Monthly Archives: April 2021

Senate GBM Recap, March 25 and April 1 – CMU The Tartan Online

Posted: April 11, 2021 at 5:48 am

The Senate general body meeting on March 25 discussed special allocations for Lunar Gala and recommendations for housing and bathroom changes to support the trans, intersex, and nonbinary (TIN) community.

Last weeks Senate general body meeting on April 1 discussed the work of the Commission on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, adjusted fiscal budgets, and election ratification meetings.

Lunar Gala is an annual student-run fashion show with more than 130 people involved in its production. Because of COVID-19, the show will be virtual this year, and tickets to attend are free. They filmed their performance a week earlier and found that there were unexpected costs in renting the media equipment to film. The Joint Funding Committee (JFC) had previously allocated media equipment funds to Lunar Gala, and, under bylaws, the JFC was not able to reallocate funds for the same purpose, so Lunar Gala instead requested the Senate to fund their unexpected costs, which is permitted under bylaws. The special allocations request passed 13 to 0 to 1.

The Senate's Business Affairs Committee also introduced two resolutions in support of the TIN community. One resolution was endorsing a document written by Business Affairs in support of all-gender housing at Carnegie Mellon. The document recommends making all-gender housing the default option for students and making single-gender housing opt-in. It also recommends renovations to communal bathrooms in housing, such as making floor-to-ceiling bathroom stall walls, and changes to the roommate selection process to ensure the safety of TIN individuals against roommate violence through single-occupancy housing. The document stated that "An all-gender default resists societys current gender binary which is harmful to members of the TIN community, without inherently exposing cis- and gender-conforming students to violence." Business Affairs had conducted an earlier survey and found that 68 percent of the student body would either be interested in or would have no preference in all-gender housing. The resolution was passed 12 to 0 to 1.

Another resolution requested the Senate's endorsement of "Actionable Steps For All-Gender Equity at CMU," a document written by Carnegie Mellon's Trans, Intersex, and Nonbinary Alliance (TINA). In addition to wanting all-gender housing as described in the document written by Business Affairs, TINA requested renovating bathrooms in campus buildings to add all-gender single-stalled bathrooms to promote the safety of members of the TIN community, allowing for chosen and legal names and genders to be more easily updated within university information systems, promoting health resources and TIN bias training for students, and more. The resolution was passed 12 to 0 to 1.

Last week, guest speakers Roberta Klatzky and Jonathan Caulkins presented the work of the Commission on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, created in response to the university-wide debate around the hiring and actions of Richard Grenell. They mentioned that there were three subcommittees within the commission: one for creating forums for discussion around the topic, one for discussing "points of discomfort," as Klatzky said, related to academic freedom and freedom of expression, and another for discussing policy creation related to the topic at Carnegie Mellon.

Senators asked the speakers questions about the diversity of the commission, the boundaries of acceptable speech at Carnegie Mellon, and whether hiring should consider social media platforms that hirees use and the audiences that they reach. The speakers asserted that departmental diversity had been taken into consideration when choosing the committee, the members of which are published online. Caulkins said that it was difficult to determine when to penalize academics for holding invalid beliefs that are unrelated to their field and that cases where academics did hold beliefs counter to norms in their field sometimes help promote scientific advances. Caulkins added that an issue the commission had to face when considering statements on social media in the hiring process is that hirers could be biased by the individual's personal life instead of solely considering professional qualifications.

The Finance Committee also presented a resolution on reducing Senate committee budgets for the fiscal year of 2021 due to COVID-19. Overall, the fiscal year budget for 2021 was reduced by about 40,000 dollars to a total of 160,000 dollars.

Senators also passed a resolution 19 to 0 to 1 affirming the resolution for a joint meeting of the Undergraduate Senate and Graduate Student Assembly. The meeting would ratify the results of the student government election, which is currently running, and elect the executive chair of the Activities Board. Students can vote in student government elections here.

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Senate GBM Recap, March 25 and April 1 - CMU The Tartan Online

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JAIC director: With flat budgets, turn to AI to save money – C4ISRNet – C4ISRNet

Posted: at 5:48 am

WASHINGTON Artificial intelligence can provide vital savings for the Pentagon in the face of flat or decreasing budgets, the director of the departments top AI office said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, leader of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, promoted the efficiencies of AI, particularly for business systems, on the same day the Biden administration announced a topline defense budget proposal of $715 billion, which amounts to an overall decrease, when adjusted for inflation.

In an era of tightening budgets and focus on squeezing out things that are legacy and are not important in the budget, the productivity gains and the efficiency gains that AI can bring to the department, especially through the business process transformation, actually becomes an economic necessity, Groen said at a press briefing. So in a squeezed play between modernizing our warfare that moves at machine speed and tighter budgets, AI is doubly necessary.

The JAIC, tasked with increasing the use of artificial intelligence across the department, wants to drive the Pentagon to operate more like a data-driven software company. That includes establishing data feeds and algorithms that are shared across the department.

Groen said that implementing those practices would create productivity gains, new insights and improved management across the department.

It really represents a transformation of our operating model, Groen said. That operating model will have to create a common data environment where data is shared, data is authoritative, [and] data is available.

He added, its about making our organization, the Department of Defense in this case, as productive and efficient as any of these modern successful data-driven enterprises.

Earlier this month, Groen warned that the departments biggest strategic threat was its own technological obsolescence and called for the department to invest more in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and resilient networks, that will define the future of warfare. Artificial intelligence and associated technologies underpin the DoDs plans to stay competitive, and its the JAICs responsibly to provide best practices and services to assist organizations on their AI efforts.

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Providing those services is core to the organizations pivot to JAIC 2.0, in which it focuses more on providing broad AI-enabling services to department components rather than developing AI products.

Under the JAIC 2.0, we measure our success in the success of others, Groen said.

We come in as archivists of best practice across the department, and say, Hey, show us how youre doing that. Let us learn from you, he said. And then we can share, Hey, you know, theres another agency in the department that has a problem very similar to yours and heres how theyre addressing that. So we played broker for information and expertise across agencies, across services across combatant commands.

That shift has recently manifested itself through the release of solicitations to industry for test and evaluation help and data readiness services in an effort to boost its ability to help department components implement artificial intelligence.

The JAIC is also viewed as central to AI efforts at the Pentagon by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, a congressionally mandated organization that provided recommendations to boost the countrys AI readiness. The report urges the department to be AI ready by 2025 and suggests the JAIC take on a broad range of responsibilities, from developing workforce initiatives to advising components on AI development.

The JAICs prominence has also increased because of a provision in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act that elevated the centers reporting responsibility to the deputy secretary of defense, a move Groen said gives the JAIC more insight into department priorities and boosts the stature of the center internally.

The move allows the deputy secretary and the rest of the department leadership access to the tools and processes to reinforce their priorities, underline our ethical foundations, integrate our enterprises and transform our business processes, he said.

Bob Work, former deputy secretary of defense and vice chair of the NSCAI, echoed Groens comments at the press conference, arguing that AI leadership is core to the departments future competitiveness.

You have to have top down leadership, you cannot say AI is important and let all of the agencies and subordinate departments figure out what that means, Work said.

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JAIC director: With flat budgets, turn to AI to save money - C4ISRNet - C4ISRNet

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Johnson Controls and Pelion Partner on Artificial Intelligence / Internet of Things (AIoT) For Smart, Healthy, and Sustainable Buildings -…

Posted: at 5:48 am

Partnership accelerates innovation by removing the complexities of bringing artificial intelligence (AI) to a diversity of devices at the edge, enabling smarter buildings that evolve and adapt through Johnson Controls OpenBlue technology

Johnson Controls to leverage Pelions connected device platform for IoT device management services that simplify monitoring, maintaining, and improving the health, security, and performance of edge devices and workloads.

SAN JOSE, Calif.(BUSINESS WIRE)Today, Pelion, the Connected IoT Device service provider, and subsidiary of Arm, jointly announced a partnership with Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings. This partnership will accelerate innovation in connectivity, security and intelligence at the edge for Johnson Controls OpenBlue technology.

This partnership combines Johnson Controls deep domain expertise in healthy buildings with Pelions device and edge management capabilities to usher in an era of truly smart, updateable facilities at cloud scale. said Mike Ellis, chief customer and digital officer for Johnson Controls. OpenBlues AI capabilities at the edge will consolidate diverse points of intelligence distributed across various floors, sites or even continents into insights and actions, creating an updateable building that can self-heal and evolve over its lifespan.

This innovation mirrors the automotive sector, where software, multiple sensors and AI-trained models have transformed the industry by enabling autonomous driving and software updates that blend data to continually improve vehicle capabilities and experience. Johnson Controls is applying the concept to the built environment. They will leverage Pelions flexible device management capabilities to unite diverse device types and application layers to feed AI models that respond to dynamic workloads.

Johnson Controls has the strategic foresight to rely on a partner to streamline the complexity of IoT device management security and secure firmware updates over the air, said Hima Mukkamala, CEO of Pelion. Pelions connected device platform will standardize the onboarding process for all systems, including the edge and endpoint devices that run on them, plus offer world-class public key infrastructure for secure and simple integration with third-parties.

This secure, open and flexible approach to device management will allow OpenBlue to run any device and hardware configuration, from hardware gateways to constrained temperature sensors.

In order to provide sustainable, low cost and low power intelligent processing at the edge, the partnership will utilize proven energy-efficient processors from Pelions parent company, Arm, which are a key part of Johnson Controls distributed hardware deployment.

For more on the partnership, Pelion CEO Hima Mukkamala has shared his thoughts in a blog post on the Johnson Controls website.

About Johnson Controls:

At Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI), we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering, OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the worlds largest portfolio of building technology, software and service solutions with some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more information, visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.

http://www.johnsoncontrols.com

About Pelion:

Pelion was originally founded as an incubation unit within Arm, the worlds leading designer of key technologies at the heart of computing. Now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arm, Pelion is forging its own path in the IoT revolution, building on a solid foundation of device expertise and a 500-enterprise strong customer base. With a unique combination of global IoT connectivity and device management from a single vendor, Pelion breaks down barriers to IoT adoption for anyone looking to revolutionize their industry.

http://www.pelion.com

About Arm:

Arm technology is at the heart of a computing and data revolution that is transforming the way people live and businesses operate. Our energy-efficient processor designs and software platforms have enabled advanced computing in more than 180 billion chips and our technologies securely power products from the sensor to the smartphone and the supercomputer. Together with 1,000+ technology partners we are at the forefront of designing, securing and managing all areas of AI-enhanced connected compute from the chip to the cloud.

http://www.arm.com

Contacts

Johnson Controls Contacts:Investors:Antonella Franzen

Direct: 609.720.4665

Email: antonella.franzen@jci.com

Ryan Edelman

Direct: 609.720.4545

Email: ryan.edelman@jci.com

Media:Chaz Bickers

Direct: 224.307.0655

Email: charles.norman.bickers@jci.com

Michael Isaac

Direct: +41.52.6330374

Email: michael.isaac@jci.com

Pelion Analyst And Media Contacts:PelionPress@archetype.co

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Johnson Controls and Pelion Partner on Artificial Intelligence / Internet of Things (AIoT) For Smart, Healthy, and Sustainable Buildings -...

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Former Speaker John Boehner’s Memoir Serves As A Reflection On Life In ‘Crazytown’ – NET Nebraska

Posted: at 5:48 am

"Crazy." "Moron." "Lunatic."

In his memoir On the House, Former Speaker John Boehner dishes on his past colleagues in Congress with most of the harshest criticism directed at fellow Republicans. This becomes less surprising as he chronicles his slow burning disillusionment over the past decade with a GOP ultimately transformed and now defined by the ethos of former President Trump.

"I don't even think I could get elected in today's Republican Party anyway, just like I don't think Ronald Reagan could either," he concludes.

No one is more surprised by this than Boehner, a former Ohio congressman from working-class roots who was first elected to Congress 1990 as a firebrand conservative reformer. He helped expose internal corruption in the U.S. House, championed fiscal restraint, passed a lot of laws, and ultimately led a successful 20-year campaign to ban earmark spending once he became speaker. (Congress is now planning to reinstate earmark spending under Democratic control.)

Boehner resigned from Congress in 2015 on his own accord, but his decision came while under growing pressure from the right flank, led by then Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, who viewed him as insufficiently conservative and was considering forcing a formal vote to oust him. Boehner delights in recalling how Meadows publicly voted against him for speaker, and then requested a private meeting, he writes, during which he got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness. "For a moment, I wondered what his elite and uncompromising band of Freedom Caucus warriors would have made of their star organizer on the verge of tears, but that wasn't my problem," Boehner writes. Meadows went on to become President Trump's last White House chief of staff.

A life-long and unapologetic smoker and drinker, the cover features Boehner sitting in what appears to be a dark bar, signature red wine in hand (merlot, preferably), with a lit cigarette in an ashtray. It sets the tone for a memoir that often reads like he's simply here to share some of his favorite tales over a couple of drinks. There's that time Moammar Gadhafi gave him a pair of sunglasses in the middle of the Libyan Desert. And the one about how he thought he had convinced Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to be Bob Dole's running mate back during the 1996 presidential campaign. And how he'll never forget the look on former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's face when he told him "You can go f--k yourself" outside the Oval Office.

Boehner is candid but never cruel in his recollections, with the exception perhaps of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, ("a reckless a--hole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else," he writes) who he loathes for his role in the 2013 government shutdown. Yet he prides himself on being a nice guy guided by a set of maxims, or "Boehnerisms" on how to treat people in life and in politics. "It doesn't cost anything to be nice," is one of them. It's the rising cruelty of modern politics that increasingly leaves him feeling out of touch with the angry and uncompromising pulse of the GOP. This is, after all, a lawmaker who loved working with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, "a great man and a great legislator" in his estimation.

The GOP's rabid hatred of former President Barack Obama, the 2010 Tea Party wave that swept in a class of uncompromising, anti-government novice lawmakers, and the rise of Donald Trump are all events Boehner recounts more as a helpless bystander despite being one of the most seemingly powerful Republicans in Washington. Time and time again, he recalls being powerless against the rising revolt inside the party towards any sign of legislative compromise, and towards the establishment he had come to represent. It's refreshing to read a memoir with a politician's honest accountings of repeated failures rather than self-inflated successes.

He takes issue with the certain ideas that Trump has unleashed there is no such thing as the "Deep State," and the press are not "the enemy of the people." By the end of the book, it's not hard to understand why he's no longer a party leader. It also includes some stark assessments from someone who served nearly three decades in government, climbing to the highest levels of power. "There are people we are electing who will destroy this country if we aren't careful," he warns. But Boehner offers no solutions or 10-point plans to get the country back on track. He's not the guy to ask anymore.

Susan Davis is a congressional correspondent for NPR. She covered Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, on and off from 2003 until his retirement in 2015.

Steve Inskeep is set to interview John Boehner about his memoir, airing on Morning Edition Monday, April 12.

Former Speaker John Boehner's Memoir Serves As A Reflection On Life In 'Crazytown' - NET Nebraska

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CDW Tech Talk: Finding the Humanity in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data – BizTech Magazine

Posted: at 5:48 am

How to Steer Your Organization Toward Being More Data-Driven

Many businesses looking to build data programs may lack the operational management needed to implement a data-driven vision, and their technology leaders may be left wondering how to make it happen.

Clingerman offered this advice: Look to see whats happening within your industry verticals and competition. Where are others taking advantage of data?

He cited Uber as a prime example of a small startup that was able to harness the data collected out of the application it built. Upon discovering that many customers were using Uber as transportation to and from restaurants, the data the company collected enabled it to create a whole new line of business with Uber Eats.

The vision and cultural aspects of an organization are what allow a business to take this data and use it to realize the promise of AI.

Clingerman mentioned several examples of how AI has recently been harnessed to benefit society. In the transportation sector, autonomous cars have helped to enable safer transportation. In agriculture, sensors placed on farm equipment have been used to maximize crop yields. AI has been used to power smart cities, ensuring safer, more secure cities and more reliable public transportation.

However, with all the data organizations are contending with, Clingerman said its absolutely critical for organizations to consider ethics when deciding how to harness and use that data.

How do we use this data only for good? How do we ensure that its safe and secure? How do we anonymize the information as much as possible? he asked. All of our decisions are focused on how organizations leverage technology to drive human progress forward. Its not about the technology. What are we doing to better our society?

WATCH THE WEBCAST: Unlock the Insider-exclusive video to learn more about the intersection of technology and social responsibility.

Kristin Malek, director of business diversity at CDW, also joined the session to speak about the ways in which procurement and supply chain management can provide opportunities for businesses looking to prioritize positive societal and economic impacts in their decision-making.

She quoted a January 2020 Deloitte study, which notes that The term ethical technology refers to an overarching set of values that is not limited to or focused on any one technology, instead addressing the organizations approach to its use of technologies as a whole and the ways in which they are deployed to drive business strategy and operations. Companies should consider proactively evaluating how they can use technology in ways that are aligned with their fundamental purpose and core values.

There is a real-time demand in our country and beyond for equity in the workplace, in the workforce and in our new digital supply chain, Malek added.

She emphasized that in 2021, business diversity and supply chain diversity arent just nice to have. Its not charity, its not sprinkling kindness throughout. It is an absolute revenue enabler.

Were all looking for a promise of progress, she said. Business diversity is about realizing that progress through decision-making that factors in social responsibility and supply chain choices that employ impactful sourcing and intentional procurement, because instead of tracking dollars spent, we need to be tracking the lives that were enriching.

So, whats on the table? Whats the business case? she asked, noting the many competing strategies all organizations are focused on right now. Its meaningful job creation, its revenue enablement, its greater market share and its done with sustainable and ethical procurement.

FollowBizTechs full coverage of the CDW Tech Talk serieshere. Insiders can register for the event serieshere.

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CDW Tech Talk: Finding the Humanity in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data - BizTech Magazine

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WINT Named to the 2021 CB Insights AI 100 List of Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence Startups – PRNewswire

Posted: at 5:48 am

"This is the fifth year CB Insights has recognized the most promising private artificial intelligence companies with the AI 100, and this is one of the most global groups we've ever seen. This year's cohort spans 18 industries, and is working on everything from climate risk to accelerating drug R&D," said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. "Last year's AI 100 companies had a remarkable run after being named to the list, with more than 50% going on to raise additional financing (totaling $5.2B), including 16 $100 million+ mega-rounds. Many also went on to exit via M&A, SPAC or IPO. As industry after industry adopts AI, we expect this year's class will see similar levels of interest from investors, acquirers and customers."

"Leaks and water damage are significant problems in construction sites, real estate and industry and contribute every year to major costs for repair and remediation, insurance and lost productivity," said Alon Geva, CEO of WINT. "Wasted water also contributes to the global shortage of this critical resource. With WINT's transformative technology, waste can be prevented and leaks can be stopped at the source to help prevent widespread damage before it occurs."

Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights research team selected the AI 100 from a pool of over 6,000 companies based on several factors including patent activity, investor quality, news sentiment analysis, proprietary Mosaic scores, market potential, partnerships, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. The Mosaic Score, based on CB Insights' algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies to help predict a company's momentum.

WINT's systems deploy artificial intelligence, machine learning and signal processing technology to conduct real-time water-flow analysis and identify leaks at their source.By preventing damage from burst pipes and undetected leaks, owners and contractors can avoid costs associated with remediation, repair and increased insurance premiums. Moreover, WINT's advanced solution protects facilities from construction to the project's operational stage. WINT protects facilities from water damage while cutting its ongoing water consumption and waste by 20%-25% to reduce operational expenses and environmental impact.

Quick facts on the 2021 AI 100:

About CB InsightsCB Insights builds software that enables the world's best companies to discover, understand and make technology decisions with confidence. By marrying data, expert insights and work management tools, clients manage their end-to-end technology making process on CB Insights. To learn more, please visit http://www.cbinsights.com.

About WINTWINT is passionate about helping the world conserve one of its most precious resources, and the company is dedicated to helping businesses prevent the hazards, costs and waste associated with water leaks. Utilizing the power of artificial intelligence, the convenience of high-speed cellular data connections and smart shut-off valves, Water Intelligence units provide an all-in-one solution for commercial facilities and construction projects looking to eliminate the fear of water-leak disasters and ongoing water waste. For more information, please visit http://www.wint.ai.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Heather RipleyRipley PR(865) 977-1973[emailprotected]

CB Insights[emailprotected]

SOURCE WINT

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WINT Named to the 2021 CB Insights AI 100 List of Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence Startups - PRNewswire

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Life after COVID: ‘Can you hear me?’ Local government forced to evolve in pandemic era – HollandSentinel.com

Posted: at 5:48 am

With COVID-19 forcing local city council and township board meetings online, technology problems have become the norm.Zoom

HOLLAND The Laketown Township Board of Trustees was in the midst of a roll-call foravote to approve the township's much-discussed budget for the next fiscal year includingdoubling the township's operating millage when they discovered a township trustee had disappeared from the Zoom meeting.

"Where's Jim Delaney?" asked Supervisor Linda Howell.

"He took off," responded a member of the public watching on Zoom.

The meeting was put on hold while a member of the public, also on Zoom, who had Delaney's cellphone number, called him.

Eventually, another board member, township Clerk Michelle Sall, managed to get Delaney on speaker phone so he could cast his vote on the township's $2.8 million budget through her Zoom connection.

The Laketown Township Board of Trustees meets over Zoom Wednesday, March 10, to approve the 2021-22 township budget.Carolyn Muyskens/Sentinel Staff

That made two of them. A second township trustee had already been relegated to voting via the township manager's cellphoneon speaker mode,after he lost connection earlier in the meeting.

With COVID-19 forcing local city council and township board meetings online, technology problems have become the norm, from the familiar refrains, "Can you hear me?" and "You're muted," to the off-kilter recitals of the Pledge of Allegiance which has proved impossible to say in unison over Zoom.

For that reason, and others, most local government representatives in the Holland area have been eager to get back to meeting in person when they can do so safely.

But some of the innovations forced by the COVID-19 pandemic may stick around, offering more ways for the public to access local government.

When stay-at-home orders were in effect in spring 2020, Holland City Council chose to keep meeting in person in city council chambers, where council members are distanced from each other.

Rather than bar in-person access to the meetings, which could be considered a violation of the Open Meetings Act, council strongly encouraged the public to view the meetings online and created a "virtual public comment" method an email address solely for public comment, publiccomment@cityofholland.com so that the public could still address the council without attending in person.

The city has long provided the public with remote access to its meetings through live broadcasts, available on Holland's public-access Holland Cable TV channel and on the city's YouTube page.

Mayor Nathan Bocks said he plans to keep the public comment email around after the pandemic ends.

It's provided another method for the public to communicate with council and make their concerns heard to the community, too public comments received this way are posted to the city's meeting portal along with other public documents.

And it may be less intimidating to some to write down their concerns than it would be to come to a council meeting, stand at the podium in front of nine council members and speak up.

For issues that generate a lot of public interest, the council gets dozens even hundreds of public comments sent to the email.

Jenn Manninen, left, and Jill DeJonge sit outside Holland City Hall Wednesday, Aug. 19, prior to the Holland City Council voting on an anti-discrimation ordinance.Brian Vernellis/Sentinel Staff

Maintaining public access to the business of local government during a pandemic is a difficult balancing act.

Challenges for the city of Holland over the past year included managing the crowds of residents who wanted to weigh in on a controversial expansion of the city's anti-discrimination protections in a new non-discrimination ordinance. Among the new protected classes were sexual orientation and gender identity a move which some Hollanders said threatened their religious freedom, while others, people who identify as LGBT and their friends and family, said the protections were necessary to make Holland a welcoming place for them.

At those meetings, and others where the council chambers has been unable to accommodate all of the members of the public who wanted to attend, the city organized a queue outside city hall for those waiting to speak to the council during public comment. Audio of the meeting was broadcast outside to those in line so they could follow what was happening.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' orders in Novemberdid not exempt local government meetings from the restrictions on gathering. Thatforced city council to move to Zoom and, as soon as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a relaxation of gathering rules in March, city council moved to meet in person again.

Other local municipalities went all virtual, and stayed that way, from the start. The city of Saugatuck, for example, shifted to Zoom meetings in the spring and has continued to meet virtually.

The Saugatuck City Council meets Wednesday to declare a local state of emergency, enabling the group to continue to meet remotely.Carolyn Muyskens/Sentinel Staff

This has led to an increase in public participation in meetings, with Zoom council meetings regularly drawing 30 to40 people to watch the council conduct business.

For Saugatuck, which has a small city hall, Mayor Mark Bekken called a special meeting over Zoom of the council to declare a state of emergency in the city to be able to continue meeting over Zoom after the Open Meetings Act authority to meet remotely expired April 1.

Case counts were still too high in the West Michigan area for the council to deem it safe to meet in person, and the council approved the local state of emergency unanimously.

In Ottawa County, the county board of commissioners extended a local state of emergency for the whole county, enabling all local government bodies to continue to meet remotely, if they choose to.

Holland Township had been gearing up to meet in person in April for the first time since budget deliberations in September, but once Ottawa County made it possible to meet virtually, the board decided to stay on Zoom for the month of April, due to the current rise in COVID-19 cases in West Michigan.

Holland Township first moved to an audioconferencing system in spring2020, before switching to the Zoom platform in the fall.

"There was a learning curve for each of those," said Holland Township Manager Steve Bulthuis, "but I think all parties involved, the board members, staff, as well as the public have all adapted to it very well and have all done their parts to continue to make the meetings participative and more efficient."

Bulthuis said he's received feedback from citizens that say it's more convenient to tune into a board meeting from a computer at home than make the drive to the township offices.

But what is convenient for technologically-savvy residents may be a barrier to access for other, older residents who do not have internet accessor arenot familiar enough with using a computer to join, Bulthuis worries.

Members of the Park Township Board of Trustees meet over Zoom Thursday, Dec. 10.

The Park Township Board of Trustees, by contrast, has adopted a hybrid model that allows board members and the public the choice to attend in person or to tune into the meetings over Zoom. A television screen set up in the board room, facing the other board members, displays the faces of the board members who are participating remotely.

Technology issues persist with this approach, and ultimately, most elected officials who have spoken up about the matter have said that meeting in person is better for getting the business of the township done, efficiently and transparently.

Without a local state of emergency in place due to COVID-19, local boards and councils will no longer legally be able to meet over Zoom.

But Park Township is expanding public's options to accessto its meetings, thanks to a proposal from Clerk Skip Keeter.

In years past, the Park Township Board of Trustees had discussed the idea of installing a camera systemto record meetings and make the videos available online but had rejected the idea. The township a decade ago had posted videos of its proceedings, but stopped the practice when it seemed little-used and costly.

Brought back to the boardlast month by Keeter, this time the idea was met with enthusiasm. On Thursday, the board approved an $8,000 investment in a camera system for the board room.

"The public has expressed some concerns about transparency, and by making recordings of themeetings available we should be able to answer their questions," Keeter said. "There's no light like sunlight, so if you shed light on everythingyou do and you're sharing it with the public, it should take away some ofthe qualms people have about our process with township government."

Though Keeter did not attribute the idea to the pandemic, the timing of the move lines up wellwithgathering restrictions still in place, even for government meetings,and rising COVID-19 cases in West Michigan.

"I can't tell you how much I hate Zoom meetings," Keeter said."I don't think COVIDnecessarily sped up the process, but I think it was moreresponding to our residents."

Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.

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Published11:06 am UTC Apr. 10, 2021Updated8:29 pm UTC Apr. 10, 2021

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Life after COVID: 'Can you hear me?' Local government forced to evolve in pandemic era - HollandSentinel.com

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Policymaking and artificial intelligence: A conversation with John R. Allen and Darrell M. West – Brookings Institution

Posted: at 5:48 am

Until recently, artificial intelligence sounded like something out of science fiction. But the technology of artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly common, from self-driving cars to e-commerce algorithms that seem to know what you want to buy before you do. Throughout the economy and many aspects of daily life, artificial intelligence has become the transformative technology of our time.

On April 21, 2021, Sanjay Patnaik, director of the Center on Regulation and Markets (CRM) at Brookings will sit down with John R. Allen, president of the Brookings Institution, and Darrell M. West, vice president and director of Governance Studies at Brookings, for a fireside chat on their book, Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. Drawing on findings and recommendations from Turning Point, they will explore the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence and discuss a policy blueprint for how to gain the benefits of artificial intelligence while reducing its potential disadvantages. This event will be part of CRMs Reimagining Modern-day Markets and Regulations series, which focuses on analyzing rapidly changing modern-day markets and on how to regulate them most effectively.

Viewers can submit questions for speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or via Twitter using #AIGovernance.

Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence is available to order in print and e-book on the Brookings Press page.

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Policymaking and artificial intelligence: A conversation with John R. Allen and Darrell M. West - Brookings Institution

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Gov. Lee Hosting Newt Gingrich, Gov. Rick Perry and Conservative Policy Leaders – tn.gov

Posted: at 5:48 am

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is kicking off Second Chance Month by hosting a roundtable conversation on criminal justice policy with conservative thought leaders, including former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, former Governor Rick Perry, Pat Nolan, Brooke Rollins and Josh Smith.

Criminal justice reform is still somewhat of a conservative frontier, and with our strong proposals, we can reduce recidivism, save taxpayer dollars and make Tennessee communities safer, said Gov. Lee. I look forward to a thoughtful discussion on how Tennessee can lead the nation in balancing the notion of justice with the public safety outcomes we all expect.

The American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF) has consistently scored legislation in states across the country similar to that which Governor Lee has proposed, said David Safavian, General Counsel for ACUF. We view the underlying tenets of his approach as built on conservative ideals of improving community safety, advancing human dignity, reducing wasteful spending and the belief in redemption.

Roundtable Discussion on Conservative Criminal Justice Reform

Wednesday, April 7

11:15 a.m. CT

About the Panelists:

Newt Gingrich: A fearless visionary and historian, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich is one of the foremost economic, social, political, and security-focused conservative thinkers today. He is well-known as the architect of the Contract with America that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing a majority in the United States House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Today, Newt is Chairman of Gingrich 360, a full-service American consulting, education and media production group that connects the past, present, and future to inspire audiences, solve challenges and develop opportunities.

Pat Nolan: Pat Nolan is the Director Emeritus of the American Conservative Union Foundations Nolan Center for Justice. Nolan is a leading voice on criminal justice reform, highlighting the skyrocketing costs of prison, fiscal responsibility in the criminal justice system and reforms for non-violent offenders. Nolan is the author of When Prisoners Return, which describes the important role of the Church in helping prisoners get back on their feet after they are released. He is a frequent expert witness at Congressional hearings on important issues such as prison work programs, juvenile justice, prison safety, offender reintegration and religious freedom.

Gov. Rick Perry: Rick Perry is a former United States Secretary of Energy, serving under U.S. President Trump from March 2017 to December 2019. Prior to joining the Administration as Secretary of Energy, Perry served as the 47th Governor of Texas. As Governor of the Lone Star State, Perry championed conservative principles including leading the nation in criminal justice reform efforts, which eventually became a national blueprint for reform.

Brooke Rollins: Brooke Rollins is an attorney who served as the acting director of the United States Domestic Policy Council under President Donald Trump and oversaw the White House Office of American Innovation. Rollins was president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based free-market think tank, from 2003 through 2018. Rollins previously served as deputy general counsel, ethics advisor and policy director to Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Josh Smith: A Tennessean who was formerly incarcerated, Josh has spent the past 15 years actively involved in criminal justice reform in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and countries in Central America. Smith has supported programs that provide hope, training and reentry support for prisoners and their families who earnestly want a new life, including hiring and mentoring many felons. In June of 2019 he was named to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lees Criminal Justice Reinvestment Task Force. He and his wife of 23 years, Tracy, are now driven to reshape the reality for offenders, from the time they enter prison through their re-entry.

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BioSig Invited to Join Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH) – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:48 am

Westport, CT, April 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Global leaders, including Amazon, Bayer, and GE Healthcare, joined the AAIH to date to collaborate on developing novel solutions to improve the quality of care and reduce failure rates

The Company recently launched a new AI program with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education

BioSig Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSGM) (BioSig or the Company), a medical technology company commercializing an innovative signal processing platform designed to improve signal fidelity and uncover the full range of ECG and intra-cardiac signals, today announced that it had been invited by, and accepted, an invitation to join the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH), following BioSigs major patent awards for its AI-based platform that the Company recently won from the U.S. Patent Office.

The AAIH is the global advocacy organization for the advancement and use of artificial intelligence in healthcare to improve patients lives and create more efficient, sustainable, and accessible healthcare systems. The AAIH and its member companies and organizations are dedicated to developing novel interventions and product solutions to reduce failure rates and costs while improving quality across the entire healthcare spectrum from biomedical discovery, clinical research, medical diagnostics and devices, and precision medicine. The initiative, which spans out of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, was formally launched in 2019 with 22 founders, including Amazon WS (NASDAQ: AMZN), Bayer (XETR: BAYN), GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), and the University of Pittsburg.

Artificial intelligence excels at analyzing and uncovering patterns in vast volumes of clinical data a fundamental building block in improving patient care. BioSig is a company that is committed to providing superior technological solutions based on precise signal information. We believe that a joint effort between various healthcare community representatives is a much-needed step towards solving common challenges and accelerating the adoption of AI-powered solutions. We are excited to join the Alliance and collaborate with its members on our shared goals for improving the standards of patient care, commented Kenneth L. Londoner, Chairman and CEO of BioSig Technologies, Inc.

Story continues

BioSig recently launched a strategic collaboration with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research to develop a next-generation AI- and machine learning-powered software for the PURE EP System. The Companys platform technology provides signal information during the cardiac ablations for the treatments of arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats, a condition that affects over 33 million people worldwide[1]. Under the terms of the newly launched AI initiative, the Company aims to develop novel technological solutions to improve existing therapies by combining the PURE EP's electrophysiological signals and other data sources.

The Company has also announced major strategic collaborations with other subject-matter experts to further the AI and machine learning applications of the PURE EP System in their collaboration for AI technical advisory services with Harvard- and MIT-trained computer scientist and physicist, Dr. Wissner-Gross, of Reified. In 2020, the Company co-authored an abstract with Reified, titled Computational Reconstruction of Electrocardiogram Lead Placement, that presented a new method for analyzing electrocardiograms that may ultimately help to improve the automated classification of patient conditions.

This is an exciting time for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in healthcare, and we look forward to contributing to next-generation technological solutions in the space, responded Dr. Wissner-Gross.

The global market for AI in healthcare is expected to grow from $4.9 billion in 2020 to $45.2 billion by 2026 at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44.9%. According to Accenture, key clinical health AI applications, when combined, can potentially create $150 billion in annual savings for the United States healthcare economy by 2026.

About AAIHThe AAIH is a coalition of technology developers, pharmaceutical companies, and research organizations who have expressed the common goal of realizing the potential for AI and machine learning in healthcare to significantly improve quality of care, but who also recognize the need to address substantial industry challenges. By convening stakeholders to present a unified voice, we are working to establish responsible, ethical, and reasonable standards for the development and implementation of AI in healthcare. As an organization, the AAIH brings together industry, academia, research institutions, government NGOs, key opinion leaders, and other international stakeholders to develop appropriate regulatory principles. By engaging with a wide array of participants across the healthcare spectrum, the AAIH works to actualize the promise of artificial intelligence in medicine thereby improving patients lives and creating more efficient, sustainable, and accessible healthcare systems. Learn more on http://www.theaaih.org.

About BioSig TechnologiesBioSig Technologies is a medical technology company commercializing a proprietary biomedical signal processing platform designed to improve signal fidelity and uncover the full range of ECG and intra-cardiac signals (www.biosig.com).The Companys first product, PURE EP System is a computerized system intended for acquiring, digitizing, amplifying, filtering, measuring and calculating, displaying, recording and storing of electrocardiographic and intracardiac signals for patients undergoing electrophysiology (EP) procedures in an EP laboratory.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements may be preceded by the words intends, may, will, plans, expects, anticipates, projects, predicts, estimates, aims, believes, hopes, potential or similar words. Forward- looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) the geographic, social and economic impact of COVID-19 on our ability to conduct our business and raise capital in the future when needed, (ii) our inability to manufacture our products and product candidates on a commercial scale on our own, or in collaboration with third parties; (iii) difficulties in obtaining financing on commercially reasonable terms; (iv) changes in the size and nature of our competition; (v) loss of one or more key executives or scientists; and (vi) difficulties in securing regulatory approval to market our products and product candidates. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

1 Top 10 Things You should Know About Heart Rhythm; Scripps Health

Monthly Archives: April 2021

Senate GBM Recap, March 25 and April 1 – CMU The Tartan Online

JAIC director: With flat budgets, turn to AI to save money – C4ISRNet – C4ISRNet

Johnson Controls and Pelion Partner on Artificial Intelligence / Internet of Things (AIoT) For Smart, Healthy, and Sustainable Buildings -…

Former Speaker John Boehner’s Memoir Serves As A Reflection On Life In ‘Crazytown’ – NET Nebraska

CDW Tech Talk: Finding the Humanity in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data – BizTech Magazine

WINT Named to the 2021 CB Insights AI 100 List of Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence Startups – PRNewswire

Life after COVID: ‘Can you hear me?’ Local government forced to evolve in pandemic era – HollandSentinel.com

Policymaking and artificial intelligence: A conversation with John R. Allen and Darrell M. West – Brookings Institution

Gov. Lee Hosting Newt Gingrich, Gov. Rick Perry and Conservative Policy Leaders – tn.gov

BioSig Invited to Join Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH) – Yahoo Finance

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