Monthly Archives: June 2017

Offshore Wind Turbines May Not Be Tough Enough To Endure Mother Nature – ABC2 News

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The U.S. is new to offshore wind turbines. As recently as 2016, the country's first commercial wind farm went live, and the governmentapproved 11 commercial leasesfor farms along the Atlantic Coast.

But there are potential dangers.

Because forecasters predict a busier-than-usual Atlantic hurricane season, scientists wonder if these turbines can weather the weather. Researchers think half of all new turbines in risky areas willbe destroyed20 years after they're built.

A new studyconcluded wind speeds for Category 5 hurricanes could average 90 meters per second. If that's right, offshore turbines might be toast.

SEE MORE: Some Coal Miners In Wyoming Might Soon Be Farming Wind Instead

International standards suggest turbines should withstand speeds of 50 meters per second but that only accounts for hurricanes up to Category 2.

The study's authors said manufacturers should keep these results in mind when designing turbines.

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Offshore Wind Turbines May Not Be Tough Enough To Endure Mother Nature - ABC2 News

Offshore wind turbines vulnerable to Category 5 hurricane gusts – UCAR

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NCAR scientist George Bryan is a co-author of a new study appearing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The following is an excerpt from a news release by the University of Colorado Boulder.

Offshore wind turbines built according to current standards may not be able to withstand the powerful gusts of a Category 5 hurricane, creating potential risk for any such turbines built in hurricane-prone areas, new University of Colorado Boulder-led research shows.

The study, which was conducted in collaboration with theNational Center for Atmospheric Researchin Boulder, Colorado,and the U.S. Department of EnergysNational Renewable Energy Laboratoryin Golden, Colorado, highlights the limitations of current turbine design and could provide guidance for manufacturers and engineers looking to build more hurricane-resilient turbines in the future.

Offshore wind-energy development in the U.S. has ramped up in recent years, with projects either under consideration or already underway in most Atlantic coastal states from Maine to the Carolinas, as well as the West Coast and Great Lakes. The countrys first utility-scale offshore wind farm, consisting of five turbines, began commercial operation in December 2016 off the coast of Rhode Island.

Turbine design standards are governed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For offshore turbines, no specific guidelines for hurricane-force winds exist. Offshore turbines can be built larger than land-based turbines, however, owing to a manufacturers ability to transport larger molded components such as blades via freighter rather than over land by rail or truck.

Read the full news release.

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Offshore wind turbines vulnerable to Category 5 hurricane gusts - UCAR

Study concludes that offshore wind viable in several Guernsey locations – Renewable Energy Focus

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The study, carried out by Xodus Group, an engineering consultancy with experience in the oil and gas, utilities, and renewable industries, concluded that there are a range of technically feasible options available to develop an offshore wind project off the coast of Guernsey. However, it also cautioned that due to higher costs, the majority of the project should be funded by the States of Guernsey to secure the lowest cost of finance.

Amongst the reports other findings were:

The current preferred site is offshore towards the 12nm boundary. This location is in relatively deep water and most suited to the new floating wind turbine structures;

The lowest cost site is likely to be in the shallow waters off the north coast (or any coastal site). However, this near shore location may have visual and other human impact.

Consideration should be given to pursuing an extended wave and wind data gathering programme that could be relatively low cost but high value for the future.

According to Xodus, the States of Guernsey Renewable Energy Team have been progressing the recommendations following receipt of the report.

Peter Barnes, Lead Officer for the Renewable Energy Team, said Wind technology is continuing to mature and will offer increased levels of security and independence of supply. Guernsey is well positioned to benefit from those developments.

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Study concludes that offshore wind viable in several Guernsey locations - Renewable Energy Focus

High seas force Durban beaches closure | Berea Mail – Berea Mail

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Monster waves are expected this weekend and have forced the closure of two Durban beaches,

ETHEKWINI Municipality has temporarily closed Country Club and eThekwini beaches after the South African Weather Bureau and Sharks Board warned of high seas and adverse weather conditions which will hit Durban at the weekend.

The Sharks Board will lift the shark nets at the two beaches.

The city said it would monitor all other beaches and should it become necessary to close any other beaches, the public would be notified accordingly.The bad weather comes after high seas and gale force winds lashed the Cape this week leaving many people homeless and causing damage to homes and businesses.

Earlier this week the SA Weather Service also sent out warning of expected gale force winds and high seas which were being exacerbated by the current spring tide.

The spring tide has made the sea fuller, which means we can expect high seas. We urge people to stay out of the ocean, said the South African Weather Service.

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High seas force Durban beaches closure | Berea Mail - Berea Mail

The Great Caribbean Private Destination Race – TravelPulse

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Cruise lines know their ships are crucial elements in attracting travelers to book, but they also understand that where they sail is extremely important too.

Thats why the latest push has been for companies to develop private islands and destinations that deliver the best shoreside experience on par with the shipboard one.

For decades, the Caribbean has been a mainstay of cruise port calls and excursions, but only the private concept ensures end-to-end quality control dictated by the cruise line.

While Norwegian Cruise Lines Great Stirrup Cay, for instance, had been around for longer, Disney Cruise Lines Castaway Cay was really the first to set the gold standard with its attached pier that did not require tendering ashore and its overall pristine attractions and facilities.

MORE Cruise Line & Cruise Ship

Great Stirrup Cay is among the destinations receiving recent attention, taking cues from Norwegians other new Harvest Caye, which also has its own dock. Interestingly, several new destinations are beginning to eclipse Castaway Cay with more elaborate features like zip-linesalready at Harvestand on their way for Great Stirrup.

The question is whether Disney will try and catch up or stick to its tried-and-true formula.

There wastalkof the line working to develop another island destination, but that project has apparently been abandoned for now.

READ MORE:Carnival to Build Largest Cruise Port in the Bahamas

In the meantime, the race continues with other lines including Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises most prevalently. Holland America Line has already updated its Half Moon Cay some, but bigger attractions are expected from the other three companies.

The idea seems to be to offer as many experiences to guests on shore that the ships can't provide onboard, as well asfacilitating more of the ship opportunities for longer on land.

MSC Cruises first private island of Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve is set to open in October 2018, with not only a pier but the unique chance to stay off the ship into the evening. Since the cruise line owns the island, it will not be restricted to keeping the ships casino closed either. Also ashore will be extensions of the MSC Yacht Club ship-within-a-ship complex and privileges as well as attractions such as zip-lines.

Now that its Labadee destination in Haiti is well established, Royal Caribbean International is focusing on enhancing its other CocoCay with an attached dock, ziplinesand a water park, according toSeatrade Cruise News. Other excursions and sports will also be on the docket.

The project is likely to put both Royal Caribbean and Norwegian neck and neck for the best pair of private cruise destinations.

READ MORE:Enhanced Great Stirrup Cay Impresses

Carnival Cruise Line could be another to soon tout two destinations, with existing Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic being one, but its not entirely certain that its newly announced development on Grand Bahama Island will be a private destination per se.

For now, its said by the company to be the largest purpose-built cruise facility ever constructed in The Bahamas, according to a press release.

It will feature a one-mile-long beach; food, beverage and shopping options; water amenities and recreational facilitiesall of which are indeed likely to be exclusive with hybrid means to also access other areas and attractions on the island, not unlike Harvest Cayes relationship with greater Belize.

If it does turn out to be private, it will surely impress in scale as its also set to include a pier that can accommodate two of Carnivals biggest ships simultaneously. (Other private island docks can only tie off one ship at a time.)

In either case, the race is surely on, and it will be most interesting to follow other destinations like Castaway Cay and even the likes of Princess Cruises Princess Cays to see if they plan improvements as well. One thing that is for certain: those without attached piers and elaborate parks will soon be in the minority.

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Filmmakers Examine Links Among Cornish Colony’s Idealists – Valley News

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Filming begins in and around Cornish next month for a documentary about the colony of visual and performing artists, the writers and the pioneering conservationists who orbited around Gilded Age sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens late in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Norwich filmmaker Nora Jacobson will direct that weeklong shoot of Land and Legacy of an Art Colony, a project that Etna author and retired musician Fern Meyers said this week she has been mulling over for years.

For most of those years, Meyers has been occupied with, among other tasks, writing three books about the Cornish Colony, overseeing the production of three CDs of music by colony composers, teaching Osher at Dartmouth courses about the colony and directing the summer music series at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site. That left her little time to think about how to structure such a project, never mind raise the money and arrange the logistics.

Then last fall, after her final season directing the music series, Meyers recalled, she started thinking with more focus about the interconnections among the artists, such as painter Maxfield Parrish, musicians such as composer Arthur Farwell and conservationists such as Benton MacKaye, the forester who developed the idea of the Appalachian Trail running from Georgia to Maine.

They were idealists, Meyers said. They were progressive thinkers. And they were activists. Given the challenges were facing now in many spheres, especially the challenges facing the environment things like declining songbird populations Im quite concerned at this moment.

This is my way of trying to show why the history of the colony is relevant to today.

The idea of exploring that history intrigues Jacobson, even as she juggles a variety of other projects, including fine-tuning and promotion of her new feature, The Hanji Box.

I had done some shooting for The Vermont Movie, for the story about black Vermonters who fought in the Civil War, Jacobson wrote during an exchange of emails on Thursday. Several had traveled from Huntington, Vt., to join the 54th regiment, which Saint-Gaudens had portrayed in the famous Shaw Memorial. Beyond my acquaintance with the historic site, I am very interested in intentional communities in the case of the Cornish Colony not so intentional because it happened quite organically of artists who come together to work, think, play, talk, live, because they are inspired by each other and seek companionship with one another.

To tell that story, Jacobson and her crew will follow three descendants of Cornish colonists around the historic site and its environs. Veteran actor Jonathan Farwell, whose father, Arthur, was among the leading lights of the day, will lead that delegation.

Rather than a lot of interviews with talking heads, Meyers said, its going to be more of a discovery tour.

During the shoot, Meyers added, Upper Valley residents will be welcome to fill walk-in roles in a re-enactment of a pageant that Saint-Gaudens hosted at Aspet, his home above the Connecticut River, now the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.

In addition to the 52-minute documentary, which is designed for broadcast on Vermont and New Hampshire public television, Jacobson will shoot a 12-minute version for visitors to the historic site.

To cover the $140,000 that she expects the project to cost, Meyers estimates that so far shes raised not quite half, including a $25,000 grant from the Byrne Foundation.

Its a daunting task, but Ive had some experience, not only with the music series, but getting a couple of orchestras started. Its worth the effort.

Filming of Land and Legacy of an Art Colony begins in Cornish on July 18. Donations toward its production can be made by check, made out to Meriden Bird Club and mailed to Fern Meyers, 62 King Road, Etna, N.H. 03750. To learn more, including opportunities for walk-on roles in the documentary, email fmsilverwood@gmail.com.

In the category of but-wait-theres-more, go see Norman at the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre this weekend.

Quite aside from the sheer novelty of seeing longtime leading man Richard Gere take on a subtle character role, youll spend two absorbing hours watching a stellar supporting cast orbit around Geres title character, a New York-based fixer struggling to juggle multiple complicated projects and demanding constituencies. In addition to the familiar faces of Steve Buscemi, Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen in key roles, keep an eye out for Charlotte Gainsbourg as a sharp prosecutor and Israeli heartthrob Lior Ashkenazi as a rising politician.

Screenings are scheduled for 7:30 tonight, Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night. Admission is $7 for members of Pentangle Arts, $8 to $9 for others.

Worried about the health of the Earth and its inhabitants? Tuesday night you can choose from two documentaries on the subject, both in South Royalton.

At 6:30, Building a Local Economy (BALE) and Vermont Interfaith Power and Light co-host a sneak preview of From the Ashes at the BALE Commons. The movie, focusing on the impact of the coal industry on the economy, public health and the climate, comes amid the renewed debate over the viability and sustainability of the fossil fuel industry. Admission is free.

Meanwhile, Vermont Law Schools class on ocean and coastal law will show and discuss Sonic Sea, which looks at the correlation between man-made noise in the oceans and unusual behavior of whales. The movie starts at 7, after which a panel of experts that includes oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau will discuss the issues. Admission is free.

The Library Arts Center in Newport continues its series of films from or inspired by the 1960s on Thursday night with a free screening of the 1967 adaptation of Neil Simons romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. The lights go down at 7, and popcorn is available. Upcoming screenings include The Parent Trap (the one starring Hayley Mills as the twins) on June 30, Dirty Dancing on July 27 and 101 Dalmations on July 21. To learn more, visit libraryartscenter.org.

Next up in its series of classic movies at free admission, Pentangle Arts screens Robert Altmans M*A*S*H on Thursday night at 7:30. Still to come are American Graffiti on July 6, All That Jazz on July 13, Ferris Buellers Day Off on Aug. 3 and Mamma Mia! (with permission to sing along!) on Aug. 10.

David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.

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Filmmakers Examine Links Among Cornish Colony's Idealists - Valley News

At Exponential Finance, the Singularity University Explores Visionary Applications of Blockchains – Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

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The Exponential Finance Summit at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, hosted by the Singularity University and started on June 7, is ending today. You might be still in time to catch the live stream. Otherwise, stay tuned for our coverage of the most interesting points.

Exponential Finance will help attendees navigate the rapid pace of change taking place in the financial sector due to exponential technologies, said Will Weisman, Executive Director for Summits at SU. Well share tools that will help participants stay at the forefront and understand where to invest, how to protect their assets, and what it will take to remain competitive and successful in this new economy.

Co-founded in 2008 by Ray Kurzweil, now Googles director of engineering, and Peter Diamandis, founder and CEO of the XPrize, the Singularity University (SU) is a unique educational and business community focused on exponential technologies able to tackle the worlds biggest challenges.

Exponentially accelerating technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), advanced biotech, quantum computing, and robotics, described for example in the works of SU co-founder Ray Kurzweil, promise to bring faster and faster change to all industries. The SU runs educational programs, conferences, incubators, and labs, to help accelerating corporate and social innovation.

Of course, blockchain technology is a perfect example of exponential acceleration in financial technology (fintech). In 2015 and 2016, blockchain fintech was prominently featured at Exponential Finance. This year as well, the conference program is packed with blockchain-related topics, and starts with a pre-summit technology bootcamp on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Other interesting blockchain-related talks include The Boom Of ICOs & Token Offerings Has Blockchain Tech Unlocked A Pandoras Box For Venture Capitals Disruption, by DLT Education president Robert Schwentker, Blockchain, by BitNation partner Toni Lane Casserly, Blockchain in Insurance, by Deloitte principal Eric Piscini and The Institutes CEO Pete Miller, and Taking Blockchain To Production An Ongoing Perspective, by Nuco CEO Matt Spoke.

Blockchain fintech is accelerating exponentially indeed. But it can be argued that financial applications, directly related to digital money and transactions, represent only the tip of the blockchain iceberg, and the most interesting future applications could be those that leverage the power of distributed ledgers in other industries such as AI, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and self-driving cars.

To have a contract with someone, you need to trust them, and you need to have an enforcement mechanism, noted Amin Toufani, Vice President of Strategic Relations and Director of strategy at SU. Blockchain technology is showing us a path to where you can bypass both. Enforcement is automatic and your can trust you counterparty. What if your car offered some bitcoins to the car in front of you? And if and when the cars clear the lane the contract is settled? Enforcement is automatic, you do not need to trust the cars in front of you.

To me, the potential to play a critical role in visionary developments with a potential to make the world a better place is the main appeal of blockchain technology.

Toufanis opening talk, titled Exonomics, explored unifying themes among disruptive trends in business strategy, financial markets, cryptocurrencies, economic policy, and risk management. Stay tuned for our continued coverage next week.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

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At Exponential Finance, the Singularity University Explores Visionary Applications of Blockchains - Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Ashes of the Singularity gets a new fully-voiced campaign – PCGamesN

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Along with new Juggernaut-class ships and various balance adjustments, Ashes of the Singularitys latest update adds a new campaign for dedicated space generals. Named 'Genesis', this new single-player content is fully voiced and free for all owners of Ashes of the Singularity.

Armchair generals should check out our list of the PCs best RTS games.

Genesis features six new missions and continues the Ashes story, as the Substrate and the PHC battle for galactic control. It is the most challenging campaign to date, according to Stardock, with it featuring the new Juggernaut ships. Both factions receive their own Juggernaut, with them providing the huge firepower needed to turn a match around. As they are the most powerful unit in the game, Ashes players will not see Juggernauts in quick matches, due to the large cost of building these massive battle-cruisers. Juggernauts also level indefinitely, with them gaining a 5% bonus to damage and health for every level past level five.

The PHCs Juggernaut is the Leonidas, which comes equipped with a massive beam cannon that can tear through enemy Dreadnoughts. The Substrates Juggernaut is focused on overwhelming the opponent by spawning a constant stream of frigates to harass the enemy, and repair its hull.

Stardock have also gone back and rebalanced much of the old Ashes campaigns to make them more fun to play. Maps have been adjusted to make more sense and expert commanders should find the AI is a lot more challenging on the higher difficulty levels.

Stardock have also added five new maps to Ashes skirmish and multiplayer mode, alongside various quality-of-life improvements to make interstellar warfare that bit more enjoyable. For the full list of bug fixes, balance changes and gameplay additions, check out the official Ashes of the Singularity website.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is available on Steam for $39.99/29.99.

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Ashes of the Singularity gets a new fully-voiced campaign - PCGamesN

A traffic alert in Ascension Parish that will force you off I-10 – WBRZ

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SORRENTO - I-10 eastbound will be closed at Airline Highway this weekend, so crews can replace an overpass that's been out of use since 2015.

Starting tonight at 9, eastbound traffic on 1-10 will be detoured to Airline Hwy in Sorrento, then up LA 641 to get back on I-10. The interstate will re-open Monday at 5am.

The ramp being repaired is Airline Highway to I-10 westbound. It was damaged back in 2015 when a contractor that was moving large machinery, hit the ramp.

Dr. Shawn Wilson, DOTD secretary, says the same company that broke the ramp, is fixing it, and paying for it.

"It does happen where contractors are involved in accidents just like regular travelers are, in this case they did the right thing, and said look... we want to fix it for you, and we'll absorb the cost like were gonna have to pay for anyway," he said.

This same detour happened back in March, so crews could remove the ramp, and fix it, just to the side of the interstate.

"Putting it back is probably a little more complex than taking it out, because you have to make things work and you have to put it back together again to ensure its safe for users to travel under it," said Wilson.

I-10 will reopen Monday morning, but the ramp won't be ready just yet, it will take another month for finishing touches on the ramp.

Dr. Shawn Wilson says they will improve the pavement, since it hasn't been driven on for some time and "travel actually keeps the road alive."

The state says the company that's fixing the ramp brought tremendous innovation, and they'll continue to use that site for things like emergency debris pile up.

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A traffic alert in Ascension Parish that will force you off I-10 - WBRZ

Using AI to unlock human potential – EJ Insight

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The artificial intelligence (AI) wave has spread to Hong Kong. Hang Seng Bank plans to introduce Chatbot, with natural language processing and mechanical learning ability, to provide customers with credit card offers and banking services information; while Bank of China (Hong Kong) is studying robot technology that can help improve handling of customer queries.

BOCHK also plans to create a shared big brain to provide customers with personal services. The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, meanwhile, is reported to be planning to incorporate topics on AI, robotics consultants and big data analysis methods in its 2019 membership qualification examination, so as to meet future market needs.

AI has a broad meaning. From a technical perspective, it includes: deep learning (learning from a large pool of data to assimilate human intelligence, such as AlphaGo in the chess world), robotics (responsible for pre-determined extremely cautious or dangerous tasks, e.g. surgery, dismantling bombs, surveying damaged nuclear power plants, etc.), digital personal assistants (such as Apples Siri, Facebooks M), and querying (finding information from a huge database speedily and accurately).

However, how does AI progress? In The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence, the author points out that there are three stages of development in Al:

Basic Artificial Narrow Intelligence or Weak AI, i.e. AI specializes in a certain scope. AlphaGo can beat the worlds invincible hand in chess, but I am afraid its unable to guide you to the nearby restaurants or to book a hotel room for you. The same logic applies to bomb disposal robot and the AI which identifies cancer cells within seconds.

Advance Artificial General Intelligence or Strong AI, i.e. the computer thinks and operates like a human being. How does human think? I have just read a column from a connoisseur. There are many factors affecting us in choosing a catering place, like our mood, type and taste of food, price, time, etc. The determined factors are not the same every time. See, it is really complicated. This is so called Turing Test. Alan Turing, a British scientist who was born over 100 years ago, said: If a computer makes you believe that it is human, it is artificial intelligence.

Super Advance Artificial Superintelligence. Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, has been thinking about Als relationship with mankind for years, he defines superintelligence as an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills.

Although we are still in the stage of Artificial Narrow Intelligence, AI application is already very extensive. By combining with big data, it is applied in various areas like financial (wealth management, fraud detection), medical (diagnosis, drug development), media and advertising (face recognition advertising, tailor-made services), retail (Amazon.com), law (speed-finding information), education (virtual teacher), manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and so on.

MarketsandMarkets, a research company, estimated that Als market value would reach US$16 billion (about HK$124 billion) by 2022, with an average compound annual growth rate of more than 60 percent.

However, relative to the Mainland, this estimate is very conservative according to Jiang Guangzhi, a key member of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology. Counting Beijing alone, Al and related industries have now exceeded 150 billion yuan (about HK$170 billion).

In any case, Al definitely holds a key position in the field of science and technology, and it has substantial potential. However, I have just read a report in which a top international AI expert and a HKUST professor complained that the government and private sector were too passive in scientific research in Hong Kong, resulting in a brain drain.

Experts helped Huawei, a Chinese telecom and technology giant, set up a laboratory in Hong Kong, but they said they found it difficult to recruit even 50 people in the city with the required skills.

This is really alarming. Hong Kong has world-class teachers to attract the elite to study here.

However, if we do not strive to create an environment for talents to pursuit their careers here, I am afraid we will keep experiencing talent flight.

Recently, the Financial Development Board published two research reports that deal with issues related to development and application of financial technology in Hong Kong. I hope the government and society will work together and speed up efforts to bring out the potential of Hong Kong in AI.

Contact us at [emailprotected]

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Using AI to unlock human potential - EJ Insight

China to provide more opportunities to private companies for space exploration – Space Daily

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China will offer more opportunities for private companies to participate in lunar and Mars exploration, a space exploration official said.

Tian Yulong, secretary general of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said that commercial aerospace programs had been carried out in low Earth orbit (LEO), but those in deep space exploration would be a challenge, at the Global Space Exploration Conference, which lasts from Tuesday to Thursday.

"In deep space exploration, we need to provide a favorable environment for middle and small-sized enterprises," he said.

At present, space exploration is mostly invested and operated by government bodies and institutions. Encouraging private investment in space exploration has long been a challenge for countries worldwide.

Tian said many Chinese companies showed enthusiasm for taking part in space exploration. In the last two years, more than 10 enterprises have been engaged in microsatellite research and development and about 100 have worked on the development and use of satellite LEO data.

There are more than 20 companies that have been listed based on the business possibilities of aerospace technology, he said, adding that space exploration technology, such as communication and human intelligence, could be widely used.

"The CNSA is working on enabling enterprises to become the main force of technical innovation by creating favorable laws and policies," Tian said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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China to provide more opportunities to private companies for space exploration - Space Daily

Here’s why you should pay close attention to India’s space program – Mashable

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Mashable
Here's why you should pay close attention to India's space program
Mashable
India stands apart from other big players in space exploration. Unlike the reasons for forming the U.S. and Russian space programs, India's goals for space travel aren't mainly motivated by nationalistic competition. Instead, the ISRO was founded to ...

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Here's why you should pay close attention to India's space program - Mashable

The Benefits of Including Floor Vibration Control for Nano-Tech Facilities over Designing ‘Quiet’ Buildings – AZoNano

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Interview conducted by Mychealla RiceJun 9 2017

In this interview Steve Ryan, Divisional Vice President from Technical Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) talks to AZoNano about the importance of adding vibration control to Nano-Tech Facilities. In the past, buildings that have been designed to be extremely quiet still suffer from vibration when the building is populated with equipment and people.

The adverse effect of vibration typically manifests itself in decreased resolution of the instrument. Electron Microscopes have resolution ranging from tens of nanometers to sub-nanometer.

Atomic Force Microscopes and Scanning Tunneling Microscopes have resolutions to sub-Angstrom levels. Floor vibration often prevents such tools from meeting their design specifications.

The concept may be summarized as Quiet Buildings or Quiet Islands? Architects can design buildings to meet moderate floor vibration levels without too much difficulty. However designing buildings to meet the extremely low vibration levels required for nanotech research facilities requires exponentially more cost with diminishing returns.

Diminishing returns because even to the extent that the building floors are quiet, as soon as the building is populated with people and machinery, vibration sources are placed in the quiet structure negating much of the benefit of the quiet building design.

Figure 1: Quiet Island being utilised in a Nano-Tech Facility

Rather than trying to achieve a quiet building, it is much more efficient to place quiet islands at the discrete locations where precision instruments, experiments, and research will be conducted.

A Quiet Island is a rigid, damped platform matching the footprint of the instrument supported by an active, piezoelectric vibration cancellation system.

The Quiet Island replaces a section of the raised access floor with an isolated foundation, mounted to the sub-floor and actively cancelling sub-floor vibration from reaching the instrument.

As requirements for quiet buildings become increasingly demanding, it becomes exponentially difficult and expensive to achieve the goal; placing the instrument on a site that meets the instruments floor vibration spec. Using inertial active control techniques lends itself to achieving a very quiet surface but only over a limited size.

There is a direct analogy to this approach of Quiet Islands vs. Quiet Buildings. As semiconductor node sizes rapidly decreased, cleanliness requirements for semiconductor fab cleanrooms became much more stringent.

Eventually it became virtually impossible to have people in cleanrooms without contamination and failure to meet cleanliness specs.

The solution was to create SMIF and FOUP mini-environments to house in-process silicon wafers. Rather than making a cleanroom the industry turned to and adopted clean islands.

The Quiet Island approach is to start with low frequency inertial vibration sensors in three axes arranged to sense floor vibration at the point-of-use.

The measured signals are conditioned, amplified and fed through an advanced controller to drive high capacity piezoelectric actuators and filter the floor motion from reaching the isolated surface of the Quiet Island.

As the floor moves up, the piezos contract. As it moves down, the piezos expand. This is done in all three axes to achieve six degrees-of-freedom over a bandwidth of 0.6 to 150 Hz.

This technology has been rapidly and increasingly adopted in advanced semiconductor factories. As chip-makers race to keep up with Moores Law (chip density doubles every two years) they must design ever finer IC geometries.

Such finer geometries are correspondingly more difficult to pattern and inspect.

Now, scientists at nanotechnology research centers and advanced electron microscope and imaging centers require the same solution.

Figure 2: The Stacis III

Physically, Quiet Islands are easily designed to fit beneath sensitive tools and the sub-floor. The capacity and size is simply designed to match the tool. To determine the acceptable floor vibration levels, the specifications for the most sensitive tools must be compiled.

Adjusting for the vibration transfer function of the Quiet Island, architects can design floors to meet a less stringent spec corresponding to the improved transfer function provided by the Quiet Island.

Successful installations number in the thousands. Too many to name hwoever a few include NIH (National Institutes for Health), Texas Instruments, University of Maryland BioMET, Rice University BioScience Research Collaborative, and Jagiellonian Unviversity Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Center (Krakow, Poland).

Floor vibration is a key, inherent limitation to imaging and patterning at the sub-nanometer scale. As scientists and engineers go to ever smaller scales, TMCs vibration control solutions ensure that the adverse effects of floor vibration can be mitigated.

Please check out our website at http://www.techmfg.com. Or contact one of our Sales Engineers at 978 532 6330 or [emailprotected]

Steve Ryan is the Divisional Vice President with overall responsibility for TMC, an AMETEK business. He holds a B.S. in Physics from Bates College and has over 30 years of experience in building floor vibration control and vibration control of nuclear reactors and steam & electric plants in Trident and Seawolf submarines. A patented inventor with other patents pending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

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The Benefits of Including Floor Vibration Control for Nano-Tech Facilities over Designing 'Quiet' Buildings - AZoNano

Luminosity events announces 10 Year Anniversary Weekender – Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

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Were just a few days away from Luminosity Beach Festival a 4 day trance festival at the best with some of the best names in the business. If that wasnt enough Luminosity Events has now announced a 2 day Club weekender at Panama Club, Amsterdam. This will happen on 17th and 18th of November, 2017.

You can buy your tickets here Paylogic.nl

In their own words Luminosity celebrates 10 beautiful years together with YOU, the beautiful Trance Lovers and with our talented DJs and we are happy to continue this celebration with you and we are bringing to your attention this Luminosity 10 Years anniversary WEEKENDER in November in Amsterdam!

Day tickets start at 15 Euros and weekender will cost you 30 Euros

Co-Founder of Trance Hub, Curator of The Gathering events in India and ALT+TRANCE in Czech Republic. By day, a Digital Marketing Enthusiast with love for Food and Technology. By night, a dreamer who wants to grow the Trance scene in India.

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Luminosity events announces 10 Year Anniversary Weekender - Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

Cyberpunk 2077 – PC – IGN

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Cyberpunk 2077 is based on renowned pen-and-paper-RPG designer Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk system and created by CD Projekt (the acclaimed development group behind the hit RPG The Witcher.) Players are thrown into the dark future of the year 2077 and into a world where advanced technologies have become both the salvation and the curse of humanity. A multi-threaded, nonlinear story designed for mature players takes place in the sprawling metropolis of Night City and its surroundings. Along the way, visit places well known from Cyberpunk 2020, including a combat zone completely taken over by gangs, the legendary Afterlife joint and the nostalgic Forlorn Hope.

Freedom of action and diversity in gameplay is delivered thanks to the sandbox nature of the game and mechanics inspired by the Cyberpunk pen-and-paper system, fine tuned to meet the requirements of a modern RPG. Players experience the world through their own unique characters chosen from different classes -- be they blood-thirsty mercenaries or cunning hackers that they will equip with vast selection of cybernetic implants and deadly weapons. Gameplay will pump adrenaline through players' veins and be consistent with the celebrated Cyberpunk spirit -- rebellion, style, edge, uncertainty. And of course, a cyberpunk reality cannot be deprived of murderous steel -- guns, rifles, implants, dozens of gadgets and other varied pieces of equipment needed to survive on the streets of Night City.

NOTE: This game has been officially announced as a title in production and is likely planned for release on the PC platform, but it has not yet been officially announced for any specific system. Please check back for official info.

Publisher: CD Projekt

Developer: CD Projekt

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Cyberpunk 2077 - PC - IGN

Hackers threaten CD Projekt Red with stolen Cyberpunk 2077 …

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Why it matters to you

If you're looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and want to dissuade this sort of action in the future, if and when the documents are released, don't look at them.

CD Projekt Red (CPR), the developer of The Witcher series and founder of GOG.com, has shrugged off blackmail attempts by hackers who claim to have stolen documents relating to its still-in-development gameCyberpunk 2077. The nefarious individuals have demanded a ransom, which CPR is refusing to pay, according to USGamer.

Inspired by the pen-and-paper RPG with a similar name, Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game being developed at CPR. While it has been in production for some time, much of it is still shrouded in secrecy. No doubt the person or people behind this hack are banking on the developer wanting it to stay that way. CPR, however, is not playing ball and has gotten ahead of the problem by announcing the blackmail publicly.

It released a statement on Twitter highlighting that the ransom demand had been made, but stated categorically that it would not be paying it.While those behind the attack have threatened to release the internal documents if that is the case, CPR claims that they are not representative of the final game.

Due to thedevelopers stance on the matter, there is a possibility the documents will see the light of day. If that turns out to be the case, CPR urges anyone interested in playing Cyberpunk 2077to not view the documents, lest it spoil portions of the game for them.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially, CPR said in its statement.

Cyberpunk 2077 has no specific release date yet, though a funding application to the Polish government suggested a potential 2019 debut. When it does arrive, however, it will support Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

More recently, CPR has been focusing on the launch of its digital card game, Gwent, which could provide real competition for giants of the industry, like BlizzardsHearthstone.

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Hackers threaten CD Projekt Red with stolen Cyberpunk 2077 ...

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Leaks: Hackers steal internal files from CD …

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Well, this is interesting. Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game from CD Projekt Red, developers of the beloved The Witcher series. We don't know much about it other than the fact that it will be released before the end of 2021, vague as that promise may be. However, it sounds like we might see some illegally procured information about the game in the near future.

This news comes straight from CD Projekt Red, with the company Twitter account addressing the issue matter-of-factly in a prepared statement.

In short, someone stole internal files about Cyberpunk 2077 and asked for a ransom, lest they be publicly released. CD Projekt Red decided the leaked assets aren't worth giving a payout to some hackers and won't be complying. Legal action may or may not follow depending on how things go, but in the meantime, you should understand that any leaked materials you see represent an older, less refined version of the game than what exists now.

Video game developers usually wait until after leaks have come out before they address them, and that's only if they feel like acknowledging the leaks at all. It's a bit unusual for CD Projekt Red to get out ahead of the publication of leaked materials. Maybe this stuff is so unfit for public consumption that CD Projekt really wants you to know not to judge the game by what you see.

Based on the fact that the company released a statement, it seems like this is legit. We'll see if the data thieves decide to release what they've acquired or choose to back down. All we can say right now is this is a very appropriate thing to happen to a game called Cyberpunk 2077.

Check out the latest from Mic, like this essay about the sinister, subtle evils lurking in rural America that Far Cry 5 shouldn't ignore. Also, be sure to read our review of Tekken 7, an article about D.Va's influence on one Overwatch player's ideas about femininity and an analysis of gaming's racist habit of darkening villains' skin tones.

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CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks – Metro

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Metro
CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks
Metro
In what may be the ultimate example of life imitating art, the creators of The Witcher 3 are being held to ransom by hackers. Cyberpunk 2077 is intended as the follow-up to The Witcher 3 but almost nothing has been seen of it in public so far, and it's ...
CD Projekt Red: Hackers Are Ransoming Stolen Game DataExtremeTech
CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' FilesForbes
Cyberpunk 2077 assets stolen by actual cyberpunksEurogamer.net
Polygon -Kotaku
all 97 news articles »

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CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks - Metro

CD Projekt Red Defy Ransom Demands For Early Cyberpunk 2077 Design Docs – TheSixthAxis

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In an incredible moment of transparency and openness, CD Projekt Red have just released a statement that the theft of internal documents and that a ransom is being demanded for them to be kept secret. The company, which is best known for The Witcher series,state that these documents include early designs for the upcoming and long in development Cyberpunk 2077. Further, they state that these documents do not represent their current game designs and that you should wait for official information which will be released when the time is right.

Posting on Twitter, the statement reads as follows:

Dear gamers,

An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal filed belonging to CD PROJEKT RED. Among them are document connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077.

A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public. We will not be giving in to the demands of the individual or individuals that have contacted us, which might eventually lead to the files being published online. The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation.

The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game. Still, if youre looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially.

CD PROJECT RED Team

Whether through hacking, theft or other means, this is not the first time that a game company has had their work stolen. By far the most prominent instance was that of Half Life 2s source code leaking in 2003, butwith hacking on the rise, themost recent parallel would be how Netflix and a number of other TV and film studios were sent ransom demands back in April.

Either way, good on CD Projekt Red for being so open and refusing to meet the demands of criminals.

Source: Twitter

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CD Projekt Red Defy Ransom Demands For Early Cyberpunk 2077 Design Docs - TheSixthAxis