Bushido Blade Spiritual Successor Die By The Blade Heads To Kickstarter For PS4, PS5 – PlayStation Universe

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Fans of Bushido Blade finally have a reason to cheer, because Die By The Blade, a seeming spiritual successor to Squaresofts oft-forgotten samurai slasher, is making its way to Kickstarter for a PS4 and PS5 release later in 2021.

Published by Grindstone and developed by Triple Hill Interactive, Die By The Blade looks set to emulate the one-hit death intensity and precision swordsmanship that made Bushido Blade so compelling in the first place.

With a new Bushido Blade seeming extremely unlikely at this point, Die By The Blade is arguably quite a welcome proposition indeed. You can catch the full press release and debut teaser trailer below.

Die by the Blade draws inspiration from legendary combat games like Bushido Blade, Way of the Samurai and Dark Souls as well as the epic stand-offs in Ghost of Tsushima. Set in a visually stunning Samuraipunk vision of Japan, Die by the Blade fuses techpunk visuals and japanese-inspired aesthetics to create the perfect backdrop for the ancient art of sword fighting. Players must take up their sword and face off against deadly opponents, where the slightest mistake will seal your fate. Become a master of your craft and fight to the death with other players in tense, fast paced multiplayer matches or slash through tough AI enemies in the singleplayer campaign.

By utilising a One-Hit-Kill combat system, Die by the Blade leaves no room for mistakes. By removing the concepts of health bars and health points, the game is built on a realistic battle system creating a sense of real tension as one error by the player could result in instant death. This system emphasizes the need for weapon positioning, parrying and counter moves to defend against enemy attacks before delivering a clean hit to any vital area of your opponent, causing instant death. Players must use the One-Hit-Kill system to learn from their mistakes and mount devastating comebacks to claim victory.

After many months of hard work, we are thrilled to finally reveal our new title Die by the Blade to the world commented Peter Adamondy, Development Lead at Triple Hill Interactive. Inspired by classic games like the Bushido Blade series, we wanted to recreate that thrill of facing off against opponents, the sound of clashing steel and mastering the art of sword fighting but with a fresh, Samuraipunk feel.

When we were approached with the concept of creating a spiritual successor to the classic sword fighting games, it was an instant greenlight for the project. says Peter Nagy, founder and CEO of publisher Grindstone. Gamers have waited too long to see the return of these classic gameplay mechanics and we believe that Die by the Blade will not only revive the genre, but take it to a whole new level, resonating with players old and new.

Publisher Grindstone will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for Die by the Blade this October with the goal of engaging with fans and building an active and supportive community.

Our vision for Die by the Blade has taken us to a very exciting place in the development cycle said Imrich Orosz, COO at Grindstone. By activating the Kickstarter campaign we want to expand on that vision and build a community of engaged fans, who will not only support the next phase of this exciting journey, but join us on it. We want the community and backers to play a big part in Die by the Blades evolution and in doing so, have the opportunity to help shape the game they have waited so long for.

Source: Grindstone

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Bushido Blade Spiritual Successor Die By The Blade Heads To Kickstarter For PS4, PS5 - PlayStation Universe

Spiritual advisor says Keith Nelson is resigned to fact he will be executed Friday – WTHITV.com

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) The spiritual advisor to death row inmate Keith Nelson says the prisoner is resigned to his fate. Nelson is scheduled to be executed at the federal prison in Terre Haute Friday.

Nelson asked Sister Barbara Battista to be his minister of record. Battista serves with the Sisters of Providence and has been outspoken at anti-death penalty protests.

LINK | JUDGE HALTS PLANNED FRIDAY FEDERAL EXECUTION OF KANSAS GIRLS KILLER

Battista says Nelson asked her to be his spiritual advisor with the help of Dustin Honken. Honken was executed by lethal injection in July.

LINK | WAITING TO DIE: DUSTIN LEE HONKEN EXECUTION

As a minister of record, Sister Battista has been communicating with Nelson the past several months. She will be in the execution chamber with Nelson strapped to the gurney.

He asked me if I would be willing to do this a couple months ago, to companion him and to bear witness. His primary request of me was to bear witness so that persons will know what happens in that room so that somehow, through me with God's grace, you know, that I might be able to share that experience."

Sister Battista says her time with Nelson on the day of his execution will be brief. She says Nelson told her he may chose not to give a final statement.

"I have the impression that he's pretty well resigned to the fact that the government will take his life. He's not claiming innocence. He's not like, oh, poor pitiful me."

She will be prepared to anoint him if he asks and Sister Battista says she will say a quite prayer written by Sister Helen Prejean as she watches Nelson draw his final breaths.

God of Compassion

You let your rain fall on the just and the unjust.Expand and deepen our heartsso that we may love as You love,even those among uswho have caused the greatest pain by taking life.For there is in our land a great cry for vengeanceas we fill up death row and kill the killersin the name of justice, in the name of peace.Jesus, our brother,you suffered execution at the hands of the statebut you did not let hatred overcome youHelp us to reach out to victims of violenceso that our enduring love may help them heal.Holy Spirit of God,You strengthen us in the struggle for justice,Help us to work tirelesslyfor the abolition of state-sanctioned deathand to renew our society in its very heartso that violence will be no more.

Amen.

- Sister Helen Prejean

"Part of my preparation is to not, as best I can, not anticipate that. Let the event happen, don't push it aside, be reflective, and I don't know how I'll feel."

Sister Battista says she is not preparing Nelson for execution rather offering him companionship in his final moments.

"How does anyone really prepare to be executed? I don't know and I don't think I'll ever really know."

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Spiritual advisor says Keith Nelson is resigned to fact he will be executed Friday - WTHITV.com

Coronavirus Lockdowns Are Creating a Mental Health and Spiritual Crisis – The National Interest

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The coronavirus pandemic has caused a dramatic rise in mental health problems. My own experience attests to this, as the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown led me into a state of clinical depression and anxiety from which I am still recovering.

And the data indicate that, unfortunately, my own experience is far from unusual.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in May that a third of Americans suffered symptoms of clinical anxiety and depression since Apriltriple the 11% recorded in the first few months of 2019.

>>> Whats the best way for America to reopen and return to business? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, assembled Americas top thinkers to figure that out. So far, it has made more than 260 recommendations.Learn more here.

Some populations are suffering more than others. Among women, blacks, and Hispanics, the percentage of those suffering mental health strain since April is around 40%. Amongyoung people(age 18-29), it is close to 50%.

Psychologists also worry that factors such as job loss and social isolationespecially disconnection from religious communitiesare creating the perfect storm for aspike in suicides.

In May, doctors at one California medical center said that during the quarantine they sawmore suicide deaths than deaths from COVID-19. Asurveyconducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the end of June revealed that 1 in 4 young adults (age 18-24) had seriously considered suicide in the past month.

Although anxiety about the virus itself or grief at the loss of loved ones certainly contribute to this rise in mental health problems, the measures being taken to contain the virus may actually be the biggest culprits.

Lockdowns have led tounemployment ratesmuch higher than the Great Recession, and comparable to that of the Great Depression. This has contributed not only to financial hardship but also to the loss of a sense of purpose and self-worth that come from meaningful work and economic self-sufficiency.

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Further, lockdowns have blocked off or severely reduced some of the most important sources of support during times of crisis: close, in-person social interactionincluding the comfort and consolation of human touchas well as the solace, meaning, and connection provided by communal religious practice.

The loss of loved ones has been made more difficult to bear by the inability to gather to mourn their deaths. More generally, social distancing measures and ubiquitous mask-wearing threaten to dehumanize our day-to-day contact with others, making us likely to view others with fear and suspicion as potential sources of infection, rather than with empathy as fellow human beings.

I am not suggesting that we throw caution to the wind and go on with life as if the pandemic did not exist. But many experts believe that broad-based lockdownsrather than morelimited measurestargeting specific hot spots and vulnerable populationsare not truly effective.

As the wisdom of our current lockdown measures continues to be debated, it is important to recognize that they come with real, serious, long-term human costs to individuals and society as a whole, and to be willing to ask hard questions about the trade-offs.

The tenor of public discussion on these matters has unfortunately become polarized and politicized. Those who express worries about the negative effects of lockdowns are branded as callously prioritizing the economy over the preservation of human life. The truth, however, is much more complex.

Every human life has intrinsic value, and the protection of human life is a critical element of the common good. However, as Aristotle famously emphasized, the ultimate goal of political society is to make it possible not just to survive, but to thriveand if the rise in mental health problems is any indication, our society is currently falling fall short of that goal.

We recognize implicitly that physical health does not trump all competing goods. For instance, we accept that the benefits of being able to quickly travel long distances are worth the risk of deaths and injuries that could be avoided if speed limits were much lower.

Just as prudent deliberations about speed limits need to consider the costs and benefits not only with regard to safety, but also with regard to other important goods, so too with our deliberations about reopening.

Of course, the recommendations of public health officials need to be taken into account. We should be aware, though, that those recommendations often are based on incomplete data and predictive models that arefar from certain. It is unreasonable to let such recommendations dictate public policy without broader discussion.

The preservation of physical health is crucial, yes, but it is not the only important public good that needs to be taken into consideration.

Think, for instance, about the question of whether toreopen schoolsfor in-person instruction this fall. On the one hand, no matter how many precautions are taken, in-person instruction obviously increases the risk of catching COVID-19 for teachers, students, and their families. Online instruction is undoubtedly safer if we are thinking only about the preservation of physical health.

But what about the many other goods at stake? The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement at the end of June strongly recommending that schools attempt to provide in-person instruction for all students, noting the negative impact of school closures not only on childrens learning, but also on theirphysical and mental health. (Although the academy later softened its stancearguably for political reasonsthe concerns animating the initial recommendation remain valid.)

School closures also have a significant negative impact on families and on the economy as a whole. Even for parents able to work from home, the idea that one can simultaneously work full-time and supervise the education of young children is unrealistic in most cases.

Some children and families may do just fine withoutin-school instructionand parents should have the option of online instruction oranother form of homeschoolingif they believe it best. But other children may end up lagging behind in their educational development and suffering from social isolation in ways that have long-term effects. And some families may end up facing disastrous financial consequences.

All of these negative impacts are also likely to exact a significant toll on mental health. Public officials should think long and hard about these broader costs to children, families, and society as a whole before choosing not to reopen schools, particularly given evidence indicating that the risk to children of serious COVID-19 infection is low, and thatyoung children appear less likely to spread the disease.

Think also about debates regarding restrictions on religious gatherings. Was it necessary to forbid allin-person publicreligious gatheringsno matter how small or socially distancedduring the lockdown? What value judgments are implicit in deeming churches nonessential, while liquor stores were allowed to remain in operation?

And why were there no public health restrictions on most protests following the tragic death of George Floyd, though severe restrictions or prohibitions on even outdoor religious gatherings remained in place? Freedom of association and the right to political protest are fundamental, but so is the right to free exercise of religion.

Particularly during difficult times, religion and religious community are powerful sources of much-needed solace, strength, meaning, and connectionboth to other human beings and to Godthat are crucial for the flourishing of both individuals and society as a whole.

My point in discussing these debates surrounding schools and churches is not to suggest any particular course of action, or to condemn any particular decisions that have been made thus far, but to provide examples of the kinds of hard questions that we need to ask in considering how to move forward.

There are no simple answers to these questions. But the dramatic decline in mental health that has resulted in part from the restrictions put in place to contain the virus should make us recognize that it would be a serious mistake to fail to ask them.

We cant simply presume that the effort to minimize the risk of spreading the coronavirus needs to trump all other goals in determining how best to respond to the current pandemic.

We need to take precautions, particularly for the protection of more vulnerable populations, but fear of death should not prevent us, individually or as a society, from seeking to lead a fully flourishing human life.

This article by Melissa Moschella firstappearedinThe Daily Signalon August 18, 2020.

Image: Reuters.

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Coronavirus Lockdowns Are Creating a Mental Health and Spiritual Crisis - The National Interest

They also serve who only stand and wait: Ethical and spiritual response to the covid-19 pandemic – The BMJ – The BMJ

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John Miltons sonnet On his blindness, expresses the sense of powerlessness, frustration, and even guilt that many feel in responding to situations beyond their control, where their ability for active participation to act from the common good is limited. [1] We applaud and respect the considerable efforts and sacrifices made by those who provide public services in the face of covid-19 especially those frontline workers in health and social care roles.

There have been heartfelt expressions of support and solidarity e.g. volunteering initiatives such as transporting patients, delivering drugs and equipment, telephone support, community responses or simple acts of kindness. [2] In this situation where so many are trying to help what part might ethical and spiritual services play?

As well as physical, social, and economic effects, pandemics and our responses to them, provide ethical challenges. The latter pose risks of moral distress, either with individuals knowing the right course of action, but constrained by lack of resources or with conflict over what course of action is right. [3] If the negative effects of exposure to morally distressing situations is prolonged and cumulative as during a pandemic, moral injury may result, and has been correlated with compassion fatigue and burnout. [4]

The causes of moral distress are numerous, but a major factor on the healthcare response to pandemics relates to the changing ethical imperatives that providing care for large numbers of sick people brings. In most healthcare systems, professional duty is defined by the principle of making the care of individual patients the primary concern. [5] In pandemics, there are tensions between this individualised approach based on clinical need and duties to the wider population in terms of minimising harms and maximising benefits. Deciding on what care is provided shifts from consideration of an individuals needs, to whether s/he is likely to especially benefit from the intervention. This tension creates moral dilemmas when resources (staff, beds, equipment) are limited, yet urgent and frequent existential decisions have to be made, with the usual uncertainty over outcomes. These decisions are challenging, but nonetheless necessary, with some professionals needing to act out-with their usual areas of expertise.

Consequently, a number of professional bodies have provided ethical frameworks for policy making and decision-making, some specific to covid-19. [6,7] As helpful as these may be at the meta policy-making level, they do not usually indicate what practical support ethics and spiritual care may provide. A traditional view on ethics support is that it has the role of a chorus in a Greek tragedy by offering advice history and support for the protagonist: Its virtue is its presence and its sympathy and its clear meditation on his or her predicament in a social and historical context. [8] It may also function as a moral memory to be recalled in future events. This important reflective, but largely reactive, role has been superseded and the practical input from ethics and spiritual services in alleviating moral distress and preventing moral injury are increasingly recognised.

The need for a later return to a healthcare profession not broken by the experience of covid-19 has been underappreciated as yet.

In terms of local more individualised responses to the covid-19 pandemic, ethics support services can:

Since religion and spirituality offer, for many, the foundation of moral and ethical decision-making, spiritual support should be provided for all who would like it. This includes ensuring its practical provision for patients, their families and professionals within the constraints imposed by covid-19 measures. The role of faith and spiritual care for staff, particularly those struggling with decisions made and their results, is imperative and should be actively offered by multi-faith/non-faith Chaplaincy/Spiritual Care teams.

While those providing ethical and spiritual support may not be numbered among the Thousands at his bidding speed and post oer Land and Ocean without rest, their role is attracting wider recognition as Frances establishment of regional multidisciplinary ethics support indicates. [1,9] Surely, they fulfil Miltons ultimate message of hope for humanity in that They also serve who only stand and wait.

Vic Larcher, retired paediatrician, Paediatric Bioethics Centre, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust

Jim Linthicum, deputy director & lead chaplain, Paediatric Bioethics Centre, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust

Joe Brierley, director and intensivist, Paediatric Bioethics Centre, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust

Competing interests: None declared

References:

1. John Milton. Sonnet 19: When I consider how my light is spent. Available at:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44750/sonnet-19-when-i-consider-how-my-light-is-spent. (accessed 09/04/20)

2. NHSE Volunteers website Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/participation/get-involved/volunteering/nhs-volunteer-responders/ (accessed 08/04/20)

3.Morley G What is moral distress in nursing? How, can and should we respond to it? J Clin Nurs. 2018 Oct; 27(19-20): 34433445.

4. Rushton C & Carse A. (2016). Towards a new narrative of moral distress: Realizing the potential of resilience. Journal of Clinical Ethics, 27(3), 214218.

5. GMC Good Medical Practice. Available at https://www.gmc-uk.org/ethical-guidance/ethical-guidance-for-doctors/good-medical-practice/duties-of-a-doctor. (accessed 09/04/20)

6. Department of Health and Social Care U. Guidance. Responding to COVID-19: the ethical framework for adult social care. 2020.

7. BMA Covid-19 Ethics. Available https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/covid-19/ethics/covid-19-ethical-issues (Accessed 09/04/20)

8. King N. The ethics committee as Greek chorus. HEC Forum 1996; 8, 6: 346-5

9. Covid-19: Can Frances ethical support units help doctors make challenging decisions? Available at: The BMJ https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1291 (accessed 09/04/20)

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They also serve who only stand and wait: Ethical and spiritual response to the covid-19 pandemic - The BMJ - The BMJ

Pope Francis spiritually united with pilgrims honouring Our Lady of Czestochowa – Vatican News

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Pope Francis says he is close to the thousands of pilgrims travelling to the Marian Sanctuary of Jasna Gora for the August 26th feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

By Vatican News

In his greetings to Polish-speaking faithful during the weekly General Audience, Pope Francis took note of the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, honoured as the Queen and Protectress of Poland.

Recalling his own visit to the Shrine of Jasna Gora during his visit to Poland for World Youth Day in 2016, the Holy Father said, I unite myself today to the thousands upon thousands of pilgrims who are gathered there, together with the Polish episcopate, to entrust themselves, their families, the nation, and all of humanity to her maternal protection.

Pope Francis invited the faithful gathered at the Shrine to pray to the Blessed Mother to intercede for us all, especially for those who in different ways are suffering from the [Covid-19] pandemic, and bring them relief.

The Polish Episcopal Conference met together at Polands national shrine ahead of their 386th Plenary Assembly, which formally opens on Thursday in Jasna Gora. It is the first plenary meeting held this year, as earlier gatherings scheduled for March and June were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary goes back to the earliest days of Christianity in Poland, says Father Michal Legan, spokesman for the Jasna Gora Sanctuary. It was the most important sign of the Lords grace during the very, very difficult history, even in the darkest moments of our national history, he said in an interview with Vatican Medias Emanuela Campanile. Even in the darkest hours of the personal story of each of us, she was present, and she was the point of the hope and of the faith, he said.

Shes the most important way to Jesus for each of us, he added.

Father Legan said that throughout the pandemic, the people of Poland are looking to Our Lady with faith and prayer, with all our hopes. That, he said, is why the Polish episcopate is gathered here during the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, to proclaim the act of devotion an act of love and hope, to express to the Madonna that we of the nation are her children and we want her as our queen.

Father Legan noted that, during his visit to Jasna Gora four years ago, Pope Francis said Poland had a great privilege, because we have our mother as the queen, and our queen as the mother.

Poles have felt the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and have turned to her in prayer throughout the coronavirus crisis. Father Legan noted that the sanctuary has seen far fewer pilgrims since the beginning of the pandemic. But even if the faithful are not able to come to Jasna Gora, he said, there is still a special, spiritual bond, with the sanctuary, with the holy icon, and this is something we know deeply in our hearts.

That is why we pray every day to our Black Madonna for all the people who are sick, and for all who work in the field of medicine.

And, he said, we can assure you that here in the Sanctuary of Our Lady, this prayer, will be continued.

Listen to the interview with Fr Michal Legan

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Pope Francis spiritually united with pilgrims honouring Our Lady of Czestochowa - Vatican News

Spiritual Side: Learn about services and events of local houses of worship – The West Volusia Beacon

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Bahs to host public meeting about systemic racism

The Bahs of DeLand will host a public Zoom meeting to discuss systemic racism at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30. Protests against racism have roiled the country since George Floyds killing by a Minneapolis police officer on Memorial Day.

As the anger from one killing is spent, outrage is rekindled by the violent death of another Black person. The details and official justifications for each are different, but a system of laws, public policies, institutional practices and other norms shaped by Americas historical racism is the common denominator to all of the injustices.

Understanding the origins of systemic racism and how it continues to influence official and personal behavior can help us effectively apply our moral and spiritual energy to create a more just and equitable society.

Day of fun at Revival Center Community Church

Revival Center Community Church will host a day of fun and acknowledgement for first responders at Labor Day 2020: Revival Center Outreach 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5. The church is at 820 N. Frankfort Ave. in DeLand. Honored will be police, firefighters, paramedics and hospital workers.

There will be giveaways, prizes, live music, haircuts, comedy, games, testimonies with prayer, Gospel and a message, a dunk tank (which costs a small charge), and yummy ice cream from Sweet Spot.

Admission and all other activities are free.

There will be a $500 cash prize drawing for first responders, who must be present to win. First responders should register with credentials upon arrival.

In addition, there will be a giveaway of 100 bags of school supplies.

Revival Center Community Church is part of Higher Ground Ministries.

1st United Methodist Church activities

On Sunday, Aug. 30, Assistant Pastor Mark Bitner of First United Methodist Church of DeLand will speak from the pulpit at 9 a.m. in the middle of the parking lot of Building 6, 111 S. Alabama Ave. Autos may park there or in the Pumpkin Patch. This is the location of in-person Sunday-morning services until further notice.

This Sunday, Pastor Bitner will conclude the sermon series Storm Proof Your Life. His message will be That Sinking Feeling, based on Matthew 14:22-32.

In this passage, we read that once again the disciples were in a boat crossing a lake. A strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About 3 oclock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water.

The disciples were terrified, thinking he was a ghost, but Jesus spoke to them at once, Its all right, I am here! Dont be afraid.

So Peter called to him, Lord, if it really is you, tell me to come to you by walking on water. All right, come, Jesus said.

Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus, but when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord, he shouted.

Pastor Owen Stricklin reminds members and friends that First United Methodist is partnering with the Nazarene Church in sending cards/notes of encouragement to residents in The Cloisters. These folks are unable to get out or have visitors, and are quite lonely. Contact the church office if you would like to be a pen pal, and you will receive the names and addresses of five residents with whom you may communicate.

The preschool program at the church has begun. All safety and hygiene measures are being taken to maintain the health and well-being of the children.

Plans to begin the line dancing class are being made. The class will start at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, in the Life Enrichment Center (Building 4). Those attending will be required to wear a mask and bring their own water.

Interfaith Kitchen will no longer be serving from the church premises. Meals will be served at The Bridge.

The church office is open mornings, Monday-Friday. Staff will be available to answer questions. Messages and email are checked frequently; call 386-734-5113.

Stress and Its Effects on Memory

Due to COVID-19 concerns, Sunday services at First Unitarian Universalist Church of West Volusia in DeLand will be conducted via Zoom until the end of September.

At 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, the topic will be Stress and Its Effects on Memory. New to the church program slate, Dr. Camille King, chair of the Psychology Department at Stetson University, will share her research and study on the effects stress has on our memory. What are the long- and short-term effects? What, if anything, can we do to make changes or steps to improve memory.

First Christian Church offers online worship

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of DeLand offers the public various opportunities to worship or study online. Go to Facebook First Christian Church DeLand Disciples of Christ, and click on the videos tab of the chosen message.

The message is posted by 10 a.m. each Sunday. On Sunday, Aug. 30, the Rev. Elizabeth Carrasquillo will give the sermon Make Decisions You Wont Regret, based on Genesis 25:24-32.

Go to Facebook, First Christian Church DeLand Disciples of Christ, and click on videos and then the tab for the chosen message. If not a Facebook user, it is possible to go to the website at fccofdeland.org and click on the gray button on the left named Online Worship.

Along with the sermon, Music Director Julie Rechner provides about 20 minutes of religious music each week, with the lyrics posted for those who would like to join in.

At 7 p.m. Wednesdays on the Zoom platform, the Rev. Carrasquillo provides a Bible study on Ephesians. If you would be interested in joining the study, call the church office at 386-734-0677 to receive an invitation. Leave your name and number if the administrator does not pick up.

The Bible study can be received on your computer, phone, tablet or laptop. A Zoom account may not be necessary, but a camera and microphone are needed to participate.

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Spiritual Side: Learn about services and events of local houses of worship - The West Volusia Beacon

Korra’s Spiritual Connection Goes Beyond Her Role as the Avatar – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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A second look at The Legend of Korra reveals that the titular Avatar's spiritual connection goes further than just her past lives.

All of the Avatars in both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra come from different backgrounds. Roku was from a prominent family, Aang was just a regular monk andKyoshi was abandoned by her parents to live as a homeless orphan. However,Korra is different fromher past lives in that she is technically royalty, as her father Tonraq was in line to be the chief of the Northern Water Tribe before being banished and relocating to the Southern Tribe.

Like all the hierarchy lines in the Avatar world, except for the Avatar line itself, the Northern Water Tribe's line of succession is blood-related. Meaning, Korra and her father share a bloodline with all the previous Northern chiefs, including Chief Arnook and his daughter Princess Yue, who would later be reincarnated as the Moon Spirit. This isn't the first time Avatar crossed the Avatar's heritage with another character. Fans first saw it in Zuko, who was the great-grandson of both Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin, creating the dual nature oflight anddarkness inside of him. Although Korra's heritage doesn't create any internal conflicts like it did Zuko, it does give her a unique connection to the Spirit World.

RELATED:Legend of Korra: Yakone's Bloodbending Is at Odds With the Entire Franchise

When Princess Yue was born, she was greatly ill. Unable to cure her naturally, her parents dipped her in the oasis pool where the spirit Tui gave her life. It created a link between Yue and Tui that continued until "Chapter Twenty: The Siege of the North Pole Part 2" when General Zhao killed the spiritin an attempt to take down the Water Tribe. To save the moon and her tribe, Yue gave back the life that Tui gave her and, as a result, became the Moon Spirit.

Since Korra and Yue are related, one could make the claim that Korra has a direct connection to the Moon, but Yue wasn't born with any spiritual abilities and only obtained such a connection because she was ill. However,her father once said that whenYue was born he had a vision of her becoming the moon, so it's possible that she was always destined to join the spirits, starting a link that helped direct the Avatar line of succession over to Korra. The Avatar after Aang was going to be from one of the Water Tribes, so choosing someone related to a spirit would surely help keep the world in balance.

RELATED:Avatar: What's The Strongest Earthbending Feat In The Series?

Even so, thisconnection could also mean nothing. Korra and Yue are likely nothing more than distant cousins, making their connection minimat at best. Regardless, it's still fascinating to have a relative that's a powerful spirit, especially one that is directly responsible for giving waterbenders their ability to bend.

This fact makes Korrathe only known Avatar to have such a connection to the Spirit World. It does seem a bit ironic, though, since she had such a difficult time actually making contact withit.

KEEP READING:Avatar Theory: The Spirits Are Responsible For The Animal Hybrids

Jared Padalecki Shares a Supernatural Season 15 'Spoiler'

Rachel Roth is a graduate of the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. Her work has been featured in multiple literary journals and anthologies. In addition to CBR, she also writes for Hidden Remote and Haunted MTL. In her spare time, she watches horror movies and reads Stephen King.

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Korra's Spiritual Connection Goes Beyond Her Role as the Avatar - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Without Reservation: Awakening to Native American Spirituality 08/25 by BITEradio me | Spirituality – BlogTalkRadio

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Without Reservation: Awakening to Native American Spirituality and the Ways of Our Ancestors withRandy Kritkausky

We are but a few generations removed from millennia spent living in intimate contact with the natural world and in close commune with ancestral spirits. Who we are and who we think we are is rooted in historical connections with those who came before us and in our relationships with the land and the sentient natural world. When we wander too far from our roots, our ancestors and kin in the natural world call us home, sometimes with gentle whispers and sometimes in loud voices sounding alarms.

Through his profound storytelling, Kritkausky shows how ancestral connections and intimate communications with Nature are not unique or restricted to those with indigenous cultural roots. Offering a bridge between cultures, a path that can be followed by Native and non-Native alike, the author shows that spiritual awakening can happen anywhere, for anyone, and can open the gateway to deeper understanding.

For more info. visit:http://www.randykritkausky.com/

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For more information about BITEradio products andservices visit:http://www.biteradio.me/index.html

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Remembering Richard The Rev Ricci: Pitt alum and spiritual force behind Night of the Living Dead – University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

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Its a classic trope in horror movies, so much so that it almost feels like common sense. If you want to kill a zombie, you go for its brain.

But this conventional wisdom wasnt part of the public consciousness until 1968, when actor and producer Richard Ricci appeared as the first ghoul to take a bullet to the head in Night of the Living Dead.

An integral part of Latent Image the independent, Pittsburgh-based company behind the film Ricci provided inspiration, friendship and the occasional spiritual guidance to his fellow filmmakers. Ricci passed away on July 15 at age 80, almost exactly three years after the death of George A. Romero, his friend and Living Dead director.

The world remembers Ricci through his work with Latent Image, and Pitt students in the film and media studies program remember him through his contributions to the course Making the Documentary: George Romero and Pittsburgh.

Students who took the course last spring worked on a documentary about the making of Night of the Living Dead, and Ricci participated in interviews about his involvement in the film. Carl Kurlander, who taught the course, said he felt Riccis appearance left a lasting impact on both himself and his students.

We were so lucky to be able to meet Richard, Kurlander said. My students said they could tell what a good soul he was.

According to Kurlander, Ricci met Romero through his cousin in 1960, during Riccis senior year at Pitt. Kurlander said they shared a love of film and frequently watched movies together, thanks to Riccis job operating projectors at Pitt.

The two became close friends and collaborators, so much so that Kurlander said he thought the director would never have done Night of the Living Dead had it not been for Ricci.

George had literally learned everything about filmmaking not at [Carnegie Mellon University, where he attended college], Kurlander said, but at Pitt with Richard Ricci.

After graduating in 1961, Ricci joined Romero and several other friends in creating Latent Image. According to Claire Akers, a 2019 Pitt alumna and TA for the documentary course, the company produced their first film together called Slant on the Duquesne Incline.

Akers said the short film, the footage for which no longer exists, followed the story of a young girl dreaming of a better life.

[She] dreams of going up the Incline, and when she gets there she realizes its not all she thought it was. So she goes back down and realizes she likes her life, Akers said.

But Latent Image didnt produce a full feature-length film until Night of the Living Dead which Ricci also had a major hand in developing.

The film is loosely based on the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend, about a post-apocalyptic world overrun with vampires. And according to Kurlander, Romero only knew about the book because of Ricci.

Richard was the one who gave George a book called I Am Legend, which is the book that Night of the Living Dead was based on, Kurlander said.

Gary Streiner, another member of Latent Image, said Ricci also contributed to the film by convincing its collaborators to fund the project.

He was the financier of Latent Image. He infused it all with a lot of cash, Streiner said. He was the one that inspired each of us there ended up being 10 of us to put up whatever cash we could.

Streiner added that Duane Jones, the films lead actor and one of the first Black men to play the hero in a horror movie, joined the production because he and Ricci were college roommates. Streiner said Ricci convinced him to audition for the part, despite the fact that Jones had moved to New York.

Duane, after college, was ready to get out of Pittsburgh. He was ready to find higher ground, Streiner said. He was back in town over the holidays. Duane came and read for George, and there was just no question about it.

And as for that infamous head shot scene, Ricci told the film class that Romero selected him for the part out of necessity. According to Akers interview with Ricci, the scene was potentially dangerous, and Latent Image couldnt afford a lawsuit if it ended badly.

George said, Oh, Richard, listen, I have something. I want a roll for you for your zombie, Ricci said. We want you because you wont sue us if anything happens.

On a personal level, Streiner described Ricci as spiritual, and said he earned the nickname The Rev among friends for the way he always had an answer.

He never rushed his answers he always took time to think them out, Streiner said. Thats the way he was about everything. It would take him an hour to eat an orange, he was so particular about the process.

Streiner said Ricci also had rituals for even miniscule, everyday activities something he said exemplified Riccis careful nature and earned him respect from friends.

You couldnt just have a fire in the fireplace without there being some ritual attached, Streiner said. Everything got that special attention. Thats why he was so loved by everyone that knew him. It was because he took time to listen.

Although Akers knew Ricci for only a few months, she said she grew close with him through their interviews, adding that he took an interest in her goals as a filmmaker.

He had asked me what am I interested in, and what do I want to do, Akers said. Hes so personable that without even realizing it, you enter a full conversation.

After making Night of the Living Dead, Ricci drifted apart from Latent Image, moving to Los Angeles and later Santa Fe, New Mexico, to pursue a behind-the-scenes career in film production, according to Streiner.

He kind of left the pack after a while and went on to have a career elsewhere, which a lot of us did. We were all really really young when we started, Streiner said. You finally get to that point where you have to go out and use what you learned.

Akers said Ricci often joked about being the only one with a steady job [in Latent Image], and Streiner also noted that even during the companys heyday, Ricci drifted in and out to serve in the Navy or work for advertising companies.

Richard was kind of out there. He had other jobs, he went to work, he was a producer at an advertising agency, Streiner said. He went away to the Navy, and he kind of separated from the pack.

Still, Ricci never put too much distance between himself and Latent Image. He eventually settled in Miami, where he lived until his passing, but regularly returned to western Pennsylvania to participate in the annual Living Dead Weekend, according to Streiner.

Akers said at the time of his death, Ricci was also working with the George A. Romero Foundation to restore footage from Latent Images unfinished feature film, Expostulations.

During one of his interviews for the documentary, Ricci recalled the confidence and determination he felt when he and Romero decided to start a film company a decision that eventually led to Night of the Living Dead and solidified Riccis legacy in the horror world.

[Romero] said, Im going to make movies with Richard Ricci, Ricci said. No doubt in our minds. This is what were going to do.

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Remembering Richard The Rev Ricci: Pitt alum and spiritual force behind Night of the Living Dead - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

OPINION/SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING: Neither snow nor rain nor politics – Wicked Local Fall River

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The post office. The post office? Oh really? Cmon!

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds -- Unofficial motto, United States Postal Service

The post office. The post office? Oh really? Cmon!

Maybe you are like me: increasingly anxious about the state of our postal system, how its institutional stumbling and intentional downsizing by Uncle Sam may be a direct threat to the ability of our nation to have free and fair and transparent elections come Nov. 3.

The irony is that most of us as citizens and users of the system, mail senders and mail receivers: up until this weird moment in history, we havent thought much about the man or woman in the light blue uniform, driving a boxy red white and blue van, who arrives outside of our door six days a week and delivers the mail.

We just take it for granted.

I still get a little jolt of excitement when I go to the mail box and open it up and wonder just what treasures it might hold for me: a get well card or a package from Amazon or my New Yorker or Bicycling magazines or a postcard from a friend. I know this is a bit nostalgic. As a boy, I always tried to beat my family members to the mail box and be the first in my clan to read the latest issue of Life magazine.

For those under the age of 50, you probably wont get that reference. Many folks younger than me, many people in general, view the USPS as a dinosaur of sorts, a quaint relic of days past, a service that now delivers mostly junk mail and sales flyers and freebie newspapers, and a very, very rare item called a letter.

These have been tough decades for the oldest federal agency, created by the Continental Congress in 1775, who appointed Benjamin Franklin as the very first postmaster general. Recognizing it as an essential service for the nation, its work is actually prescribed in the United States Constitution. For most of its history, the post office was nonpartisan and very good at what it did: delivering the mail. It has served as a lifeline and gathering spot, and still does, in more than 31,000 cities and small towns and villages. It is the most ubiquitous symbol of Uncle Sam and the federal government in our country.

But in this age of email and texts and instant communication and very high expectations about package delivery (order it today and get it tomorrow), the USPS has stumbled badly in the past several years. It hasnt kept up with, nor been very good at, adapting to this new world of immediate human connection. In 2020 it expects to lose more than $13 billion. And now in these pandemic times, the USPS is being asked to handle and deliver mail-in election ballots in all 50 states, for a potential pool of 180 million voters. In response to this challenge, the agency sent letters to all 50 states in July, warning them that it could not guarantee that all the ballots would be delivered on time, either to the voters or election officials.

Can 2020 get any harder?!?!

In response to this potential national emergency, our commander in chief has stepped up and demanded additional funding for the agency and spoken publicly of his great respect for the USPS and the mail-in voting. Kidding! Instead, hes actually called the post office a joke, and insists that mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud, thus undermining the legitimacy of the electoral process in a year when millions and millions of us will actually need to use a mail-in ballot.

And the Congress? Well, if they cant come to terms with the administration or the opposition over efforts to extend unemployment benefits to tens of millions of our suffering citizens, why should we expect them to take any action on the USPS?

FYI: for the record, mail-in voter fraud is very rare in the United States. Statistics complied by MIT researcher Charles Reynolds and National Vote at Home Institute and Coalition leader Amber McReynolds, report that in the past 20 years, 250 million mail-in ballots have been cast. Of that number, there have 1,200 suspected cases of fraud and 143 criminal convictions. That means the chances of voter fraud, statistically speaking, are 0.00006. Remember that number the next time you hear a politician attacking mail-in balloting.

USPS officials do have one important piece of advice to voters who wish to use a mail-in ballot for the November general election: request it at least 15 days before the election. Lets repeat that: if you want to vote by mail, get your ballot sooner, not later. Be in touch with your local election officials NOW. Confirm that you are registered to vote. If you want to use the mails for your vote, it is finally up to you as a citizen to make sure that this will happen.

We as voters need to be vigilant and to act wisely and take responsibility for our ballots whether in person or by mail. God knows this may just be the most important election in at least a generation. Get your ballot. Let your voice be heard. Then maybe say a big prayer for the USPS, too. They are going to need all the help, human and divine, that they can get.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night nor pandemics nor politicians, stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Lets hope so.

The Rev. John F. Hudson is senior pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn (pilgrimsherborn.org). If you have a word or idea youd like defined in a future column or have comments, please send them to pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.

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OPINION/SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING: Neither snow nor rain nor politics - Wicked Local Fall River

When Katrina Kaif Went Flirty Chic in Some Bright Florals, Ruffles and a Whole Lot of Cakes! – Report Door

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She turned a year older last month! Katrina Kaif ringed in her homebound birthday celebrations with some gorgeous looking cakes and a pretty gorgeous self! Dressed in her favourite hue of red, Katrina Kaif roped in some florals and ruffles this time around. Flirty and fun, Katrina flaunted a De La Vali red floral mini dress complimented by flirtatious ruffle edging to create the perfect laidback look. A strikingly tall and lithe frame, a gorgeous face coupled with a rare wit and charm, she is one of the few actresses to have retained an ultra-glamorous and chic fashion game. With social media shenanigans garnering a whopping following of 42.5 million on Instagram, Katrina Kaif never misses dropping in a drool-worthy style for fashion lovers and critics alike to lap up.

Pretty patterns, soft prints, easy silhouettes are all hallmarks of fun, easy fashion. Setting the mood alight with her attitude and style, despite a reserved demeanour, heres how Katrina aced the spring style.Katrina Kaif Sparkles in Pink in This Kay Beautys Tutorial!

It was a De La Valis red floral mini ruffle dress worth 265(approximately Rs.26,209). The dress was teamed with pulled back open hair, subtle glam and a radiant smile.Yo or Hell No? Katrina Kaifs Very Own Pride Moment and Her Attempt to Rock All Colourful Look.

Katrina Kaif in De La Vali (Photo Credits: Instagram)

On the professional front Katrina was last seen in Ali Abbas Zafars Bharat with Salman Khan. She will be seen in Rohit Shettys action film, Sooryavanshi with Akshay Kumar. While Akshay essays the role of DCP Veer Sooryavanshi, the chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Katrina will be seen essaying the role of his wife, Aditi Sooryavanshi. The film will be released on 27th March 2019.

(The above story first appeared on Report Door on Aug 31, 2020 01:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website reportdoor.com).

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Planning Commission Very Divided on URP Proposal, but Does Barely Support Approval – The Peoples Vanguard of Davis

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By David M. Greenwald

How divided was the Planning Commission on Wednesday over the University Research Park Mixed-Use project? They recommended approval by a 4-3 vote, after pulling out the affordable housing and architectural site plan.

The project is located in a vacant lot along Research Park Drive to the south of I-80. The proposal will consist of four buildingseach just under 30,000 square feet with four floors of residential apartment units over one floor of office/open plan tech space.

The project proposed a total of 160 dwelling units, including 32 studio units, 96 one-bedroom units, and 32 two-bedroom units.

The project is planned to provide a total of 138,431 square feet of residential space and 26,912 square feet of office/open plan tech space. The proposed buildings height is 60 feet.

Two of the biggest hurdles proved to be the affordable housing plan and the overall architectural site plan.

On affordable housing, the city made the determination that the project qualifies for the Vertical Mixed Use Exemption pursuant to Section 18.05.080 of the Citys Municipal Code that was in effect for this project at the time of the application submittal in March 2018.

Although the Citys Affordable Housing Ordinance was amended in January 2019 with current requirements which included revisions to the exemptions, the proposed project was submitted prior to the amendments, the city staff reasons, but they will require under the Sustainable Communities Project guidelines that the provision of affordable housing be included as part of the project, regardless of local waivers. Therefore, the applicant has proposed that the payment of in-lieu fees to satisfy the requirement for affordable housing.

This triggered some heavy differences of opinion among the members of the planning commission.

Emily Shandy said, I share the concerns raised previously about affordable housing in this project. I have a strong preference to see those affordable units included on site in this project. Thats the main sticking point for me on this one.

Darryl Rutherford expressed frustration on the affordable housing after speaking to Mark Friedman of Fulcrum, and he felt there was a real need to include housing on site.

He suggested that perhaps the applicant could cut back on the expense of the design and the materials, and maybe if we reduced that we could actually meet the inclusionary affordable housing component that this commission, the social services commission and many many people in this community want to see.

He said this is incumbent upon the developers who are asking the city to do a lot.

Ultimately he said he couldnt support the project without more benefits given back to the community in the form of meeting an affordable housing commitment.

But Greg Rowe argued, We all need to sort of step back in the concerns we have about affordable housing. He noted that this was the outcome of attempting to address the issue of climate change and encouraging transit priority projects.

He noted that this was the result the state streamlining CEQA projects that demonstrating they would reduce VMT by being near high quality transit. Part of that trade off is reduced CEQA requirements (for which this project was CEQA exempt) and they also had a maximum of five percent affordable housing under state law.

Its a trade off, he said. We may not be happy with that but thats what our state legislature decided they wanted. He said, Its a balancing act. It is what it is.

Emily Shandy added, I am disappointed that this is yet another project coming before us thats sort of an island of buildings in the middle of a sea of parking.

Darryl Rutherford said, The design seems a little oddpretty industrial. He added, It just doesnt have a Davis feel to me.

He noted the attempt to move to a more modern design but he said, It still doesnt seem to fit the community.

Herman Boschken, who ultimately provided the deciding vote on the project, called it a very sterile design, which he compared to Russian Housing where he spent some time. There is nothing much redeeming about the architectural style.

Boschken noted that, given the close proximity to campus, it is an open question as to who will live there and he went so far as to argue if housing for students got tight, this could become a student housing project.

Im inclined to approve the project, he concluded. But Im not completely happy with it.

On the other hand, David Robertson was strongly opposed to it from the get go.

For one thing, he was angry that the city keeps pushing forward these projects without updating their overall planning.

He acknowledged that we need housing now and will need housing after this project.

Will we ever run out of the need for housing in the city of Davis? Probably not while Im alive, he said. When are we going to start addressing the issues on a broader scale of what is it were trying to achieve as a city? Or are we just going to keep proposing housing and hope that it matches up?

He said, This to me is a city issue. But he noted that this project is actually 80 percent housing and 20 percent office space. Were going to build more housing and think that somehow its going to match up with the paltry amount of non-residential thats being put on this site.

But Greg Rowe had a different take, noting how lucky we are that Mr. Friedmans company bought this property back in 2016, because UC Davis offered almost as much money for this entire business park. Had they successful in doing that, that would have been the loss of millions in property tax revenue for this city and this is proposing to move forward with something that is pretty positive, pretty progressive.

Steve Mikesell also noted his agreement with Greg Rowe and disagreement with David Robertson. We make a mistake thinking about this as only a housing project, he said.

He sees it as an extension of the research park that is immediately adjacent to it.

We need to think of this as one piece of one part of the Interland Property, he said, noting that there are plans to upgrade it over time.

He noted that this is a local company, not a NYSE property. We are absolutely as lucky as can be that not only did the university not buy this parcel, but it is a developer who is as well respected as Mark Friedman and Fulcrum, he said. I have a lot of trust about the way they are putting this together.

While Mikesell said he felt good about the design of the project, others disagreed and, in fact, pulled out the approval of the site design from their recommendations.

Emily Shandy said, The more projects we accept that we dont really feel are the best projects for this community at that location at this time, the more of those subpar projects we accept, the lower were setting the bar for the next project that comes before us.

Mark Friedman, the applicant, pushed back on some of these comments. One of the conundrums they have is how to meet many competing objectives.

When we put this project together we were very focused on a number of benefits that we thought were important to the community, Friedman explained. One of the things we wanted to do was the densify the site. We felt it was an environmental good to create a place where people could walk to work.

He noted that it is extraordinarily more expensive to build high than is to spread out. This was acknowledged in the city ordinance that had exempted mixed use development from having to provide affordable housing. That was an acknowledgement that this project was more expensive and there were other benefits that they chose that outweighed those.

He said that he could agree to add more affordable housing and other bells and whistles, but all Im doing is getting further from the feasibility and farther away from delivering housing.

He told David Robertson that he appreciates his comments, But quite frankly I dont understand how the community is better off, how you solve your housing problems by making projects so infeasible that nobody builds them.

Friedman put it bluntly, I ask you to vote this project up or down. I promise that it will be beautiful if you allow us to build it. But Im not willing to redesign it.

Ultimately the motion would pass 4-3 with Robertson, Rutherford and Shandy opposing it.

David M. Greenwald reporting

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Planning Commission Very Divided on URP Proposal, but Does Barely Support Approval - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis

Import Screening Pilot Unleashes the Power of Data – FDA.gov

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By: Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs

I frequently emphasize the importance of data in the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations work as a science-based regulatory agency, and the need to unleash the power of data through sophisticated mechanisms for collection, review and analysis so that it may become preventive, action-oriented information.

As one example of this commitment, I would like to tell you about cross-cutting work the agency is undertaking to leverage our use of artificial intelligence (AI) as part of the FDAs New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative. This work promises to equip the FDA with important new ways to apply available data sources to strengthen our public health mission. The ultimate goal is to see if AI can improve our ability to quickly and efficiently identify products that may pose a threat to public health.

One area in which the FDA is assessing the use of AI is in the screening of imported foods. Americans want to enjoy a diverse and available food supply. They also want their food to be safe, whether its domestically produced or imported from abroad.

So we launched a pilot program in the spring of 2019 to learn the added benefits of using AI, specifically machine learning (ML), in our import-screening processes. Machine learning is a type of AI that makes it possible to rapidly analyze data, automatically identifying connections and patterns in data that people or even our current rules-based screening system cannot see.

The first phase of this pilot was a proof of concept to validate the approach were taking. We decided to test this approach on imported seafood to assess the utility of using AI/ML to better target seafood at the border that may be unsafe.

Why seafood? Because the U.S. imports so much of it. Upwards of 94 percent of the seafood Americans consume each year is imported.

We embarked on the proof of concept by training the ML screening tool, using years of retrospective data from past seafood shipments that were refused entry or subjected to additional scrutiny, such as a field exam, label exam or laboratory analysis of a sample. This gave us an idea of how much our surveillance efforts might be improved using these technologies.

The results are exciting, suggesting that this approach has real potential to be a tool that expedites the clearance of lower risk seafood shipments, and identifies those that are higher risk. In fact, this is great news. The proof of concept demonstrated that AI/ML could almost triple the likelihood that we will identify a shipment containing products of public health concern.

The implementation team is now working to apply the AI/ML model algorithm to field conditions as part of the second phase of this work, an in-field pilot again focusing on imported seafood, and thats where we are now. As part of the in-field pilot, the model will be applied to the screening methods used to help FDA staff decide which shipments to examine and will then provide information about which food in the shipment to sample for laboratory testing. We will then compare the results to the recommendations made by our current system.

We see this opportunity as a critical step in the FDA employing the power of AI across the spectrum of product and process challenges facing the agency. Our initial proof of concept results indicate that such innovative approaches hold great promise in further strengthening protections for consumers.

The pilot taps into two important new initiatives at the FDA. In addition to the New Era of Smarter Food Safety, it also reflects the priorities embodied in our Technology Modernization Action Plan or TMAP.

On July 13, the FDA released a blueprint for the New Era of Smarter Food Safety outlining how the agency plans to leverage new technologies and approaches to create a more digital, traceable and safer food system.

When we developed the blueprint, we knew that AI technology could be a game changer in expanding the FDAs predictive analytics capabilities, enabling us to mine data to anticipate and mitigate foodborne risks. The pilot is revealing the specific, immediate benefits that this technology could have in helping us ensure the safety of imported foods.

The TMAP describes important actions we are taking to modernize our technology information systems computer hardware, software, data, analytics, advanced technology tools and more in ways that accelerate the FDAs pursuit of our public health mission.

Additionally, the plan lays out how the agency intends to transform our computing and technology infrastructure to position the FDA to close the gap between rapid advances in product and process technology and the technology solutions needed to ensure those advances translate into meaningful results for American consumers and patients. The TMAP provides a foundation for the development of the FDAs ongoing strategy around data itself a strategy for the stewardship, security, quality control, analysis and real-time use of data that will illuminate the brightest path and the best tools for the FDA to enhance and promote public health.

While both of these initiatives were well underway before the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons learned during this time of crisis have underscored the need for more real-time, data-driven approaches to protecting public health.

The pilot also gives us the opportunity to learn how to untether the knowledge we need from the huge volume of data we have from screening millions of import shipments every year. In 2019, the FDA screened nearly 15 million food shipments offered for import into our country for sale to American consumers. Last year, the U.S. imported about 15% of the food we consume and that percentage continues to increase.

The FDA has a massive amount of data about these shipments and about the companies that are producing and processing the food, offering it for import, and selling it in the U.S. marketplace. In fact, every year the FDA collects tens of millions of data points on imports alone, and we screen all the data associated with every shipment of food against the information in our internal databases. One of the major goals of our pilot is to assess the ability of AI/ML to more quickly, efficiently, and comprehensively take advantage of all the data and information residing in our systems.

In fact, we believe that we can use the knowledge that ML provides to know where best to concentrate our resources to find potentially unsafe products. In addition to improved import surveillance resources, the intelligence that ML can extract from the stores of data the FDA collects can also inform decisions about which facilities we inspect, what foods are most likely to make people sick and other risk prioritization questions.

The bottom line is this: times and technologies change, and the FDA is changing with them, but the goal remains the same to do everything in our power to strengthen the way we protect public health.

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Artificial Intelligence in Government: Global Markets 2020-2025 – ResearchAndMarkets.com – Business Wire

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "AI in Government - Forecasts from 2020 to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government market was valued at US$4.904 billion in 2019.

In recent years, government in different countries are taking a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. They are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence (AI), spending budget, and time on pilot programs for various AI applications while discussing with people in the filed on the future implications of this technology for various public projects.

The growing volume of big data is the major factor that is increasing the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology across the government sector as it reduces the cost of storing and processing that data. The rapid adoption of cloud computing solutions is also contributing to the market growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in government as cloud computing brings together data and cognitive services, along with edge computing which allows for the fast response time by the deputies. With improving machine learning capabilities, governments are likely to invest more in artificial intelligence (AI) research.

Currently, world governments are working with industry leaders as well as academia on several AI projects, ranging in application from coordinating traffic to digitizing backlogs of government documents. This will continue to boost the market growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in government until the end of the forecast period.

The most common application of artificial intelligence in the government sector is the use of chatbots. Earlier, they tend to be used for very narrow applications, answering simple routine questions. But their value is increasing with more conversations and questions while providing feedback to improve customer service. Since people are already using AI for a digital assistant, bot, or some type of intelligent service in the commercial space, the government is also required to imbibe this technology for the same.

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in government requires a macro-level strategy to be adopted by governments on account of the disruptive potential of this technology. Governments are taking several initiatives and implementing policies that are coherent with the better use of AI across the public sector, thus positively impacting the overall market growth.

However, so far, the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in state and local governments is increasing at a slower pace and smaller scale as compared to that in the private sector. Many governments still need to upgrade their legacy IT infrastructure in order to use AI technology to its full potential while reducing compatibility issues. Moreover, many government departments lack necessary computing resources for AI projects since heavy data might require more expensive graphical processing units, thus hindering the market growth. Another factor that is restraining the growth of AI in government market is the lack of data scientists and subject matter experts required by the government to determine problems that AI could solve for a given government department.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government market is segmented by offering, technology, and geography. By offering, the global artificial intelligence (AI) in Government market is segmented into hardware, software, and services. By technology, the market is segmented into machine learning, deep learning, machine vision, natural process learning.

North America holds the significant market share throughout the forecast period

Geographically, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government market is segmented as North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (MEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC). North America accounted for the significant market share in 2019 and will remain at its position until the end of the forecast period. Early adoption of new advanced technologies and the presence of major market players in the region supports the growth of this regional market.

The United States is the major market in this region as the country has already started incorporating artificial intelligence technology for several public projects. For example, the New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) partnered with IBM to develop a portal for one of their initiative - the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), for which government agency employees were needed to process around 70,000 SNAP applications per month. IBM Watson helped to find a scalable solution in order to maximize outreach to the customer base.

In 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched a chatbot named Emma which answers questions on immigration and takes visitors to the right page of the USCIS website. IN 2012, the Pittsburgh Department of Transportation collaborated with Rapid Flow Technologies to install the system in a pilot project in East Liberty. Using the system SURTRAC, the city traffic control departments are able to manage traffic flows through several intersections while using artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize the traffic system by reducing travel times, traffic stops, and wait times.

Furthermore, the U.S. and Canada are investing heavily in R&D for different AI applications which will continue to drive the market growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government in North America during the forecast period. The country is aimed to become the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2025, using this technology by the central government to monitor and control its own population.

Asia Pacific will witness a substantial CAGR during the forecast period, majorly attributed to the mushrooming investment in artificial intelligence (AI) technology in China. Other APAC countries are also investing in AI for public projects on account of the growing popularity of cloud computing, digitalization, and the rising volume of data. In 2016, Singapore's government partnered with Microsoft on its Conversations as aa Platform for its Smart Nation Initiative in order to explore next-generation government services based on a shift towards conversational computing using chatbots.

Competitive Insights

Prominent key market players in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government market include Accenture, Microsoft Corporation, ALEX - Alternative Experts, LLC, Alion Science and Technology Corporation, IBM, and SAS Institute Inc. among others. These companies hold a noteworthy share in the market on account of their good brand image and product offerings. Major players in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government market have been covered along with their relative competitive position and strategies. The report also mentions recent deals and investments of different market players over the last two years.

Key Topics Covered

1. Introduction

1.1. Market Definition

1.2. Market Segmentation

2. Research Methodology

2.1. Research Data

2.2. Assumptions

3. Executive Summary

3.1. Research Highlights

4. Market Dynamics

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis

5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government Market Analysis, By Offering

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Hardware

5.3. Software

5.4. Services

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government Market Analysis, By Technology

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Machine Learning

6.3. Deep Learning

6.4. Machine Vision

6.5. Natural Process Learning

7. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government Market Analysis, By Geography

7.1. Introduction

7.2. North America

7.3. South America

7.4. Europe

7.5. Middle East and Africa

7.6. Asia Pacific

8. Competitive Environment and Analysis

8.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

8.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness

8.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations

8.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix

9. Company Profiles

9.1. Accenture

9.2. Microsoft Corporation

9.3. ALEX - Alternative Experts, LLC

9.4. Alion Science and Technology Corporation

9.5. IBM

9.6. SAS Institute Inc.

9.7. DataRobot, Inc.

9.8. ElectrifAI

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4sat38

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Artificial Intelligence in Government: Global Markets 2020-2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

Automation, artificial intelligence to be central in the post-Covid world – Economic Times

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Traditional factory floor practices are being reconfigured as manufacturing companies increasingly adopt automation and artificial intelligence throughout value chains in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are in an environment that is getting more and more volatile every day, said Siemens India MD Sunil Mathur, panelist at The Economic Times Back to Business Dialogues on the theme of Automating Business, Accelerating Growth. At the same time, customers are becoming even more demanding. The challenge that most manufacturing companies are facing is how to balance these two.

If procurement and retail are managed digitally, AI can analyse the data for better demand prediction. Therefore, the whole supply chain will get compressed, said Pawan Goenka, MD, Mahindra & Mahindra.

They were among participants at the latest Back to Business Dialogues, a series of webinars featuring the sharpest business minds on how to cope with post-Covid challenges. The main theme was broken down into two the increased role and impact of automation in manufacturing, and harnessing the power of data and automation in organisations.

SAP Labs India MD Sindhu Gangadharan said, With the lockdown, we have realised that those businesses who relied on physical interactions with customers and did not make that jump (to digitalisation) early on really suffered.

Hero MotoCorp has eliminated paperwork when moving goods from factories and switched to robotic process automation (RPA).

The whole thing is now done by RPA, by robots, so people arent scared of who is coming, said CIO Vijay Sethi. This has led to a huge increase in efficiency, reduction in errors and increase in quality.

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Automation, artificial intelligence to be central in the post-Covid world - Economic Times

Supercharge vegetation management and outage prediction with artificial intelligence – Utility Dive

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Relying on last year's weather to predict this year's power outages is an increasingly risky proposition. Climate change is shifting weather patterns in every region, increasing the frequency and severity of storms, wind, and drought. For example, in the wake of the recent tropical storm Isaias, Con Edison suffered its second-largest outage ever, mainly due to damage from trees in high winds.

According to Con Ed: "The storm's gusting winds shoved trees and branches onto power lines, bringing those lines and other equipment down and leaving 257,000 customers out of power. The destruction surpassed Hurricane Irene, which caused 204,000 customer outages in August 2011."

Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, told The Verge: "If you liked Isaias, you'll love the decades to come because they're only going to get worse. We need to prepare."

Good data and smart algorithms can help utilities get ahead of this problem, better predicting outages risks, and addressing them more precisely and proactively. This is transforming two of the most hands-on utility operations: tree trimming and outage response. New services powered by rich near-real-time data, machine learning and artificial intelligence are helping utilities target maintenance and preparation resources, to better protect assets and people from weather-related outages.

When utilities cannot keep a very close eye on both plant growth and weather patterns, it's hard to predict exactly where and when outages will probably occur. This introduces substantial uncertainty into planning for both vegetation management (to prevent outages), and for mobilization of outage recovery resources.

The typical way that utilities plan for these operations can be part of the problem. At most utilities, planning for vegetation management is governed mainly by cyclic schedules, past experience, and infrequent and incomplete information about current conditions from periodic ground-based and aerial inspections. Satellite imagery is available, but few utilities possess sufficient in-house capabilities for detailed analysis.

Internal silos are another complication. Although vegetation management and outage prediction are closely related functions, at many utilities they are handled by separate departments, with separate budgets, utilizing separate data and models. Furthermore, data analysis and IT exist in yet another silo, with their own budget and priorities.

Fortunately, new cloud-based services can support utilities on all of these fronts. IBM, which owns The Weather Company, continuously gathers massive amount of highly granular satellite imagery and weather data, which is analyzed by sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms. As these algorithms gain more experience with more data, they learn how to provide even more actionable warnings to utilities about outage risks.

"This is no small feat," said Stuart Ravens, Chief Analyst for Thematic Research at GlobalData. "You need computer vision to extract from data and images where and how fast trees are growing. That demands vast resources for data storage and processing, and considerable technology and data expertise. For many utilities, it would be a luxury to be able to do this on their own. Data discovery has always been a hard sell."

Services that provide reliable, timely data-driven insights into outage risks can help bridge the common utility divide between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) a key goal of digital transformation initiatives in many industries. Smart application of data and technology can unify operations and departments in ways that can deepen collaboration and expand benefits across the enterprise.

"IT departments always get involved with bringing our services to operational departments," said Bryan Sacks, Head of Work and Asset Optimization Solutions for IBM. "Usually, IT prioritize operations like vegetation management or outage response when directed by the business. But IT people get very interested in our geospatial platform, and that gives them more ideas about what the utility could do with this kind of data and artificial intelligence resources."

Ravens emphasized the value of bridging utility silos. "If you keep running vegetation management and outage prediction, or IT and OT, in separate silos, you just entrench those silos and lose so much," he said. "There should be a wider goal for every step you take. Keep half an eye on the future, where you want to take this next. Don't just use these tools to create new silos."

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Artificial Intelligence Is the Next Top Gun – Bloomberg

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James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former supreme allied commander of NATO, and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is also an operating executive consultant at the Carlyle Group and chairs the board of counselors at McLarty Associates.

Photographer: Edward Linsmier/Bloomberg

Photographer: Edward Linsmier/Bloomberg

A few months ago I was at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab in suburban Maryland, where I serve as a senior fellow. A group of us mostly retired four-star military officers were there to witness a computer-simulated dogfight of a unique character: man against machine.

I was seated next to retired Admiral John Richardson, who until last fall had been chief of naval operations, the highest-ranking officer in the fleet. We were both skeptical that the artificial intelligence program that would be piloting one of the virtual aircraft would be able to outfight the human pilot, call sign Banger, from the Air Force's equivalent of the Navys legendary TOPGUN fighter-tactics instruction program.

It was a remarkable blend of software development, AI, modelling and simulation, combat-aircraft dynamics and controls, and advanced video production it felt like watching an ESPN sports event. We observed a half-dozen runs, and Banger had his hands full, losing more often than not.

It was clear as the demonstration progressed that, over time, the AI entity which was constantly in machine-learning mode was not only improving, but becoming dominant. At the end of the demo, Richardson and I agreed that the AI would eventually beat the human every time. We consoled ourselves by agreeing that perhaps a Navy fighter pilot would have lasted longer than the Air Force's best. But inwardly, I doubted that would be the case.

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Since then, the competition called the AlphaDogfight Trials and run by the Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has rolled along in a series of additional events, culminating in a five-event sweep by AI against Banger and his simulated F-16 last week. (Bangers name is being withheld for security reasons, and perhaps to protect him from severe teasing from his squadron-mates.) It was a way to showcase the growing importance of AI to the warfighter, and allowed commercial companies to enter their AI competitors.

The winner was Heron Systems Inc., a small Maryland firm that was the most aggressive and accurate of the eight competitors invited by Darpa. True, there are a fair number of caveats to the AI accomplishment such as that the computer had perfect real-time information, which is never the case in actual combat, and the human pilot was not flying a "real plane, but operating in a simulator.

Yet it is an important moment, not unlike IBMs Deep Blue computer defeating the Russian champion Garry Kasparov in chess in 1997, or an AI machine beating the Chinese Go master Ke Jie in 2017. Are the days of Goose and Maverick, the cinematic "Top Gun" pilots, numbered? And, more importantly, where is the competition in AI headed between the U.S. and China, where the combat advantage could affect operations in the South China Sea and elsewhere?

First, there is still a big leap from a computer simulation in a lab to putting AI in charge of a $50 million jet and sending it into a dogfight arguably the most complex airborne task for military operations.

In addition to resolving fog of war ambiguities, the engineering capability to have the AI system run a cockpit are still years away. Developing, testing and deploying a fully capable AI system will probably occur first in drones, then logistics and refueling aircraft, and then land-attack strike platforms before moving into pure air-to-air fighter combat systems.

But the global competition in AI is fierce. Eric Schmidt, former chairman of Google, has been focusing on these issues on behalf of the Department of Defense for some time, and hes told me that the edge the U.S. once held over China is diminishing rapidly from years to perhaps months. A huge concern is that the Chinese will potentially leapfrog over all previous research and development in the U.S. through their effective system of industrial espionage. Russia, likewise, is moving forward on AI capability, although its considerably behind the U.S. and China. Lesser military powers including France, India, Israel,Saudi Arabia and the U.K.are also interested, as is Iran.

For the U.S., the implications of AI are perhaps approaching those of Space Race of the 1960s. But the Pentagon cannot win the race on its own: It needs to find more and better ways to work cooperatively with Silicon Valley; enhance its cybersecurity, since all of these systems will be vulnerable to cyberattacks; and consider how to mesh AI with manned activities, particularly Special Operations forces. This will require the enormous, lumbering Defense Department to be innovative and nimble over the near term.

Go and chess are games. An AI program that defeats a human being is amusing copy on a slow news day. But when an AI program provides a real advantage in deeply complex combat operations, we need to pay closer attention, and recognize the challenges ahead. Banger will be flying for some years to come. But not forever.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:James Stavridis at jstavridis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former supreme allied commander of NATO, and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is also an operating executive consultant at the Carlyle Group and chairs the board of counselors at McLarty Associates.

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Artificial Intelligence Is the Next Top Gun - Bloomberg

Defense Innovation Unit Teaching Artificial Intelligence to Detect Cancer – Department of Defense

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The Defense Innovation Unit is bringing together the best of commercially available artificial intelligence technology and the Defense Department's vast cache of archived medical data to teach computers how to identify cancers and other medical irregularities.

The result will be new tools medical professionals can use to more accurately and more quickly identify medical issues in patients.

The new DIU project, called "Predictive Health," also involves the Defense Health Agency, three private-sector businesses and the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

The new capability directly supports the development of the JAIC's warfighter health initiative, which is working with the Defense Health Agency and the military services to field AI solutions that are aimed at transforming military health care. The JAIC is also providing the funding and adding technical expertise for the broader initiative.

"The JAIC's contributions to this initiative have engendered the strategic development of required infrastructure to enable AI-augmented radiographic and pathologic diagnostic capabilities," said Navy Capt. (Dr.) Hassan Tetteh, the JAIC's Warfighter Health Mission Initiative chief. "Given the military's unique, diverse, and rich data, this initiative has the potential to compliment other significant military medical advancements to include antisepsis, blood transfusions, and vaccines."

A big part of the Predictive Health project will involve training AI to look at de-identified DOD medical imagery to teach it to identify cancers. The AI can then be used with augmented reality microscopes to help medical professionals better identify cancer cells.

Nathanael Higgins, the support contractor managing the program for DIU, explained what the project will mean for the department.

"From a big-picture perspective, this is about integrating AI into the DOD health care system," Higgins said. "There are four critical areas we think this technology can impact. The first one is, it's going to help drive down cost."

The earlier medical practitioners can catch a disease, Higgins said, the easier it will be to anticipate outcomes and to provide less invasive treatments. That means lower cost to the health care system overall, and to the patient, he added.

Another big issue for DOD is maximizing personnel readiness, Higgins said.

"If you can cut down on the number of acute issues that come up that prevent people from doing their job, you essentially help our warfighting force," he explained.

Helping medical professionals do their jobs better is also a big part of the Predictive Health project, Higgins said.

"Medical professionals are already overworked," he said. "We're essentially giving them an additional tool that will help them make confident decisions and know that they made the right decision so that we're not facing as many false negatives or false positives. And ultimately we're able to identify these types of disease states earlier, and that'll help the long-term prognosis."

In line with the department adding an additional line of effort focused on taking care of people to the National Defense Strategy, Higgins said using AI to identify medical conditions early will help to optimize warfighter performance as well.

"Early diagnosis equals less acute injuries, which means less invasive procedures, which means we have more guys and gals in our frontline forces and less cost on the military health care system," he said. "The ultimate value here is really saving lives as people are our most valuable resource."

Using AI to look for cancer first requires researchers to teach AI what cancer looks like. This requires having access to a large set of training data. For the Predictive Health project, this will mean a lot of medical imagery of the kind produced by CT scans, MRIs, X-rays and slide imagery made from biopsies, and knowing ahead of time that the imagery depicts the kind of illnesses, such as cancer, that researchers hope to train the AI to identify.

DOD has access to a large set of this kind of data. Dr. Niels Olson, the DIU chief medical officer and originator of the Predictive Health project, said DOD also has a very diverse set of data, given its size and the array of people for which the department's health care system is responsible.

"If you think about it, the DOD, through retired and active duty service, is probably one of the largest health care systems in the world, at about 9 million people," Olson said. "The more data a tool has available to it, the more effective it is. That's kind of what makes DOD unique. We have a larger pool of information to draw from, so that you can select more diverse cases."

"Unlike some of the other large systems, we have a pretty good representation of the U.S. population," he said. "The military actually has a nice smooth distribution of population in a lot of ways that other regional systems don't have. And we have it at scale."

While DOD does have access to a large set of diverse medical imaging data that can be used to train an AI, Olson said privacy will not be an issue.

"We'll use de-identified information, imaging, from clinical specimens," Olson said. "So this means actual CT images and actual MRI images of people who have a disease, where you remove all of the identifiers and then just use the diagnostic imaging and the actual diagnosis that the pathologist or radiologist wrote down."

AI doesn't need to know who the medical imaging has come from it just needs to see a picture of cancer to learn what cancer is.

"All the computer sees is an image that is associated with some kind of disease, condition or cancer," Olson said. "We are ensuring that we mitigate all risk associated with [the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996], personally identifiable information and personal health information."

Using the DOD's access to training data and commercially available AI technology, the DIU's Predictive Health project will need to train the AI to identify cancers. Olson explained that teaching an AI to look at a medical image and identify what is cancer is a process similar to that of a parent teaching a child to correctly identify things they might see during a walk through the neighborhood.

"The kid asks 'Mom, is that a tree?' And Mom says, 'No, that's a dog,'" Olson explained. "The kids learn by getting it wrong. You make a guess. We formally call that an inference, a guess is an inference. And if the machine gets it wrong, we tell it that it got it wrong."

The AI can guess over and over again, learning each time about how it got the answer wrong and why, until it eventually learns how to correctly identify a cancer within the training set of data, Olson said, though he said he doesn't want it to get too good.

Overtraining, Olson said, means the AI has essentially memorized the training set of data and can get a perfect score on a test using that data. An overtrained system is unprepared, however, to look at new information, such as new medical images from actual patients, and find what it's supposed to find.

"If I memorize it, then my test performance will be perfect, but when I take it out in the real world, it would be very brittle," Olson said.

Once well trained, the AI can be used with an "augmented reality microscope," or ARM, so pathologists can more quickly and accurately identify diseases in medical imagery, Olson said.

"An augmented reality microscope has a little camera and a tiny little projector, and the little camera sends information to a computer and the computer sends different information back to the projector," Olson said. "The projector pushes information into something like a heads-up display for a pilot, where information is projected in front of the eyes."

With an ARM, medical professionals view tissue samples with information provided by an AI overlaid over the top information that helps them more accurately identify cells that might be cancerous, for instance.

While the AI that DIU hopes to train will eventually help medical professionals do a better job of identifying cancers, it won't replace their expertise. There must always be a medical professional making the final call when it comes to treatment for patients, Higgins said.

"The prototype of this technology that we're adopting will not replace the practitioner," he said. "It is an enabler it is not a cure-all. It is designed to enhance our people and their decision making. If there's one thing that's true about DOD, it's that people are our most important resource. We want to give them the best tools to succeed at their job.

"AI is obviously the pinnacle of that type of tool in terms of what it can do and how it can help people make decisions," he continued. "The intent here is to arm them with an additional tool so that they make confident decisions 100% of the time."

The Predictive Health project is expected to end within 24 months, and the project might then make its way out to practitioners for further testing.

The role of DIU is taking commercial technology, prototyping it beyond a proof of concept, and building it into a scalable solution for DOD.

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How Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we search and find online – ITProPortal

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Can a machine know a customer better than they know themselves? The answer is, for the purposes of shopping, yes it can.

First of all, Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes a dispassionate view of customers and their behavior online, while in research, consumers will often give contradictory answers, answers that then change over time, depending largely on how they are feeling at that particular moment. As an indicator of how those consumers are then likely to behave in terms of what they buy, this has been proven to be unreliable.

AI on the other hand, supported by machine learning to deliver better and better outcomes over time, operates without emotions and simply reacts to and learns from what it is being told.

In online retail, AI is set to revolutionize the world of search. If revolutionize sounds too big a word for it, bear in mind that search technology has barely changed in 10 or more years. While brands have invested heavily in making their websites look amazing and optimized them to steer the customer easily to the checkout, they have generally used out of the box search technology ever since the first commercial engine was launched by Altavista back in 1995.

Given that typical conversion rates on retail websites is 2-3 percent, then there is everything to play for in making search easier and more rewarding for shoppers. Retailers invest heavily in SEO and PPC to get customers from Google to their site but too often think the job is done once they get there.

Products are then displayed to their best advantage on the site; email or newsletter sign up is offered; online chat is offered; promotions pop up; a list of nearby stores is offered; and so on. But at no point is the customer offered or given any help, apart from the online chat window which follows them around.

At this point, the customer may well start to follow the journey laid out for them by the retailer; they get distracted and end up somewhere entirely different from what they intended. Some customers like to wander, but those that already knew what they were looking for do not.

Meanwhile, what has the retailer learned from all the precious time the customer has spent on their site? Only that the customer has not bought anything, and it is only at this point that an offer pops up or the online chat box appears. But none of these actions are based on any knowledge of the customer other than which pages they have looked at.

The search engine is not very good at learning; it may be able to refer the customer back to a page they looked at before because of the consumers digital footprint or due to the cookie the site left behind, but if that webpage was not useful, then the search process has actually gone backwards. So, the customer continues to end up where they never wanted to go in the first place ever decreasing circles displaying a choice of unwanted products.

These on-site search functions can be compared to stubborn school children who simply refuse to learn, whatever they are taught. The customer searching online tries to make their query as accurate and intelligent as possible while the search engine simply responds by sharing everything it knows, but without actually answering the question. AI by contrast can spot what the customer intends and gives answers based on that intent, depending where an individual shopper is in their own personal buying journey.

It then returns increasingly accurate results because it is learning from what the customer is telling it. Search thus becomes understanding because it is looking at behavior not just keywords, which is the current limit of conventional search engines. The AI can also create the best shopping experience beyond basic search, including navigation, to seamlessly and speedily advance a customer to the checkout.

This is really what delivering personalized journeys is all about the site understands the customer, knows what they want and how they want it. For instance, when a shopper is very clear about what they want, the AI can plot the quickest route through the site to the payment page, while customers looking for inspiration can be given a slower and more immersive experience, with lots of hand-holding as required, such as links to online chat to help them with their decision or curated content to inspire browsing.

AI in ecommerce assumes a character all of its own, essentially a digital assistant that is trusted by the customer to help them find what they want. Retailers can personalize AI in any way they choose, while the processing and intelligence that sits behind it continues to work unseen.

AI in action of course creates a huge amount of interactional and behavioral data that the retailer can use to make improvements over time to base search, navigation, merchandising, display, promotions and checkout experience. It delivers good results for individual customers as well as all customers as their online behavior continues to evolve.

Our view is that customers want help when they are on a website. They want to be able to ask questions using natural rather than search language and they want the search function to learn based on those answers. By ensuring that their search strategy is underpinned by AI, retailers can then introduce more dynamic search enablers, such as visual and voice. But rather than simply adding commands, the customer is able to hold conversations with the digital assistant using natural language. Search then turns into discovery and it is this that leads to higher customer conversions, repeat visits and long-term loyalty.

To date, a lot of the conversation around AI has focused on the technology rather than what it enables in the real world. And there has been some reticence to adopt it for fear that it will replace human jobs; however, in the case of online search, one automated process is simply complementing another and all in all, doing a much better job. Check out your own search function now. How is that working for you?

Jamie Challis is UK Director, Findologic

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How Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we search and find online - ITProPortal

Toward a machine learning model that can reason about everyday actions – MIT News

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The ability to reason abstractly about events as they unfold is a defining feature of human intelligence. We know instinctively that crying and writing are means of communicating, and that a panda falling from a tree and a plane landing are variations on descending.

Organizing the world into abstract categories does not come easily to computers, but in recent years researchers have inched closer by training machine learning models on words and images infused with structural information about the world, and how objects, animals, and actions relate. In a new study at the European Conference on Computer Vision this month, researchers unveiled a hybrid language-vision model that can compare and contrast a set of dynamic events captured on video to tease out the high-level concepts connecting them.

Their model did as well as or better than humans at two types of visual reasoning tasks picking the video that conceptually best completes the set, and picking the video that doesnt fit. Shown videos of a dog barking and a man howling beside his dog, for example, the model completed the set by picking the crying baby from a set of five videos. Researchers replicated their results on two datasets for training AI systems in action recognition: MITs Multi-Moments in Time and DeepMinds Kinetics.

We show that you can build abstraction into an AI system to perform ordinary visual reasoning tasks close to a human level, says the studys senior author Aude Oliva, a senior research scientist at MIT, co-director of the MIT Quest for Intelligence, and MIT director of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. A model that can recognize abstract events will give more accurate, logical predictions and be more useful for decision-making.

As deep neural networks become expert at recognizing objects and actions in photos and video, researchers have set their sights on the next milestone: abstraction, and training models to reason about what they see. In one approach, researchers have merged the pattern-matching power of deep nets with the logic of symbolic programs to teach a model to interpret complex object relationships in a scene. Here, in another approach, researchers capitalize on the relationships embedded in the meanings of words to give their model visual reasoning power.

Language representations allow us to integrate contextual information learned from text databases into our visual models, says study co-author Mathew Monfort, a research scientist at MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Words like running, lifting, and boxing share some common characteristics that make them more closely related to the concept exercising, for example, than driving.

Using WordNet, a database of word meanings, the researchers mapped the relation of each action-class label in Moments and Kinetics to the other labels in both datasets. Words like sculpting, carving, and cutting, for example, were connected to higher-level concepts like crafting, making art, and cooking. Now when the model recognizes an activity like sculpting, it can pick out conceptually similar activities in the dataset.

This relational graph of abstract classes is used to train the model to perform two basic tasks. Given a set of videos, the model creates a numerical representation for each video that aligns with the word representations of the actions shown in the video. An abstraction module then combines the representations generated for each video in the set to create a new set representation that is used to identify the abstraction shared by all the videos in the set.

To see how the model would do compared to humans, the researchers asked human subjects to perform the same set of visual reasoning tasks online. To their surprise, the model performed as well as humans in many scenarios, sometimes with unexpected results. In a variation on the set completion task, after watching a video of someone wrapping a gift and covering an item in tape, the model suggested a video of someone at the beach burying someone else in the sand.

Its effectively covering, but very different from the visual features of the other clips, says Camilo Fosco, a PhD student at MIT who is co-first author of the study with PhD student Alex Andonian. Conceptually it fits, but I had to think about it.

Limitations of the model include a tendency to overemphasize some features. In one case, it suggested completing a set of sports videos with a video of a baby and a ball, apparently associating balls with exercise and competition.

A deep learning model that can be trained to think more abstractly may be capable of learning with fewer data, say researchers. Abstraction also paves the way toward higher-level, more human-like reasoning.

One hallmark of human cognition is our ability to describe something in relation to something else to compare and to contrast, says Oliva. Its a rich and efficient way to learn that could eventually lead to machine learning models that can understand analogies and are that much closer to communicating intelligently with us.

Other authors of the study are Allen Lee from MIT, Rogerio Feris from IBM, and Carl Vondrick from Columbia University.

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Toward a machine learning model that can reason about everyday actions - MIT News