Looking back over 2009, I'm not going to candy-coat: It's been a rough year. My accomplishment was making it through relatively unscathed, yet stronger for the experience. Another accomplishment is that I'm brimming with hope for all of the promises that lie ahead for 2010.
Regardless of where you are in your journey, a new year is upon us. My gut tells me to fasten the seat belts for a wild and fun ride ahead.
Stay safe and I'll see you in 2010!
From my childhood to yours, may you and your family and friends share the best magic and wonder of the season... and and continue to experience those blessings throughout 2010.
"Daddy, aren't you going to write a letter to Santa Clause?" My 5-year-old's question was sincere enough. If she and her older sister (who was going along with it, just to be nice) were writing letters to The Jolly One, why should the adults of the house be exempt? "Doesn't Santa like big people?"
Fantasy play is correlated with other positive attributes. In preschool children, for example, those who have imaginary friends are more creative, have greater social understanding and are better at taking the perspective of others, according to Marjorie Taylor, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon and author of the book "Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them."
But what about fantasy in adults? How often do we "big people" let our minds wander from our cubicled existence? Do we exercise our "what if" muscle enough or just blindly accept the status quo? In another month, I'll be facing a new batch of cubicle-dwellers in the "Creativity for Business" MBA elective I teach. Are they prepared to think beyond the realms of reality? I sure hope so.
Me? I happily conceded in writing my letter to Santa. Who knows? Maybe this year I'll get what I really want.
Our systems sometimes go through detox as well. Have you ever downsized an employee, only to realize how critical they were to your organization? What about software or a policy that was tossed out? When you remove a critical input (either accidentally or purposely), you run the risk of sending your system into detox. It's become dependent on the input.
Sean O'Malley runs The Quarry, a business incubator at Venrock, a leading venture capital firm. In the last 18 months he has started 6 companies that have gone from blank slate, through "ideation", execution and validation to receive Series A funding. He spent more than an hour talking with TLP Fellows about the "Idea Development Model" he uses.
It is important to take the time to do ideation right. The first thing I do when an entrepreneur comes in to The Quarry is put them through "detox". 9 times out of 10 this is the best thing they have ever done. It is great to be able to take that step back. It should take a least three months, which may seem too long, but the idea forming stage is really the only time you'll have time!
Think about your systems. What inputs would send them into detox? Is that what you want? How will you get your system back on track from the input withdrawal?
Toward the end of every episode, Dr. Doofenschmirtz is foiled of his evil plans. Rather than accept accountability for his lack of judgment, he belts out in his screechy, whiny, evil mad-scientist cackle, "Curse you, Perry the Platypus" as Agent P is jetting back to his domestic bliss as Phineas and Ferb's pet, generally to be met with the greeting, "Oh, there you are, Perry."
And we come to the end of our Phineas and Ferb journey with this thought: amid your goals of accomplishment, there will always be those who will curse you. There will be those who think you cannot succeed. There will be those who want to see you fail and/or fall. There will be those who just don't like you, plain and simple.
Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, whose book ("I Hate People") I reviewed a few months ago, recently posted the Soloist's Manifesto. Similar to the "hero's journey," each of us must learn how to be a soloist and survive by our own wits. Much like Perry the Platypus foils evil on his own accord and is cursed for it, each of us must learn to get past the "team spirit" which often mires corporate America in the mediocrity of group-think and committee-ism. There are certain journeys which must be traveled alone.
Don't get me wrong. As I mentioned in an earlier post, leveraging the skills of those around you is key. But ultimately, the accountability for success lies with one individual: YOU. In many corporate environments, we have a desire to be liked. But we neglect the fact that sometimes it's alright to be cursed, especially if the one cursing you is allergic to accomplishment and accountability. Even Jesus mused, "Beware when all men speak well of you."
Phineas and Ferb's older sister, Candace, has one solitary goal in life: to prove to their mother that the boys really are creating all of these outlandish contraptions. (That would be in addition to the goal of some day marrying Jeremy Johnson and having two children, Xavier and Amanda.) Candace goes to great lengths to attempt to bust her brothers, and her extreme tattling can be highly entertaining... namely because her "foolproof" efforts are always foiled (more often than not by one of Dr. Doofenschmirtz's crazy inventions). Interestingly enough, Dr. Doofenschmirtz's daughter, Vanessa, is also trying to prove to her mom (and Doof's ex-wife) that he really is evil. The funny part of all of these "busting attempts" are that those potentially being busted are making no effort to hide their accomplishments, nor do they think they are doing anything wrong.
There's an old phrase that says "Those who say it cannot be done should get out of the way of those doing it." And with this post, we ride the fine line of accountability. Usually a tattler thinks they have the best interest of all involved, but I've found in my experience that unless that tattler wears the title of "Auditor" or the one being ratted out is truly a rat (or otherwise causing organizational harm), there is very little benefit to trying to bust them.
One caveat: I view many of the INTERNALLY developed corporate rules and regulations as tattle-fodder. Instead of correcting one person's bad behavior or skills or decisions, a new policy is put in place to punish everybody. If more companies hired common sense and cultural/personality fit, we'd need fewer company policies.
On one of my early jobs in a department at a local big box insurance company, I had to deal with a Candace. She took great joy in running to our mutual boss. Now, keep in mind, my Candace's tattling primarily consisted of "Tim won't do it my way." After repeated attempts at "adult" conversation got nowhere with this individual, I decided to take the approach of a parent who catches their kid smoking and punishes them by making them smoke the entire pack to make them sick. Since my Candace seemed to thrive on tattling as her preferred accomplishment, I sent her down rabbit holes to give her SO MUCH to tattle about (none of which had any substance) that it exhausted our mutual boss. I'm not sure what was said between them, but she soon transferred out of the department in a huff. Why did I do that? She was getting in the way of actual productive and constructive work being completed... she was hindering accomplishment (and destroying team morale in the process... seems I wasn't the only "pesky little brother" she was tattling on). I hear she's in a much better pasture cubicle job now.
When it comes to accountability and accomplishment, before blowing the whistle on another, ask if what they are doing is wrong or just different... then do a gut check to determine your own motives for wanting to "bust them." You might save yourself - and everyone else - a whole lot of time and effort.
Isabella: Aren't you gonna need a pit crew?
Phineas: Do you know a pit crew?
And herein lies two more features of accomplishment. The first is Isabella's curiosity. Her first question is always "Whatcha Doin'?" She's genuinely curious about the boys and their antics. The second is her ability to leverage her utility players to get things done. She recognizes her troop has many talents and she leverages ALL of their skills depending on the situation ("OK, girls, we're dealing with a 426 cubic inch, fully-blown V8, with hypo-lifters, radical cam, and a limited slip differential" as they all check their Fireside Girl manuals to determine how to approach this kind of engine).
Do you approach accomplishment with a sense of curiosity and wonder, or is it all the same ol' same ol'? If Isabella were in your cubicle, would you pull her into an adventure or bore her to tears? And what about your utility players? Are you tapping the skills of those around you to develop them and help them earn their own accomplishment patches, or are you the lone voice crying in the wilderness... and then wondering why nothing ever gets done?
So the question begs to be asked, "Whatcha doin'?"
All of the action does not center around Phineas and Ferb alone, however. As you might expect, they have a pet. And as you also might expect, they have a rather unorthodox pet. His name is Perry (and "he's a platypus; they don't do much"). Ah, but that's where you'd be wrong the whole "they don't do much" part. Perry the Platypus leads a double life as Agent P, secret agent for an unnamed agency which uses animals as their workforce (the neighbor's chihuahua, Pinky, belongs to the same organization).
Perry's job as a secret agent is to battle constantly the evil wrong-doings of Dr. Heinz Doofenschmirtz (hey, I don't make this stuff up). As any evil archnemisis, Dr. Doofenschmirtz loves to monologue about his evil schemes, often preceding his explanations with "Backstory Time!" Let me tell you, this guy has issues. His father made him work as a lawn gnome and named the family dog "Only son" before his younger brother came along to restore family pride. His mother dressed him in girls' clothes as a child and favors his younger brother, Roger, for his kickball abilities. So we can't blame him for being a little screwed up from his childhood in Gimelschtump, Druelselstein. But as Josh Jackson of Paste Magazine argues, you have to love this guy's imagination for doing evil.
Even though all of his evil schemes ultimately fail, Doofenschmirtz gets one thing right about accomplishment: he always tells his backstory. I try to convince my students that all of them are in sales... because they are. And if people don't understand the backstory of your ideas, if they can't put your desired accomplishments in context, they'll have a hard time supporting you. How many times have you just sprung an idea on those around you and expected them to understand intuitively all of your thought processes and experiences which brought you to your conclusion? Now... how many times have those around you given you the "what have you been smoking?" look in response to your idea?
Story telling is an art and a skill. When mastered, it allows you to invite others to join you on your journey to accomplishment. The story is a tool that is universal. Jesus used it. So did Aesop. And so have countless thousands of people throughout history. How about you? What's your accomplishment? What's its backstory?
Phineas is the undisputed leader between him and his brother (and pretty much every kid in the tri-state area). He has a strategic/marketing mindset, while Ferb is the technical brains who makes all of their inventions come to life (miraculously quickly, I might add).
Simple, yet so complex. But do you know your "I know what we're gonna do today" statement? Does your strategy, direction, goal, or mission have each of these elements in it? If not, then maybe you should pull your staff together and say, "I know what we're gonna do today!"
With the events of the past summer, some well-meaning friends implored me to find a mindless diversion. Between wrapping up two book projects and helping a parent with cancer, I knew they were right: I needed something fun to take my mind off of things... the more entertainingly brainless, the better.
My daughters came to my rescue. I happened to walk in the room as they were watching Disney's Phineas and Ferb. It was one of the most brilliantly written cartoons I've seen in a long time.
The premise is fairly simple. Phineas and Ferb are step-brothers who live in the fictional town of Danville in a region referred to as the Tri-State Area with their parents and older sister, Candace. As the above lyrics imply, each episode is about the brothers attempting to find a meaningful way of spending their summer. And when I say "meaningful" I mean "completely over-the-top and imaginitive." They build roller coasters, reunite rock bands, launch clothing lines, race in the Nascar circuit, and create a portal to Mars.
The writing and dialogue is witty, the plots are ingenious, the music is phenomenal. It's 22 minutes of well spent time. But more than that, there are some valuable lessons you can learn about accomplishment. So for the next few days, I'll share a few lessons from watching a few all occasional frequent episodes. I hope you'll enjoy the parallels between a seemingly innocent children's cartoon and accomplishing something amazing.
OK, a few days ago, I shared the darker side of systems thinking with respect to professional decision-making. Since it's the weekend, maybe something a little more light-hearted. I mean, who hasn't agonized over where to go out to eat? Personally, I've been trying to "buy local" in my eating out decisions, but this flowchart from the Consumerist blog should amuse you if you are determined to eat at a chain restaurant.
Ten years. I'm sitting here finding it hard to believe ten years have pa ssed since I heard phrases like "Honey, I think my water broke" or "It's a girl" and "Do you want to cut the cord?"
Since then, so many other phrases have crossed my path. Barbies, Disney princesses, and all things pink have been introduced to my world. A second daughter five years later only intensified everything.
Priorities - things like "time management" and "what's worth fighting for" have been completely redefined. I've learned to say "no" to a lot because saying "yes" to my daughters is more critical. The issues which once made me hyper seem to have little effect on me now.
Management - ill-behaving executives and nasty managers are no contest any more. I'm not afraid to face them down or just walk away from bad behavior. Parenting teaches you how to herd the cats in the right direction. The "eat your spinach" message has taken on new meaning.
Attention - being in the moment has become more critical than ever. There's little room for mind-wandering when a kid wants your attention. Same goes for clients.
Multi-tasking - contrary to the prior bullet, I've also figured out how to juggle multiple things at once and not drop a single ball (most of the time).
Diversity - imagine that... each kid is different. They are motivated by different things. They process things differently. They react differently to the world around them. And I have to be sensitive to those differences.
Fun - if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right. Hearing my kids rip off one-liners in a way that would have a professional comedian in tears is fun. My best laughs of the past 10 years have been caused by my offspring.
I'd like to think that my kids have taught this old dog a trick or two in the past 10 years. They've made wonderful professors for this ever-eager student. But we haven't even hit the teenage years yet (about to enroll in "Advanced Parenthood"). The next ten should be even more interesting.
There's a sad irony to this post. As the readers of this blog know, I used a tactical police approach to express the elements of systems thinking for my next book. Beyond looking at one system, SWAT - Seize the Accomplishment also looks at the relationship AMONG systems. SWAT also stands for "Systems Working All Together." In the past three years, I've met so many amazing and brilliant and brave law enforcement officers. They've demonstrated to me in numerous ways how every system's output is the input to another system. Recognizing those interdependencies is key to understanding your business processes, your relationships, and the world around you.
So when I see a system failure cause the deaths of four police officers, it saddens and frustrates me. What's even more frustrating is that the system failure was avoidable. I'm not sure why then-Governor Mike Huckabee thought it wise to commute the sentence of a man with a violent past. But in releasing Maurice Clemmons as an output of the Arkansas justice system, he created a dangerous and deadly input to the Washington justice system. To a degree, Huckabee is correct in his statement about this tragedy being a "result of a series of failures in the justice system" but what I didn't see was anything accepting accountability for his role in setting those system failures in motion.
Now I know this sort of thing happens all the time. Prisons are overcrowded. Issues are complex. Every prisoner is different (after all, Clemmons pulled off an amazing smoke screen in convincing Huckabee he was a changed man). HOWEVER... The one output over which every executive, manager, and professional has complete control and accountability is his or her DECISIONS. I was saddened to see Huckabee quickly shift the blame to the parole boards of Arkansas and Washington. I don't even want to think about the feelings of the families of those four officers. I was severely disheartened about this tragedy, and I - half a country away - merely live on the outer periphery of law enforcement.
Why am I about to make the decision? Do the inputs I've been given support the output I'm about to create?
Am I willing to accept the downstream consequences of my decision? Will I be accountable, regardless of the outcome?
What other systems will be affected by my decision? How will my decision serve as an input to other systems?
As you can see, while good systems thinking skills are beneficial, a lack thereof can be disastrous. We'll hope your decisions don't cost innocent people their lives. I'm just thankful that another police officer's decision-making process ended the nightmare before other lives were lost. To the families and colleagues and friends of the four officers, my sincerest and deepest sympathies. You're in my thoughts and prayers.


to the beginning of your file.
> Aditya offered me this macro some time ago for my header. I updated context standalone, and the display of the date I want to do the evaluation (different from the current date) is no longer the same.


text:
You Carry Your 'Microbial Cloud' With You
You Carry Your 'Microbial Cloud' With You
In a finding that's sure to alarm germophobes everywhere, scientists say people emit a "microbial cloud" of bacteria wherever they may be.
The study found that air samples could even pinpoint which individual had just left a sealed chamber, based on the makeup of their particular cloud of bacteria.
"We expected that we would be able to detect the human microbiome in the air around a person, but we were surprised to find that we could identify most of the occupants just by sampling their microbial cloud," study author James Meadow, of the University of Oregon, said in a news release from the journal PeerJ.
The findings were published in the journal on Sept. 22.
It's long been known that humans are host to a myriad of mostly helpful microbes, both in the gastrointestinal tract and on the skin. This colony of organisms is what scientists have dubbed the "microbiome."
Now, the Oregon study finds that people also emit some of their microbiome in a kind of haze around themselves.
In the study, Meadow's team tested the air around 11 different people while they were each placed alone in a sealed, sanitized chamber.
The researchers found that the presence of most of the people could be sequenced and identified within four hours of leaving the chamber — just by the cloud of bacteria in the air they had left behind.
Different combinations of several groups of bacteria commonly found on and in humans are the key to distinguishing individuals, the research team said. Key species were Streptococcus, usually found in the mouth, and skin germs such as Propionibacterium and Corynebacterium.
"Our results confirm that an occupied space is microbially distinct from an unoccupied one," Meadow said, and "demonstrate for the first time that individuals release their own personalized microbial cloud."
The findings may help improve understanding of how infectious diseases are spread in buildings, or even offer new ways to identify crime suspects, the researchers said.
The Society for General Microbiology has more about bacteria.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
IDSA ISSUE BRIEFS
Home » Publications » Issue Brief
The Global Race for Artificial Intelligence: Weighing Benefits and Risks
Munish Sharma
Munish Sharma is Consultant at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Click here for profile
British science fiction writer and futurist, Arthur C. Clarke once said, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings in a host of real-world applications which had earlier merely been a subject of science fiction novels or movies. AI empowered cars are already under rigorous testing and they are quite likely to ply on the roads soon. The social humanoid robot Sophia became a citizen of Saudi Arabia in 2017. Apple's intelligent personal assistant, Siri, can receive instructions and interact with human beings in natural language. Autonomous weapons can execute military missions on their own, identify and engage targets without any human intervention. In the words of John McCarthy, AI, is the "science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs". As a burgeoning discipline of computer science, AI enables intelligent machines that can execute functions, similar to human abilities like speech, facial, object or gesture recognition, learning, problem solving, reasoning, perception and response.
The term AI was coined in 1956, and the early research in the 1950s was confined to problem solving and symbolic methods. The interest of the US Department of Defense led it towards mimicking basic human reasoning during the 1960s.1 The use of 'neural networks' dominated the period from 1950 to 1970s. AI research further graduated towards 'machine learning' algorithms from 1980s till around 2010. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) developed intelligent personal assistants in 20032 , long before Siri, Alexa or Cortana came into existence. AI has made inroads to automation and decision support systems to complement or augment human abilities. The technology of AI in the present times is witnessing 'deep learning'. The futuristic applications such as self-driving cars rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing. As an emerging technology segment, deep learning uses neural networks and leverages advancing computing power to detect complex patterns in large data sets. Strides in supercomputing and Big Data analytics are further enhancing AI applications relating to advanced training or learning.
From Labs to the Real World
AI enables machines to think intelligently, somewhat akin to the intelligence human beings employ to learn, understand, think, decide, or solve a problem in their daily personal or professional lives. Intelligence is intangible. The present generation of computing systems perform generation, storage and analysis of data. AI enhances the ability of computer systems to learn from their experiences over time, makes them capable of reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, helps solve problems, as well as respond in natural languages and adapt to new conditions. AI as an ensemble of a wide spectrum of disciplines from computer science, biology, linguistics and mathematics etc., allows machines to sense and comprehend their surroundings and act according to their own intelligence or learning.3 These intelligent machines, with the explosion of digital data and augmenting computational power, employ advanced algorithms to enable collaborative and natural interactions between human beings and machines to extend the human ability to sense, learn and understand.4
Post Second World War, research interests of militaries intensified in the domains of cryptography and computing, which gave the necessary thrust to AI. In 1950, Alam Turing, a mathematician at Cambridge University, raised the much relevant question "Can machines think?"5 His anticipation of today's machine learning and deep learning, along with the seminal work of Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts in artificial neural networks, is foundational to AI. More than six decades ago, the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence in 1956, created AI as a research discipline.6 Backed by military interests and funding in the initial decades, AI further matured in the academic environment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology7 , Carnegie Mellon University8 , and Stanford9 , institutions which continue to hold the top rankings in AI research, amongst others.
The present wave of enthusiasm in AI is backed by the industry, with Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Baidu in the lead. Automotive industry is also unleashing benefits of AI for self-driving cars, led by Tesla, Mercedez-Benz, Google and Uber. Prominent advances have been made in facial recognition and verification, with algorithms developed by Google for GoogLeNet, Facebook for DeepFace and Microsoft asFace API for Azure. Facial detection has instated deep interest from law enforcement and security agencies. China is known to be building a massive facial recognition system, connected with its surveillance camera networks, to assist in detecting criminals and fugitives.
Classification of stream under Artificial Intelligence
Source: Ajit Nazre and Rahul Garg, "A Deep Dive in the Venture Landscape of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning."
AI systems can learn on their own. Rather than depending upon pre-programmed set of instructions or pre-defined behavioural algorithms, they can learn from their interactions or experiences and thereby enhance their capabilities, knowledge and skills.10 AI is unveiling novel and astonishing applications in both civilian and defence domains for a host of operations which have essentially been a preserve of human beings. AI is widely acknowledged as a technological game changer. At the lower end, Smartphone apps and social media platforms have already begun using AI for face recognition or content translation from one language to another. High-end applications include IBM's Watson, an AI ecosystem which can sift through a wide variety of data from a broad range of sources to answer questions posed in natural language. AI is finding path-breaking applications in fields as diverse as healthcare and life sciences to data analysis, cyber security and finance. AI is extensively being integrated in the wider segments relevant for the general users, technology enthusiasts, industry, governments and the armed forces. Some of them are discussed below:
Gaming industry, where AI empowered computers can think of a large number of possible positions in games such as chess, poker, and go. These computers can enhance their own intelligence by competing with human beings, as well as test the skills of the human beings who are playing against these AI enabled computers, in games or simulations which require greater mathematical and strategic depth.
Natural language processing to facilitate linguistic interaction between the computers and human beings for conversation. Computers with natural language processing capability can understand and generate human language, including speech, imitating human capabilities of listening, comprehending, thinking and responding.
Vision and Voice systems to interpret and comprehend visual inputs such as images, clinical diagnosis and facial recognition or voice inputs to recognize the source of the sound. Computers equipped with vision systems can recognize patterns and identify objects in a picture or video, in effect interpret their surroundings. Also, handwriting recognition algorithms can comprehend handwritten letters and convert them into editable text or any other desired format.
Law enforcement or internal security requirements for detecting and recognizing individuals or criminals, with multitudes of data streaming from police databases or the network of surveillance cameras.
Healthcare industry to design optimized treatment plans, assistance in repetitive jobs, data management for medical records, or even assistance in clinical decision making with better analysis of diagnostics and interpretation of clinical laboratory results.
Banking and financial services for fraud detection using advanced algorithms to identify patterns in transactions and consumer behaviors which are risk prone.
Automotive industry is already using AI algorithms to enhance fuel efficiency and safety in vehicles to build features such as automatic braking, collision avoidance systems, alerts for pedestrian and cyclists, and intelligent cruise controls. AI is also helping insurance providers arrive at better risk assessment.
While private enterprises are using AI in their IT functions, technology companies are charting out the plans to extend the applications to marketing, customer service, finance, human resources and strategic planning.11
AI is also changing the ways militaries command, train, and deploy their forces. Modern day surveillance techniques generate volumes of data and imagery from an array of platforms, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Synthetic Aperture Radars, Airborne Early Warning Systems and Satellites. AI is helping the battlefield commanders to identify the hidden patterns at an incredible speed with high precision and accuracy. These systems can augment human strategic analysis. Autonomous weapons can also alter symmetry in the battlefield. The very idea and concept of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAW) has, however, met with resistance owing to ethical and humanitarian considerations. But few of the militaries are known to be working on these aspects of AI.
AI has many peace time applications as well. It is being used to train soldiers and pilots, simulate war-game, synthesize information from surveillance systems and address critical problems in optimizing logistics, fleet management and maintenance.
Potential Benefits and Risks for India
The global community hopes to walk the tight rope balancing the breakthroughs in AI with rising threats from it to the well-being of human race. Technology in AI has advanced much more rapidly as compared to the international legal and ethical responses. AI has distinctive 'dual-use' nature. While its benefits for the humanity are immense, they all come with the risks from a multitude of factors. The situation is not about human vs. machines, but about harnessing camaraderie between humans and machines to make better decisions. AI has also opened up a geopolitical debate and intense competition among nation states.
This is also being termed as a 'Sputnik Moment' as Russia and China are challenging the pre-eminence of US in the next generation of technology development. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that "whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."12 The Chinese government in July 2017 rolled out its New Generation AI Development Plan to emerge as a center for AI innovation and a global leader in AI technology and applications by 2030.13 In addition to the interests of the government and military in China, the private sector and academia is also giving a tough competition. In terms of the number of publications on AI in scientific journals from 1996 to 2016, China stands at the first rank, ahead of the US, Japan, UK and Germany.14 As an indicator of the increasing Chinese interests and investments in AI research, China's throughput in scientific publications has increased in volume. However, the quality of these publications is questionable, as it scores low on citation impact. China's premier private sector entities, Alibaba, Baidu and Tancent, also have a heads on competition with Google, Microsoft and IBM.
The armed forces of US and China have already invested billions of dollars to develop LAW, intending to gain strategic and tactical advantage over each other. This runs the risks of an arms race. Similar to the support of chemists and biologists for international agreements prohibiting chemical and biological weapons, leading robotics and AI pioneers have called on the United Nations to ban the development and use of LAWs15.
India fares average in the surging competition for AI technology development. Research output from India in international journals ranks at 7, and the numbers are one fifth of that of China. There is no clearly stated policy document or vision statement for AI development. However, in February 2018, the Department of Defence Production has constituted a 17-member task-force to study the use of AI for both military applications and technology-driven economic growth, with representation from the National Cyber Security Coordinator, armed forces, Indian Space Research Organisation, Atomic Energy Commission and Ministry of Defence.16 The potential benefits are plenty, from basic sectors like healthcare, governance and economy to the specialized ones like foreign policy and defence and security.
As India is poised for reforms in governance, AI can actually help with process optimization and cost savings for the government, in addition to solving some strategic problems or assisting in decision making. Economic growth is vital for development, and the next generation of economic growth is anticipated to be fuelled by technologies relating to big data, block chain, quantum computing and AI. These game changing technologies will spur innovation, create value for the investors, generate specialized job domains and as a result, propel economic growth. India has one of the world's largest automotive industries, with a significant production and consumption base. AI applications have vast scope in the automotive sector, ranging from enhancing fuel efficiency to passenger safety to the concept of self-driving vehicles.
Healthcare sector in India is burgeoning with innovation and demand, having business models unique to the Indian requirements and spending power. AI can augment the potential of government and private sector to deliver healthcare services and products with improved drug safety, better diagnosis and analysis of clinical reports for preventive and accurate treatment. More advanced applications of AI extend to the domains of foreign, defence and security policies. Deep learning in AI can unravel futuristic functions by augmenting decision making ability of the humans with access to the information derived from large data sets.
Summary of Potential Benefits of AI and Risks
Sector Potential Benefits Potential Risks
Process Optimization & Cost Saving
Decision Making & Problem Solving
Human Resources Management Lack of Technical Competence
Inability to Synchronize Goals/Expectations
Dependence on Foreign Technology
Next Generation of Economic Growth
Spurring Innovation
Value and Job Creation Economic Competition & Espionage
Threats to Intellectual Property
Loss of Conventional Jobs
Enhanced fuel efficiency
Enhances Safety Features
Optimize Logistics & Supply Chain Regulatory Challenges
Overdependence on Technology
Software Error, Defect or Failure
Susceptible to Hacking/Interference
Decision Making (Tactical & Strategic)
Trainings and War-gaming
Logistics, Fleet Management
Face Recognition & Crime Prevention Ethical& Legal Concerns from LAWs
Human Safety & Security
Potential Weapons Arms Race
Scenario Analysis
Analysis of Historical Data/Events
Public Diplomacy Lack of Cognitive Data for Deep Learning
Multilateral Rules of the Road
Technology Acceptance in Decision Making
Lack of Data from Other Countries
Drug Discovery and Safety
Diagnosis and Lab Results Analysis
Insurance Risk Assessment Training Doctors and Paramedical Staff
Generating Awareness
Acceptance of AI in Medical Practices
Technology Affordability
Defence and foreign policy decisions are based on immense cognitive and intangible skillsets. As AI evolves further, it could play a vital role in analyzing large data sets, intelligence inputs, imagery from satellites or other airborne platforms, scenarios or even draw cognitive deductions from the historical records of foreign policy decisions or deployment of military resources during previous wars. Such detailed analyses could also supplement individual and organisational ability during bilateral or multilateral negotiations, and military standoffs or geopolitical conflicts. AI is also being used for crime prevention as facial detection and recognition technology has made strides.
Akin to any advanced technology, AI also has its own set of risks. AI has to meet the first and foremost challenge of acceptability with the users from the government, public sector and the armed forces, or even the private sector. As users of AI, their interest in the technology augmenting their own ability, and not posing a threat, is quite pertinent. Technical competence in this fast-paced sector, primarily in the case of government, could be a road block. AI can better adapt to the goals and expectations of the Indian decision makers, if the technology development is indigenous. Foreign dependence in this case would be detrimental and unproductive.
AI has set off an economic and technological competition, which will further intensify. Any delay in recognizing the benefits and in innovating, runs the risk of pushing India to the early majority, late majority or even towards laggards in the technology adoption bell curve, limiting its ability to draw the economic advantage. One of the major risks arises from LAWs, owing to ethical considerations, human safety concerns and the perils of an arms race. LAWs operate without human intervention, and there is formidable challenge in distinguishing between combatants and non-combatants, which is a subject of human judgment.
The first meeting of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons group of governmental experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapons systems was held in November 2017 under the chairmanship of India.17 India has abundant diplomatic experience in arms control, which possibly AI algorithms can 'deep learn' and simulate to chart out a better arms control strategy for LAWs. More than a technology developer or consumer, India can play a vital role in defining the multilateral rules of the road and help setting up of best ethical standards to dissuade any arms race in LAWs, ensuring safe and beneficial Artificial Intelligence for all.
1. "Artificial Intelligence: What it is and why it matters", https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/what-is-artificial-intellig..., accessed on 15 February 2018.
2. "Cognitive Assistant that learns and organizes", Artificial Intelligence Centre at SRI International, http://www.ai.sri.com/project/CALO, accessed on 15 February 2018.
3. Accenture, "Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Business", https://www.accenture.com/in-en/artificial-intelligence-index, accessed on 15 February 2018.
4. Microsoft, "Artificial Intelligence", https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/research-area/artificial-intelligence/, accessed on 15 February 2018.
5. A. M. Turing, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", Mind, Vol. 59, No. 236, pp. 433-460.
6. "The Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence Conference", https://www.dartmouth.edu/~ai50/homepage.html, accessed on 17 February 2018.
7. "Mission and History", MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, https://www.csail.mit.edu/about/mission-history, accessed on 17 February 2018.
8. "Artificial Intelligence", Carnegie Mellon University Computer Science Department, https://www.csd.cs.cmu.edu/research-areas/artificial-intelligence, accessed on 17 February 2018.
9. "Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory", http://ai.stanford.edu/, accessed on 17 February 2018.
10. >R L Adams, "10 Powerful Examples of Artificial Intelligence in Use Today", Forbes, 10 January 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/01/10/10-powerful-examples-of-artificial-intelligence-in-use-today/#1e4867ad420d, accessed on 17 February 2018.
11. Based on "Global Trend Study on AI" conducted by Tata Consultancy Services, https://www.tcs.com/artificial-intelligence-to-have-dramatic-impact-on-business-by-2020, accessed on 19 February 2018.
12. David Meyer, "Vladimir Putin Says Whoever Leads in Artificial Intelligence Will Rule the World", Fortune, 04 September 2017, http://fortune.com/2017/09/04/ai-artificial-intelligence-putin-rule-world/, accessed on 19 February 2018.
13. Zhang Dongmiao, "China maps out AI development plan", Xinhua, 20 July 2017, http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-07/20/c_136459382.htm, accessed on 19 February 2018 and "Notice of the State Council on Printing and Distributing a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan", 08 July 2017,http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2017-07/20/content_5211996.htm, accessed on 19 February 2018.
14. "Scimago Journal and Country Rank", http://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?category=1702&area=1700, accessed on 17 February 2018.
15. Samuel Gibbs, "Elon Musk leads 116 experts calling for outright ban of killer robots", The Guardian, 20 August, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/20/elon-musk-killer-robots-experts-outright-ban-lethal-autonomous-weapons-war, accessed on 19 February 2018.
16. Pranav Mukul, "Task force set up to study AI application in military",The Indian Express, 03 February 2018,http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/task-force-set-up-to-study-ai-application-in-military-5049568/, accessed on 19 February 2018.
17. "Report of the 2017 Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS)", CCW/GGE.1/2017/CRP.1, Geneva, 20 November 2017, p. 1.
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Home Magazine Over a Barrel: Gunmakers and the NRA
Over a Barrel: Gunmakers and the NRA
The relationship between the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby is symbiotic and deadly.
by Timothy Johnson
The symbiotic but deadly relationship between the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby was on full display this February. Only days after a gunman used an AR-15-style assault weapon to murder seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the NRA went on the offensive, pushing back against calls for stricter gun laws and warning that gun rights were under threat.
But curiously, two weeks after the massacre, Time published a bombshell report citing senior GOP officials who told the magazine that "behind the scenes, the NRA has given Republican lawmakers the green light to float new gun restrictions without the threat of political retribution." These private entreaties from the NRA to lawmakers are totally at odds with the group's public efforts in Congress, where it argues that even the most modest regulation of firearms on the federal level would lead to confiscation.
"In the gun industry, fear is good for the bottom line."
"The explanation is simple," Time wrote. "In the gun industry, fear is good for the bottom line."
This backroom maneuvering, the article noted, was occurring as gun manufacturers were "in the midst of the worst business crisis in decades, with double-digit sales drops driving some to the brink of bankruptcy." FBI background checks, a metric for measuring gun sales, fell 8.4 percent in 2017, after a record-breaking year before. In March, Remington Outdoor Company, one of the largest and best-known gun makers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
This decline in gun sales and the fortunes of gun manufacturers is sometimes called the Trump slump. Under the current President, the NRA can no longer count on using fear of regulation or confiscation to drive gun sales as it was able to do during the Obama Administration.
An NRA spokesperson denied to Time that the organization signaled to Republican lawmakers that it was OK to talk about gun regulation, saying the group's focus is on defending gun rights, not hiking gun sales. But is that really the case?
On one level, the school shooting in Florida and the response it generated clearly seem like bad news for the NRA and its allies.
Taking a cue from public sentiment, the big-box retailer Dick's Sporting Goods announced in late February that it was halting the sale of military-style weapons at its stores; it later said it would destroy its remaining inventory rather than return it to manufacturers. Walmart changed its policy to sell guns only to people age twenty-one or over. According to YouGov BrandIndex, both companies improved their standing with the public following these policy changes.
Yet the NRA and gunmakers have little reason to worry about concrete Congressional action on the gun issue post-Parkland. Consider that nothing has happened following other horrific massacres in recent years, including failing to expand background checks on some gun sales after Sandy Hook. In contrast, they have every reason to worry about financial threats to the industry and every reason to use fear in an attempt to kickstart gun sales.
Sounding alarms about gun control is also good for the NRA's bottom line. In March, the first full month after the Florida killing spree, the group raised $2.4 million for its Political Victory Fund, which doles out contributions to candidates. That was more than three times what this political action committee raised in February and the highest one-month total on record.
Both the NRA and Trump himself have continued to claim the country stands perched on the verge of total gun rights annihilation. In a campaign-style appearance at the NRA's annual convention in May, Trump asserted that Democrats want to "outlaw guns" and that the way to avoid that is to "get Republicans elected."
Companies that manufacture firearms—including makers of AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles, the mass shooter's preferred weapon—have donated millions of dollars to the NRA. In return, the NRA lobbies legislators to prevent guns from being regulated, challenges weapon restrictions in court when laws are enacted, and leads a messaging operation that raises the omnipresent specter of forthcoming firearm restrictions and bans.
This relationship is good for both gunmakers and the NRA. But it is bad for everyone else, as the lax firearm laws the gun lobby and industry support drive epidemic everyday gun violence punctuated by headline-making high-casualty rampage incidents.
As this cynical marketing relationship plays out, so does a ubiquitously American type of public carnage, as one mass murderer after another uses military-style assault weapons to mow people down at schools, churches, concerts, and other places where people gather.
The total amount of money the gun industry gives to the NRA is unknown, because the NRA is not required to disclose many of the donations it receives. However, the Violence Policy Center was able to estimate that gun industry donations, including substantial donations from assault weapons makers, reached minimum levels of between $19.3 million and $60.2 million between 2005 and 2013.
Much of the donation information on which this estimate was based comes from the NRA's publication of corporate membership in its "Ring of Freedom"—a multitiered system that ranks gun companies based on their level of giving. The top two levels of giving are named after NRA luminaries. Subsequent levels are named after Founding Fathers, including some of those involved in crafting the Second Amendment.
Assault weapons makers are heavily represented at the highest levels of NRA giving.
The top giving level—reserved for donations to the NRA totaling between $5,000,000 and $9,999,999—is called the Harlon Carter Level. Carter, who held a number of executive positions in the NRA, led the 1977 "Cincinnati Revolt" at the NRA's annual meeting, which prompted a change in leadership and organizational priorities that helped establish the NRA's hardline opposition to almost any form of gun regulation.
Prior to becoming professionally involved with the NRA, Carter spearheaded the U.S. Border Patrol's 1954 racist immigrant expulsion program, Operation Wetback. As a youth, Carter was convicted of murder for shooting a Latino teenager he said was loitering on his property, although the conviction was overturned on appeal.
The only company to hit the Harlon Carter Level is MidwayUSA, an online firearms accessory and ammunition retailer that gives customers the option to "round up" their purchases at checkout into donations for the NRA.
Donors giving between $1,000,000 and $4,999,999 are placed in the Joe Foss Level, named after the former World War II fighter pilot, South Dakota governor, and American Football League commissioner who served as NRA president in the late 1980s.
Next comes the George Washington Level for donations totaling between $500,000 and $999,999, followed by levels named for Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, and James Madison.
Assault weapons makers are heavily represented at the highest levels of NRA giving. Smith & Wesson, which manufactured the M&P15 .223 assault weapon used in the Parkland, Florida, shooting, is a Joe Foss Level NRA corporate partner, meaning that the company has donated more than $1 million. The M&P15 was also used in the 2012 movie theater mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, which left twelve people dead and fifty-eight others wounded—as well as the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, in which fourteen people were killed and seventeen others wounded.
Smith & Wesson is also a major manufacturer of handguns often used in everyday gun violence. In 2014, 624 Smith & Wesson firearms were seized in Chicago—more than any other brand, according to a report in the online news site The Trace.
Following Parkland, the NRA scrubbed a web page that gave some information about Smith & Wesson donations, a page that quoted company Chief Executive Officer James Debney, touting "strong sales of the M&P product line." (The page is still available via a web archive.)
Other assault weapons makers who have armed mass killers in recent years are among major NRA donors. The November 2017 massacre at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was carried out with a Ruger AR-556 assault weapon. Sturm, Ruger & Co. is a Joe Foss Level NRA donor. The 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, was carried out with a Sig Sauer MCX assault weapon. The maker of that weapon is a James Madison Level donor, indicating gifts totaling between $25,000 and $49,999.
Remington Outdoor Company, the parent company of Bushmaster, which made the assault weapon used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, has also given the NRA more than $1 million. (The company is listed in the Violence Policy Center's report as Freedom Group, the name it was using at the time.)
In addition to making cash donations to the NRA, gun manufacturers directly market their products to customers by sponsoring programming on NRATV, the group's sprawling digital network.
The NRA launched its media operation in 2004 as NRA News. Until October 2016, NRA News largely consisted of a program called Cam & Co, a weekday three-hour talk radio-style program that covered both gun issues and other conservative interest stories, and a series of short prerecorded videos branded as NRA News commentaries.
Just before the 2016 presidential election, NRA News was rebranded and expanded as NRATV, with additional live shows supplemented by prepackaged content to create a 24/7 stream of pro-gun messaging available at NRATV.com.
The slick, high-production-value programming at NRATV is divided into four channels: NRA Women, NRA Country (music), NRA Hunting, and NRA News—a conservative media and pro-Trump propaganda operation in the vein of the far-right website Breitbart and conspiracy theory website Infowars. The operations of NRATV are supported by the NRA's advertising agency partner, Ackerman McQueen. NRATV's "brand partners"—prominently displayed on the NRATV website and programs—include assault weapon makers Ruger (exclusively sponsoring NRA News), Smith & Wesson (exclusively sponsoring NRA Women), Mossberg, and Sig Sauer.
Beyond its online news service, the NRA publishes a number of print magazines filled with advertising from gunmakers who are NRA corporate donors. The NRA even published a quarterly high-end lifestyle magazine called NRA Sharp that suggested pairings between expensive products and guns made by donors. For example, an early edition suggested pairing an AR-15-style assault weapon manufactured by NRA donor Daniel Defense with custom Nikes, or a Smith & Wesson M&P handgun with an iPhone. (The magazine now appears to be online only, folded into the NRA's news magazine America's 1st Freedom.)
It's all part of the NRA's massive messaging operation that encourages gun buying, most often by employing a slippery slope argument where any proposal to strengthen firearm laws is a step toward absolute gun bans and confiscation.
In September 2011, toward the end of President Obama's first term, the NRA's executive vice president and chief executive officer, Wayne LaPierre, gave a speech at a conservative gathering in Florida where he warned of a "massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country."
The utter lack of action at the federal level during the President's first term, LaPierre told the crowd, was "a scheme to stay away from the gun issue, lull gun owners to sleep, and play us for fools in 2012." Reaching new conspiratorial heights, the NRA leader proclaimed, "We see the President's strategy crystal clear: Get reelected, and with no other reelections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms freedom. Erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and exorcise it from the U.S. Constitution."
Near the end of Obama's second term, with no gun grab (or even substantial regulation of firearms on the federal level) having occurred, the NRA turned toward the future, with LaPierre declaring in an unhinged October 2016 video, "There is no red line President Hillary Clinton will not cross when it comes to attacking your rights and forcibly taking your guns. She dreams of twisting a knife into the heart of the one freedom that separates us from the rest of the world."
Trump's improbable victory, backed by record NRA campaign spending, created a major problem for the group and its gun industry patrons. With Clinton defeated and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, how could the NRA use fear of confiscation to drive gun sales?
Where there's a will, there's a way.
After a gunman used an array of assault weapons to slaughter concertgoers in Las Vegas, Nevada, in October 2017, there was no realistic possibility that Congress would pass legislation to require universal background checks or reinstitute the lapsed federal assault weapons ban. There was, however, a chance that it might limit access to bump stocks, a firearm accessory that allowed the Las Vegas gunman to accelerate his rate of fire.
This gave NRATV the opening it needed. Five days after the shooting, Grant Stinchfield, host of the outlet's news of the day show, issued a dire warning: "They start with bump stocks and it ends with an all-out assault on the Second Amendment." As he saw it, "a heinous crime has now been hijacked by anti-gunners to push an un-American agenda." For shame.
To date, Congress has not banned bump stocks.
The NRA runs interference for assault weapons manufacturers after horrific incidents cause widespread outrage.
Among gun makers, those who produce assault weapons—which were first heavily marketed to the civilian population during a 1980s handgun sales slump—are the ones most in need of the NRA's attentions. Unlike handgun ownership—which is protected by a 2008 Supreme Court ruling—most federal courts have upheld statewide assault weapon bans.
The NRA has obliged assault weapons manufacturers by running interference for them after horrific incidents cause widespread outrage. One example is the NRA's defense of Bushmaster, the maker of the assault weapon used at Sandy Hook.
In October 2014, an NRA News commentator argued that assigning blame to Bushmaster for the school shooting was "like blaming Kleenex for the flu." Setting aside the confounding logic behind that comparison, no disclosure was made that Bushmaster's parent company, Remington Outdoor Company, was a substantial NRA donor or that its chief executive officer at the time, George Kollitides, served on the group's board of directors nominating committee.
Two months later, some of the Sandy Hook families filed a lawsuit against Bushmaster, arguing that by making military-style weapons available to civilians, the company had exposed itself to legal liability. Days later, NRA News hosted an attorney who had done legal work for the organization to call the lawsuit frivolous and the plaintiffs "extremely irresponsible."
Again, the financial relationship between the NRA and Bushmaster was not disclosed. Although a 2005 NRA-backed law makes it extremely difficult to sue gunmakers for death and injury caused by their products, the Bushmaster lawsuit remains active.
An emerging service offered by the NRA to its gun lobby donors is its willingness to intervene in financial disputes.
In April 2018, Bank of America notified gunmakers that "it's not our intent to underwrite or finance military-style firearms." The announcement followed a policy change at Citigroup, to restrict business with makers of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
In response, the NRA fired up its online attack dog, NRATV, bringing on guests to attack Citigroup and call for boycotts. "Citigroup has targeted firearms dealers because it's a priority of the left," the network warned ominously. "Get political control over the banking industry and you have a powerful weapon. What will be the next step?"
NRATV promoted its attacks on Bank of America with headlines like "Bank of America Is Discriminating Against the Tax Payers Who Bailed Them Out" and "Bank of America Happy to Take Your Tax Money, and Your Guns."
Sometimes, the NRA's zeal to defend military-style weapons produces bizarre messaging. After Sandy Hook, a former NRA president and current NRA board member and lobbyist, Marion Hammer, argued against an assault weapons ban on NRA News by comparing regulation to racial discrimination.
"Banning people and things because of the way they look went out a long time ago," Hammer said. "But here they are again: the color of a gun, the way it looks. It's just bad politics."
Following the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch appeared on Fox News to argue that proposals to regulate AR-15s were "about disarming women" and were a "war on women." And the day after U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, was shot and others were wounded during a June 2017 shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, an NRATV commentator promoted AR-15 ownership as good defense against the government.
"I personally think it is a mistake for people to say [the AR-15] is used for hunting, or it's used for target shooting," then-NRATV commentator Bill Whittle said. "I have my AR-15 to kill people." He went on to clarify, "My weapons are here to defend me against my government."
Such arguments may strike some observers as extreme. But for a certain segment of the population, they resonate as reasons to buy more weapons. For the NRA and its gun lobby backers, that is a successful outcome.
Timothy Johnson is a research fellow at Media Matters for America. He focuses on guns, public safety, and rightwing extremism.
Magazine Gun Control JuneJuly 2018
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The European Journal of Social Theory is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers all aspects social theory. The editor-in-chief is Gerard Delanty (University of Sussex). The journal was established in 1998 and is published by SAGE Publications.

Abstracting and indexing
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According to the Journal Citation Reports, its 2019 impact factor is 2.333.

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Brexit will be painful for the EU27 too. This is where it will hit hardest
By Beatriz Rios | EURACTIV.com
Brexit protesters demonstrate by the Houses of parliament in London on 17 January 2019. [EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL]
Languages: Français | Ελληνικά
This article is part of our special report Voices from the regions: Brexit impact along the Irish border.
As the deadline for the UK's departure from the EU approaches, EURACTIV.com looked at how Brexit will impact the rest of Europe. Ireland, France and Germany are likely to be the most heavily affected.
If the United Kingdom crashes out of the EU without a deal, the country could lose up to 9.3% of its GDP. However, the economic consequences for the remaining EU member states could be hefty too, whatever the outcome.
Given the economic, social and political ties between the UK and the EU, Brexit will be painful for the whole of Europe, but some areas of the EU might see particularly significant trade disruptions, higher tariffs, or disturbance in their supply chains.
According to a recent study commissioned by the Committee of the Regions (CoR), an EU consultative body, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands would be the most affected member states, together, of course, with Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland is likely to be the main collateral victim of Brexit, 14% of Irish exports go to Britain, which means the economic impact of Brexit could be as bad for Ireland as for the UK.
But for Dublin, there are additional social and political consequences, because peace in Northern Ireland is also at stake.
In France, the regions of Hauts-de-France and Brittany are the main European gateways to the UK, both through the Channel tunnel and maritime connections. They are the two regions with the strongest socio-economic ties to Britain.
The impact of Brexit in these regions touches upon several sectors as the UK is one of the main foreign investors for companies in the area and an important client for goods and services providers.
François Decoster is vice-president of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie Regional Council and Chairman of the Committee of the Region's Brexit Interregional Group.
"In the regions closer to the UK, we are particularly worried about the uncertainty that might arise from 29 March," he told EURACTIV.
Decanter also complained about the "schizophrenic" situation in which regions are now finding themselves. Indeed, regions need to prepare for a no-deal scenario while keeping an eye on a possible decision by the House of Commons allowing for an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
According to him, the two-year negotiation period laid down in Article 50 of the EU treaty has proven to be too short, although it seemed a lot when it was triggered two years ago.
The French economy will be also affected in sectors like agri-food, plastics – Auvergne is home to tyre manufacturer Michelin –, and the transport vehicles industry.
However, France also has the potential to attract companies that might leave the UK due to Brexit.
Brexit panic reaches across the Channel to France
The French have finally realised that there may well be a no-deal Brexit. The Medef employers' federation has said that French businesses are not prepared, the agricultural sector is waiting, while transporters are panicking. EURACTIV France reports.
Another gateway to Europe is situated in Flanders, Belgium, which has close maritime and commercial links to the UK.
A big part of Belgium's GDP comes from exports and trade of goods transiting through Flemish ports. And a lot of those exports are going to the UK. But it also works the other way around: 78% of all British exports to Europe arrive at the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.
With Brexit, Belgian ports will become an external border of the EU and commercial ties on both sides of the Channel would be endangered, as border controls and tariffs are expected. Brexit could also affect cooperation in fighting illegal migration.
Belgium will not only be hit in Flanders. Wavre, the capital of Wallonia's Brabant region near Brussels, hosts the headquarters of Glaxo Smith Kline, a major British pharmaceutical company. Its future could be called into question after Brexit.
European regions in urgent need of a Brexit strategy
Brexit will have many practical consequences for the regional economy. Port cities like Zeebrugge in Belgium, which trade a lot with Great Britain, will be particularly affected. EURACTIV Germany takes a look at both sides of the Channel.
In Germany, the state of Hessen will be the hardest hit. The UK is Hessen's third market, accounting for 7.5% of all its exports, but also one of its main import gateways.
A disruption in trade relations with the UK could have a major impact for one of the richest regions of the EU, particularly in sectors like the automotive industry, chemical and pharmaceuticals, electrotechnical products and machinery. Not to mention the strong financial exchange between The City and Frankfurt, Germany's financial heart. However, Frankfurt could also benefit from Brexit and become more attractive than London as a financial services provider and international hub for multinational companies.
Also in Germany, the city of Stuttgart is home to global players such as Daimler, Porsche, Bosch, IBM and Hewlett-Packard and small and medium-sized enterprises that are highly export-oriented. Niederbayern hosts BMW's largest production facility and the single biggest chemical plant in the world is located in Rheinhessen-Pfalz.
Possible disruption of trade relations with the UK would be a burden on these companies.
Lower Saxony also has strong economic ties with the UK and a number of British citizens live there. The government has asked them to apply for citizenship and requests have tripled in the past few months, according to Birgit Honé, the state's Minister for Federal and European Affairs.
Although Brexit will affect a wide range of sectors in Lower Saxony, fisheries are one of Honé's main concerns. "The areas in which fishermen from Lower Saxony can fish are in the UK border and those will not be accessible anymore in case of a hard Brexit, so their job is really at stake," she said.
"A no-deal Brexit would be a catastrophe," she told EURACTIV.
EU prepares compensation for fishermen hit by no deal Brexit
EU fishermen will be eligible for compensation if the UK blocks access to its fishing waters in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday (23 January).
In Ireland, machinery, electronics, pharmaceutical and especially the agri-food sectors are the economic areas likely to be hit hardest by Brexit.
"Brexit is already having a significant economic impact," said Michael Murphy, a councillor from Tipperary and the leader of the Irish delegation in the Committee of the Regions. The volatility of the Pound already has an impact on companies exporting to the UK, he told EURACTIV.
According to the CoR's study, while Irish trade, in general, is less reliant on the UK than in the past, in some sectors the dependence has increased over time.
"But despite all of the concerns about the economic challenges," Murphy said, "the greatest challenge of all is ensuring peace in the island of Ireland."
Representatives on both sides of the border have voiced concern over the possible impact of Brexit for the peace process.
"We do not want to go back to the dark days of the past," Murphy stressed. The EU has defended the backstop to preserve the integrity of the Single Market and avoid a hard border in Ireland, in spite of continued attempt from London to get rid of it.
"Europe won't let Ireland down, I am confident of that," Murphy insisted.
Ireland launches omnibus bill to mitigate 'lose-lose' of no-deal Brexit
Ireland unveiled its contingency plans for a 'no deal' Brexit on Friday, publishing an omnibus bill of fifteen pieces of legislation across nine government departments covering citizen's rights, tax and migration, and the education, healthcare and transport sectors.
No winners in Brexit
From tourism in Spain and the thousands of jobs at stake in Gibraltar, the over a million Polish citizens in the UK, investments in Malta, the agri-food sector in Greece, fashion in Italy, electronics in the Czech Republic, regions and countries all around Europe will suffer to some extent from the consequences of the UK's departure from the EU.
The results of the study by the Committee of the Regions revealed that "most regions would likely lose their current position in some sectors in terms of trade, direct investments or migration opportunities for workers, students or researchers" due to Brexit.
In other words, there will be no clear "winners", it said.
However, for stronger regions, Brexit might be an opportunity to attract businesses leaving the UK to regain access to the EU Single Market. While for regions with less dynamic and less diversified economies, Brexit can present a much bigger challenge.
The problem is that even in case of an orderly withdrawal, it is still unclear what kind of relationship the EU and the UK will have in the future. The answer to that question will determine how hard Brexit will hit European regions and cities.
Because Brexit will not impact all areas in the same way, the European Committee of the Regions has demanded the European Commission include instruments in the EU's next long-term budget to address this particular issue.
"We must take into consideration the situation of regions close to the UK are going to face also in the negotiation for the future Cohesion Policy," François Decoster said.
Another possibility is to increase funds for member states that will suddenly become the external border of the EU, as was the case for countries whose border became an internal EU border after the bloc's enlargement to new member states.
Michel Barnier, the former EU Commissioner for Regional policy, today is the EU's chief Brexit negotiator.
"In any hypothesis, measures will need to be taken," CoR President Karl-Heinz Lambertz told EURACTIV.
"When Brexit comes, the EU should prove its added value," Lambertz said.
[Edited by Frédéric Simon and Benjamin Fox]
CoR wants Commission to consider stabilisation fund for regions affected by Brexit
The UK's departure will have an major impact on the EU's regions and cities, the Committee of the Regions has warned. The Committee has urged the European Commission to consider setting up a regional stabilisation fund before 29 March 2019.
cohesion policy
EAcohesion


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Idotea chelipes är en kräftdjursart som först beskrevs av Peter Simon Pallas 1766.  Idotea chelipes ingår i släktet Idotea och familjen tånglöss. Arten är reproducerande i Sverige. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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After 35 rounds, the team scored 40 points and is in 16th place in the standings of the Spanish Primera. We can say that the objective for the season completed. A place in the top division of Spanish football saved.
In the previous five rounds of the national championship "Valencia" has earned only 4 points thanks to one win and one draw. With 4 scored goals missed during the reporting period, 3 more. The status of the most effective player here belongs to 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder Gabriel. At the moment he has 5 goals and 2 assists.
In last round wards of Asier Garitano visited "Santiago Bernabeu", where they faced real Madrid. They were preparing for the return leg with Bayern, so their victory was not so convincing. To the break the home team were leading 2:0, but in the second half at the 66th minute Brasanac with the filing of Amrabat scored a consolation goal. More audience goals in this match have not seen. By the way, in the minute of stoppage time red card received the best scorer of the club Gabriel.
At their home stadium "leganés" is quite successful for the average person. So, in 17 home games this season within the Examples produced 8 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats.
"Frogs" is also 40 points, however on additional indicators they occupy the 17th position. Given that the gap from the relegation zone is 12 points, you can also talk about what the team is guaranteed a part in La Liga for next season.
In the five previous matches of the national championship Levante has progressed very well. During this time, was earned 12 points thanks to 4 victories. With 8 goals scored goals conceded 2 goals less. Only once during the reporting period frogs have kept a clean sheet. On account of top scorer, midfielder Jose Morales 8 goals and 6 assists.
In the 35th round, the team took the "Seville" and won the third victory in a row. This time 2:1. On 11-th minute the score was opened Roher with the filing of Morales. Soon after that the visitors equalised. After the break on 74 minutes, Morales himself with the filing of the Campagna secured another win for his team.
The hotel Levante is playing much worse than at their home stadium. So, in 17 away games of the current Spanish championship was won only 3 victories and 7 defeats and 7 draws.
In the last five head-to-heads won three times "the Levant", whereas "Leganes" it failed to do even once. In the first round of the championship in Valencia was recorded a goalless draw.
Bookmakers in this match favored the home team. So, in Winline success Garitano wards can be supplied with a ratio of 2.13, whereas a success is listed as a 3,83. A peaceful outcome of the confrontation exhibited in the line of 3.28.
Both teams, as we have said, has maintained residence in La Liga, so they just have to finish the season. But motivation a small. The rivals are neighbours in the standings. Raging lately Levante will want to displace the opponent from the 16-th place, and I think that at least one point they can gain.


CO2 Monitoring for breweries–what do you need to know now?
CO2 is a colorless, odorless gas produced during beer fermentation. Excessive levels of carbon dioxide can displace oxygen, causing asphyxiation. To avoid the hazards associated with CO2, Monitoring CO2 in Breweries is quite essential.
Which CO2 Gas Detector Is Right For Me?
Hanwei Electronics Group offer a range of carbon dioxide detectors which can be used to keep your brewery safe.
Fixed CO2 detectors. Fixed systems typically comprise one or more detectors connected to a separate main control panel. In a sensor reads a dangerous CO2 level, the gas detectors can transmit warnings via a series of audible and visible signals such as alarms and flashing lights to warn workers to evacuate the area.
This sort of installation is suited to larger spaces like cellars and storage areas.
Portable CO2 detectors. Portable gas detectors are required in confined space work. Since these detectors must operate at close range to the user, they are often handheld, lightweight devices that can be easily worn or attached to a belt.
Furthermore, proper training should take place prior to issuing an employee a portable gas detector.
>>Next: How will a portable methane gas detector detect a gas leak?


text:
Q: How to change editText hint postion Can I change "hint" and text position (to rise it to the center)

My xml as follows:
    <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:id="@+id/layoutTopBlue"
              android:layout_width="fill_parent"
              android:layout_height="30dp"
              android:background="#4285F4"
              android:layout_below="@id/layoutTopBlack"
        >
    <EditText
            android:id="@+id/editText1"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:text=''
            android:hint="my hint"
            android:textColorHint="#FFFFFF"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:background="@drawable/edit"
            />
    <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/imageView1"
            android:layout_width="30dp"
            android:layout_height="30dp"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/editText1"
            android:src="@drawable/search"
            />
    <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/imageView1"
            android:layout_width="30dp"
            android:layout_height="30dp"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_alignRight="@+id/editText1"
            android:src="@drawable/cross"
            />
</RelativeLayout>

Or maybe it is possible to do something with drawable editText:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item>
    <shape >
        <solid android:color="@color/editBorder" />
    </shape>
</item>

<!-- main color -->
<item android:bottom="1.5dp"
      android:left="1.5dp"
      android:right="1.5dp">
    <shape >
        <solid android:color="@color/editBackground" />
    </shape>
</item>

<!-- draw another block to cut-off the left and right bars -->
<item android:bottom="5.0dp">
    <shape >
        <solid android:color="@color/editBackground" />
    </shape>
</item>
</layer-list>

Any ideas please?
Thanks!

A: anyone can use
 android:gravity="center|center_horizontal|center_vertical|top"

A: 1) hind text in left of the edittext
<EditText
     android:gravity="left"
/>

2) hind text in center of the edittext
<EditText
     android:gravity="center"
/>

3) hind text in right of the edittext
<EditText
     android:gravity="right"
/>

A: If you need to change the position of edit text.
In Graphical layout :- place the cursor in text(hint) and right click ,Layout height -> other -> then set the custom layout attribute value( example :50dp)
I think this will work .To rise it in center you can change this value to 30dp or 50dp.
                      or
Change this line in Edit text :-
   android:layout_height="wrap_content" to android:layout_height="50dp"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


We have already described how in A.D. 628 the courts of Heraclius, of Kavadh, and of Tai-tsung were visited by Arab envoys sent from a certain Muhammad, «The Prophet of God», at the small trading town of Medina in Arabia. We must tell now whom this prophet was who had arisen among the nomads and traders of the Arabian Desert.
From time immemorial Arabia, except for the fertile strip of the Yemen to the south, had been a land of nomads, the headquarters and land of origin of the Semitic peoples. From Arabia at various times waves of these nomads had drifted north, east, and west into the early civilizations of Egypt, in Mediterranean coast, and Mesopotamia. We have noted in this history how the Sumerians were swamped and overcome by such Semitic waves, how the Semitic Phoenicians and Canaanites established themselves along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, how the Babylonians and Assyrians were settled Semitic peoples, how the Hyksos conquered Egypt, how the Arameans established themselves in Syria with Damascus as their capital, and how the Hebrews partially conquered their «Promised Land». At some unknown date the Chaldeans drifted in from Eastern Arabia and settled in the old southern Sumerian lands. With each invasion first this and then that section of the Semitic peoples comes into history. But each of such swarming still leaves a tribal nucleus behind to supply fresh invasions in the future.
The history of the more highly organized empires of the horse and iron period, the empires of roads and writing, shows Arabia thrust like a wedge between Egypt, Palestine, and the Euphrates-Tigris country, and still a reservoir of nomadic tribes who raid and trade and exact tribute for the immunity and protection of caravans. There are temporary and flimsy subjugations. Egypt, Persia, Macedonia, Rome, Syria, Constantinople, and again Persia claim some unreal suzerainty in turn over Arabia, profess some unsubstantial protection. Under Trajan there was a Roman province of «Arabia», which included the then fertile region of the Hauran and extended as far as Petra. Now and then some Arab chief and his trading city rises to temporary splendour. Such was that Odenathus of Palmyra, whose brief career we have noted and another such transitory desert city whose ruins still astonish the traveler was Baalbek.
After the destruction of Palmyra, the desert Arabs began to be spoken of in the Roman and Persian records as Saracens.
In the time of Chosroes II, Persia claimed a certain ascendancy over Arabia, and maintained officials and tax collectors in the Yemen. Before that time the Yemen had been under the rule of the Abyssinian Christians for some years, and before that for seven centuries it had had native princes professing, be it noted, the Jewish faith.
Until the opening of the seventh century A.D. there were no signs of any unwanted or dangerous energy in the Arabian deserts, the life of the country was going on as it had gone on for long generations. Wherever there were fertile patches, wherever, that is, there was a spring or a well, a scanty agricultural population subsisted, living in walled towns because of the Bedouin who wandered with their sheep, cattle, and horses over the desert. Upon the main caravan routes the chief towns rose to a certain second-rate prosperity, and foremost among them were Medina and Mecca. In the beginning of the seventh century Medina was a town of about 15,000 inhabitants all told; Mecca may have had twenty or twenty-five thousand. Medina was a comparatively well-watered town, and possessed abundant date groves; its inhabitants were Yemenites, from the fertile land to the south. Mecca was a town of a different character, built about a spring of water with a bitter taste, and inhabited by recently settled Bedouin.
Mecca was not merely nor primarily a trading centre; it was a place of pilgrimage. Among the Arab tribes there had long existed a sort of Amphictyony centering upon Mecca and certain other sanctuaries; there were months of truce to war and blood, feuds, and customs of protection and hospitality for the pilgrim. In addition there had grown up an Olympic element in these gatherings; the Arabs were discovering possibilities of beauty in their language, and there were recitations of war poetry and love songs. The sheiks of the tribes, under a «king of the poets», sat in judgment and awarded prizes; the prize songs were sung through all Arabia.
The Kaaba, the sanctuary at Mecca, was of very ancient date. It was a small square temple of black stones, which had for its corner stone a meteorite. This meteorite was regarded as a god, and all the little tribal gods of Arabia were under his protection. The permanent inhabitants of Mecca were a tribe of Bedouin who had seized this temple and constituted themselves its guardians. To them there came in the months of truce a great in course of people, who marched about the Kaaba ceremonially, bowed themselves, and kissed the, stone, and also engaged in trade and poetical recitations. The Meccans profited much from these visitors.
All of this is very reminiscent of the religious and political state of affairs in Greece fourteen centuries earlier. But the paganism of these more primitive Arabs was already being assailed from several directions. There had been a great proselytizing of Arabs during the period of the Maccabaeans and Herods in Judea; and, as we have already noted, the Yemen had been in succession under the rule of Jews (Arab proselytes to Judaism, i.e.), Christians, and Zoroastrians. It is evident that there must have been plenty of religious discussion during the pilgrimage fairs at Mecca and the like centres. Naturally enough Mecca was a stronghold of the old pagan cult, which gave it its importance and prosperity; Medina, on the other hand, had Jewish proclivities, and there were Jewish settlements near by. It was inevitable that Mecca and Medina should be in a state of rivalry and bickering feud.


The Arcs' debut album, YOURS, DREAMILY, will be released Friday, September 4 on Nonesuch Records and is available for pre-order now on iTunes and at thearcs.com and nonesuch.com with a download of the album track 'Stay in My Corner'. The Arcs are Dan Auerbach, Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, Kenny Vaughan, and Mariachi Flor de Toloache. In anticipation of the release, 'Stay in My Corner' premieres today at NPR Music.
In advance of YOURS, DREAMILY, The Arcs recently released a 7-inch single, which is available now at independent retail outlets, thearcs.com, and nonesuch.com. Inspired by the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao boxing match, the EP includes the songs 'Stay in My Corner' b/w 'Tomato Can'. 'Outta My Mind', a second 7-inch and the first single being released to radio, will make its debut later this month.


Irene attended Douglass College and graduated with a BA in Fine Arts. Irene worked for many years in advertising account management before returning to school in New Jersey to pursue a nursing degree. Irene completed her Associates Degree in Nursing at Mercer County Community College, and her Masters of Science in Nursing at MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. Since then she has treated adults and adolescents in community mental health clinics and hospitals. Irene is a part time Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner embedded in two of FPCN's health centers. Additionally, she is a co-investigator at the University of Pennsylvania's Depression Research Unit studying allopathic and complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) treatments for depression, anxiety and bipolar illness. Irene is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to treat mental illness.


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How to Retain High-Quality Drivers
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by WorkHound
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Storey Trucking: Anonymous feedback raises voice of female employees in company decisions
Twenty-three percent of Storey Trucking's drivers are women. That figure is significantly higher than the national average. Across the country, 6 percent of truck drivers were female in 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of the Alabama-based company's female drivers work in teams with their spouses or significant others. The workload was shared, but the lines of communication with management were not. "Historically, the male team driver would be the primary…