Monthly Archives: January 2022

Artificial Intelligence May Help in the Fight Against COVID-19 – eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News

Posted: January 13, 2022 at 5:45 am

The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm in early 2020 and has become since then the leading cause of death in several countries, including China, USA, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Researchers are working extensively on developing practical ways to diagnose COVID-19 infections, and many of them have focused their attention on how artificial intelligence (AI) could be leveraged for this purpose.

Several studies have reported that AI-based systems can be used to detect COVID-19 in chest X-ray images because the disease tends to produce areas with pus and water in the lungs, which show up as white spots in the X-ray scans. Although various diagnostic AI models based on this principle have been proposed, improving their accuracy, speed, and applicability remains a top priority.

Now, a team of scientists led by Professor Gwanggil Jeon of Incheon National University, Korea, has developed an automatic COVID-19 diagnosis framework that turns things up a notch by combining two powerful AI-based techniques. Their system can be trained to accurately differentiate between chest X-ray images of COVID-19 patients from non-COVID-19 ones. Their paper was made available online on October 27, 2021, and published on November 21, 2021, in Volume 8, Issue 21 of the IEEE Internet of Things Journal.

The two algorithms the researchers used were Faster R-CNN and ResNet-101. The first one is a machine learning-based model that uses a region-proposal network, which can be trained to identify the relevant regions in an input image. The second one is a deep-learning neural network comprising 101 layers, which was used as a backbone. ResNet-101, when trained with enough input data, is a powerful model for image recognition. To the best of our knowledge, our approach is the first to combine ResNet-101 and Faster R-CNN for COVID-19 detection, remarks Prof. Jeon, After training our model with 8800 X-ray images, we obtained a remarkable accuracy of 98%.

The research team believes that their strategy could prove useful for the early detection of COVID-19 in hospitals and public health centers. Using automatic diagnostic techniques based on AI technology could take some work and pressure off of radiologists and other medical experts, who have been facing huge workloads since the pandemic started. Moreover, as more modern medical devices become connected to the Internet, it will be possible to feed vast amounts of training data to the proposed model; this will result in even higher accuracies, and not just for COVID-19, as Prof. Jeon states: The deep learning approach used in our study are applicable to other types of medical images and could be used to diagnose different diseases.

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A Sci-Fi Visionary Thinks Greed Might Be the Thing That Saves Us – The New York Times

Posted: at 5:44 am

Its easy, especially now, to imagine a bleak and withered future, and thats largely what our storytellers are doing. Whether its in novels, TV shows, films or video games, speculative imaginings of the world were heading toward tilt strongly to fatalistic despair. And while I cant say with much conviction that I have hope for where our current path may lead, I have wondered why more artists arent pushing back and composing visions of the future in more than just minor keys. (Lord knows we could use it.) One artist who has done that over the course of his career is the best-selling sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson. His books, the best known of which are probably the cyberpunk thriller Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, an opus about money and code-breaking, have long dealt in apocalyptic events and malevolent uses of new technology. But and this is particularly true of his latest novel, the climate-change-focused Termination Shock their renderings of the future also include potential solutions (morally and technically complicated though they may be) to the problems of living in a radically changed world. That is to say, their imagination extends beyond the edge of the cliff. To portray a more utopian future, says Stephenson, who is 62 and, to be clear, far from starry-eyed, is to lay oneself open to a certain level of mockery from critics and skeptical audience members. Whereas there doesnt seem to be any level of grim dystopian imagery that will make the fans and the critics say enough already.

Were facing a potentially apocalyptic event in climate change, so it makes sense that post-apocalyptic dystopia is where peoples heads are at as far as sci-fi and speculative fiction. But were also surrounded by incredible technologies that make our lives better, and were going to need new technologies to help combat climate change. So why dont we see much creative output that points toward the future in more hopeful or aspirational ways? I think a lot of it and this is going to sound like a funny argument is a pretty simple economic calculation on the part of people who produce screen entertainment. Im looking over your shoulder on this Zoom and seeing an office building. It would be easy to blow that building up in a science-fictional setting. We could knock holes in it and break the windows and dirty it up, and it would look dystopian and wouldnt require a lot of detailed imagining. If we were going to replace that building with a futuristic building from a more utopian vision of New York City, it would be necessary to design a new building from scratch and make it look convincing structurally and do it in a way that was consonant with an art directors scheme for the production design. The latter approach is simply harder and more expensive, and its easy to strike the wrong note and come up with something that doesnt work whereas everyone would recognize the Empire State Building after having been hit by a nuclear strike. Weve also got in the habit of thinking that by showing that kind of future, the artists are sending a message about how hard they are: Im not some rose-colored-glasses sap. Im a badass thinking dark, mean thoughts about our dark, mean future.

Neal Stephenson at home in Seattle in 1998. Robert Sorbo for The New York Times

What about the story were telling as a society beyond art about climate change? Is there a way we could be talking about it thats more likely to motivate the kind of mobilization we had, say, during the Second World War? The difficulty is that its hard to get lots of people to change their minds. The United States did mobilize in a massive way during World War II, but we didnt start getting serious about it until 1942. There had been a huge war raging since 1939, and the Brits were tearing their hair out waiting for the United States to get more involved, and it wasnt until Pearl Harbor that there was a tipping point in public opinion that made it possible for Americas political leadership to declare war and to enter into it in a serious way. So the question asks itself: What might be a climate equivalent of Pearl Harbor? Were already having little regional Pearl Harbors all over the place. We had our heat dome in Seattle over the summer, we had the mega tornado supercell that passed from Arkansas to Kentucky. These little pinprick Pearl Harbor events happen here and there, but its difficult to imagine one that would impact an entire country the size of the United States if it did, it would be a really bad thing. We dont want to put ourselves in the position of wishing that something terrible would happen. Its also natural to assume that the CO2 problem is similar to other air-pollution problems weve had before. In the 50s, there was a disaster in London because of too much coal smoke in the air, and they cleaned up the air by burning less coal. In the 70s, a lot of the smog problem in L.A. was cleaned up by putting catalytic converters on cars and cutting down on hydrocarbon emissions. Theres a similar story around the ozone hole. Were accustomed to thinking that all we have to do is stop emitting the pollutant, and then nature will clean up the air. But its not true in the case of CO2 in the atmosphere. People confuse CO2 emission reduction or elimination with solving the problem. But even if we could stop emitting all CO2, wed be stuck for hundreds of thousands of years with extremely elevated CO2 levels that nature has no quick way of removing from the air. Thats the key thing that has to be widely understood before we can actually begin envisioning ways to attack the problem.

In Termination Shock, you have a billionaire character who tries to attack that problem through geoengineering. Youve talked elsewhere about writing about geoengineering as a way of ensuring that people are more prepared for it when it starts to happen. Is that something you see as a primary function of fiction: introducing concepts or ideas to the public? Job 1 is to be sufficiently entertaining that a fair number of people will actually read the book all the way to the end. If you havent done that, then youve got nothing. If youve gotten over that hurdle, then it becomes possible to start thinking about other things. Im leery of taking too much of an instrumentalist view of art because I think that if youve got that mind-set of Im going to change peoples minds or push a particular point of view the audience recognizes that almost on a preverbal level and they lose their suspension of disbelief. Im sure you can think of examples where books somehow changed peoples minds about certain topics or ended up having some functional purpose, but I think if you set out from the beginning with a functional mentality, youre probably going to end up with a failed project.

Is being sufficiently entertaining Job 1 for you or for all novelists? The novel is a pop-culture medium just like comic books or movies. So when youre practicing an art form, you generally follow the formal rules of that art form. If youre going to write a sonnet, its going to be 14 lines long. You can choose to write hard-to-read books, like Finnegans Wake, lets say, if thats what you want to do, and its a perfectly defensible choice, but in general telling a readable and enjoyable story is a basic constraint of the form.

Stephenson speaking at M.I.T. in 2008. Daniel Leithinger

All right, heres another question about how we conceive of the world: One of the things that made the Baroque period so fruitful as a setting for you was the tensions that resulted from superstitious, medieval modes of thinking coexisting alongside the beginnings of the rational Enlightenment. What similar tensions between old and new ways of thinking are alive in our modes of understanding the world? What were seeing in the Baroque Cycle is the beginning of scientific rationalism and the idea that we can find ways to agree on what is true, which was a new development. You know, Barbara Shapiro has a book called A Culture of Fact that tells the origin story of the idea of facts, which is not an idea we always had. Another thing Ive been reading recently is The Fixation of Belief by an American philosopher named Charles Sanders Peirce. He was writing in the 1870s, and he goes through a list of four methods that people use to decide what theyre going to believe. The first one is called the method of tenacity, which means you decide what youre going to believe and you stick to it regardless of logic or evidence.

Sounds familiar. Yeah, this all sounds depressingly familiar. The next method is called the method of authority, where you agree with other people that youre all going to believe what some authority figure tells you to believe. Thats probably most common throughout history. The third method is called the a priori method, and the idea is, lets be reasonable and try to come up with ways to believe things that sound reasonable to us. Which sounds great, but if its not grounded in any fact-checking methodology, then you end up just agreeing to believe things by consensus which may be totally wrong. The fourth method is the scientific method. It basically consists of accepting the fact that you might be wrong, and since you might be wrong, you need some way for judging the truth of statements and changing your mind when youve got solid evidence to the contrary. What youre seeing in the Baroque Cycle is the transition from Method No. 3 to No. 4. Youve got all these people having what seem like reasoned, logical arguments, but a lot of them are just tripping. So a few come in, like Hooke and Newton, and begin using actual experiments and get us going down the road toward the rational world of the Enlightenment. But what weve got now is almost everybody using Method 1, 2 or 3. Weve got a lot of authoritarians who cant be swayed by logic or evidence, but weve also got a lot of a priori people who want to be reasonable and think of themselves as smarter and more rational than the authoritarians but are going on the basis of their feelings what they wish were true and both of them hate the scientific rationalists, who are very few in number. Thats kind of my Peircian analysis of where things stand right now.

Do you see a way out of that? When people find that they can obtain lots of money and power by believing certain things and following certain ways of thinking, then you can bet that theyll enthusiastically start doing that. The reason that Enlightenment thinking became popular was that people figured out that it was in their financial best interest to avail themselves of its powers. The spread of very financially successful enterprises like, lets say, steam engines for long-range ocean navigation was a direct outgrowth of the practical application of the scientific method. To that you could also add a lot of financial apparatus that came into existence around then with the Bank of England and various ways of managing financial affairs. In other words, people dont necessarily follow scientific rationalism because theyre noble and pure seekers of the truth, although some of them definitely do it for that reason. More people do it out of self-interest.

It may be the unfortunate case that theres more obvious financial self-interest to be gained by promoting irrational and counterfactual thinking. If you dont have any perceptible downside or negative consequences, then why not sign up with or co-sign the latest conspiracy theory? I do think negative consequences definitely exist, but maybe the cause-and-effect relationship isnt immediately obvious.

What are those negative consequences? What do people stand to lose? Well, the negative consequence is our entire civilization.

This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations.

David Marchese is a staff writer for the magazine and the columnist for Talk. Recently he interviewed Brian Cox about the filthy rich, Dr. Becky about the ultimate goal of parenting and Tiffany Haddish about Gods sense of humor.

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Why Bother? Australians are sick of politics and politicians – The Spectator Australia

Posted: at 5:44 am

For the politically inclined, 2022 should be a year of note. With a federal election due by May, and the usual analysis and intrigue underway, the political events of the year ought to appeal. Yet the response has been remarkably tepid, with a growing number of Australiansignoring politics entirely orremaining alooffrom a process they rightly believe fails to represent their real interests.

And you dont need to take my word for it, just look at the politicians.

Scott Morrison iswarning of a hung parliament a fate which portends a dull re-run of Julia Gillards 2010 experiment. It is emblematic of the Coalitions current wafer-thin majority, the tight results of most recent elections, and a wider lack of enthusiasm with the vision advanced by both of the major parties. Indeed, the reaction of most Australians has been one of increasing apathy, a decline ininstitutional trust, and a retreat to their Monasteries of the Mind a notion coined by the great American classicist, Victor Davis Hanson.

At a deeper level, this posture is representative of a longer term despair with the status quo.

Australia has witnessed almost three decades of uninterrupted growth. If, as the free-marketeers like to remind us economic success is the sole measure of social health why has support for the duopoly that has overseen thisdropped so staggeringly? Why the possibility of another hung parliament? And why the continued presence of minor parties, a group which now garners arounda quarter of the popular vote?

Primarily, this is due to a deep disenchantment with the cosmopolitan liberalism that defines our times. Whilst the public pleads for less disruption and dynamism, and more continuity and cohesion, they are overruled by a governing class fixated on economic growth as thesine qua nonof political organisation. It is a stance entirely emblematic of Christopher LaschsRevolt of the Elites. The practical effect of this is the social fracture, quasi-anarchy, and growing ungovernability of Western states we see before us today; yet on they plough.

The main culprit in all of this is our continued insistence on mass migration. Aspollafterpollshows, the Western public want less immigration, and an immigration program thats more culturally compatible with the demographic majority. This position is obliquely observed in arecent Guardian article Australians are more negative about immigrants from India, China, the Middle East, and Africa than arrivals from Britain or European countries and illustrated in countries with a similar situation, like America or the UK.

One may wish this werent the case, and that our elite-led imposition of a largely indiscriminate immigration program was beyond reproach, yet its a view thats blind to human nature and to actual and historical experience. Indeed, in anexcellent recent essay and thorough indictment of the American experience, academic Michael Anton had this to say about mass immigration to America and the importance of non-economic criteria in social harmony and cultural assimilation:

[A]ssimilation works best among peoples with some common underlying similarity, whether political, linguistic, ethnic, religious, or cultural (preferably a combination of all these). Its effectiveness declines as the differences among the disparate peoples increase. Historically, the closer in the above categories an immigrant group was to founding-stock Americans, the more quickly and smoothly its members assimilated.

American immigration policy and practice has drifted steadily away from prioritising this practice. In particular, since the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act newcomers to America have become more and more distant not just from existing Americans but from one another. America now takes in, and has been importing for more than fifty years, people from every part of the globe, of every faith, speaking every language. This, too, has never before happened in world history.

Replace America and American with Australia and Australian and you have an almost exact replica of whats happened down here. Of course, the standard reaction to all of this are the usual claims of racism, xenophobia, and so on, yet the underlying principle remains. Is any nation, qua nation, permitted to prioritise who it will admit, and who will best assimilate to its norms and values? Or is there nothing left except acarte blancheopenness to all peoples of the world, under our only criteria of import: economic growth and market rationalism?

With the later the conceit weve been labouring under, and a principle that if extended, would see Danes unable to select Swedes over Somalis, or Peruvians not permitted to preference Paraguayans over Pakistanis. A patently absurd proposal given natural, linguistic, cultural, and religious difference yet one we must appear to uphold.

With immigration the main ingredient in the larger concoction of cosmopolitan liberalism; a bitter brew thats increasingly unpalatable to the existing population. To take oneexample, heres English commentator Matthew Goodwin on this dynamic at work in the UK, and on PM Boris Johnsons initial success in leveraging the votes of Remainers into a broad coalition of those antipathetic to the status quo:

Forget what people say.[This]realignment was never just about Brexit or the unpopularity of Jeremy Corbyn, even if these elements helped it along. It was always rooted for far more strongly in a deep and profound disillusionment with the political consensus that has dominated Britain for half a century. EU membership. Mass immigration. Hyper-globalisation. Radical cultural liberalism. And a politics built by middle-class graduates for middle-class graduates.

[With]Johnsons electoral dynamite[coming]from the fact that he was the first mainstream politician to offer a genuine break from that consensus.

The lessons in this for our major parties seem obvious, yet they appear to be ones theyll ignore. For the Liberals, Morrison has been almostentirely absentfrom the whole debate, whilst Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been reduced to little more than a narrow economic mouthpiece, trotting outanodyne op-edswhilst eschewing anything of wider import. The ALP have been hardly better, although Albaneses recent pro-workerposturedoes hold promise. Yet like other Western social-democratic parties, the dilemma of squaring a nationalistic pro-worker stance with commitments to diversity and social liberalism appears insoluble.

With the latter, the catalyst for a range of other problems that are unlikely to change after the election. Will any of the major parties put an end to the woke-led erosion of our cultural and commercial space? Will they address the astronomical increase in house prices? Will they say anything about the, not-unrelated, fall in fertility? Will they retain what remains of our European architectural inheritance as our cities succumb to the skyscraper?

Will they end the marketisation of the education sector and reverse our declining school standards? Will they stem the flood of crass commercialisation as witnessed by the proliferation of alcohol ads, gambling enticements and fast-food outlets now washing over us? Will they end our disastrous decades-long experiment with privatisation and its accrual of vast private profits at the expense of service delivery andreasonable prices?

The answer to all of these rhetorical poses is surely: no. We thus return to where we began:why bother?

If the political movement that most people want a rightward shift in the culture and a leftward shift in economics is, in effect, not on offer at the ballot box, then were condemned to a continuation of the status quo. With the major parties cobbling together a shaky governing coalition as they lose public support, and the minor parties lacking the sophistication or strategic insight to have any real effect.

The long-term durability of these arrangements is clearly imperilled. The hubris of the governing class in believing they could run a quasi-permanent program of cosmopolitan liberalism, largely under the aegis of elite-led enrichment, without public upheaval has been long suspected yet only recently seen. As now manifest in places like France a nation increasingly riven by conflict and within sight of apotential civil war and in the dysfunction that now characterises the current-day America.

The only question that remains to us here is exactly how it will all unfold? Will we see a growth in our own nationalists like France has with Eric Zemmour or Marine Le Pen? Or will the liberal establishment double-down in their efforts, like the American Democrats have with their recapture of power and their marginalisation of Trumpian populism? Yet with no indication of a change in tack from our major parties, some form of French- or America-like future assuredly awaits.

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Keeping food transparent: F&B suppliers talk eliminating bias and the pitfalls of eco-labeling – FoodIngredientsFirst

Posted: at 5:42 am

12 Jan 2022 --- The renewed momentum of sustainable food production hinges on efficient platforms that enable full supply chain visibility. While previous months have seen the wider implementation of consumer-facing schemes, such as eco-labeling, these new faculties are not without their limitations.

FoodIngredientsFirstspeaks to key suppliers Corbion, Agrana Fruit and Kerry to discuss what core strategies are helping keep food businesses up-to-speed with their environmental reporting while remaining bias-free.

We dont believe in doom and gloom communication, but more in the positive, it can be done way. You can eat food that is healthy, affordable and good for the planet. You dont have to choose, remarks Diana Visser, senior director of sustainability at Corbion.

The idea of sustainability has now evolved to the concept of sustainable nutrition, illustrates Juan Aguiriano, group head of sustainability at Kerry. We are seeing this phrase being used more and more instead of just sustainability.

Typically, when people think about sustainability, their first thought is about the environment, such as water use or waste. Still, there are other essential parts of sustainability like nutrition and health, economics and culture.

Brands will need to communicate sustainability in a more holistic way to engage consumers in the future, he stresses.

Last year, Lidl supermarket trialed the UKs new Eco-Score traffic light labeling system in Scotland.Eco-labeling in the spotlightEco-labeling is anticipated to rise in popularity, as these front-of-pack indicators are designed to help consumers assess the overall environmental impacts of the products they buy while accelerating industrys journey toward net-zero emissions.

Last year, Lidl supermarket trialed the UKs new Eco-Score traffic light labeling system in Scotland, helping shoppers understand the sustainability credentials of food and beverage products and their packaging.

During the same month, Foodsteps formally launched in the UK as the countrys first tech firm to provide carbon tracking and impact labeling to restaurants, caterers and food businesses.

Foodsteps and Lidls labeling schemes closely follow that of Amcor, which recently introduced printed Reducing CO2 Packaging labels for the packaging sector that are accredited by the UK-based Carbon Trust.

We support the introduction of new eco-labeling schemes developed using internationally recognized, standardized, and transparent assessment methodologies that can help consumers understand more about the origins and the impact of products and help them make more informed purchasing decisions, says Cornelia Konlechner, global director quality and sustainability Agrana Fruit.

However, she concedes that the disadvantage of having eco-labeling schemes based on unclear definitions and methodologies is that companies may use them to their own benefit.

We are not in favor of adding more eco-labels there are already so many, argues Visser at Corbion.

Alignment and making it easier for consumers to make conscious choices should be the way forward. In this respect, the development of new regulations in the EU, such as the EU Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, may drive the consolidation.

Visibility challenges in focusWith fixing broken food systems recently underscored as a core ambition for all stakeholders at the COP26 climate summit, heightened visibility across every area of the supply chain comes into focus.

Technological advances have created major innovation opportunities for the entire food and beverage industry, prompting Innova Market Insights to peg Tech to Table as its second Top Trend for 2022.

Advances in AI, blockchain, machine learning, robotics and the Internet of Things are anticipated to raise the bar for digital traceability solutions such as smart labeling and digital tracing at speed.

Generally, the geography and the category decide the risk profile of global food supply chains.

Even still, some of the biggest challenges arise when suppliers experience high fluctuations among farmers providing highly diverse raw materials, as Konlechner at Agrana Fruit emphasizes.

We know that there is a lot more to be done to achieve full transparency in our supply chain and Agrana Fruit, through its global procurement organization, is exploring innovative options to ensure transparency among our key suppliers.

Geography is keyGenerally, the geography and the category decide the risk profile of global food supply chains, adds Aguiriano at Kerry. For example, soybeans originating from Brazil would be classified as high risk while soybeans from Europe would be low or medium risk. Within our supply chains, we engage with third-party risk assessors to uphold the highest standards.

We have a global risk process in place where we classify all the raw materials and packaging that we are purchasing for both social as well as environmental risk, he continues. We prioritize our actions toward those vendors which we see as high risk based on a combination of raw material category and geography.

In 2020, Kerry established a dedicated cross-functional team on human rights. Reporting to the companys chief human resources officer, its objective is to further integrate the groups commitments across its operations and supply chain.

We also published a detailed Human Rights Statement outlining our approach and identified a number of salient human rights issues including forced labor, child labor, discrimination and freedom of association, adds Aguiriano.

We have dedicated policies and due diligence processes in each of these areas across all our operations and protections mandated within our Supplier Code of Conduct for workers within our supply chain.

Obtaining third-party reviews of environmental and social assessments of products remains integral to removing bias from reporting.Ensuring non-biasThe suppliers note that one way to achieve non-bias in sustainability reporting is to follow international reporting standards that provide consistent, comprehensive and industry-specific indicators that allow organizations to benchmark themselves and track performance over time.

Independent third-party assurance of sustainability reporting provides an added level of transparency and trust that the information shared and published is correct, stresses Konlechner at Agrana Fruit.

In addition, having an automated process for capturing and reporting data according to international reporting standards reduces human error and enables early identification of issues and trends that can help a business better define its roadmap toward increased transparency.

Prominent third-party certification standards include the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and sustainability rating schemes like EcoVadis.

Since 2020, 100% of Corbions palm oil usage has been RSPO certified, notes Visser.

Corbion achieved the platinum EcoVadis rating for the second year in 2021. This independent assessment of our policies, actions and results places Corbion among the top 1% of companies assessed.

Obtaining third-party reviews of environmental and social assessments of products is also integral. Corbion obtains a third-party review of all of its Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Product Social Impact Assessments (PSIA), details Visser.

We aim for 100% coverage of products with an environmental and/or social benefit by such an assessment by 2025 for LCA and by 2030 for PSIA.

By Benjamin Ferrer

To contact our editorial team please email us at editorial@cnsmedia.com

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A world different than their own: CSU Extension connects youth statewide through experiential learning at the National Western Stock Show – Office of…

Posted: at 5:42 am

When Marlin Eisenach visited an elementary school in Morgan County in 2003 to present an educational program on Colorado Agriculture, he was surprised at the number of students who did not know where their food came from.

A lot of the kids believed grocery stores grew all the food, said Eisenach, a CSU Extension Livestock Agent in Morgan County.

Morgan County is a rural community and much of the local economy is based in agriculture and related industries, but many of the students have limited experience with or understanding of agriculture.

Eisenach took this observation as a call to action. First, he went to the National Western Stock Show (NWSS or Stock Show), where he also worked as a Livestock Superintendent, and proposed bringing school tours from Morgan County to visit the stock show and learn about Colorado agriculture. The National Western Stock Show, established in 1906 and held in Denver annually in January, is the premier livestock, rodeo and horse show in the nation, serving agricultural producers and consumers worldwide.

After securing a partnership with the NWSS, Eisenach turned to the local Colorado Cattlemens Association Chapter in Morgan County. To him, the opportunity was clear: educate the youth of Morgan County about Colorado agriculture, teach them where their food comes from and wrap up the entire experience with a visit to the National Western Stock Show to provide a hands-on, interactive learning experience that students would remember.

The Cattlemens Association was on board and the following year they launched the program, focusing on third graders in Morgan County. CSU Extension agents led presentations about Colorado agriculture in every third-grade class in the county. Afterward, Extension agents organized school trips, sponsored by the Cattlemans Association, to the stock show in Denver to see the crops, livestock and other agricultural programs in person.

Hands-on education is such a great way to teach youth, said Eisenach.

Almost twenty years later, the Morgan County stock show school visits are still going strong, now sponsored by the Fort Morgan Young Farmers Youth Foundation.

Our kids learn a lot, said Eisenach. The majority of youth have never been to the Stock Show before and over half of the kids have never even been to Denver. It is a great experience for them.

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Community news from around the area | News, Sports, Jobs – The Steubenville Herald-Star

Posted: at 5:42 am

CEOS notes revised scholarship requirements

NEW CUMBERLAND The Newview chapter of the WVU Community Educational Outreach Service has removed the financial need requirement for the scholarship they are offering.

The application now requires only a grade-point average of 2.5 or higher and a written essay. The essay may be of any length, provided it is at least 500 five words and must be on the topic of volunteerism and its impact on your community or yourself, a spokesperson explained.

It is open to seniors in any of the Hancock Countys three high schools and seniors who have been home-schooled and who are planning to continue their education.

The scholarship will be in the form of a cash award to be used at the recipients discretion to defray the costs of continuing their education, whether at a traditional two or four year college or a trade school.

Applications can be obtained by calling the WVU Hancock County Extension Office in New Cumberland at (304) 564-3805. Applications must be completed and returned to the office no later than April 15.

The Community Educational Outreach Service is one of several volunteer organizations of the West Virginia University Extension Service. Its mission is to strengthen individuals and families through continuing education, community service and leadership development. To learn about CEOS and its mission, to join an existing chapter or to start one, contact Sue Isner, families and community development program assistant, at the WVU Hancock County Extension Office.

Local CEOS promoting state undergraduate scholarships

NEW CUMBERLAND The Hancock County Community Educational Outreach Service has announced that the availability of five undergraduate student scholarships provided at the state level by the WVU Extension CEOS. They include:

The Human Service/Education Scholarship: Three will be awarded at $500 per year for West Virginia students who have successfully completed 24 credit hours and are enrolled in West Virginia colleges or universities.

Some fields of study might include nutrition, early childhood development, education, interior design, textiles, apparel design, psychology, social work, counseling and perhaps other related fields. The application is due April 1.

Nursing Scholarship: One will be awarded at $500 per year for West Virginia students who have successfully completed 24 credit hours and are enrolled in West Virginia colleges or universities offering the bachelors degree in nursing. The application is due April 1.

International Undergraduate Student Scholarship: One will be awarded with a cash award of $3,500 and tuition waiver for a one-year, two-semester service learning opportunity to an international undergraduate student enrolled or able to enroll at WVU. The application is due Feb. 28.

For requirements, responsibilities and application for any of these scholarships, visit extension.wvu.edu/community-educational-outreach-service or contact the WVU Extension Service Family and Community Development at (304) 293-2796.

Steubenville High School Class of 1959 planning luncheon

STEUBENVILLE Alumni of the Steubenville High School Class of 1959 held a December luncheon luncheon with 18 in attendance.

Donna Tepovich and Tom Maxwell won gift certificates. Norina Eroshevich provided the holiday blessing. After lunch, Donna Collins was surprised with a birthday cake and many well wishes. Pete Barren updated the group with progress of the new baseball/softball field for Steubenville High School and commitments received for support from classmates to make a donation from the Class of 1959.

Tom Maxwell entertained with a slightly altered version of The Night Before Christmas.

The next luncheon will be Jan. 19 at Froehlichs Classic Corner, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Reservations should be made by today by calling Eroshevich at (740) 219-2234. All are welcome.

Annual blessing of the Ohio River is scheduled for Sunday

WEIRTON The fifth-annual Pan-Orthodox Great Blessing of the Ohio River will be held at the Steubenville Marina on Sunday, beginning at 2 p.m.

The parishes involved include St. Nicholas Orthodox Church of Weirton, All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Weirton, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Steubenville and the Orthodox Church of the Life-Giving Fountain in Martins Ferry along with other clergy and faithful from surrounding areas. The blessing is done in conjunction with the Feast of Holy Theophany where Christ was baptized by John in the Jordan River thereby sanctifying the waters.

This fifth-year blessing and service has become an annual January event, bringing together the Orthodox churches and their faithful for a joint service.

In case of inclement weather, would-be attendees are advised to check with their parish priest or visit the St Nicholas Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/StNicholasOC26062 to check the status of the event. For information, contact the Rev. Andrew Nelko at (304) 723-3383.

Weir High Schools Class of 1967 schedules lunch meeting

WEIRTON Members of Weir High Schools Class of 1967 will be meeting on Jan. 19 at noon for lunch at Chico Fiesta, located at 3110 Pennsylvania Ave., Weirton.

All classmates and spouses are welcome.

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Sandia spending reaches record $3.9 billion in fiscal year 2021 – Albuquerque Journal

Posted: at 5:40 am

The total spending of one of New Mexicos largest employers reached a record $3.9 billion in fiscal year 2021 about $139 million more than the previous year, according to an economic analysis released Wednesday by Sandia National Laboratories.

Sandia officials, in a virtual meeting with Journal reporters and editors, said growth was driven largely by construction, infrastructure projects and critical milestones in nuclear weapons life-extension programs a major mission of the lab, which does work for the Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration.

And more work is on the way.

The pipeline is extremely strong. And its across all areas in all mission areas, all facilities, all infrastructure areas, said Scott Aeilts, Sandias associate labs director of mission services. Weve made a commitment to invest on all fronts to position the lab for many years to come.

During Sandias fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the labs hired a total of 1,340 people, of which 992 are assigned to the lab in Albuquerque.

Since the start of the pandemic, Sandia moved a significant chunk of its employees to remote work. Aeilts said about 30% of its workforce is now remote or has some sort of hybrid-style schedule.

Lab directors delegated arrangements for employees to individual managers.

Some of the nature of the very work we do that pertains to hands-on (experiments) and classified work has to be done on site, Aeilts said. But we got very aggressive relative to our position and posture with teleworking. And I think thats been a quote-unquote benefit that the employees are enjoying.

He said that transition has freed up a significant amount of needed work space at the labs.

Total subcontractor-related payments at Sandia reached $1.37 billion last year. New Mexico businesses earned 35% of that money.

Most Sandia contracts go out for a bidding process, and New Mexico small businesses get a 5% evaluation preference.

One of the largest local contracts went to Encantado Technical Solutions, LLC, a small Albuquerque business that provides IT services to government organizations. The company inked a seven-year, $700 million contract with the labs last year, according to the Sandia report.

Sandia paid a total of $106 million in New Mexico gross receipts taxes in 2021.

During the last fiscal year, we were also able to meet all spending related to our small business goals, while at the same time delivering our national security missions, Aeilts said.

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SBM Offshore nominates ivind Tangen as member of the Management Board – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:40 am

January 13, 2022

SBM Offshore is pleased to announce the proposed appointment of ivind Tangen as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and member of its Management Board. ivind Tangen (1973, Norwegian) has been working for the Company for 19 years and has a wealth of experience in engineering and operational roles, as well as in strategy and project execution. He is currently a Managing Director of the Company, responsible for SBM Offshores Lease and Operate segment, which includes the Companys FPSO fleet.

ivind Tangen holds an MSc in Naval Architecture from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and ENSTA, Paris, as well as a Master of Management and Economics of Energy and the Environment from ENI Corporate University.

ivind Tangens proposed appointment to the Management Board will be submitted for approval at the General Meeting to be held on April 6, 2022 (AGM).

The proposed appointment of ivind Tangen to the Management Board underlines the Companys focus on excellence in operations and project execution. At the same time, it will enable additional focus on delivery of SBM Offshores strategy through the energy transition.

Philippe Barril (currently COO) will be appointed Chief Transition Officer (CTO). The creation of a CTO role at the Management Board confirms the Companys ambition to play a leading role in the energy transition. Human Resources, Legal & Compliance, Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) and some other corporate functions will report to the CTO.

Douglas Wood will continue as Chief Financial Officer. In the new set up of the Management Board, he will also assume responsibility for Communications in addition to Investor Relations.

Erik Lagendijk (1960, Chief Governance & Compliance Officer) has decided to step down from the Management Board after the AGM.

Bruno Chabas, CEO, said: It is with great pleasure that we welcome ivind to the Management Board. His nomination marks the quality of our pool of talent. ivind has demonstrated his leadership over many years at SBM Offshore. By adding ivind to the Management Board and with Philippe and Douglas taking a broader role as well, SBM Offshore is well positioned to deliver results in both our traditional business and strengthen our position in New Energies. I would like to thank Erik for his considerable contribution to SBM Offshore and in leading our commitment to do business with integrity.

Story continues

Erik Lagendijk said: It is extremely satisfying to see that the Company has overcome its past issues and is now well positioned for the future. After 7 years on the Management Board, I welcome the change and the opportunity to hand over to the next generation.

Corporate Profile

The Companys main activities are the design, supply, installation, operation and the life extension of floating production solutions for the offshore energy industry over the full lifecycle. The Company is market leading in leased floating production systems, with multiple units currently in operation.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company employs approximately 4,570 people worldwide spread over offices in our key markets, operational shore bases and the offshore fleet of vessels.

SBM Offshore N.V. is a listed holding company headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It holds direct and indirect interests in other companies.

Where references are made to SBM Offshore N.V. and /or its subsidiaries in general, or where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies SBM Offshore or the Company are sometimes used for convenience.

For further information, please visit our website at http://www.sbmoffshore.com.

The Management BoardAmsterdam, the Netherlands, January 13, 2022

Financial Calendar

Date

Year

Full Year 2021 Earnings

February 10

2022

Annual General Meeting

April 6

2022

First Quarter 2022 Trading Update

May 12

2022

Half Year 2022 Earnings

August 4

2022

Third Quarter 2022 Trading Update

November 10

2022

For further information, please contact:

Investor RelationsBert-Jaap DijkstraGroup Treasurer and IR

Mobile:

+31 (0) 6 21 14 10 17

E-mail:

bertjaap.dijkstra@sbmoffshore.com

Website:

http://www.sbmoffshore.com

Media RelationsVincent KempkesGroup Communications Director

Mobile:

+377 (0) 6 40 62 87 35

E-mail:

vincent.kempkes@sbmoffshore.com

Website:

http://www.sbmoffshore.com

Disclaimer

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Some of the statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements based on managements current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those in such statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results and performance of the Companys business to differ materially and adversely from the forward-looking statements. Certain such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as believes, may, will, should, would be, expects or anticipates or similar expressions, or the negative thereof, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, or intentions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this release as anticipated, believed, or expected. SBM Offshore NV does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Nothing in this press release shall be deemed an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

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This ‘Monopoly ‘ extension adjusts the game with inequalities – AdAge.com

Posted: at 5:40 am

As anyone who's ever played a competitive family game of Monopoly knows, there's nothing more likely to get people riled up about unfairness. But now a different version of the game is leveraging this idea to get children's attention about injustice and inequality in the real world.

French nonprofit theObservatory of Inequalities and agency Herezie have created a toolkit extension that adjusts the popular Hasbro board game to includevarious aspects of real-life inequality.For example, girls earn less than boys by going through square one, some players start the game with a heritage of houses positioned on the board and others are limited to playing only with one dice.

Unlike traditional play, players are not treated equally. Everyone puts themselves in the shoes of a character, dealt out at the start of the game, and discovers, through the rules and event cards, injustices that may or may not apply to them.

Herezie created the toolkitfollowing an initial video it made in 2017 for the organization. It showed kids playing a "social board game" adapting the rules of Monopoly. The idea is for the toolkit to be used in schools for kids over 11, as part of a workshop with a facilitator to explain the various injustices that occur, but it's also available for anyone to buy at the website.

The kit has been approved by Hasbro and is also endorsed by the French government.

"The initiative is fantastic for the simple reason that you can tackle extremely serious and important topics in a playful way and in a way that makes young people want to take an interest in the issue, said Elisabeth Moreno, theFrench minister responsible for Equality between Women and Men, Diversity and Equal Opportunities, in a statement.

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Interview With Rory Moore, CEO Of Arctic Canadian Diamond Co. – JCK

Posted: at 5:40 am

Rory Moore (pictured) has worked at Ekati, the first diamond mine in Canadas Northwest Territories, on and off for years. He was part of the original crew that first developed the mine in the 1990s. In 2018, he rejoined what was then called Dominion Diamond. He then became its interim president in January 2020, and in November, he was appointed the full-time CEO of what is now called the Arctic Canadian Diamond Co.

Here, he talks with JCK about his view on the diamond market, how Arctic looks at Canadian cutting and Canadian-origin stones, and why Ekati might confound expectations and stay around for a while.

Can you bring us up to date on whats happening with Ekati and its current ownership structure?

With the onset of COVID, the diamond market closed. We had a partnership with Rio Tinto in the Diavik mine, which is a neighboring mine. After COVID, we [initially] elected to put Ekati on care and maintenance, because we had $200 million worth of diamonds in inventory, but we couldnt sell them. We didnt want to burn through our cash reserves quickly. However, when Diavik did continue to operate, we were obliged to pay our 40% interest in the operating costs, and that would have very quickly have chewed up our cash reserves. So, we [filed] for CCAA [insolvency protection].

That triggered its sale process and the former owners, Washington, participated in that and ultimately withdrew their bid to buy the assets, and then the debt holders stepped in, represented by the three principal organizations: DDJ Capital, Brigade Capital, and Western Asset Management. The three of them stepped in and bought the assets and [provided us] with some additional cash to reopen the mine and get going again.

We restarted the mine in January last year, which is in the dead of the Arctic winter, so that was challenging. We had lots of startup problems, but ultimately now we have got the mine running at a steady state. Fortunately, we had some nice tailwinds from a strong rough diamond market last year, so prices were very robust and that really helped us with our restart. We met our revenue targets last year despite all the challenges.

You have said you want to extend the mine life. How do you plan to do that?

The best days of Ekati are behind us in terms of quality of ore bodies. During the early years, when BHP owned the mine, the ore bodies were very rich and very close to the central infrastructure at the mine, which is the process plant. So operating costs were very low, and revenue was very high. It was a highly profitable mine.

As time has gone on, those bodies have been mined out, and we are now mining lower-value ore bodies further away from the plant. Our main open pit, Sable, is 17 kilometers north of the process plant. Its a lower-revenue ore body and theres additional transportation and logistics involved in getting the ore from the open pit to the process plant. Then, to the south, weve got our Misery underground mine, which is a high-revenue ore body that has now gone underground, so its mining at a lower production rate. And thats 25 kilometers south of the processing plant, so again, weve got to transport the ore to the plant.

What we faced going forward is, as these ore bodies come to their natural end, Stable in particular, they were not valuable enough to support conventional underground mining. And, so, what weve done is over the past four yearsand this is what Ive been working onis looking at alternative, more creative ways to mine these ore bodies so we can still mine them profitably.

Weve come up with a system, its called underwater remote mining. Essentially, we flood the pit, and after the open pit mining is completed, and we continue to mine it underwater, using specialized underwater surface mining machines that weve developed in conjunction with a company out of Holland called Royal IHC. We are very confident that its going to work, and the beauty of this method is that you only mine ore and not waste. So, with conventional mining, you have to mine a lot of waste. In fact, at Sable, theres seven times more waste [being mined] than ore. If you remove all that waste mining, suddenly your costs are dramatically lower, and youve got a profitable mining operation again. Thats the way we are going into the future.

We have designed all the equipment, and we are going to construct the first of that equipment this year. Then, were going to do a big production trial in 2024. Were building equipment this year, and then over 2023 and 2024, were gonna test that equipment and then implement it in 2024 for future mining at Sable, and then extend that to other ore bodies. The future of Ekati is underwater remote mining, which has not been done in this sort of setting at all in the past. We are spearheading some new innovative mining techniques.

Assuming that all comes to fruition, how long will that extend the mine life?

Initially, the first phase will take us to 2029. The other thing that were doing at the moment is developing a new conventional open-pit mine at the same time. That will take us to 2028. We also have the opportunity to extend mine life through underwater remote mining at Point Lake. That ore body has 50 million tons of kimberlite in it. So, if the underwater remote mining works, well get an additional 10 years of mining out of Point Lake. Then, we have another ore body that was mined by BHP called Fox, and that has 40 million tons of kimberlite left in it. Weve done studies to potentially develop it with underground conventional mining, and it doesnt make the grade. So, we would look to mine that underwater as well, which would add another 10 years of mine life. So, essentially, we have decades of mine life extension, but we have to prove the system first.

You said youre confident that will work.

Yes. Im very confident. Components of the technology have been routinely used in other applications, in conventional dredging operations throughout the world. We are putting it all together in a system that hasnt been used in this application. None of it is rocket science. Its all proven technology.

The owners have been very supportive, and they have been very open to funding our development of [the underwater remote mining] method. Weve got a stable operation now, and our immediate focus is to pay down the debt that we have, and weve already started that process this year. We had a good revenue year, and weve already paid down the debt very substantially.

There have been concerns raised about underwater mining from an environmental point of view. How do you respond to that?

In fact, this method is significantly more environmentally friendly than open-pit mining. Thats because, firstly, you dont have any big waste dumps. So, all that footprint of the waste dumps interfering with caribou migration or changing the landscape, that goes away. You have a closed water system, so all the water thats in the mine [goes to] a pond next door to the open-pit mine, where well settle out the sedimentary material. It will be a closed system. So, no water thats been disturbed or polluted in any way will get out into the secondary environment. Its very much contained and has an incredibly small footprint.

The machine has been devised so that all the hydraulic fluids in the machine are biodegradable. Id be lying to you if I said were not going to burst hydraulic hoses once in a while. We will have hydraulic oil spills, but [they will be] biodegradable hydraulic oils by design that will not contaminate the water in any meaningful way. So, the environmental impact is much lower, and thats a positive for the project as well.

What has been the reaction from the local community to Ekati restarting?

Our northern partners are very relieved that we are back in production. We have a lot of training and career opportunities for people of the north. There was big relief that we did come through the CCAA process, that weve hired a whole lot of new people, and our training programs, apprenticeship programs, leadership programs are back in place. Weve got partnerships with the local indigenous groups and communities. Theyve supported us very well, as has the government of Northwest Territories. Its all pretty positive, after a tough period of 10 months not being in production

You no longer have 40% ownership in the Diavik mine, as Rio Tinto took it over. How does that affect you?

On a practical basis, it doesnt impact us much, because we were essentially a passive partner in that. Rio Tinto operated that mine and we just participated in quarterly management committee meetings. It doesnt impact our workforce in any way, as we had nobody working at Diavik.

What it does impact is the product mix that we take to the market. We used to have a big production out of Ekati, supplemented by a fairly significant production out of Diavik, which gave us higher carats and higher volumes to sell into the rough market and gave us more options for product mix for our clients. Weve lost a bit of flexibility in accommodating our clients exact needs when it comes to the product mixes.

But the productions are fairly similar between Ekati and Diavik. So, the impact of that hasnt been too significant. Its more that weve just got a lower volume of diamonds to sell.

Your company has been renamed Arctic, which is probably a more potent name from a marketing point of view, in that it symbolizes Canada. Do you expect to get more involved in marketing your product?

We recognize that we are diamond producers, and thats what weve got to focus on. We are an active member of the Natural Diamond Council, and so we actively participate in that and contribute to that initiative through our membership fees. We think that the Natural Diamond Council is doing a great job of promoting natural diamonds. We recognize that if you wanted to do a good job of marketing a luxury product like diamonds, youve got to have a big budget for that, and thats just not where we fit in. All of us producers together are much more powerful than individuals trying to do that separately.

A lot of producers are looking into origin certification? Will you do that?

A percentage of our diamonds are sold through the Canadamark program. They tend to be the higher-quality goods. We think its an important consideration, given that the new generations of customers are much more concerned about the origin of the products that they buy and that the products have been produced a sustainable way. I think Canadian-origin diamonds are highly prized by millennials because they know that Canada has high environmental guidelines and social economic guidelines and the way we run our mines in Canada is of the highest standard. Thats not to say that a diamond produced in Africa has not been ethically produced, because the big mines in Africa are run according to the highest international standards. There may be a perception that all these African [stones] are still blood diamonds, but the reality is that the absolute majority of diamonds coming out of Africa are produced in a very ethical way. But Canada does have brand appeal.

Theres been talk of new factories in Canada. Thats been tried before, and it didnt work. Do you think Canadian cutting has a future?

I think its always going to be a challenge to manufacture diamonds in Canada, particularly in the north. You are competing against India, and India has really done an incredible job of capturing that part of the supply chain of diamonds. You cant compete on costs, and they actually have become incredibly skilled at polishing diamonds.

Its admirable to see people try, because the more we can capture business opportunities in Canada, the better. But I think its a struggle.

Do you expect rough diamond prices to continue to remain strong?

At the moment, everybody in the business expects that rough diamond prices will remain strong in the short- to medium-term. Obviously, its very difficult to predict longer term. Supply has been impacted by COVID, so supply of rough diamonds is lower than it was forecast to be. Demand is incredibly strong, fueled mostly by the U.S. and China. Theres been very strong demand for our product, and the commentary over the holiday season was that sales were very strong on the retail side. In the short-term, I think the macro factors for our industry, and for rough diamond prices, are very good.

(Photos courtesy of Arctic Canadian Diamond Co.)

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