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A Rural Community Update
Peggy talks about how we can make change happen in rural communities with broadband. She says we must consider how you will make change happen in your own community to have stronger and more resilient communities for all. She also discusses: A history lesson about the Bipartisan Congressional Rural Broadband Caucus. Details about the BEAD…
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Build Resilient Businesses
Peggy Smedley and Ja-Naé Duane, faculty, Brown University and MIT Research Fellow and Steve Fisher, managing partner, Revolution Factory and Chief Futurist, The Human Frontier Institute, talk about the pace of change and how leaders and businesses can build more resilient businesses in a time of constant disruption. They also discuss: The 9 supershifts we…
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Smarter Manufacturing with Gen AI
Peggy Smedley and Julie Fraser, VP of research for operations, Tech-Clarity, talk about the current state of smart manufacturing and data challenges, narrowing in on the role gen AI (artificial intelligence) is playing. She says a new report is designed to help manufacturers understand what the potential is for them. They also discuss: How to…
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Natural disasters are picking up speed. An estimated 55,000 people died in the Turkey-Syria earthquake in February 2023. Around 50% of the reinforced concrete structures worldwide were designed without any seismic considerations—and naturally that percentage is much higher in many developing countries. Most of the ways to address this currently are very invasive and require parts of the building to be closed for a long time. What if we could use a simple low-cost, minimally invasive way to preserve all the buildings that already exist from disaster? That is exactly what a team of researchers at Purdue University is testing—a cost-effective, minimally invasive technique to fortify older concrete buildings against earthquakes. The approach involves installing adhesive anchors to metal triangular haunches as braces to reinforce beam-column joints. The haunches are attached with post-installed adhesive anchors secured with epoxy mortar, so material cost is relatively low. There’s indirect cost savings by keeping the building’s functionality intact during the installation of the haunches. Here is how this can help: Save lives. Reduces capital losses. Preserve structures worldwide. Looking to the future, the opportunities for this are huge, ultimately having a worldwide impact, especially as natural weather events continue to pick up speed. It will certainly be something to watch in the months…
Quantum offers many opportunities to organizations. Let’s consider the impact quantum communications networks could potentially have at universities and around the world. First, a primer. Quantum communications networks work with quantum bits or qubits that can be physically created using atoms, superconductors, and even in defects like materials in diamonds. Photons—individual particles of light—are a good type of qubit for long distance quantum communications. Consider what researchers are doing at Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Rochester. They recently connected their campuses with an experimental quantum communications network using two optical fibers. In a new paper published in Optica Quantum, scientists described the RoQNET (Rochester Quantum Network), which uses single photons to transmit information about 11 miles along fiber-optic lines at room temperature using optical wavelengths. Here is how this can help: Transmit over existing fiber-optic telecommunications lines. Improve the security with which information is transmitted. Make message impossible to clone or intercept without detection. Looking to the future, many types of qubits will likely be used because qubit sources, like quantum dots or trapped ions, each have their own advantages for specific applications in quantum computing or different types of quantum sensing. Ultimately, the researchers want to connect RoQNET to other research facilities across New York state at Brookhaven National Lab, Stony Brook University, Air Force Research Laboratory, and New York University. Keep an eye on this for the future. View this story on…
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The opportunities gen AI (artificial intelligence) brings to most industries are significant—dare we say remarkable? But let’s be clear, there are still some challenges. For example, most LLMs (large language models) are trained on publicly available data and the vast majority of enterprise data remains untapped, and much work needs to be done to address this. And again, dare we say address this sooner, rather than later? Enter Granite 3.0, IBM’s third-generation Granite flagship language models, which was announced earlier this week at IBM’s second annual TechXchange event. By combining a small Granite model with enterprise data, especially using the…
We have come a long way with safety. If you journey back to the year 1960 and walked a construction jobsite, you would see very different work conditions than you see today. Hard hats were not mandatory yet and PPE (personal protective equipment) wasn’t the common three-letter jobsite acronym that it is today. Workers would be hanging from the top of buildings, with little gear to protect them. We have certainly come a long way, right? Yes and no. The reality is every year, one in 100 construction workers still get hurt bad enough to need time off work. We…
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The future of work is changing faster than many of us would probably like to admit.…