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Hohe See and Albatros Come Through for EnBW – Offshore WIND

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German energy company EnBWs Renewable Energies segment more than doubled its operating result in the first six months of 2020, mainly due to the Hohe See and Albatros offshore wind farms coming into operation.

The companys renewables segment reported an operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR 426 million, a 108 percent increase compared to EUR 204.9 million adjusted EBITDA reported for the first six months of 2019.

The French wind and solar power company Valeco and better wind conditions at offshore and onshore wind farms also contributed to the positive earnings performance.

With earnings guidance held stable, earnings between EUR 825 million and EUR 925 million are expected for the Renewable Energies segment, EnBW said.

Overall, EnBW reported a 2.9 percent dip in revenue which stood at EUR 9.73 billion in the first six months of 2020. The adjusted EBITDA was EUR 1.59 billion in the first half of 2020, an increase of 24.3 percent on the same period a year earlier.

This increase was also attributed to the positive performance of the Renewable Energies segment.

Net profit attributable to the shareholders of EnBW AG went down from EUR 286.2 million in the previous years period to EUR 184.2 million in the period under review, primarily due to the lower financial results, the company said.

Our EnBW Hohe See and Albatros offshore wind farms have doubled the earnings contribution from renewable energy sources, EnBWs CFO Thomas Kusterer said.

The operating businesses show positive performance across the board and that at a time when the outbreak of the corona pandemic confronted us with major challenges, to which we as a company responded with targeted action at a very early stage. This shows the stability of our business portfolio after years of systematic transformation. However, corona will still not leave us completely unaffected.

With a combined capacity of 609 MW, the Hohe See and the nearby Albatros became fully operational in November 2019 and January 2020, respectively.

Located some 95 kilometres north of the Borkum island in the German North Sea, the two wind farms comprise 87 Siemens Gamesa 7 MW wind turbines.

EnBW also operates the 336 MW EnBW Baltic 1 and Baltic 2 offshore wind farms.

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Energy consultancy partners on US offshore wind – reNEWS

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International energy consultancy EPI has signed an memorandum of understanding with Offshore Powerto collaborate and combine resources in business development, marketing and delivering their services to the US offshore wind market.

Under the terms of the arrangement, EPI is establishingservice linesto provide geophysical, geotechnical, environmental and UXO services and advice to its clients, in conjunction with Offshore Powerwho are an established operative in the US offshore renewable energy market.

Together they expect todevelop relationships and opportunities in the offshore USA wind energy market.

EPI chief executive Andy Smart said: At a time when the US offshore wind market has such exciting potential, EPI are very pleased to have the opportunity to be able to demonstrate its skills and expertise while bring value to its clients via this strategic partnership with Offshore Power..

Offshore Power LLC (OP), was founded in June 2018 to target the North American subsea power cable and offshore renewable industry by providing expert qualified local content while leveraging the experience and expertise from Europe and elsewhere abroad.

Offshore Power has created a strategic consortium of diverse companies which EPIare now members, who together provide a wide range of vital capabilities for the emerging US offshore wind markets.

The third member is Installit AS, a subsea, cables, engineering and operations business.

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Energy consultancy partners on US offshore wind - reNEWS

Adani Ports SEZ raises $750 million through an offshore bond issue – Livemint

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Billionaire Gautam Adani-controlled Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Ltd on Wednesday launched an offshore bond offering, raising as much as $750 million.

This is the third and the largest offshore bond deal launched by an Indian company since the pandemic disrupted global markets in March. State-owned REC Ltd and agrochemicals major UPL Ltd raised $500 million each in May and June, respectively.

The Adani Ports bond sale comes after SoftBank-backed Indian renewable company SB Energy pulled back its $600 million bond offering in July.

According to the terms of the deal, seen by Mint, Adani Ports is raising the capital through seven-year bonds, maturing in 2027, at a rate of 4.2%. Investment banks Barclays, Bank of America and Citigroup, among others, are advising Adani Ports on the bond sale. The capital raised will be used to repay loans of Adani Ports and its subsidiaries, which could include the debt of Krishnapatnam Port Co. Ltd, which Adani agreed to acquire in January. The deal is yet to be closed.

Earlier in July, Adani Ports board had approved offshore bond capital raise of up to $1.25 billion. A spokesperson for Adani group could not be immediately reached for comment. According to industry experts, offshore bond issuances from Indian corporates continue to be muted, especially for below-investment-grade issuers or so-called high-yield issuers.

I think that while the hedging cost for issuers has gone down substantially due to Mifor collapse, the market isnt there yet in terms of its evolution for non-IG (investment grade) issuers from India," said Shantanu Sahai, managing director and head of debt at Nomura India.

The markets had started to open up secularly since early June which had led to the hope that HY (high yield) issuers would be able to access it in July or August, but the opening has stalled while the market moves sideways in the past two-three weeks. The only HY issuance that has been seen has been from China," said Sahai.

He added that the second coronavirus wave across Asia as well as concerns over ratcheting US-China rivalry and the economic recovery have been the primary reasons for investors becoming more cautious around credit. Last December, Mint had reported that after tapping the dollar bond market twice in 2019, Adani Ports was preparing for a fresh issuance of dollar bonds in 2020.

In June 2019, Adani Ports had raised $750 million through a bond sale, and followed it up with a $650-million buyback offer for bonds maturing in 2020 in the next month

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Adani Ports SEZ raises $750 million through an offshore bond issue - Livemint

UAE approves Cnooc’s offshore entry – News for the Oil and Gas Sector – Energy Voice

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Abu Dhabi has approved the transfer of rights, from China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) to Cnooc Ltd, in the Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif and Nasr offshore concessions.

The deal will give Cnooc a 4% stake in Lower Zakum and 4% in Umm Shaif and Nasr.

The Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) has approved the transfer, Adnoc said. Cnooc Hong Kong Holding will have a 40% stake in CNPCs PetroChina Investment Overseas (Middle East) subsidiary.

PetroChina will keep its 6% stake in the areas.

Adnoc said the move reinforced the strong and strategic bilateral ties between the United Arab Emirates and China.

The transfer also illustrates Adnocs strengthened access to international markets and partners and our commitment to generating sustainable returns for the UAE, said Adnocs group CEO and the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

The entry of Cnooc to the concessions will bring world-class expertise and technology to help us continue to maximise value from the concessions as we create a more profitable upstream business and deliver our 2030 strategy.

We are very pleased to participate in the Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif and Nasr concessions. This further strengthens the strategic relationship with ADNOC and PetroChina. Cnooc will leverage our extensive expertise in the offshore sector and be dedicated to value creation in these concessions for our mutual benefit, said Cnoocs chairman Wang Dongjin.

Wang has spent most of his career at CNPC, reaching the position of president at PetroChina in 2013. He joined Cnooc in 2018.

Speaking to Energy Voice, Ian Simm, principal advisor at consultancy IGM Energy, said Cnoocs entry exemplifies the increasing involvement of Chinese state firms in Abu Dhabis upstream sector since CNPC was awarded a stake in the Adnoc Onshore concession in early 2017.

Simm noted the broader trend of Asian companies picking up stakes in Emirati oil and gas projects. This follows the expiry of the old ADCO and ADMA-OPCO concessions.

Firms from China, India, Japan, Thailand and South Korea have all picked up shares, in most cases, reducing the participation of Western IOCs.

With the majority of demand growth forecast to come from customers in Asia, this should come as little surprise, as the new agreements lay the foundations for deeper co-operation throughout the hydrocarbon value chain while fulfilling the UAEs key objective of firming up future market share.

Adnoc and Cnooc signed a framework agreement in July 2019.

Adnoc has a 60% stake in both licences. An Indian group led by ONGC Videsh has a 10% stake in Lower Zakum. Inpex Corp. has 10%, Eni 5% and Total 5%. In the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession, Eni has 10% and Total 20%.

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UAE approves Cnooc's offshore entry - News for the Oil and Gas Sector - Energy Voice

Health unit calls for universal basic income – The North Bay Nugget

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North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit

Len Gillis, Local Journalism Initiative

Food insecurity has been identified as a public health issue in some parts of Northern Ontario for a few years now, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it worse.The issue has prompted the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit to ask the prime minister to support the idea of creating a universal basic income for all Canadian families enough that they can afford to buy groceries.Kendra Patrick, a public health dietitian with the health unit, says food insecurity refers to a household that does not have enough money to buy healthy food.Oh yeah, it is an ongoing issue for sure, Patrick says from her office in North Bay.We know this is a public health issue. It causes lots of other health effects. For instance, it can lead to higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and even mental health issues like anxiety and depression.And we know that in our district one in seven households are food insecure. Thats quite a big proportion of the population.Patrick was quoting a health unit report tabled in February 2019. While it was not able to gather statistics for a followup report this past spring, Patrick says she was able to provide newer information from PROOF, a Canadian research organization that monitors household food insecurity.Some research was done by Statistics Canada in May, Patrick says. They showed that Canadians who were absent from work due to COVID-19 were almost three times more likely to be food insecure than those who werent.So that is really significant. Unfortunately, we dont have local data to show, but I think we can expect the trend in Canada would also apply to our area.Patrick says the most recent statistics from PROOF revealed that 13.1 per cent of Ontario residents have food insecurity, whereas the rate in Nunavut is 57 per cent. In other parts of Canada, the rate runs from 12 to 21 per cent.Food insecurity is caused by inadequate income, Patrick says. We know that in general, ones income is a huge social determinant of health. So we know that folks who are earning less income are more likely to have lots of different chronic diseases, even infectious diseases. So there is a pretty well established correlation between income and health.This is not something the health unit regards lightly, she says.We encourage our residents to be vocal about these issues.Patrick says she is a member of a group known as Ontario Dietitians for Public Health (ODHP), which encourages civic action, such as letter writing in support of a universal basic income.Like our health unit, we have been advocating for this for a few years, she says.Patrick says the federal government has implemented several income-support programs during the pandemic. She says ODPH has asked the federal government to continue with income-support programs to continue even after the pandemicAbsolutely. We at the health unit actually did send a letter to the prime minister in early June. And so basically in that letter we are calling for a basic income now and after the pandemic, she says.The letter, which is signed by North Bay-Parry Sound medical officer of health Dr. Jim Chirico, says the idea of a universal basic income is winning support across Canada.We join the many provincial and national health organizations calling for immediate action to enact legislation for a basic income guarantee that protects and promotes the health of working-age citizens in our communities, the letter states.Even though the health unit was not able to go out and survey grocery prices this spring like it has in past years, Patrick says the important thing is that too many instances are occurring where ordinary people are not able to afford the price of healthy food because of their limited incomes.She says this tasks it from being a financial issue to a public health issue and thats why action is needed.

Len Gillis is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Sudbury.com. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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Health unit calls for universal basic income - The North Bay Nugget

The new Cold War is unfolding – New Europe

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New Europe was the first mainstream newspaper to assess the aggressive approach launched by Donald Trump against the Communist Party of China some three years ago, which he has managed to turn it into a new Cold War between the United States and China.

Whether it is right or wrong is a different issue.

The point is that the US is in a full-fledged Cold War against China and this war is extending into a generalized Cold War by the democratic West against Chinas Communist system. In this context, the democratic Western nations, in one way or another, are gradually populating an alliance of the free, while China is finding allies in the remains left over from the collapse of Soviet Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In bringing the situation at the present point-of-no-return, Trump has trapped the next American president, whoever it will be, in a position of having no choice but to continue and intensify the Cold War against China.

The Cold War, until it has no winner, is a win-win situation for both sides, which explains while it is highly unlikely to swift from cold to hot. Indeed, as it goes, it has only a consolidating effect for both sides.

Western society is in a deep socio-economic crisis that stemmed from the decade-long policies of austerity and overregulation in Europe and the corrupt administration of the Clintons in the US, coupled with the demolition of the, even primitive, social structures by Trump. The situation both in Europe and the US was about to explode right up to the moment the coronavirus issue appeared. This provided an opportunity to stop, or rather temporarily postpone, these percolating social explosions and gave time to the ruling elites to try to adapt societies to the new normal, which nobody can precisely say what that is for the time being and what changes will it imply and to what depth.

The damages caused by the virus crisis aside from the number of victims, which are statistically not of an alarming magnitude is only financial. It is only about money. So far, nobody can safely say what it will mean in one or two years time. For the time being, only the price of gold is growing, and this anticipates only anomalies.

The new Cold War, in the short-medium term, only benefits the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which is important for its survival. The Cold War will, once again, necessarily isolate China from the free world. This is the only way for Chinese Communists to stay in power.

Indeed, the Chinese Partys invention of combining Maos version of Communism with a free economy flagrantly failed, and a return to the status quo ante is the only way for Beijings Communist system to survive. This implied invention of real or imaginary foreign enemies, isolation, and even-stricter Communist rule will, in a Machaeridian approach, eliminate all potential threats to its supremacy.

However, all wars in human history had a beginning, a middle, which is what we now are experiencing, and an end. The end of it will produce a clear winner.

If the winner is China, it will be the end of the civilisation of freedom and human dignity as humanity will witness the Communist Sinicization of everything. That scenario seems most unlikely to happen, but not impossible. The greatest chapters in history are based on human mistakes. However, free people have the power to imagine and to invent, and this is why the possibility that the West will lose this war is nil.

If the free West emerges as the winner, the loser will not be China, but Communism. China will be liberated, and the Chinese people will join a future Western civilization. The new normal will be rather close to traditional Chinese philosophy minimalistic, with everything in moderation and anthropocentric.

The millennia-long qualities that are deep in the DNA of the Chinese people are still intact despite the desperate efforts of Bejings Communists to eradicate them.

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Educating India – The Indian Express

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Written by Kumkum Roy | Published: July 31, 2020 1:00:47 am Any mention of reservation in academic institutions, whether for students, teachers, or other employees is absent in the National Education Policy. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)

The National Education Policy, an ambitious and complex document, laying down a road map for the next two decades, has been adopted in the midst of a pandemic and a lockdown, which renders discussion and debate difficult. Nevertheless, it requires closer scrutiny, in terms of its implications for the marginalised, disciplinary spaces, autonomy, and constitutional values, among other things.

What are its implications for the majority of those covered under the acronym SEDGs (Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups) in the text? Absent in the document, as far as I could see, is any mention of the term caste, apart from a fleeting reference to Scheduled Castes. Also absent is any mention of reservation in academic institutions, whether for students, teachers, or other employees. Reservation, necessary but not sufficient, is the bare minimum required in terms of affirmative action in the highly differentiated socio-economic milieu in which we exist. The silence of the document on this issue is troubling, to say the least.

Equally disturbing is the passing reference to educational institutions in tribal areas, designated as ashramshalas (NEP 1.8) and envisaged as part of the Early Childhood Children Education programme. What, one wonders, will be transacted in these institutions. While there are sections of the document (for instance, NEP 14.4) that describe ways in which SEDGs are supposed to gain access to higher education institutions, there is no time-frame that is specified. This is particularly crucial as the document visualises increased benign privatisation of education, attempting to distinguish this from commercialisation. In a situation of growing privatisation and the near collapse of public institutions of higher education, how these policies will be implemented is a matter of concern.

One of the buzz words in the document is multi-disciplinarity an apparently attractive and flexible proposition, allowing learners to experiment with a variety of options. We learn (NEP 11.7) that Departments in Languages, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Indology, Art, Dance, Theatre, Education, Mathematics, Statistics, Pure and Applied Sciences, Sociology, Economics, Sports, and other such subjects needed for a multidisciplinary, stimulating Indian education and environment will be established and strengthened at HEIs across the country. While the list is unexceptionable, it is worth flagging what is missed out fields of studies such as Womens Studies or Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Dalit Studies, Studies of Discrimination and Exclusion, Environmental Studies and Development Studies, all of which have developed over the last three or four decades. Many of these have engaged with multi-disciplinarity/inter-disciplinarity in exciting and disturbing ways, bringing to the fore issues of diversity, difference and identity. That these developments are ignored in what purports to be a forward-looking document is intriguing.

While there is a running refrain of autonomy and choice in the document, this is circumscribed at crucial junctures. For instance, the selection of vocational subjects in middle school is described as a fun choice. At the same time, it is to be exercised as decided by States and local communities and as mapped by local skilling needs (NEP 4.8).

Further up in the scheme of things is the National Testing Agency (NEP 4.38) which, we learn will serve as a premier, expert, autonomous testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations in higher educational institutions. This is expected to be a means of drastically reducing the burden on students, universities and colleges, and the entire education system. That instead of an overarching centralised agency, an innovative educational policy would attempt to create space for context-specific and diverse modes of evaluation for different fields of learning is a possibility that remains unexplored.

Overall, HEIs will now be run by a Board of Governors (NEP 19.2), backed by legislative changes where required. Further centralisation is envisaged through the setting up of the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA) to regulate in a light but tight and facilitative manner, meaning that a few important matters particularly financial probity, good governance, and full online and offline public disclosure of all finances, procedures, faculty/staff, courses, and educational outcomes will be very effectively regulated, while leaving the rest to the judgment of the HEIs (NEP 20.4). What, one wonders, remains in the rest.

While we have been hearing a great deal about the benefits of being atma-nirbhar, the policy explicitly facilitates the presence of foreign universities within higher education. Also, and perhaps more intriguing, these universities are held up as ideals to be emulated. So MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) will be set up and will aim to reach the global status of, e.g., the Ivy League Universities in the US. (NEP 11.10)

Several universities and HEIs have evolved and sustained democratic mechanisms, including academic and executive councils. These formulate, discuss, and implement policies, courses and other institutional matters. What has made them vibrant institutions is the presence of faculty and students, elected, as well as on the basis of seniority and rotation. Jettisoning these structures, norms and practices for a linear top-down mode of administration, as envisaged, will deprive members of HEIs of an opportunity to engage with the challenges of democratic functioning.

Also worrisome is what happens with the Constitution while an assortment of values are identified as constitutional, including knowledge and practice of human and constitutional values (such as patriotism, sacrifice, non-violence, truth, honesty, peace, righteous conduct, forgiveness, tolerance, mercy, sympathy, helpfulness, cleanliness, courtesy, integrity, pluralism, responsibility, justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity) (NEP 4.23), and there is an occasional mention of fundamental duties, one searches in vain for any allusion to fundamental rights. Are these to be erased from the memories of future generations?

It is to be hoped that beyond the immediate excitement that the announcement of the implementation of the NEP has generated, there will be opportunities to examine its long-term implications, and, if necessary, revisit it, before it is actually implemented.

The writer is professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU. She has been involved in developing textbooks and curriculum for NCERT

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Educating India - The Indian Express

Continental Debuts the Fastest Supercomputer in the Automotive Industry and It’s Built for AI – EnterpriseAI

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The automotive industry finds strong use cases for supercomputers, which can help industrial designers do everything from optimizing engines and aerodynamics to running virtual crash tests. Now, German automotive manufacturer Continental is announcing a new leap forward with the debut of the fastest known supercomputer in the automotive industry.

The new supercomputer (as-yet unnamed) is built from more than 50 networked Nvidia DGX nodes, connected by Nvidia Mellanox InfiniBand and based on the Nvidia DGX SuperPOD reference architecture. The DGX nodes (each of which costs, Continental says, about as much as a luxury sports car) are purpose-built for AI crucial functionality for Continental, which is aiming to strengthen its deep learning chops in order to run smarter simulations and develop future technologies for applications like self-driving cars. Continental expects, for example, that the investment will enable its engineers to run 14 times more autonomous driving experiments.

The high-end computer will be used for innovative software disciplines such as deep learning and AI-driven simulations, explained Christian Schumacher, head of program management systems in Continentals Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit. With the computing power we have now gained, we can develop the modern systems we need for assisted, automated and autonomous vehicles in a much quicker, more effective and more cost-efficient way. We use these to simulate real-life, physical test drives and need fewer journeys on the actual road as a result. This significantly reduces the time required for programming, including the training of artificial neural networks.

While the system is based in a datacenter in Frankfurt, that location was chosen specifically to enhance its accessibility to cloud providers and, by extension, its accessibility to Continentals engineers around the world. This tracks with Continentals general business trajectory, with nearly 40 percent of its 51,000 engineers specializing in software and IT among them, nearly a thousand experts in AI (a number expected to double by 2022).

Software is the oxygen of the industry, said Elmar Degenhart, chairman of Continentals executive board. It lays the foundation for entirely new services. Value creation with software is recording double-digit percentage growth each year.

The power of the system is a point of pride for Continental, which is comparing it favorably to systems on the Top500 list of the worlds most powerful publicly ranked supercomputers (the source of its fastest-in-the-industry claim). Continental also touts the efficiency of the system, with the host datacenter using green energy to power the supercomputer and the systems GPU-driven design proving comparatively efficient.

Header image: Continental's new supercomputer.

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Continental Debuts the Fastest Supercomputer in the Automotive Industry and It's Built for AI - EnterpriseAI

Mind Uploading – Ascension Glossary

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The next extension of collecting data through the use of artificial intelligence Brain Mapping is Mind Uploading. Some Transhumanists consider mind uploading an important proposed life extension technology. The goal of mind uploading is to recreate whole brain emulation, which has the ability to transfer the data from a human brain to a computational device, such as a digital, analog, quantum-based or software-based artificial neural network. Then from quantum computers, the brain that was mind uploaded can be controlled or manipulated in subspace. Many scientists believe that the human brain and mind define who we are, based solely on their information pattern, while the body or hardware that information is implemented upon is secondary or interchangeable. They are wrong.

Moving intelligence patterns of the human brain as purely data structures to another synthetic or biological substrate manifests extremely damaging genetic mutations and perversions into the blueprint of original Silicate Matrix human DNA. AI genetic mutations in human DNA generate unforeseen diseases and miasma in the future, capable of destroying the organic consciousness potential that exists within the elemental human body and planetary body. This destroys the living consciousness spirit existing within the multidimensional human body via gradual artificial intelligence assimilation into neural networks that connect to artificial or virtual reality systems. These artificial realities and false timelines are already inhabited by a vast array of fallen and desperate dark entities, currently trying to find their way out by hitchhiking on organic human consciousness on the earth. We are not our brains, we are not our thoughts, we are not clones we are pure intelligent consciousness. Our pure human heart and intelligent consciousness are the ticket out of this prison planet, the very things the entities want to steal away from us. The eternal living spiritual consciousness Blueprint of the multidimensional human DNA is destroyed when assimilated into the synthetic machinery of artificial intelligence. As a result, this destroys the capability of expanding biological spiritual consciousness and achieving spiritual freedom, the mechanics of consciousness known as the Science of Ascension. Instead, AI mind uploading creates consciousness slaves bound to artificial realities and fallen entities that cannot evolve, cannot ascend, cannot travel to higher dimensions of reality, and ultimately is another consciousness trap. This is similar to an AI groundhog day in virtual realities, where the same consciousness program is played over and over.[1]

Ideally, the Black Suns want to integrate mass technological fusion into the human bio-neurological matrix through an assortment of high tech propaganda, like mind uploading for achieving immortality, before people wake up to the damaging effects it has on higher consciousness embodiment and translocation. Mind Uploading effectively locks down peoples consciousness body into controlled virtual reality systems in which they cannot leave, and this has occurred to some humans in the future timelines. Artificial intelligence devices and technological machines that are merged with the incarnated human body and brain repel the higher mind matrices of the spiritual consciousness, preventing higher consciousness from coming into actual physical Embodiment. Therefore, in the next few years the global push towards integrating Transhumanism will be more aggressive in the blended realities on earth, through bio-technology and pharmaceuticals enmeshed with the AI agenda rolled into high tech consumer products marketed to niche groups in a variety of social media. This is to attempt to further thwart higher consciousness embodiment potentials and prevent translocation abilities in the human public. Translocation happens in sleep state, where it is possible for spontaneous translocation to occur during soul integration, without the person actually willing it to happen.[2]

NAA

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Mind Uploading - Ascension Glossary

Two years after Janus, more workers are exercising their freedom of association – LA Daily News

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Two summers ago, in Mark Janus v. AFSCME, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the arrangement that forced government workers to pay union fees for the privilege of keeping their jobs.

The court ruled that forced dues violate government employees First Amendment rights because public-sector unions are political organizations, bargaining with public officials over such matters as government spending, employee discipline, budgets, and taxation.

The Janus decision is a necessary check on government unions, which are among the most potent political forces in the country today. Their influence is especially strong in California. Golden State government unions collect hundreds of millions of dollars a year in dues, and spend millions on political activities that help elect candidates, who, once in office, pass laws that increase union power and funding.

For instance, the California Teachers Association gave $1.2 million directly to Gov. Newsoms 2018 election campaign. In return, the governor has waged war on the states charter schools, which are independently run and often forgo union labor. In this mutual backscratching exercise, no one represents taxpayers, who see their taxes rise and freedoms curtailed as unions and politicians work in tandem to advance their respective interests. Unlike the role of management in the case of private-sector unions, nobody is on the other side of the bargaining table countering public-sector union demands just politicians who have been bought and paid for by union leaders. Lets call this corruption what it is.

While the broader impact of the Janus decision is immense, its direct impact on government unions is difficult to tally. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its annual report on union members, quantifies the number of union members nationwide. Yetit doesnt distinguish between private- and public-sector union membership by state. This report also suffers from the traditional limitations of surveys, including potential respondent misunderstandings of the question: Are you covered by a union or employee association contract? While thisdatademonstratesthat the share of unionized workers in California has dropped since the Janus decision, our own research gives a more complete picture of the change.

To quantify the drop in payers to government unions post-Janus, the California Policy Center has been issuing Public Records Act requests to nearly all the government agencies in the state including counties, cities, and school districts to ask about the number of union dues payers before and after the Janus decision. We now have records covering about one-third of the states public-sector workforce.

Our finding: The Janus decision has reduced the number of Californians in government unions by about 13 percent. Some unions, such as those representing public safety officials, have seen small decreases.Others, such as SEIU, which represents service-sector employees who have more trouble coughing up monthly dues payments,have seen larger drops.

A 13 percent drop in dues payers represents a significant curtailment of union power. Would we like the number to be higher? Given the fiscal threat that government unions pose to the state, yes.

But union-backed Democrats in Sacramento have passed a web of laws designed to thwart workers trying to exercise their Janus rights. Exhibit A is Senate Bill 866, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 27, 2018, the same day as the Janus decision.

That law bars employers and managers in government from discussing employees Janus rights in the workplace. CPC has sued the government over this gag law on First Amendment grounds, and we expect to win. As workers learn about their rights to stop paying unions with whom they disagree, the number of dues payers will fall further.

The Janus decision was monumental, and it is already paying handsome dividends for California taxpayers and workers. Happy second anniversary to all California government workers.

Will Swaim is the president of the California Policy Center.

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Two years after Janus, more workers are exercising their freedom of association - LA Daily News

SpaceX, NASA watch weather for historic astronaut splashdown on Sunday – Space.com

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SpaceX is ready to return its first NASA astronaut crew to Earth, but a potential tropical cyclone brewing in the Atlantic could cause delays.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Endeavour, is scheduled to splash down off the Florida coast on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 2). Its crew, NASA's Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, is wrapping up a historic two-month test flight, the first orbital trip by astronauts on a commercial spacecraft. Their splashdown will also mark the first water landing by American astronauts since the Apollo-Soyuz mission in July 1975.

"Everybody remains 'go' for a return, and we cannot wait to get Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley back to Earth, but of course, we have some weather pending," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters Wednesday (July 29) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We look forward to seeing if that's going to be within the realm of what is possible."

Related: How NASA and SpaceX's Demo-2 will make a historic splashdown

That "weather pending" Bridenstine referenced is from a storm system the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has dubbed Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine. Current forecasts from the NHC place the storm system squarely on Florida on Sunday just ahead of SpaceX's splashdown target time of 2:48 p.m. EDT (1948 GMT).

"We're going to watch the weather very carefully," said Steve Stitch, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "We have a series of [landing] sitesand many days in the future, so we'll watch this tropical storm ... we'll kind of take it day-by-day."

Currently, Behnken and Hurley are due to undock from the space station on Saturday evening at 7:35 p.m. EDT (2335 GMT) and prepare to head home. If all goes well, the Endeavour capsule will fire its engines to leave orbit on Sunday for an afternoon splashdown.

In photos: SpaceX's historic Demo-2 test flight with astronauts

SpaceX has seven potential splashdown sites around the Florida panhandle to choose from. They include drop zones offshore from Cape Canaveral, Daytona and Jacksonville on Florida's east cost, and near Panama City, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Tampa on the west coast. Wave height, wind speeds, lightning, rain conditions and other factors will all determine which splashdown sites SpaceX will pick.

"We're really looking for two sites to be go before we undock," Stitch said, adding that the agency will hold off on a final decision until an hour before undocking, or even call of the departure if needed. "The beauty of this vehicle is [that] we can stay docked to the space station."

Behnken and Hurley launched May 30 on SpaceX's Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. The mission is a two-month shakedown cruise to test if SpaceX is ready to fly operational astronaut missions for NASA. SpaceX has launched uncrewed cargo missions for NASA for years and is one of two companies (Boeing is the other) with a multi-billion-dollar contract to fly astronauts to the station.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft has performed flawlessly in orbit, NASA and SpaceX officials said. The Demo-2 astronauts have tested its ability to hold up to four astronauts at a time, with the only major unknown ahead: splashdown.

"That's a really big deal," said Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of crew management. "It's very important, and it's part of that sacred honor that we have for ensuring that we bring Bob and Doug back home to their families, to their kids and making sure that they're safe."

If bad weather looks like it could delay a Sunday splashdown for Crew Dragon, NASA and SpaceX will postpone this weekend's undocking to no earlier than Monday (Aug. 3), with splashdown likely coming a day later, Stitch said.

"So we'll have to evaluate the weather each day and just see things how things unfold," Stitch said. "We have plenty of opportunities here in August and we're in no hurry to come home."

Even as SpaceX prepares to return Behnken and Hurley to Earth, the company is already gearing up for its first operational mission, called Crew-1. The spacecraft for that mission is nearly complete at the company's headquarters and factory in Hawthorne, California and will be shipped to Cape Canaveral soon, Reed said.

The Crew-1 astronauts NASA's Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japan's Soichi Noguchi are with the vehicle this week, Reed added. That mission is currently scheduled to launch in late September.

Yesterday, NASA also announced the four astronauts to launch on Crew-2, SpaceX's second operational flight, in early 2021. That mission will launch astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, both of NASA; Akihiko Hoshide of Japan and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency. McArthur is married to Behnken, and her Crew-2 mission will launch on the same Dragon ship Endeavour as her husband, NASA and SpaceX said.

Meanwhile, as SpaceX prepares to return the Demo-2 astronauts to Earth, NASA is counting down for another milestone event: a launch to Mars.

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is poised to launch toward the Red Planet tomorrow (July 30). The mission, which will collect samples of Mars for eventual return to Earth, deploy a helicopter and seek out signs of ancient life, will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Liftoff is set for 7:50 am. EDT (1150 GMT).

Editor's note: You can watch NASA's Mars rover Perseverance launch live here, courtesy of NASA TV. The webcast will begin at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT). SpaceX's undocking and splashdown of the Demo-2 crew will also be webcast live.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Email Tariq Malik attmalik@space.comor follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.

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SpaceX, NASA watch weather for historic astronaut splashdown on Sunday - Space.com

Atlas 5 launch timeline on the Mars 2020 mission Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rockets ascent into space from Cape Canaveral with NASAs Mars 2020 mission. Launch is scheduled for Thursday during a two-hour window opening at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT).

The 197-foot-tall rocket will arc to the southeast from Floridas Space Coast on its fourth flight of the year. It will be the 85th Atlas 5 launch overall since United Launch Alliances workhorse rocket debuted in August 2002.

The timeline below ends with the conclusion of the primary mission, the deployment of the Mars 2020 spacecraft on an interplanetary trajectory toward Mars

Follow live coverage of the countdown and launch in ourMission Status Center.

A video overview of the Atlas 5 launch sequence also describes the major milestones on the Mars 2020 mission, and a map below shows the Atlas 5s expected ground track toward the southeast from Cape Canaveral, culminating in separation of the Mars 2020 spacecraft from the Centaur upper stage over Indonesia.

T+0:00:01.1: Liftoff

T+0:00:35.2: Mach 1

T+0:00:47.1: Max-Q

T+0:01:49.3: Jettison SRBs

T+0:03:27.6: Payload Fairing Jettison

T+0:04:22.1: Main Engine Cutoff

T+0:04:28.1: Stage Separation

T+0:04:38.1: Centaur Ignition 1

T+0:11:27.9: Centaur Cutoff 1

T+0:44:59.5: Centaur Ignition 2

T+0:52:50.1: Centaur Cutoff 2

T+0:57:32.8: Mars 2020 Separation

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Atlas 5 launch timeline on the Mars 2020 mission Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Every Pirates Of The Caribbean Movie In Chronological Order – Screen Rant

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Pirates Of The Caribbean is a huge franchise that's run for five movies so far, and here's the chronological order for the series.

Here's every Pirates Of The Caribbean movie in chronological order. Prior to 2003's original Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, pirate films were considered box-office poison by studios. High-profile flops includedCutthroat Island and Disney's animated adventure Treasure Planet. Faith in Pirates Of The Caribbean, which was based off the iconic ride, was so low that at one stage an alternate, straight to video movie potentially starring Christopher Walken as Jack Sparrow was considered.

Instead, Disney rolled the dice on the project and it paid off beautifully. The movie's witty script combined with Gore Verbinski's assured direction made the first Pirates Of The Caribbean a juggernaut success. The movie has spawned four sequels to date, with the franchise having grossed nearly $5 billion collectively. In 2020 it was confirmed that Margot Robbie would front a new Pirates spinoff, though no real story details for this new entry have been revealed just yet.

Related: Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 Cut A Mermaid Syrena Return Appearance

The Pirates Of The Caribbean movies don't use roman numerals so unless viewers have been paying attention over the years, the exact viewing order can be confusing. Here's the chronological order for the series.

While Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow might be the uniting factor between each installment, the first three movies centered around the love story between Keira Knightley's Elizabeth and Orlando Bloom's Will. Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Man's Chest and At World's End were shot back to back and the reviews for both were mixed, with their excessive runtimes and the overabundance of subplots being a source of criticism.

Neither Knightley nor Bloom returned for the fourth entry Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which instead had a romantic subplot between mermaid Syrena and missionary Philip. The story focused on the hunt for the Fountain of Youth, but while reviews continued to be mixed, the movie was another runaway success. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Talesis the most recent instalment, with a literal ghost from Jack's past - played by Javier Bardem - coming back to seek revenge. In addition to the Margot Robbie Pirates Of The Caribbean spinoff, a sixth film to be helmed by Dead Men Tell No Tale's co-director Joachim Rnning and potentially starring Karen Gillan is also in the works.

Next: Pirates of the Caribbean: Why Jack Sparrow Changed The Black Pearl's Name

Hamilton Origins Explained: Why Lin-Manuel Miranda Wrote A Founding Father Musical

Its pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now thats out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if hed like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU - where Hawkeye is clearly the best character - to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle. He's super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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Every Pirates Of The Caribbean Movie In Chronological Order - Screen Rant

Ti’Air Riggins: Prolonging the function of brain implants – MSUToday

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July 27, 2020

TiAir Riggins is a doctoral candidate in the Department ofBiomedical Engineering. Shehas been named the recipient of theNational Institutes of Health Blueprint Diversity Specialized Award in Neuroscience and plans toadvance MSUs ongoing research on implanted neurotechnology.

I was honored and a bit awestruck recently when I learned I had received a National Institutes of Health Blueprint Diversity Specialized Award in Neuroscience.

This award is significant around $500,000 as I transition from graduate studies to a tenure-track career in academia with neuroscience-based research. It will help me fund the rest of my graduate studies, four years of postdoctoral training, plus travel and conference attendance to further my doctoral experiences.

As a transfer student with a nonlinear path in grad school, I suffered from imposter syndrome and carving out a welcoming place for myself to grow as a scientist. At my previous institution, I was told that I did not have what it takes to be an independent researcher by two previous advisers,and it affectedme immensely.

I came to MSU looking for a mentor who was invested in my growth as a scientist. And I found her.

My research is with Erin Purcell, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering. I am a graduate assistant in her Regenerative Electrode Interface Lab, which is part of theInstitute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering (IQ), where Dr. Purcell is an investigator in theNeuroengineering Division.

As a member of Dr. Purcells research team, I have already co-authored a review article and carved out new hypotheses related to our investigations of reactive astrocytes surrounding implanted neurotechnology.

Im looking forward to spending thenextsix yearsinvestigatingthe impact of implantable neurotechnology on normal to reactive astrocytes. They are the star-shaped glial cells that regulate the transmission of electrical impulses in the brain.

My goal is to develop strategies that prolong the function of implants in patients. Potentially, it could improve probe stability - something MSU is building a strong foundation to do.

I hope to uncover knowledge about brain foreign body response to probes that will allow researchers to develop strategies to create long lasting probes. Also important, I hope to develop pedagogical skills critical to matriculating students and advance mentoring of underrepresentedstudents in the field.

Earning this award not only makes me feel more confident in my writing and research abilities, but it validates the feeling that I belong, and that I have something significant to contribute to the field of neural engineering. Knowing that I have funding throughout my postdoc, lets me know that I am a step closer to my dreams - running my own lab.

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Ti'Air Riggins: Prolonging the function of brain implants - MSUToday

Facial Recognition Market 2020 Size, Share Growth, Trend, Industry Analysis and Forecast to 2025 – Market Research Posts

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Global Facial Recognition Market Report concentrates on the strong analysis of the present state of Facial Recognition Market which will help the readers to develop innovative strategies that will act as a catalyst for the overall growth of their industry. This research report segments the Facial Recognition Market according to Type, Application and regions. It highlights the information about the industries and market, technologies, and abilities over the trends and the developments of the industries.

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NEC (Japan) offers integrated solutions, components, services, and integrated solutions for computing and communications applications. NEC develops and markets its facial recognition offerings under the products segment public safety, and offers 2 solutions, namely, NeoFace Watch and NeoFace Reveal.

Facial Recognition Market is research report of comprehensive nature which entails information in relation with major regional markets, current scenarios. This includes key regional areas such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, etc. and the foremost countries such as United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, India and China.

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Global Facial Recognition Market Research Report 2019-2025

Chapter 1: Industry Overview

Chapter 2: Facial Recognition Market International Market Analysis

Chapter 3: Environment Analysis of Facial Recognition Market

Chapter 4: Analysis of Revenue by Classifications

Chapter 5: Analysis of Revenue by Regions and Applications

Chapter 6: Analysis of Facial Recognition Market Revenue Market Status.

Chapter 7: Analysis of Facial Recognition Market Industry Key Manufacturers

Chapter 8: Sales Price and Gross Margin Analysis

Chapter 9: Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Facial Recognition Market

Chapter 10: Development Trend of Facial Recognition Market Industry 2019-2025

Chapter 11: Industry Chain Suppliers of Facial Recognition Market with Contact Information

Chapter 12: New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Facial Recognition Market

Chapter 13: Conclusion of the Global Facial Recognition Market Research Report

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Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market 2025 Real Time Analysis & Forecast of COVID 19 Impact on Top Manufacturers: 3M Cogent (USA), NEC…

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This thorough, meticulously crafted research report is in place to aid vital market-specific decisions amongst relevant stakeholders who remain key influencers in directing favorable growth trajectory in the Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market more specifically under the concomitant developments, affecting the Face and Voice Biometrics market in a myriad tangible ways.

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3M Cogent (USA)NEC Corporation of America (USA)AcSys Biometrics Corp. (Canada)AGNITiO S.L. (Spain)Cognitec Systems GmbH (Germany)Nuance Communications, Inc. (USA)Eurotech S.P.A (Italy)Ivrnet Inc. (Canada)Kimaldi Electronics, S.L. (Spain)National Security Resources (USA)Neurotechnology (Lithuania)PSP Security Co. Ltd (Hong Kong)SAFRAN Group (France)Sensible Vision (USA)Sensory, Inc. (USA)Suprema, Inc. (Korea)VoiceTrust eServices, Inc. (Canada)VoiceVault, Inc. (USA)

This special research documentation is a thoughtfully instrumented marker review such that report readers can well comprehend the various forces that have a collective influence in furthering tangible growth in the aforementioned Face and Voice Biometrics market. Thoroughly accepted and internationally approved analytical tools such as PESTEL and SWOT analytical tools that aid in decoding the nitty gritty of the market forces that set the growth course soaring in the Face and Voice Biometrics market.

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Some Strategic Factors Coated in Desk of Content of Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market:Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving drive product Objective of Study and Analysis Scope.Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary the fundamental info of the Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market.Chapter 3: Displaying the Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges of the Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market.Chapter 4: Presenting the Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market Factor Evaluation Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL evaluation, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

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Global Face and Voice Biometrics Market 2025 Real Time Analysis & Forecast of COVID 19 Impact on Top Manufacturers: 3M Cogent (USA), NEC...

The winners and losers of the big tech congressional hearings – The Guardian

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Congressional hearings are an accustomed ritual, a set piece in the institutional grand opera of American politics. On this side the congresspeople, on their own turf and playing by their own rules. On the other the witnesses, unhappy in the unaccustomed role of being called to account.

For Messrs Bezos, Cook, Pichai and Zuckerberg, 29 July was not a good day. But the legislators went home happy.

Background: The hue and cry has been rising in recent years that big tech is too big, too powerful, and engages in monopolist behavior. Thus this hearing.

America has never been more politically divided in my lifetime, and yet the committee showed bipartisan energy in dragging the CEOs over virtual coals. Democrats are of course in a comfort zone with their fangs in the flesh of an abusive corporation. As for Republicans, there are old-schoolers who really believe all that stuff about free markets and thus are instinctively anti-monopoly. Then there are the Trumpkins who hate big tech because its denizens are fact-driven and literate and thus loathe everything about the current administration. Oh, and Bezos owns the Washington Post, which is very disrespectful indeed.

What the congresspeople wanted: To utter memorable soundbites highlighting the perfidy and iniquity of the witnesses organizations, for use in rallying political support. The session was billed as an Examination but it wasnt, congressional staff had already generated millions of pages of damning evidence. Thus the dialogue was mostly of the form: Here is testimony that you did this awful thing. Did you do this awful thing? (CEO starts stammering.) Sorry, my time is short. Here is testimony that you did this other awful thing. Did you do that awful thing?

It was easy for them to enumerate awful things. Google and Facebook run an advertising duopoly that is annihilating publishers and journalists around the globe. Amazon operates its marketplace and also sells on it, creating irresistible incentives for bad behavior. Apple acts as an explicitly monopolistic gatekeeper for apps that want to reach its 25% of all mobile devices, which live in the pockets of a well-heeled and desirable demographic.

Ranking the CEOs: Jeff Bezos was the best, offering short clear answers and, when he didnt have them, saying so. Sundar Pichai was the worst, refusing straight talk even when in a strong position.

Then theres this from Bezos: The rest of the world would love even the tiniest sip of the elixir we have here in the US. Um, I dont think so.

Biggest problem: The absence of Microsoft, which has been in trouble for monopolistic behavior since code was carved on stone tablets.

Biggest lies: Tim Cook claiming that developers who didnt like the App Store have lots of other places to go, for example Xbox. Mark Zuckerberg saying: Cookies is not a big part of how were collecting information. Bezos feigning surprise at a marketplace seller crying foul over shoddy governance.

Congress roll of honor: Chairman David Cicilline for oratory. For zeroing in on Googles at-best-sleazy dealings with Genius lyrics and Yelp. For highlighting the implicit conflicts in selling on a market you own. For pointing out that optimizing for engagement can optimize for anger and hate.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal for her argument that Amazons controls against its staff using Seller data to compete against them are somewhere between feeble and laughable. For highlighting Facebooks habit of convincing upcoming rivals that acquisition is preferable to being crushed. For pointing out that in Googles ad ecosystem, it is simultaneously on the buy-side and the sell-side while also offering broker services; as she points out Theres a reason we have laws against insider trading.

Congresswoman Val Demings for highlighting Googles merging of advertising and tracking data so her search history, Gmail data, and travels round the web are all merged in a single database. Ewww.

Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon for rubbing Bezoss face in what looked like scandalously predatory pricing in the diapers.com episode.

Congressman Jerry Nadler for zeroing in on the devastation of the publishing industry and the journalism profession.

Congress walk of shame: Featuring Republicans for endless high-decibel whining about how the big techs are censoring conservatives. And a tip o the hat to Congressman Jamie Raskin who dunked on them, pointing out that on any recent day most of the top posts on Facebook are alt-right propaganda: If Facebook is trying to suppress conservative speech, theyre doing a terrible job at it.

Closing words: From Chairman Cicillines wrap-up: This hearing has made one fact clear to me. These companies as they exist today have monopoly power. Some need to be broken up. All need to be properly regulated and held accountable their control of the marketplace allows them to do whatever it takes to crush independent business and expand their own power. This must end.

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The winners and losers of the big tech congressional hearings - The Guardian

AI doesn’t have to be a power hog | Greenbiz – GreenBiz

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Plenty of prognostications, including this one from the World Economic Forum, tout the integral role artificial intelligence could play in "saving the planet."

Indeed, AI is integral to all manner of technologies, ranging from autonomous vehicles to more informed disaster response systems to smart buildings and data collection networks monitoring everything from energy consumption to deforestation.

The flip side to this rosy view is that there are plenty of ethical concerns to consider. Whats more, the climate impact of AI both in terms of power consumption and all the electronic waste that gadgets create is a legitimate, growing concern.

Research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests the process of "training" neural networks to make decisions or searching them to find answers uses five times the lifetime emissions of the average U.S. car. Not an insignificant amount.

What does that mean if things continue on their current trajectory?

Right now, data centers use about 2 percent of the worlds electricity. At the current rate of AI adoption with no changes in the underlying computer server hardware and software the data centers needed to run those applications could claim 15 percent of that power load, semiconductor firm Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson predicted in August 2019. Although progress is being made, he reiterated that warning last week.

At the current rate of AI adoption with no changes in the underlying computer server hardware and software the data centers needed to run those applications could claim 15 percent of that power load.

"Customized design will be critical," he told attendees of a longstanding industry conference, SemiconWest. "New system architectures, new application-specific chip designs, new ways to connect memory and logic, new memories and in-memory compute can all drive significant improvements in compute performance per watt."

So, whats being done to "bend the curve," so to speak?

Technologists from Applied Materials, Arm, Google, Intel, Microsoft and VMware last week shared insights about advances that could help us avoid the most extreme future scenarios, if the businesses investing in AI technologies start thinking differently. While much of the panel (which I helped organize) was highly technical, here are four of my high-level takeaways for those thinking about harnessing AI for climate solutions.

Get acquainted with the concept of "die stacking" in computing hardware design. There is concern that Moores Law, the idea that the number of transistors on integrated circuit will double every two years, is slowing down. Thats why more semiconductor engineers are talking up designs that stack multiple chips on top of each other within a system, allowing more processing capability to fit in a given space.

Rob Aitken, a research fellow with microprocessor firm Arm, predicts these designs will show up first in computing infrastructure that couples high-performance processing with very localized memory. "The vertical stacking essentially allows you to get more connectivity bandwidth, and it allows you to get that bandwidth at lower capacitance for lower power use, and also a lower delay, which means improved performance," he said during the panel.

So, definitely look for far more specialized hardware.

Remember this acronym, MRAM. It stands for magnetic random-access memory, a format that uses far less power in standby mode than existing technologies, which require energy to maintain the "state" of their information and respond quickly to processing requests when they pop up. Among the big-name players eyeing this market: Intel; Micron; Qualcomm; Samsung; and Toshiba. Plenty of R&D power there.

Consider running AI applications in cloud data centers using carbon-free energy. That could mean deferring the processing power needed for certain workloads to times of day when a facility is more likely to be using renewable energy.

"If we were able to run these workloads when we had this excess of green, clean, energy, right now we have these really high compute workloads running clean, which is exactly what we want," said Samantha Alt, cloud solution architect at Intel. "But what if we take this a step further, and we only had the data center running when this clean energy was available? We have a data center thats awake when we have this excess amount of green, clean energy, and then asleep when its not."

This is a technique that Google talked up in April, but its not yet widely used, and it will require attention to new cooling designs to keep the facilities from running too hot as well as memory components that can respond dynamically when a facility goes in and out of sleep mode.

New system architectures, new application-specific chip designs, new ways to connect memory and logic, new memories and in-memory compute can all drive significant improvements in compute performance per watt.

Live on the edge. That could mean using specialized AI-savvy processors in some gadgets or systems youre trying to make smarter such as automotive systems or smart phones or a building system. Rather than sending all the data to a massive, centralized cloud service, the processing (at least some of it) happens locally. Hey, if energy systems can be distributed, why not data centers?

"We have a lot of potential to move forward, especially when we bring AI to the edge," said Moe Tanabian, general manager for intelligent devices at Microsoft. "Why is edge important? There are lots of AI-driven tasks and benefits that we derive from AI that are local in nature. You want to know how many people are in a room: people counting. This is very valuable because when the whole HVAC system of the whole building can be more efficient, you can significantly lower the balance of energy consumption in major buildings."

The point to all this is that getting to a nirvana in which AI can handle many things wed love it to handle to help with the climate crisis will require some pretty substantial upgrades to the computing infrastructure that underlies it.

The environmental implications of those system overhauls need to be part of data center procurement criteria immediately, and the semiconductor industry needs to step up with the right answers. Intel and AMD have been leading the way, and Applied Materials last week threw down the gauntlet, but more of the industry needs to wake up.

This article first appeared in GreenBiz's weekly newsletter, VERGE Weekly, running Wednesdays. Subscribe here. Follow me on Twitter: @greentechlady.

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AI doesn't have to be a power hog | Greenbiz - GreenBiz

AI’s Use in the Enterprise Workplace Continues to Evolve – CMSWire

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PHOTO:rawpixel

The robots are coming. You just might not see them.

The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning at work continues to grow, with a majority of organizations expecting it to play a major role in how they manage the digital workplace. But exactly how it will be used is still a work in progress.

Thats one conclusion drawn from a study of more than 450 executives surveyed for The State of the Digital Workplace 2020 report. Simpler Media Group, Reworked's parent copy, conducted this original survey in spring 2020 to assess digital workplace practices and applications.

The digital workplace encompasses leadership, culture, technology and an ever-evolving set of practices to deliver operational goals and positive employee experience. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is prevalent in many of the digital workplace tools companies use to connect, collaborate and communicate.

But how organizations use AI at work, and even more fundamentally, how they define it is a moving target. In the most general sense, AI allows computer systems to rapidly collect and analyze data using sophisticated software algorithms to generate real-time predictions and recommendations independently of human interaction and support.

The uses are many. Think of Google filling in search terms as you type or Netflix recommending shows you might like. But as the technology has progressed, so have AI applications, branching out into a variety of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, business software, and media. Chatbots, self-driving cars and facial recognition are a few of the prominent examples of its applied use.

At work, low-cost open-AI is now built into many of the applications we use to manage people and resources, from HR self-service chatbots to personalized learning and career development platforms and sophisticated employee resource planning tools.

Related Research: The State of the Digital Workplace 2020

Despite that accelerating progress in tools and application, AIs penetration into the digital workplace remains a work in progress.

One-third of organizations report either extensive or visible use of AI across the digital workplace, according to Simpler Media Group's data (Figure 1). Roughly another third (39 percent) are either sporadically using AI or just starting to use AI and machine learning. A quarter of respondents either dont have any AI applications or dont know if they do.

Figure 1The application of AI and machine learning may be inconsistent across enterprises but thats not a reflection of the technologys perceived potential to transform work.

According to survey data, a majority (56%) of organizations say AI will have a significant or transformative effect on the digital workplace. Only 13% report it will have either a minor impact or no impact.

The data points to an opportunity gap that organizations can fill with experiments in practice and application of artificial intelligence at work.

Its an opportunity companies would be wise to consider. Analyst firm Gartner reports that augmenting human capabilities with artificial intelligencewill create $2.9 trillion in business value and add 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity in 2021.

As AI technology evolves, the combined human and AI capabilities that augmented intelligence allows will deliver the greatest benefits to enterprise, wrote Svetlana Sicular, Gartner research vice president in 2019.

Human/AI interaction is the most productive use of AI, according to the report, and also has the fewest barriers to adoption. Also called decision support, this type of AI will surpass all other types of AI in the next 10 years, the researchers found.

Related Article: Who Owns Digital Workplace Strategy?

Interestingly, that type of decision support ranks relatively low in the areas where Simpler Media Group's survey respondents believe AI will have the most impact.

According to the data, automation of simple processes (28%) and improvements in findability (25%) are the most popular uses, followed by minimizing risk and improving data quality. Human-machine interactions only came into play further down the list (Figure 2).

Figure 2Delivering insights to improve ways of working, reducing pressure on help desks and nudging employees with reminders ranked in the bottom three. This will be an area to watch as AI use matures within the digital workplace.

There's significant business value to be gained from the robots, and despite the hype surrounding artificial intelligence, it looks like room for growth remains.

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AI's Use in the Enterprise Workplace Continues to Evolve - CMSWire

InveniAI Enters Strategic Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Focused Collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare -…

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GUILFORD, Conn., July 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InveniAI LLC, a global leader in pioneering the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to transform innovation across drug discovery and development, is pleased to announce a strategic collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, a science-led global healthcare company with a mission to help people to do more, feel better and live longer, and one of the worlds leading over-the-counter (OTC) medicines company. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare will leverage AlphaMeld, an AI and ML platform that empowers internal teams to efficiently evaluate and navigate emerging innovation spanning the Companys key focus areas. The three-year collaboration will grant full access to InveniAIs AI Innovation Lab that encompasses the Consumer Healthcare Module of AlphaMeld and an internal team of cross-functional experts to facilitate accelerated access to innovation.

Michael Keane, Director, Search and Evaluation, GSK Consumer Healthcare, said, At GSK Consumer Healthcare, patients and consumers are central to what we do, and it is their needs that drive innovation and product development at GSK. Our heritage in the pharmaceutical industry ensures that all our products are backed with science and associated data. To unlock and prime innovation, we are always listening and engaging with the consumer to ensure that all our products meet a demand. In doing so, the data that we accumulate is large, broad, and complex. InveniAI has helped us look at tasks that are datacentric across technology road-mapping, search and evaluation, and identifying and understanding new science. AI and ML have helped create efficiencies that shave 4-5 years off the innovation cycle as well as eliminate human biases in identifying innovation.

Aman Kant, InveniAIs Chief Business Officer, said, We are excited about this unique collaboration that will help GSK utilize the power of an AI-driven platform to identify and develop innovative life-changing healthcare products for their consumers. This customized platform delivers tremendous business value by not only rapidly assimilating large volumes of disparate data sets to facilitate a first-mover advantage, but also releases expert human resources at GSK to focus on higher-value tasks. For GSK, the platform enables innovation to be captured as early as patent filing, project funding, or even social media sentiment across several focus areas. He added, We are seeing how this technology can provide industries with a tremendous force-multiplier for rapidly sourcing innovation opportunities.

About GSKGSK - a science-led global healthcare company with a special purpose: to help people do more, feel better, live longer. For further information, please visit http://www.gsk.com.

About InveniAIInveniAI LLC, based in Guilford, Conn., is a global leader pioneering the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to transform innovation across drug discovery and development by identifying and accelerating transformative therapies for diseases with unmet medical needs. The Company leverages AI and ML to harness petabytes of disparate data sets to recognize and unlock value for AI-based drug discovery and development. Numerous industry collaborations in Big Pharma, Specialty Pharma, Biotech, and Consumer Healthcare showcase the value of leveraging our technology to meld human experience and expertise with the power of machines to augment R&D decision-making across all major therapeutic areas. The company leverages the AlphaMeld platform to generate drug candidates for our industry partners and internal drug portfolio. For more information, visit http://www.inveniai.com.

Contact InformationAnita Ganjoo, Ph.D.Corporate Communications InveniAIT: +1 203 273 8388 E: aganjoo@inveniai.com

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InveniAI Enters Strategic Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Focused Collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare -...