Monthly Archives: February 2022

As Connecticut-based Lane Construction prepares for the onslaught of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) projects about to come its way, director of VDC and BIM Matt Blake knows what needs to be done.

Blake is working with global engineering and design firm Stantec to steer the 130-year-old leader in heavy civil construction away from "old processes that are tried-and-true"and toward advanced digital delivery that will improve information sharing between design and construction teams, increasing accuracy, transparency, safety and timely decision-making to reduce risk and cost.

"At the end of the day, this likely means producing more projects in less time for less cost, in which case, it can help deliver much more of this IIJA plan,"Blake said. "As an industry, everyone has limited resources, so let's sharpen our efficiency pencil and try to deliver this."

Matt Blake

Courtesy of Lane Construction

As it stands, the horizontal construction industry's well-used pencils are far too dull to keep up with the barrage of projects about to come its way. Of the $621 billion IIJA earmarks to upgrade bridges, highways and roads, more than $500 billion will be dedicated to projects that use outdated methods, according to the Coalition for Smarter Infrastructure Investments, a group of tech companies pushing for accelerated deployment of automated workflow systems and 5D modeling.

"The processes used to design and manage infrastructure projects have been unchanged for decades, with many firms and public agencies still relying on pen-and-paper systems,"the coalition states.

In response to the coalition's lobbying, the IIJA includes $100 million ($20 million annually over five years) to encourage adoption of advanced construction management technologies a drop in the bucket, according to Si Katara, president of digital inspection company Headlight and one of the coalition's founders.

"Some people are like, 'For a $1.2 trillion bill, that may not be enough,'" he said.

The IIJA presents "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity"to digitize, Katara added, but builders won't be able to keep up if they continue with the practices from the last 30 years.

"The reflex is to hold on like a life boat to your prior processes because that's what youre comfortable with, but people are realizing there just aren't enough resources out there, not enough humans who have the skill sets to do this," Katara said. "We have to embrace technology and innovation to bridge that gap."

Si Katara

Courtesy of Headlight

As Blake is quick to point out, no one expects the transition to be easy.

"There are a lot of things I don't know if ego is the right word that prevent us from adopting technology," he said. "A lot of this is 'the-way-we've-always-done-it'attitude, and that'sthe most expensive phrase you can use, in my book."

Lack of workers is one of the construction industry's biggest issues, causing two-thirds of contractors to struggle with meeting schedules, according to Infotech's civil quarterly report. Now, said Brad Barth, chief product officer for digital project management platform InEight, the IIJA is "throwing fuel on an already out-of-control fire."As experienced older workers retire, Barth said, their replacements will need tech to "make them smarter, so there's less rework, less chaos and more sharing of knowledge to help scale."

"The A players in any company are of limited number, and they're retiring,"agreed Ren Morkos, founder and CEO of ALICE Technologies, an AI-powered BIM platform. "It makes junior people way more able to perform like senior people."

RenMorkos

Courtesy of ALICE Technologies

Most construction professionals see digital transformation as their biggest source of opportunity for the coming year and predict software will be essential to their success in estimating, project cost management, scheduling and risk management, according to InEight's "Global Capital Projects Outlook 2021"survey shared with Construction Dive, but they're relying on general-purpose business software like Microsoft Excel as opposed to purpose-built solutions. To improve productivity, Barth said, contractors should get rid of spreadsheets across several weaker platforms and stop trying to "do all kinds of heroics in Excel."

Projects Controls Cubed (PC3), a San Diego-based virtual design and construction company with $7 billion under contract, is doing this with InEight's artificial intelligence-based system.PC3 Director Jeff Campbell says the platform is "like a superintendent with 30 years of experience who never retires."

PC3 uses InEight's AI to create a knowledge library of archived projects that can be accessed to automatically generate schedules and budgets. Campbell said InEight Schedule also saves PC3 millions of dollars in claims discovery by allowing the contractor to pull up time-stamped snapshots of projects instead of paying attorneys to dig through past documentation.

"That alone has paid for it,"he said.

Digital inspection will be crucial as IIJA projects gear up. State Departments of Transportation pay contractors based on measurable criteria such as asphalt tonnage poured or number of acres cleared, said Tom Webb, vice president of strategy/R&D for Texas-based HCSS, a civil business software provider.

Horizontal construction companies are a step ahead of state agencies and DOTs, which have been slow to adopt technology as they've dealt with lean staffs and inefficiencies since the Great Recession, Webb said. He expects the heavier burden of IIJA projects as well as contractors'innovation to force these owners to start looking at tech solutions.

"There are a lot of things state DOTs track manually that contractors are already doing in an automated way," Webb said. "Over the next eight-to-ten years, you're going to see them take a step forward and start using some of these technologies. That's going to help the overall efficiency of projects."

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Technology will be key for contractors on IIJA jobs, say experts - Construction Dive

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W), one of the worlds largest destinations for the home, today announced Ashwin Rao joined the company as chief science officer, and Niraj Nagrani as vice president of global supplier marketplace, pricing, catalog and merchandising technologies. Both leaders report to Wayfairs incoming chief technology officer, Fiona Tan, and join Wayfairs strong bench of technologists driving the future of shopping across all categories of home.

Technology underpins everything we do at Wayfair, said Tan, incoming CTO, Wayfair. As an e-commerce and supply chain leader with suppliers and operations around the world, Wayfair is at the forefront of solving some of the most sophisticated and complex technological challenges facing retail. Ashwin and Niraj bring valuable expertise to the leadership team as we work together to drive the future evolution of our customer experience across online and physical retail.

In his role, Rao will help accelerate the companys continued growth through technological innovation fueled by machine learning, mathematical modeling and algorithms that further strengthen the shopping experience. Before joining Wayfair, Rao served as vice president of artificial intelligence at Target Corporation where he led Target's global AI and data science teams in developing products and solutions for supply chain, merchandising, search, recommendations and marketing. Rao will continue as adjunct professor at Stanford University, bringing the latest academic insights to Wayfairs technology.

The breadth and depth of Wayfairs technological operations and expertise rival that of any technologically-advanced organization, noted Rao. I look forward to leading innovation that creates operational efficiencies, enables consumers to easily find the right product, and helps Wayfair achieve its growth objectives.

Overseeing Wayfairs merchandising and supplier experiences, Nagrani will drive innovation to enhance Wayfairs global supplier catalog, merchandising, and pricing systems while also creating the best-in-class web/mobile experiences and data insights for suppliers. To this role, Nagrani brings more than two decades of tech leadership, most recently at Google as vice president of engineering, where he drove initiatives to deliver machine learning, artificial intelligence, mobile, web, and cloud tech solutions across Google consumer and developer products.

Wayfairs deep relationships across a world-class supplier ecosystem are critical to the success of our business, said Nagrani. We are committed to continually evolving our technology platform to make it as easy and efficient as possible for our suppliers to deliver their products to our customers. Both our supplier network and our customer base continue to grow, making this an exciting time to join Wayfair.

About Wayfair

Wayfair is the destination for all things home: helping everyone, anywhere create their feeling of home. From expert customer service, to the development of tools that make the shopping process easier, to carrying one of the widest and deepest selections of items for every space, style, and budget, Wayfair gives everyone the power to create spaces that are just right for them.

The Wayfair family of sites includes:

Wayfair generated $14.1 billion in net revenue for the twelve months ended September 30, 2021. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with operations throughout North America and Europe, Wayfair employs approximately 16,000 people.

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Wayfair Names Ashwin Rao and Niraj Nagrani to Technology Leadership Team - Business Wire

Through a recent generous gift, alumnus Bob Kraft, BSME 61, and his wife Marie have expanded the existing Kraft Family Scholar award in Ohio Universitys Russ College of Engineering and Technology, providing additional support to create the Kraft Family Associate Professorships.

The Krafts established the Kraft Family Scholar Awards more than 20 years ago to provide associate professors of the Department of Engineering Technology and Management (ETM) the resources to enhance their academic growth. Over the last 20 years, $208,115 has been awarded.

After graduating from OHIO, 3.5 years in U.S. Navy, and seven years as a sales engineer, in 1972 Bob and Marie founded Kraft Fluid Systems. Over the last 50 years, their company has grown to be a leading distributor of mobile hydraulic equipment, hydraulic and electric drives, and electronic controls. The company requires International Fluid Power Society (IFPS) certifications for all of its technical employees, and in retirement, Bob Kraft served as president of the IFPS in 2007.

Throughout my career, I believed education, training, and experience lead to learning and competency, said Bob Kraft. The Krafts recognized their employee owners by becoming a 100 percent ESOP employee owned in 2000.

ETM Chair Dr. Todd Myers, himself a former Kraft Family Scholar, explains that faculty recipients will be awarded a stipend to support their research and engage in scholarly activities, like traveling to academic conferences. The Krafts expanded support will increase the stipend for each new Kraft Family Associate Professor.

The Kraft Family Scholar has been awarded to high-potential, mid-level, tenured faculty to encourage their growth within Ohio University, Myers said. Access to those stipends and showing that type of recognition helps secure those individuals and keep them engaged with the students, stay current in their discipline, and add value to the college, and the department.

Associate professors Dr. Neil Littell and Dr. Yuqiu You are the current Kraft Family Scholars. You, who started teaching at OHIO in 2015, views the award as a token of appreciation for her hard work.

I was very honored to receive this award, she said. It means that your colleagues, your department, and everyone recognized your hard work here. I think thats really great for junior faculty like me.

Thanks in part to the Krafts ongoing generosity, the Russ College will continue to attract the high-caliber faculty who receive a Kraft Family Associate Professorship.

I really appreciate that this award was established, and especially that it is awarded to junior faculty who came to OU and worked for several years, You said. This award is definitely something that motivates us.

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Alumnus' continued generosity helps recruit and retain talented Department of Engineering Technology and Management faculty - Ohio University

Russian state-sponsored hackers have been targeting security-cleared US defense contractors for at least two years, according to an alert released Wednesday by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA).

According to the alert, Russian-backed actors had targeted cleared defense contractors (CDCs) and subcontractors that supported the Department of Defense (DoD) in a range of areas, including weapons and missile development, vehicle and aircraft design, surveillance and reconnaissance, and combat communications systems. Compromised entities include contractors supporting the US Army, Air Force, Navy, Space Force, DoD, and Intelligence programs.

Through intrusions against defense contractors, Russian-backed actors had acquired sensitive unclassified information as well as export-controlled technology, CISA said. Under normal circumstances, technology subject to export-control laws requires a license to be released to foreign entities, necessitating approval from the US government.

Though there is no mention of classified documents being stolen, details suggest that the nature of the information gives a significant understanding of US military operations.

The acquired information provides significant insight into U.S. weapons platforms development and deployment timelines, vehicle specifications, and plans for communications infrastructure and information technology, the text of the alert said. By acquiring proprietary internal documents and email communications, adversaries may be able to adjust their own military plans and priorities, hasten technological development efforts, inform foreign policymakers of U.S. intentions, and target potential sources for recruitment.

Given the success of current efforts, the FBI, NSA, and CISA anticipate that Russian state-sponsored cyber actors will continue to target defense contractors for information in the near future.

Although Russia is known for harboring cybercriminal gangs, direct attribution of cyber activities to Russian state-sponsored actors is rare and represents a forceful statement from the US agencies involved. As tensions continue on the Russian border with Ukraine, analysts have been particularly sensitive to state-sponsored cyberattacks from the country.

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Russian hackers have obtained sensitive defense information technology by targeting US contractors, according to CISA - The Verge

SAGINAW, MI Saginaw Valley State University is hosting a career fair today, Wednesday, Feb. 16, for those seeking employment in manufacturing and information technology.

The Saginaw Valley State University Manufacturing & Information Technology Employment Fair takes place from noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday at SVSUs Curtiss Hall. The event will feature more than 20 employers offering part-time and full-time employment as well as intern and co-op opportunities.

This event is open to anyone looking for a career in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and computer information systems. Professional attire is recommended.

This is a terrific opportunity for those who want to explore internships and careers in manufacturing and IT fields, Jim Dwyer, executive director of SVSU career services, said in a statement.

Event sponsors include the Great Lakes Bay Manufacturers Association, Amigo Mobility International Inc., Nexteer Automotive and Hemlock Semiconductor.

Visit http://www.svsu.edu/careerservices to learn more.

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Find a job in manufacturing or information technology at this SVSU career fair happening Feb. 16 - MLive.com

The year 2021 has been an exciting year for the Indian gaming market. This year, the online gaming sector has progressed and seen a paradigm shift it is because of a multitude of encouraging factors such as young and tech-savvy young population, feature-packed smartphones, affordable data connectivity, and overall technological development.

According to a KPMG report, India's online gaming market collected revenues of Rs 136 billion in 2021. With people spending more time online due to the pandemic, the gaming industry received a massive push.

With this growth trajectory, the industry is expected to advance at a compound annual rate of 21 per cent to Rs 290 billion ($3.84 billion) in the next five years.

Also read:Multi-gaming platform A23 appoints Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador

The growth was backed by the development of technology i.e. availability of high-speed data, digital payments, huge device penetration, and expansion in supply and quality of games.

With all these key driving factors, it is expected that Indian online gamers will rise to 510 million in 2022.

Data Science Backing the Growth of the Gaming industry

Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have changed the face of the gaming industry. While the competition is high in the gaming industry, the companies are racing to attract and engage their audiences through diversified models.

To achieve this, Data Science helps gaming companies to analyse different factors that affect the behaviour of the users such as consumption pattern, time spent on the platform, interaction time, quitting point, preference, outcomes, and scores.

Gaming companies are leveraging technologies such as photogrammetry techniques that use photographic data and convert them into realistic digital models.

On the other hand, motion pictures/capturing is a technology that helps in creating characters with more human traits. Data analytics also helps in improving the content based on data insights.The role of Data Science has seen an interesting growth in the development of gaming models. Along with that, there was an indicative development in analysing and identifying optimisation points, making predictions and empowering machine learning algorithms, identifying patterns and trends to guide service maps and improve gaming models.

Also Read:Here's how Jio-SES JV can give a push to gaming, ad-tech, and OTT sectors

The focus behind analytics and Data Science is to develop profitable games and engage users. For instance, developing better scenarios for gamers so they don't feel irritated or bored while playing.

Many companies also use data to detect the cases of fraud and cheating in the games and to resolve this, AI has come to the rescue for the gaming industry.The amount of data to be processed has started increasing as the number of users is now mounting at an exponential rate.

Hence, some of the key data such as users' playing time, interaction time, quitting point, preference, outcomes, scores, and other data are playing an important role in user acquisition.

Due to technological advancement, various data sets can now be put into AI and machine learning systems to provide gamers unique information and going forward this information can be used to understand and even personalize the users' expedition across the platform using clickstream data.Responsible AI in Gaming Technology

The AI-powered interactive, responsive and adaptive experiences in gaming are created by non-player characters (NPCs). The AI engines define the behaviour of these characters in the gaming world.

AI enables developers to deliver console-like experiences on different devices such as laptops and smartphones. Studies have shown that AI is somehow able to trigger the behaviour of human beings, which creates a huge need for responsible AI in the gaming industry.

This puts a huge responsibility on the companies to design, develop, procure, deploy and responsibly use technologies. The tools built with AI techniques enable the operators to analyse the needs of players, identify possible marketing opportunities, with odds compilation, and also with responsible gaming initiatives. While processing huge data created on the gaming platform, responsible AI also ensures a fair and safe gaming environment. Responsible AI in gaming is required to protect users and companies from the potential risks (including cyber risks) that may cause physical and digital harm.

To be fair, data scientists must be cautious and account for data bias while constructing models. For establishing a healthy gaming culture, maintaining ongoing user engagement while generating a safe, healthy online gaming arena, a well-structured AI/ML model will be critical.

This will further lead to an exponential growth of the gaming industry and will also attract international players to invest in the Indian gaming market.(The author is CEO & Founder of Witzeal Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)

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How data science and AI have evolved gaming technology - Business Today

The two leading Korean venture capital and private equity firms, Korea Investment Partners and STIC Ventures, are known for their prior unicorn investments, including the South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp. and the entertainment company HYBE. Followed by their seed funding round of $3.3 million back in 2019, Korea Investment Partners is continuing this latest Series A round in PiLab Technology.

Investments from Korea Investment Partners and STIC Ventures are worth $5.85 million. In addition, a venture capital affiliated with a securities firm has made investments worth at least $2.5 million, with the close of the Series A funding round to a total of around $8.4 million.

PiLab Technologyis a research-oriented blockchain technology company founded in 2017 by two professors, Dohyun Pak and Jonghyup Lee, to develop a multichain middleware platform that enables developers to create Decentralized Apps (DApps) on top of multiple protocols.

It has introduced a number of decentralized finance (DeFi) products, including BiFi, BiFi X, ChainRunner, Biport, and an NFT-based Play-to-Earn (P2E) game Summoner, and now focusing on building a multichain ecosystem utilizing its own multichain technology of BIFROST.

BIFROST is projected to be the industry-leading platform building the next generation of blockchains and the metaverse, catalyzing global adoption with its scalable and interoperable multichain technology. The funds will be used for the expansion and globalization of BIFROST through strategic partnerships and development.

SOURCE BIFROST

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PiLab Technology (BIFROST) Raises $8.4M Series A Funding Round Led by Korea Investment Partners and STIC Ventures - PRNewswire

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Ford of Europe is trialling smart driver alert technology to indicate the direction from which people and objects are approaching vehicles. Engineers are exploring in-car audio to clearly convey the location of other road users or pedestrians.

In addition, they are testing the use of intuitive sounds such as footsteps, bicycle bells and the sound of passing cars rather than a single tone.

A Ford-developed software uses the information from the sensors to select the appropriate sound and play it through the speaker closest to the obstacle.

Engineers set up a real-world scenario on the test track, with a vehicle backing out of a parking space, an approaching pedestrian and the footsteps alert. Participants in the test responded positively to the footsteps sound, especially when this intuitive alert was played through a specific speaker.

Initial tests revealed that drivers using Directional Audio Alerts were significantly more accurate when it came to identifying potential hazards and their position.

In future, engineers believe that those results might be further improved by using 3D spatial sound similar to that used in cinemas and gaming to better enable drivers to identify the source of a hazard.

Oliver Kirstein, SYNC software engineer, Enterprise Connectivity, Ford of Europe, says: Todays warning tones already inform drivers when they need to take care and be vigilant. Tomorrows technology could alert us to both exactly what the hazard is and where it is coming from.

Ford vehicles currently feature driver assistance technologies that use a suite of sensors to identify when pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles are nearby. These technologies offer visual and audible alerts and if necessary, apply emergency braking.

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Ford Trials Smart Driver Alert Technology Using In-car Speakers & Intuitive Sounds - Auto Futures

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nucleus Research has opened submissions for the 2022 Technology ROI Awards.

The Technology ROI Awards recognize end-user organizations whose deployments of specific business technologies and IT solutions have delivered exceptional financial and business results. For each submission, Nucleus analysts perform an independent ROI assessment to calculate the actual business benefits. Ten winners are chosen based strictly on the ROI achieved. 2021 Technology ROI Awards winners include the American Red Cross for its implementation of John Galt Solutions Atlas Planning Platform and Rain for Rent for its implementation of Zoho, among others.

At Nucleus we are constantly looking at return-on-investment and the effects that has on the end-user experience; we recognize the value there and want to provide business leaders with those insights, said Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research. This years Technology ROI Award winners will again be chosen by our unique team of analysts, and at Nucleus we believe the numbers always tell the story as opposed to speculation or opinions. This is extremely important now more than ever in these volatile times - business leaders and IT decision makers need to know what is working to optimize their companies, and the 2022 Technology Award winners will demonstrate best practices for doing exactly that.

Organizations must nominate their qualified projects before April 1, 2022. There is no fee to submit. Projects must have been installed and in operation for at least six months from the date of submission. The top ten IT implementations, showing the greatest ROI, will be announced in June 2022.

The nomination form and additional information can be found at http://www.ROIAwards.com.

About Nucleus Research

Nucleus Research is a global provider of investigative, case-based technology research and advisory services. The companys ROI-focused research approach provides unique insight into the actual results technology solutions deliver, allowing organizations to cut through marketing hype to understand real operational value and select or renew the best technology solution for their environment. For more information, visit NucleusResearch.com.

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Nucleus Research Announces the 2022 Technology ROI Awards - Business Wire

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Software Development LLC has launched the Bodhi Thermostat, an elegant, one-piece device that greatly enhances your ability to manage the many technologies in a guestroom or residential unit.

As a smart thermostat, it works with virtually any HVAC system. Paired with the Bodhi building management platform, it allows you to remotely monitor, control and schedule temperature and humidity changes using any smartphone, tablet or computer.

With its integrated occupancy sensor, it can detect when guests or homeowners are present or away, allowing Bodhi to bring temperature to their preferred level or set it back to conserve energy. Through Bodhi, it can exchange occupancy information with most property management systems, allowing you to save even more when a room is unrented.

With an integrated Bodhi Bridge, it can connect up to 32 wireless devices, including switches, dimmers, leak and open door sensors, plus hardwired sensors, instruments, and water and electric meters. In doing so, it can include temperature, lighting, video & music in welcome scenes when guests arrive, and economical away scenes when they leave. Crucially, it offers unique monitoring and control options to protect your property and guests.

With its native Crestron integration and RESTful API, it works with all Crestron products, including Crestron Home, custom Crestron systems, and Crestron commercial lighting (including Zm and Green Light). Its also fully compatible with the Lutron Code-Smart Guestroom System.

The Bodhi Thermostat uses a simple Wi-Fi connection to communicate with Bodhi and your property management system (PMS), but in areas where WiFi is not available, an LTE cellular radio is an option.

About Bodhi

Bodhi is a cloud-based application that controls, schedules and manages virtually all of the technology installed in hotels, resorts, homes, offices, and multi dwelling unit residential developments (MDUs). It simplifies and enhances Crestron, Lutron and other control systems, or may be used on its own for many purposes.

After ten years of development at the world-class Albany Resort in the Bahamas, Bodhi is now available to dealers, integrators and hospitality clients around the world.

About Software Development

Software Development, LLC, based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, creates software and hardware systems for the hospitality industry.

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Bodhi's Smart Thermostat Manages All Technology in Guestrooms and Condominiums and Integrates with the PMS - Business Wire