerful CEOs, with CEO power a source of legitimacy—rather than illegitimacy—among customers. We also argue that the more dependent a firm is on its customers and the more salient cultural power distance is as a demand-side institutional norm, the greater this relationship will be. Data from 151 U.S. semiconductor and pharmaceutical firms over a 10-year period generally support our predictions.

This study draws on social identity theories of behavioral contagion and research concerning narratives in organizations to present and test a framework for understanding how narratives embed values in organizational newcomers' actions. Employing a field experiment using 632 newly-hired employees in a large IT firm that prioritizes self-transcendent values, this study explores how narratives varying in terms of the organizational level of main characters and the values-upholding or values-violating behaviors of those characters influence newcomers' tendencies to engage in behaviors that uphold or deviate from the values. Results indicate that stories about low-level organizational characters engaging in values-upholding behaviors are more positively associated with self-transcendent, helping behaviors and negatively associated with deviant behaviors, than are similar stories about high-level members of the organization. Stories in which high-level members of the organization violate values are negatively related to newcomers' engagement in both helping and deviance more strongly than are values-violating stories about lower-level members. Content analyses of the stories suggest that they convey values in different and potentially important ways. Implications, future directions, and limitations are discussed.

MALAYSIA, like many Southeast Asian countries, faces the challenge of balancing sustainability, reliability and affordability in its energy goals. Is the country ready for renewables?

The country has set ambitious targets: net-zero emissions by 2050 and increasing the share of renewable energy in its power mix. These goals are impressive and align with the global push towards sustainable energy. However, achieving them requires more than ambition. We need strategic planning, significant investment and innovative technologies.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to Berlin in March was not just ceremonial; it highlighted the importance of international collaboration and technology transfer in supporting Malaysia’s renewable energy goals. Global partnerships are essential for advancing the nation’s energy future.

Malaysia’s Renewable Energy Roadmap aims for 31% of the country’s power capacity to come from renewable sources by 2025 and for carbon emissions to be reduced by 45% by 2030. As of 2022, renewable energy capacity has grown to over 9,000 megawatts – a 50% increase since 2013.

However, renewable sources only produced 3.1 terawatt-hours of electricity, compared with 77.3 terawatt-hours from coal. Clearly, there is room for growth.

Imagine a seamless flow of electrons from renewable sources such as solar and wind into the national grid. These sources are often in remote areas, far from the high-demand city centres. The challenge is transporting this energy efficiently and ensuring a stable supply despite the variable nature of renewables.

Intermittency, the fluctuation in energy production from sources like solar and wind, can cause instability in the power grid, which traditionally relies on consistent output from fossil fuels. If the grid is not ready to handle these fluctuations, it could lead to blackouts or energy shortages.

To avoid stranding existing assets, Malaysia can repurpose peaker plants or retired thermal power plants using the Rotating Grid Stabiliser solution. This cost-effective solution ensures a reliable energy supply during the transition.

Stabilising voltage and frequency with synchronous condensers enhances the grid’s reliability, making it easier to integrate renewable energy. This approach supports the grid and maximises existing infrastructure, making the transition more practical and economically viable.

As mentioned, some sources of energy are far from high-demand city centres. This is not just a challenge for Malaysia but for the entire Southeast Asia. Efficient energy transport would ensure secure energy for Malaysia and nearby countries, making the region more resilient.

The Asean Grid ambition aims to create an interconnected electricity system among member states. By developing this integrated network, we can enhance energy security, promote renewable energy use and ensure a more reliable power supply across borders.

Long-distance power transmission requires a strong grid infrastructure. High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology can efficiently transmit large amounts of power over long distances with minimal energy loss.

Think of HVDC as a superhighway for electricity. This technology will allow Malaysia to export surplus renewable energy to neighbouring countries like Singapore, fostering regional cooperation and energy security.

Modernising the grid with HVDC will enhance Malaysia’s energy system, allowing it to accommodate more renewable energy and reduce environmental impact. This interconnected grid will support Malaysia’s renewable energy goals and set a precedent for sustainable development in the region.

However, these goals come with challenges. The energy sector is still developing and needs substantial investments – up to US$10.8 billion (RM47.33 billion) for solar PV alone. There is also a lack of awareness about the financial returns on these investments, which can hinder progress.

Public-private partnerships, supported by a strong regulatory framework, can help overcome these obstacles. Key actions include improving the financing landscape, reducing project approval times and ensuring policy transparency.

We recognise the complexities of this transition. With every step, we can make progress.

Malaysia’s journey will involve expanding renewable energy use, transforming conventional power, strengthening electrical grids, securing the supply chain and driving industrial decarbonisation. Each action contributes to a greener Malaysia.

Thorbjorn Fors is the group senior
vice president and managing director of
Asia Pacific Siemens Energy.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

Hyundai Rotem, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hyundai Group, has announced a pioneering development for the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army: a hydrogen-powered K3 main battle tank. Set to be among the most advanced military vehicles in the world, the K3 aims to redefine future warfare by leveraging eco-friendly fuel cells, autonomous technologies, and advanced firepower.

Hyundai Rotem’s K3 project is a collaborative effort with South Korea’s Agency for Defence Development and other national research institutions, with production tentatively scheduled to begin by 2040. The shift to hydrogen marks a historic step in South Korea’s commitment to reduce reliance on traditional combustion engines in defence equipment. The K3’s hydrogen fuel cell will eventually replace the diesel engines of the ROK’s K-series tanks, beginning with hybrid prototypes that combine hydrogen and diesel power.

In an online statement, Hyundai Rotem described the K3 as “a next-generation main battle tank that surpasses all capabilities of today’s MBTs (main battle tanks), optimised for evolving battlefield demands.” Key enhancements to the K3 include autonomous driving, AI-based fire control, and a 130-mm smoothbore main gun for increased preemptive strike capabilities. Additionally, the tank will feature improved stealth capabilities, a reduced heat signature, and the deployment of slave drones to enhance reconnaissance and support combat operations.

Fuel cell technology offers multiple advantages, including quieter operation, faster acceleration, superior fuel efficiency, and reduced maintenance due to fewer moving parts. With minimal heat output and sound, the tank achieves heightened stealth, making it less detectable in combat scenarios. Mobility is also improved, allowing the K3 to maneuver through steep and rugged terrains more effectively.

Designed to operate with a streamlined crew of three—a driver, commander, and gunner—the crew will be secured within a reinforced armoured capsule at the front of the tank. This layout ensures enhanced protection and operational efficiency.

The hydrogen-powered K3 demonstrates South Korea’s commitment to integrating sustainable, high-performance technologies into its military arsenal, setting a benchmark for modern warfare with cleaner and more capable military assets.