Daily Archives: September 27, 2022

You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig. Thats how the saying goes, and it only seems like yesterday we were in the era of green and black screens when the arrival of the internet triggered record levels of investment in the technology market searching for the definitive killer app with a modern look and feel interface for users.

Looking back at the user experiences of past technology systems compared to today can fill you both with nostalgia and horror, passing through relatively short-lived technology innovations of client/server and thin client along the way. Spending vast amounts of money just to make something look good without the underlying functionality was and still is fools gold, as well discover.

Early origins back to the 80s

The battle for desktop supremacy and the user experience has its origins in the early 1980s and the Apple vs Microsoft wars. Then the user experience was tightly integrated into the operating system and, in Apples case, the hardware, hence the focus was more on overall functionality than just look and feel.

For those who appreciate the beauty of innovation, the idea was encapsulated in the much-quoted Steve Jobs principle of design: Youve got to start with the customer experience and work back towards the technology not the other way around. This ensured Apple in many ways had the jump on Microsoft regarding delivery of the end-user experience, although the opportunistic and entrepreneurial flair of Bill Gates ensured Microsoft Windows ultimately won and monopolised the Battle of the Desktop. The rest, as we know, is history.

Technology should exist to make our lives easier and for the better. Accessibility and enabling capability to allow us to eschew mundane repetitive activity and maximise our time is the very essence of the digital experience. Great technology-enabled experiences always empower the user.

SaaS cloud applications continue to make quantum leaps in an era of design thinking where we are constantly reinventing work through the employee experience. This is done with the knowledge that everything now is about creating immersive digital experiences for customers and employees alike, which cross an enterprise architecture and the functional silos found in organisations and become reflected in ERP modular system design.

Dawn of the SaaS cloud era the power of the user experience

At the start of the SaaS cloud era for enterprise applications, circa 2011-2019, the clear industry leader was Workday. The Pleasanton, California-based brand undertook a considerable amount of investment to ensure its human capital management (HCM) offering was highly intuitive, easy to use and provided an attractive experience.

Adopting the belief that sex sells, Workday had the jump on Oracle in terms of look and feel, and quickly used this to capture market share and build product adoption momentum. Just to keep things balanced, one should note that SAP were nowhere to be seen, despite the siloed HCM functionality within the ERP giants moderately successful stand-alone offering, SuccessFactors.

The SaaS cloud era saw the user interface look and feel in the buyers mind as the superior requirement over underlying system functionality. Organisation buyers were, surprisingly or not, prepared to spend significant sums of money on something that looked pretty. After all, comparing early SaaS applications accessibility and usability against on-premise applications was an easy win, and this became the major recurring theme in the market.

Subsequently, all vendors increased R&D expenditure and focussed on the user experience, with simplification and ease of use being the constant drivers.

The extremes vendors went to was significant, like the example of retina eye scanning, recording how a user sees the screen and accesses functionality, then using the outcomes to reconfigure the system accordingly.

However, even with all the advances in user experience, the platform vendors were still locked into a suite of silo applications. People, regardless of whether being a customer or employee, knowingly and unknowingly touch many front of house and middle office systems to access a service.

Changing the conversation systems of experience

With technology innovation moving so fast, the days of debating the field position on a screen, list of values, and how pretty the web browser screen is, for the true pioneers of the experience economy, are now far behind us. The buying criteria of early SaaS systems is no longer the sole overriding factor.

The dawn of the #experienceeconomy has seen the rise of the experience platforms, first touted around 2019, with the likes of Salesforce and ServiceNow leading the charge and taking the game to the ERP vendors.

Whilst such systems can easily co-exist, naturally the competitive nature of the industry has seen these platforms perceived as taking ERP market share. Experience platforms are not ERP systems, and whilst there are some grey areas, on the whole they can digitalise work in the way work is actually executed inside an organisation, and not necessarily reflecting the out of the box, siloed functional SaaS processes.

Equally the industry approach has evolved allowing multi-channel accessibility, noting most users would rather access technology via their mobile devices. There exists now a focus on creating holistic systems of experience, where personalised services are accessible based upon role and individual whilst residing and leveraging standardised business processes as and when necessary.

To combat this, the ERP vendors are having to move into the new era, most notably Oracles announcement of OracleME earlier this year, which in my view is a direct response to the advance of pure experience platform vendors. It does demonstrate that the large ERP vendors are not immune to market forces; in this case Oracle just so happens to be the first to positively respond.

Drivers of #experienceeconomy

The global pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technology, and whilst the public sector appears to remain in the dark ages regarding the implementation of back-office systems, those in the commercial private sector that did not embrace or could not change fast enough simply went out of business, unable to weather the storm.

With the technology industry always taking note of consumer behaviour and demand, the following factors are driving continuous investment in creating experiences:

Consumer need for greater user adoption systems must be intuitive and easy to use by default.

Simplification of process recognising many operational business processes cut across an organisation and that people do not work in operational silos.

Continuous need for insight the use of real-time data analytics to drive the experience is key.

The ability to deliver flexible, intuitive, easy to use applications that reflect the way people engage and deliver a service by creating data driven immersive experiences accessible at a given point in time continues to attract significant investment monies.

Where are we heading?

The divide between humans and machines comes ever closer with the advancement of technology, specifically with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Therefore, the natural question to ask is, just where is all this heading?

Looking now at the advances of technology in terms of virtual reality and avatars, and the predicted greater adoption of Google Glass, what we are seeing is the creation of an even more accessible and immersive experience.

Welcome to the #experienceeconomy its not going away, folks!

Mark Sweeny, founder, de Novo Solutions

See the article here:

From lipstick on a pig to the experience economy, the evolution of UX ERP Today - ERP Today

Humans all share a common African ancestry, making African history everyones history. Yet little is known about the genetic evolution of people living on the continent in the distant past.

Thanks to advances in genome sequencing technology, scientists are now able to compare the DNA of people alive today with DNA extracted from very old skeletons, giving us a unique snapshot of life in Africa from many thousands of years ago.

In the field of human genetics, the story of Mother Eve is a familiar one. It describes how all living humans descend from one woman who lived in Africa 200,000 to 300,000 years ago.

Evidence comes from studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) a segment of genetic material found in the human cell. Amongst other things, it permits the study of relatedness in populations. Because only mothers pass it down, it reveals the direct evolutionary line between a person living today and their most distant female ancestor.

But like most simple stories, the tale of mitochondrial Eve is neither entirely accurate nor complete. While scientists agree that the dawn of humans did indeed occur in Africa, Eve would have been one of many human females living at the time, and she would not have been the first.

Unfortunately, the reality is that mtDNA gives us limited insight into the timelines, or the patterns, of population spread and dispersal.

Molecular biologist Dr Mateja Hajdinjak explains the significance of this knowledge gap. African population history has shaped the world we all live in, so until we can reconstruct the events from Africas past, going back thousands of years, we cant fully understand how modern humans emerged.

Dr Hajdinjak is the post-doctoral researcher on the ORIGIN project, an EU-funded research initiative based at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK that is analyzing DNA from human remains found in archaeological sites in Africa.

The goal of ORIGIN is to reconstruct African prehistory using ancient DNA analysis.

The information yielded from these DNA samples is being studied alongside the findings of the projects archaeologists, palaeontologists and museum curators.

Dr Hajdinjak is among a growing number of researchers working hard to fill in the historical blanks by moving beyond analysis of mtDNA to use the latest techniques in whole genome sequencing. This allows researchers to compare the DNA of people living today with DNA extracted from very old skeletons.

One of our basic questions is, how can we use ancient DNA to reconstruct past population migrations within Africa and between Africa and other parts of the world? said Dr Hajdinjak.

She adds that little is known about the past genomic landscape across Africa, as much of the genetic change occurred on the continent when some groups shifted from their hunter-gatherer way of life to become agriculturalists between 3,000 and 7,000 years ago.

By comparing past genomes, we can see how different human groups are interconnected, and how migrations happened at different times in history. Migrations allow people to mix and reproduce with new groups, which changes human biology over time.

A lot is already known about ancient European history thanks to modern sequencing techniques, but ancient DNA studies of African samples have lagged behind. The reason for this is that DNA degrades over time, and especially in the hot and humid climates that prevail in Africa.

However, thanks to cutting-edge genome enrichment tools that allow DNA from the tiniest fragments of bone or teeth to be extracted and then amplified, scientists are starting to make good progress sequencing ancient DNA from Africa too.

By studying the data in this way, the researchers are starting to reconstruct events from the distant past and to probe the relationships that emerged between different African populations.

The aim of ORIGIN is not simply to satisfy our natural curiosity about where we came from, but also to unravel the timeline of our genetic evolution, and to use this information to predict how we might evolve into the future.

Some genetic mutations will have been instantly beneficial to our African ancestors, and will have persisted through the gene pool to this day, thousands of years after they first arose. A key example is lactase persistence the ability to digest milk into adulthood.

Milk and milk products are a valuable source of energy, yet the default ancestral state is lactose intolerance. For adults living in early African farming communities, the ability to convert milk from their herds into glucose may have given them an evolutionary advantage over their lactose intolerant neighbors.

Another genetic variant that would have boosted human survival when it first emerged is the sickle cell mutation. This genetic variant confers a degree of protection against malaria.

However, the mutation is something of a double-edged sword, as it is also responsible for sickle cell disease a serious and life-long condition that is prevalent in parts of Africa to this day.

It would be very important to reconstruct how sickle cell mutations first appeared and spread, said Dr Pontus Skoglund, supervisor of the ORIGIN project.

By understanding when mutations happened and how they spread, we can better understand how humans respond to evolutionary challenges, said Skoglund.

Researchers involved in the EU-backed AfricanNeo project are particularly intrigued by early farming practices in Africa. They are comparing samples of ancient DNA with contemporary DNA to refine their understanding of when African populations started migrating across their continent.

These migrations had a huge impact on the genetic mixing of groups, but the researchers are finding that this expansion was a complex series of events that cannot be encapsulated into a neat mitochondrial Eve-style narrative.

Expansion was not uniform across the continent, said Associate Professor Carina Schlebusch. She is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and principal investigator of the project.

Some hunter-gatherer groups were replaced by farmers, she said, referring to the likelihood that conflict would have arisen between populations wanting to occupy the same land, and that farmers would have enjoyed a competitive edge over hunter gatherers. Other groups interacted and exchanged genes, and others still remained isolated for far longer than you might expect.

Its clear why we should all care about these complex events from Africas distant past, according to Dr Schlebusch.

History tends to repeat itself, she said. These past migratory events may well play a role in how we behave in our future. For example, climate change means there is likely to be more pressures on people who are forced to leave their homes. There is a chance there will be more conflicts between populations and that some minority groups will be replaced.

The more we learn about our history, she said. The more we can predict how things will work out in the future.

The research in this article was funded via the EUs European Research Council and the Marie Skodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The article was originally published on Horizon, the EU Research & Innovation magazine.

Read the original here:

How prehistoric DNA is helping to unlock the secrets of human evolution - EL PAS USA

In 1996, Sara Chesterman was 24, an architecture student and engaged in contemporary dance when she had an accident resulting in quadriplegia paralysis from the collarbone down, partial paralysis of her arms and complete paralysis of her fingers. She continued dancing and performing, completed her fine arts degree in painting and drawing (COFA, now UNSW Art and Design) and taught interior architecture for six years (UNSW). In the process of living her life and raising her son, born in 2009, she has worked to rethink the design of many everyday objects and the spaces of her home. She spoke with Maryam Gusheh and Catherine Murphy about the evolution of these spaces.

Sara Chesterman used cardboard templates to test what was required to enable her to enjoy cooking in her kitchen while interacting with her son.

The alterations to my home have always been collaborative. The architectural expertise of my brother and father, John and David Chesterman, has been invaluable in the major changes we have made to the fabric of the house. Spatial experiments with my partner have also performed a key role; we have constantly played with and tested old furniture and bits and pieces to create a space that supported comfort and equality of social interaction. Its been ongoing, evolving.

The original house was a two-bedroom semi in Bondi. We bought it eight months after my injury, because it was a level block. At the time, there was nothing I could buy or rent that immediately met my needs. Changes had to be made quite quickly. We did the first renovation before I moved in in 1996 and another one three decades later in 2018.

The initial move was to add a pavilion with a bedroom and bathroom at the rear of the block, connected by a breezeway through a garden courtyard to the main house. The division allowed the possibility of co-living, and a series of design changes accommodated the proportions and operations of my lightweight, manual wheelchair lowered work surfaces, a compact kitchen so that I could push off nearby surfaces without having to dirty my hands on the wheels, and level access to on-site car parking. At that time, I drove a car modified with hand controls.

The connection to and the experience of a garden are really important to me. My new pavilion had large glass sliding doors that opened directly to the garden and swing doors wide enough to move my bed out onto the breezeway. In 1998, I met my partner. He helped develop the garden, planting trees that attracted birds to my window and sinking a bath into the ground to create a pond. The pond is a home to frogs and casts moving light reflections onto the ceiling above my bed. He put up mirrors to enhance the feeling of space and enable me to see into spaces behind me when I was immobilized in bed. The view to the garden to the east, and high windows in the north and west walls, mean that light moves through the room, creating a strong connection to changing seasons and the passage of time. I have found these connections vital during long periods of bed-rest that can sometimes last months at a time.

The rear pavilion also allowed for privacy. I was concerned about the impact of my care on others. I didnt want my carers late-night and early-morning routines to disturb the household. So, we provided a second entry via the courtyard for greater privacy. The division between the front and back also meant that I could have flatmates, as a potential income source, or provide live-in carer accommodation.

By 2002, six years after my accident, I had sustained a severe shoulder injury that meant I could no longer drive and needed a much larger, motorized wheelchair. This gave me freedom to travel on the footpath, safely use public transport and visit local parks and beaches. But the larger wheelchair wasnt well suited to the interior of my home I could not easily manoeuvre around inside and I couldnt get into or use the kitchen. I could no longer participate in the full life of the house.

There were other problems, too. The weather would batter the breezeway and I was always freezing. My bed couldnt be moved from the pavilion into the living spaces. The swing doors were difficult to operate. At one point, we took the door right off the kitchen it was better to live without it and to be cold than to deal with the constant difficulty and shoulder pain of opening and closing. So, in 2018 we did the next renovation.

The current house basically follows the old plan we found that the rear pavilion strategy worked pretty well. But the renovations allowed us to clarify the ad hoc changes that had been made in response to my changing needs. It also added a bedroom for my son, separated from the rentable portion of the house.

Wider openings that are easy to open and close, and automated curtains that provide fluid thresholds and audio privacy, are central to the success of the new works. We can easily roll my bed through most spaces of the house so I can participate in social activities when on bed-rest. My partner put our bath on wheels. I can use the bedroom hoist to transfer into the bath and then easily choose where I wish to be baths in the garden are magic at night!

The long-term expense of heating and cooling were considered, as I have completely lost the ability to control my body temperature. In hot weather I get fevers, in winter my body temperature can drop and take up to 24 hours to restabilize. When this happens, the temperature of the room has to change beyond the comfort zone of other people. We added solar panels and created the possibility of rooms with distinct environmental qualities.

We also included multiple new kitchens: a small, independent kitchenette for the carers, close to my bedroom to strengthen the separation and efficiency of care; another kitchenette for the front dwelling to enhance its autonomy; and a bigger, functional kitchen where I can again cook.

Off-the-shelf accessible kitchens are not designed to accommodate large motorized wheelchairs. I couldnt find an adjustable-height kitchen bench that I could use or a sink that I could get under. And having not cooked for 15 years, I had little insight into what I was capable of doing. So, we made many cardboard templates to test and develop what was needed. Core to the design was the understanding that cooking, for me, would be an interdependent activity. The transformation has been incredible. Being able to cook makes me feel like I am able to fully participate in family life cooking dinner while overseeing my son doing homework is such a great thing. If I were an able-bodied mum, maybe Id be resenting it, but Im really enjoying it its something that I can do while interacting with him.

After the new alterations, my dad moved into the front section of the house. He also needs some support now and we are able to share my carer support. So, the structure of the house has, in effect, helped me to provide carers with longer shifts and more stable employment, while living independently but in close proximity to my father. With my sister living across the road, we can ensure he is cared for safely and happily. This is such a relief for our family. It would be a relief for anyone, really.

I do feel like we have evolved some key principles that could serve as a model for retrofitting other homes, so that the house is better for everyone. Levels of privacy reinforced through different types of operable closures and dual entries. A green space core to the house that brings the external environment to a person who may be housebound for long periods. The bedroom as a multi-use space a highly functional workspace for carers and a place where the more intangible qualities of architecture (space and light) can support mental wellbeing. The possibility of interconnected dwellings for multi-generational living, casual support, live-in paid support or shared care arrangements.

Once these principles are established and combined with flexible space and wide openings, bespoke elements can be integrated and modified to accommodate a persons needs as they change over time, without major alteration to the fabric of the house.

At the outset of this interview, you asked me if I think architectural approaches can support or enhance human capabilities and contribute to my quality of life. The evolution of the home has made me realize that architecture is not only a necessary support, but absolutely fundamental.

Continued here:

Cardboard templates and the evolution of a home - Architecture AU

Image credit: Rick Bolin, via Flickr (cropped).

Theoretical physicistSabine Hossenfelderrecently posted a very informative video asking Did the Big Bang happen? She explains why alternative theories to the Big Bang model fail to better explain the cosmological data. She also unintentionally affirms the fine-tuning argument for design in the universe.

Hossenfelder begins by summarizing the evidence for Big Bang cosmology based on Einsteins theory of relativity and the observed expansion of space. She also explains why the exact details of the early universe remain a mystery. Cosmologists have a limited understanding of the physics of this time when the energy of particles exceeded what the Large Hadron Collider at CERN could generate. In addition, elucidating the dynamics of the universes earliest epoch requires a theory of quantum gravity, which does not currently exist.

Even given these limitations, the Big Bang theory represents the best model since it is founded on general relativity, and Einsteins theory is supported by numerous pieces of observational evidence such as the bending of light around stars. In addition, the standard model (i.e., Big Bang model with a cosmological constant and cold dark matter) predicts many observations such as the Cosmic Microwave Background and the galactic filaments using simple initial conditions. The universes initial state is assumed to approximate a uniform distribution of mass-energy.

The standard model thus provides a simple explanation for the current state of the universe since it requires few variables. These include the variables in the relatively simple equations for the expansion of the universe, the initial mass-energy density, and the initial expansion rate.

Hossenfelder then provides a deeply insightful exposition on the inferiority of other models. All other models rely on different equations for the dynamics of the early universe. But these equations can only generate our current state by choosingfar more complex initial conditions:

Einsteins equations together with their initial values in the early universe provide a simple explanation for the observations we make today. When I say simple, I mean simple in a quantitative way you need few numbers to specify. If you used a different equation, then the initial state would be more difficult. Youd need to put in more numbers. And the theory wouldnt explain as much.

The key problem is that nearly any set of equations could yield the current state of the universe with the right choice of initial conditions. But neither the theorys underlying equations nor the initial conditions can be independently verified. And the alternative theories provide no additional knowledge. Hossenfeldersummarizes as follows:

And then they also need a different initial state, so you might no longer find a Big Bang. As I said earlier, you can always do this, because for any evolution law there will be some initial state that will give you the right prediction for today. The problem is that this makes a simple explanation more complicated, so these theories are not scientifically justifiable. They dont improve the explanatory power of the standard cosmological model. Another way to put it is that all those complicated ideas for how the universe began are unnecessary to explain what we observe.

Hossenfelder lists several theories that fall under her critique including Penroses cyclic cosmology, the ekpyrotic universe that postulates colliding membranes, and the no-boundary proposal by Jim Hartle and Stephen Hawking. Stephen Meyer also critiqued these theories in his bookReturn of the God Hypothesis. But Meyer came to starkly different conclusions.

Hossenfelder concludes that we are facing the limits of science itself. And the question of the universes origin well never be able to answer. In contrast, Meyer argues that the evidence for a beginning and the required fine tuning of the universe to support life point to a mind behind our world. The fact that all alternative cosmological theories require highly specific initial conditions to explain our present life-friendly universe only reinforces the fine-tuning argument and by extension the God Hypothesis.

See the rest here:

Deficiency of Alternative Models to the Big Bang - Discovery Institute

NEW YORK September 9, 2022 Texworld NYC and Apparel Sourcing NYC return to the Javits Center in New York City with focus on transformation and invigoration.

Reflecting the ever-changing climate of the globally connected industry, Texworld Evolution New York City serves as a nexus for growth and the future of the largest sourcing event on the East Coast.

The co-located event composed of Texworld NYC, Apparel Sourcing NYC, and Global Footwear Sourcing is set to bring attendees 3 full days of global sourcing, networking, education, workshops, curated trends and more. With a focus on expanding fashion textile, component, and apparel sourcing, the evolved and elevated show floor will feature multiple new product and service categories including finished footwear and design studios as well as exciting new partnerships to be announced soon.In addition to the events mainstay features, the Lenzing Seminar Series, Textile Talks, and Texworld Trend Showcase, visitors can discover even more inspiration and innovation through live interactive workshops, informative demonstrations, and experiential activations. The event will also include enhanced networking events and enlarged meeting areas on the show floor to create a more inclusive, community building space for both attendees and exhibitors.

Registration for attendees is set to open next week. The event will be held in New York City at the Javits Convention Center, January 31 February 2, 2023. For more detailed information, please visit us online:

http://www.TexworldNewYorkCity.com

http://www.ApparelSourcingNewYorkCity.com

Posted: September 26, 2022

Source: The Messe Frankfurt Group

Originally posted here:

Texworld Evolution New York City Winter 2023 Edition To Bring Brand New Product Categories And Exciting Partnerships - Textile World Magazine

When you think about algae, you might imagine vivid green strands swaying in a stream or blue-green blooms invading lakes.

However, the vast majority of these complex aquatic creatures that exchange sunlight for energy are brown in hue, such as the vast forests of seaweeds seen in arctic areas or along California's coast.

(Photo : Mihly Kles/Unsplash)

Brown algae are brown (and hence less attractive) because they have evolved a unique collection of pigments that absorb more light for photosynthesis than green plants and algae, as per ScienceDaily.

As a result, brown algae are critical to life on Earth, generating 20% of the oxygen humans breath.

Scientists have yet to unravel the molecular pathways that enable these brown algae to turn sunlight into energy.

Colorado State University biologists, in collaboration with researchers from Germany and China, have revealed ground-breaking new insights into the evolutionary pathways these algae underwent to produce their unusual brown pigments known as fucoxanthin.

Fucoxanthin has gained popularity in nutraceutical and medicinal uses during the last decade.

The molecular structure of fucoxanthin was discovered in the 1960s after it was first reported in scholarly literature 150 years ago.

What was unknown was how the algae produced this natural substance.

This biochemical manufacturing route proved to be complicated; the researchers demonstrated in PNAS that the brown pigment fucoxanthin developed through duplication of ancient genes that produce photoprotective pigments.

Some of these gene copies evolved increasingly sophisticated roles along the route, allowing the manufacture of additional pigments that became particularly well-suited for photosynthesis.

"These algae are able to mix and match, then reprogram their cellular machinery for collecting light in ways that terrestrial plants have not," Peers explained.

The new discovery provides a rich framework for future research that might allow the brown pigment's extraordinary light-harvesting efficiency to be transferred to other creatures or purposes.

For example, understanding how brown algae originated might help scientists better understand the fucoxanthin pigment as a nutraceutical for a variety of health purposes.

In biofuels research, learning how to change the quantity of this pigment in a cell might lead to greater photosynthetic efficiency, allowing for the production of bigger amounts of biofuels with the same amount of light, land, and labor as traditional fuels.

Also Read:Algenol's Algae-Based Biofuel: The Next Generation in Renewable Energy (VIDEOS)

Carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids/natural oils are the three primary components of algal biomass.

Because the majority of the natural oil produced by microalgae is tricylglycerol, which is the correct type of oil for manufacturing biodiesel, microalgae are the exclusive emphasis in the algae-to-biodiesel arena.

Microalgae may be utilized to create energy in a variety of ways other than biodiesel.

Under particular growing circumstances, several algae species may create hydrogen gas, as per Farm Energy.

Algae biomass may also be burned like wood or anaerobically digested to produce methane biogas, which can be used to generate heat and power.

Pyrolysis may also be used to produce crude bio-oil from algae biomass.

The majority of microalgae are exclusively photosynthetic, which means they require light and carbon dioxide as energy and carbon sources.

This culture mode is commonly referred to as photoautotrophic.

Some algae species, on the other hand, can thrive in complete darkness and use organic carbons such as glucose or acetate as energy and carbon sources.

This type of cultivation is known as heterotrophic.

Heterotrophic algal culture is difficult to justify for biodiesel production due to high capital and operating expenses.

Algal biofuel production often relies on photoautotrophic growth, which uses sunshine as a free source of light to reduce expenses.

Related article:Giant Clams Help Algae Partners Harvest Light

2022 NatureWorldNews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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Evolution of Brown Algae Has a Big Help to Biofuels - Nature World News

Dystopian futures dominated by malevolent artificial intelligence have long been a mainstay in science fiction. From the coldly calculating HAL 9000 of Arthur C. Clarkes 2001: A Space Odyssey to Arnold Schwartzeneggers iconic portrayal of the Terminator to HBOs Westworld, we thrill at the prospect of being overwhelmed by our own creations.

In fact, the very first science fiction novel, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, was born out of the fear that the then-nascent industrial revolution would unleash titanic forces beyond our control. That it hasnt happened yet has done little to diminish popular interest in the topic.

Ray Kurzweil, chief futurist at Google and the most recognizable evangelist of the Singularity, predicts that computers will overtake human intelligence by the year 2045. Only time will tell if he is right.

For now, such futures still belong to the realm of speculation, which is to say they belong to science fiction.

However, it is not AI that is the danger, but rather transhumanism. We shouldnt worry about making machines that are more like us. We should worry about making us more like machines.

Transhumanism theorizes that mankind will transcend the limitations of biology with the aid of artificial intelligence and technology, which would be integrated with the human consciousness. Proponents of transhumanism claim that it will be possible to upload human minds into machines, thereby achieving a kind of immortality. They argue that we have already entered a cybernetic era, with life extending technologies such as artificial hearts, prosthetic limbs, and various implants that regulate our bodies. Now, Elon Musk is working on brain-computer interfaces, that would allow direct communication between a human mind and an artificial one.

Transhumanist meddling in consciousness significantly increases the risk that humanity will be superseded. As a species, we havent proven to be very good at respecting boundaries. We need only look at the devastation human beings have wrought on the environment to see how our best-laid technological plans often lead to disastrous consequences for ourselves and for those with whom we share the planet.

Most of the work being done on AI and transhumanism is happening in a corporate black box. We are subjecting our very nature to the profit motive. That doesnt seem like a good idea.

I envision a world in which human minds are vulnerable to direct manipulation or control via the kind of brain-computer interface being developed by Musk, where quaint concepts of independent thought or free will no longer exist.

In many ways, we are edging closer and closer to that world. Digital media technology and social algorithms can now be used not only to predict behavior, but to direct it. Politically, Americans are dividing into self-selected digital tribes, where the only news that filters through conforms to pre-existing biases. Imagine a world where it is no longer possible simply to step away from your computer or put down your iPhone.

One of the recurring themes in my new novel, Our Lady of the Artilects, is the struggle of its characters to distinguish between authentic spiritual experiences and mere spectacle that has been implanted in their minds, a kind of hijacking of prophecy or prayer for sinister purposes.

Its no accident that that the subtitle of Frankenstein was the Modern Prometheus. Shelleys brilliant protagonist was playing with primordial forces he didnt fully understand. Given how little we know about the nature of consciousness, I worry we are doing the same as we rush towards a transhumanist future. If we do end up creating Frankensteins monster, it is likely that we will create it within ourselves.

***

More:

Will AI and Transhumanism Lead to the Next Evolution of Mankind, or Doom It? - CrimeReads

By Ben Jones, Senior Segment Manager, MediaKind

Many of live broadcastings critical requirements havent changed at all. Reliability and resiliency against disruption are a given, as is the need to continually improve quality while supporting more platforms. However, recently, flexibility and increasingly security are now edging onto the list of absolute must-haves. The latest iteration of MediaKinds edge devices delivers several new features that exemplify why flexibility is critical for the modern streaming environment. It also highlights why security needs to seamlessly extend across the entire end-to-end media delivery workflow as a core component, not just an afterthought.

Streaming workflows are not all built the same and for good reason. The historical infrastructure of the content provider, target distribution platforms, and even geographic necessity will have a major impact on media workflow design. Cost is a key factor, but issues like available connectivity, remote production, and duration of the production all have roles to play. A pop-up event or short tournament will have a distinct set of requirements compared to a recurring seasonal event like a sporting league.

This means that content producers must become more agile. And the underlying contribution and distribution technologies must be able to adapt as the circumstances require. This ethos is one of the reasons for the sharp and rapidly growing adoption of the cloud. Yet flexibility is only feasible if the technological parts of the media workflow can seamlessly integrate. This is why adding Zixi protocol support alongside our existing Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) option is a significant addition to our MK CE1 and MK RX1 appliances.

Although proprietary, the Zixi protocol has become an industry standard alongside its sibling SRT. Its ability to support multicast, bonding, and bitrate adaption are all capabilities that are incredibly useful for creating robust media workflows. When you add DTLS and AES encryption, Zixi offers a set of options to deliver secure, low latency, and reliable media operations.

Adding this support gives our customers more options around how they want to build a workflow. And the ability to quickly change direction. Another example is the recent addition to our MK CE1 media contribution encoder that now sports an enhanced user interface and automation for SMPTE ST 2110 connectivity with Networked Media Open Specifications (NMOS) discovery and control. The rationale is the same as our addition of Zixi support making it easier for our customers to adapt without having to rip and replace critical hardware.

Security mustnt be overlooked in an era where more organizations are utilizing the public internet and moving content through third parties with limited control. MediaKinds MK RX1 receiver and media gateway solution now includes enhanced security with 128-bit rotating keys while maintaining the technologys traditional key values. This is further enhanced by over-the-air control and lifecycle management. This ability to automatically change encryption keys adds an extra layer of protection and fits with the ongoing narrative of end-to-end security by design.

In the quest for flexibility and seamless integration, security can become a burden if its not thoughtfully built into every element along the chain.

The addition of Zixi is part of an ongoing strategy to continually enhance the MK Edge portfolio to support emerging technologies across both proprietary and open-source alternatives. We recognize that media companies want to design workflows that suit their needs and not be forced into a fixed technological path based on what suits the supplier community.

Read more:

Flexibility with security is the key to successful media evolution - MediaKind - MediaKind

Overview:

Christianity is declining. Then nones are increasing. This is how religion evolves in a world of religious liberty.

The decline of Christianity in the United States does not mean that religion is dead or dying. News of the death of religion may excite humanists, but it is unlikely to go extinct. Religion is an adaptable social phenomenon. Religious beliefs and behaviors have always evolved. In a free country, this evolution will continue.

The Pew Center released a recent report predicting the continuing decline of Christianity in the United States. This corresponds with a prediction about the rise of the nonesthe folks who say none of the above when asked about their religious affiliation. The rise of the nones has been widely discussed. Phil Zuckerman has been talking about it for over a decade. So have I.

The new Pew report is an important reminder of how religious liberty works, as I argued recently. In a secular society, people are free to switch religions. Our shifting religious demography is a sign of our freedom.

There is no uniform story about switching here. Some will move from one congregation to another within a given tradition. Some may change from one faith to another. But the majority of those who are switching seem to be switching out of, without switching into, another faith tradition. The nones are moving away from specific religious traditions and ending up unaffiliated. Another way of describing these folks is to speak of them as the unchurched.

The Pew Center shows that during the past 50 years, the nones grew from 5% in 1972 to around 30% today. They predict that if trends remain the same, in fifty years, 41% of the population will be nones.

The increase of the unchurched is coming at the expense of Christianity. Pew reports that in 1972, 90% of Americans identified as Christian. But today only 64% of Americans are Christian. If the rate of changes stays the same, Pew predicts that the Christian population will be 46% in 2070. That means that Christianity will no longer be the majority religion in the U.S.

Atheists and humanists may celebrate this result. But before the atheists pop the champagne, lets make sure we do not over-interpret this data. This does not mean that atheism or humanism will grow as fast as we might think.

Most of the nones are not atheists or agnostics. The recent Pew report did not predict the growth of atheism. But Pew has published information on atheism and agnostic in a related report from 2021. In 2021, 4% described themselves as atheists and 5% said they were agnostic. But another 20% said nothing in particular.

Now it might be that nothing in particular is a way station on the path to atheism. Perhaps those who say nothing in particular are afraid to admit they are atheists. I know my own journey to atheism worked that way. At one point, I stopped believing. But I was reluctant to embrace the term atheism. It took a while, and a bit of courage, to come out of the religious closet, so to speak. So, there may be some nones who keep moving along a similar trajectory and end up as atheists.

But among the nones, there are those who are called spiritual but not religious. These folks dont understand their spiritual identity in terms of any specific faith. Pew has also been tracking these kinds of people. In a 2017 report, they say that 27% of Americans identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. This category is fuzzy. So, we want to be careful about over analyzing things here.

But we can imagine what this might mean. The spiritual but not religious folks are people who believe in some higher power and some spiritual notion of the soul. They may celebrate religious holidays. They may even pray and practice some rituals. But they do it on their own, apart from any organization, authority, or set of official dogma.

I suspect that the growth of the nones will include the growth of the spiritual but not religious folks. Our culture is awash in unchurched spirituality that is idiosyncratic and syncreticand not easily categorized as part of any given tradition. As an example, we might consider the growth of yoga.

One reason to suspect the persistence of spirituality and religion broadly construed is that this is an important part of human culture and psychology. Authors such as Dan Dennett, Robert Bellah, and Nicholas Wade suggested that there were social, psychological, and evolutionary pressures at work in the creation of religion. Spirituality is psychologically satisfying. And religious organization serves social purposes.

It is likely that spirituality and religion will persist as part of a basic human need for meaning and structure. But, and here is the exciting part of the story, religion will change. The history of the evolution of religion shows that there has always been ongoing evolution. Religions are born, mature, and evolve in response to social and psychological pressures. It is likely that religion will continue to evolve in this way.

The contrarian Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong made a similar claim in a book published over 20 years ago, Why Christianity Must Change or Die. His point was that the old myths no longer make sense to the present generation. A religion that does not evolve and adapt will soon go extinct.

History shows us that religion has always adapted. Christianity developed as a response to the Judaism of the Roman empire. Islam appeared later as Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and others mingled on the periphery of the Roman and Byzantine world. In the United States, new religions appeared as Christianity evolved to become Mormonism, Christian Science, and other offshoots. A similar story can be told about the evolution of Buddhism out of Hinduism. And so on.

The rapid shift we are witnessing in terms of religious affiliation and identity is a time of foment and transformation. These are exciting times for those who study religion. And while I might prefer that more people would embrace humanism, I know this is unlikely.

For my part, I want to make sure that religious liberty remains fundamental. And so long as we are free to think, innovate, and experiment with religion and spirituality, Im content to watch the evolution of religion, as Americans use their liberty to explore what it means to be human.

Related

Read more from the original source:

The evolution of religion and the rise of the nones - OnlySky

Bandai Namco Entertainment has just launched its first Gundam-themed competitive FPS on PC and console, Gundam Evolution. However, not all Mobile Suit pilots are happy. The majority of players seem to report that they encountered an Error Code 503 message that wont let them boot up the game. If you are one of many players affected by this issue, here is how you can fix Error Code 503 in Gundam Evolution.

There are two reasons behind Gundam Evolution Error Code 503 message, and you actually do not need to do anything to fix the issue. First, you might have encountered it before the game was officially released. Gundam Evolution launched on September 21 at 7 PM PDT or 10 PM EDT on PC, and the Xbox and PlayStation versions will follow at a later date on November 30. However, in the case of the Steam version, the game was available to be preloaded a day before, although we can assume that Bandai Namco will do the same when it releases on consoles. That means the files were able to be downloaded, but the servers are not accessible yet.

You will also see Error Code 503 when Gundam Evolution is having server maintenance. On the Steam page, in order to fix some connection issues, it says that the games server will be unavailable for a while from 22 September 2022 from 11 PM to 23 September 1 AM PDT. Be aware that the end time for this maintenance may differ depending on the severity of the issue.

Interestingly, there is a way to bypass server maintenance. All you need to do is:

Nevertheless, if you are still having problems with Error Code 503 in Gundam Evolution outside of server maintenance periods, you might want to contact the official Gundam Evolution Support forums to fix the issue.

Gundam Evolution is now available on PC via Steam. The console version will be released later for PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on November 30, 2022.

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How to Fix Error Code 503 in Gundam Evolution? Answered - The Nerd Stash