Daily Archives: November 1, 2021

FOOD AND YOUTH: What I have learned from young people and their desire to fix the food systems they live in – UNICEF

Posted: November 1, 2021 at 7:08 am

Thank you for the warm welcome. I am delighted to join you today for this discussion on food systems and youth.

My favourite part of being Executive Director of UNICEF is the opportunity to meet with and hear from children and young people around the world. Over the last four years, I have had the privilege to speak with children and young people, including those living in fragile and humanitarian settings, to hear first-hand about their aspirations for the future.

They have also expressed their concerns about the state of the world we all share and the significant challenges before us like climate change, conflict, poverty and barriers to education and employment.

Today I will share some reflections with you about what children and young people are saying about food about what and how they eat the environments they live in and the challenges they face in getting the nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable diets they want and deserve.

I will also talk about how children and young people are responding to these challenges and their ideas for transforming our food systems to make the right to food and nutrition a reality for all.

Lastly, I will share what it means to put children at the centre of food systems transformation today and in the lead up to 2030.

So,what ARE children and young people saying about their food?

This past September, the UN convened a Food Systems Summit. In the two years leading up to the Summit, UNICEF staff across the world and our colleagues at Western Sydney University met with more than 1,500 children and adolescents in 25 countries.

In the context of these Food Systems Dialogues with Children and Adolescents we also facilitated a poll with over 20,000 adolescents and young people.

We wanted to listen to childrens life experiences with the food they eat, the food systems they live in, and how they feel those systems could change for the better.

What did we hear?

Children and adolescents tell us that eating together with friends and family provides moments of joy and connection. They see their food as a reflection of their identity and culture and as a symbol of community and shared humanity.

Children also know that nutritious food provides vital fuel for their growth, development and learning. They tell us that healthy food is important for their physical and mental health, their success at school and their futures.

But they see a disconnect between what they want to eat and what they do eat.

Children and adolescents understand the links between food production and availability in their homes and communities. Through these dialogues, we saw that children and young people have a strong understanding of where and how raw produce is grown, processed, packaged, and transported to different places within their food environments.

They understand that the poor availability, accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods is linked to many factors like limited stock in markets, long distances from farming areas and problems with food distribution.

They talk about poor infrastructure and road systems, hefty transport costs and how these problems prevent food from reaching their communities or cause it to spoil before arriving to them.

Children describe how their ability to eat well is constrained by the poor availability and affordability of nutritious and safe foods. And they have sophisticated understanding of what poor food affordability means for their families.

Children explain that when nutritious foods are too costly, they often turn to processed foods. They know that these foods are unhealthy because they are rich in salt, sugar, and fat. Yet such foods are often cheaper and widely available. Children and young people know that these foods are heavily marketed to them and their families through television, billboards and social media.

Children across the globe are also keenly aware of climate change. They see first-hand the harm it is causing to the food systems around them. In our dialogues, many cited global warming, environmental damage and CO2 pollution as key concerns. They identified how climate change and global warming are causing droughts and how droughts are impacting the growth of food.

They know that unsustainable food production is having a major impact on environmental degradation. The use of pesticides was mentioned often. And they are concerned about how the transportation of food via boats, ships, trains, and planes especially over large distances is contributing to air and water pollution.

Children notice how the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened some of these challenges especially with millions more families struggling to make ends meet.

Children also shared with us the mental health challenges linked to unhealthy food environments such as body image dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and the stigma of living with obesity.

They understand how society unfairly blames people for being overweight while at the same time creating unhealthy food environments thatmake it difficult to maintain a healthy weight. And they notice how advertisers and marketers push unattainable standards of beauty at the same time as childrens food environments are flooded with promotions for unhealthy foods and beverages.

Now, I want to share with you how children and adolescents want to transform their local and global food systems.

While children are concerned about their broken food systems they are clear about their expectations and asks.

They want governments and policy-makers to be more accountable for creating and fostering food systems that protect childrens right to nutrition, making nutritious, safe affordable and sustainable diets a reality for children everywhere.

They believe that governments should build the capacities of communities and support food producers to produce nutritious foods.

For children rebuilding food systems must start with the most vulnerable children, families and communities. They want special considerations for children, families and groups that experience the most insecurity and marginalization.

During our dialogues, children made five key recommendations on what needs to be done to fix food systems and protect the planet:

First, invest children and young people want their governments to use targeted investment to improve access to nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable foods for everyone especially for the most marginalized children, families and communities.

Second, regulate children and young people have had enough of misleading marketing and health and nutrition claims on processed foods. They want their governments to adopt and enforce laws and policies that protect them, their families and communities from harmful food marketing practices, chemicals and preservatives and environmental destruction.

Third, reduce children and young people are deeply concerned about our planet. They want governments, private sector, civil society and their peers to take seriously the harmful impact of current food systems on the environment and prioritize sustainability, reduce overuse and curb environmentally destructive practices.

Fourth, educate children and young people are calling for better education about food, nutrition, climate change, environmental protection, recycling and food systems. They want us to raise awareness about food poverty and nutrition inequalities, the benefits of nutritious foods, and sustainable food practices.

Lastly, engage children and young people want opportunities to share their views and participate in developing solutions. They want us to support them to take action in their local communities and beyond.

This last point on engagement is key because only through engagement can we put children at the center of food systems transformation. Children and young people should be empowered as change agents, fully capable of identifying and contributing to solutions.

We asked children and young people how best we can engage them in contributing to food systems transformation to ensure their insights and perspectives are heard, acknowledged and actioned. This is what they said

Where possible, children and young people want to engage through social media, including through spaces on platforms dedicated for childrens voices.

They want us to help establish and fund child-led bodies, such as student councils and youth parliaments.

They want mechanisms to ensure their direct contribution to governments and parliaments deliberations and decision-making. And they are calling for their governments and institutions to have dedicated staff assigned to listen to children and young people. They are also asking government leaders and policymakers to come to them in schools and other settings.

Children and young people want to participate in workshops, open fora, panels, drawing competitions, and other venues that capture their needs, rights, ideas and aspirations.

The infrastructure we create to support these recommendations is critical.

Children need platforms, spaces and channels to express their views. They also need opportunities for direct contact with the people who can make their ideas a reality those in power whether through child-led bodies, participation in parliament or open fora.

Many of us here represent organizations and agencies dedicated to nutrition we too must promote meaningful participation by placing children and young people at the heart of policy formulation, and programme design, implementation and monitoring.

The participation of children and youth in the UN Food Systems Summit last September has showcased the challenges and most importantly, the rewards of engaging children, adolescents and young people as creators, partners and collaborators: a vital force for food systems transformation. We must continue these efforts.

As we work to support the outcomes of the Food Systems Summit and the commitments of the Nutrition for Growth Summit, we must hold tight to our pledge to bring childrens voices to the forefront of the decision-making process.

At the same time, we need partnership and leadership from the private sector. The private sector is uniquely placed to develop innovative solutions to strengthen food systems to help build a world where nutritious and safe foods are available and affordable for every child no matter who they are or where they live.

Today, broken food systems are undermining childrens right to nutrition and a viable planet. And fixing them particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic may prove to be the greatest challenge of this generation.

As we move forward, UNICEF we will pay particular attention to four critical action areas where food systems must deliver for children; these are:

Improving childrens foods through actions in public policy, guidelines and standards, and food supply chains including fortified foods, food supplements and therapeutic foods.

Improving childrens food environments where children live, learn, and meet through actions in public sector policies and programmes and in private sector practices and products.

Improving childrens food practices through policies, strategies and programmes that promote positive individual behaviors, caregiver practices and social norms.

Improving childrens participation in food systems transformation by fostering opportunities for children from all walks of life to raise their voices, engage with decision-makers and hold them accountable.

It is time to work with children and young people to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food. Our childrens nutrition and well-being and the future of our planet are at stake. There is no time to waste.

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Huge Demand of Food Supplement Ingredients Market by 2028 with Top Key Players DSM, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Sunfood Nutraceuticals The Host -…

Posted: at 7:08 am

Food supplements are ingredients added to dietary supplements to enhance their nutritional value. They may include minerals, micro-nutrients, vitamins, amino acids, fatty acids such as omega-3, and omega-6, and probiotics. Other ingredients in food supplements include binders, fillers, flavoring agents, etc. Food supplements are available as capsules, tablets, powders, gummies, and powders as well as energy bars and drinks. Food supplements play an important role in averting nutritional deficiencies and ensuring that daily nutritional requirements are met.

The global Food Supplement Ingredients Market is expected to grow at a significant CAGR of 7% by 2028.

The updated report on the Food Supplement Ingredients market gives a precise analysis of the value chain assessment for the review period of 2021 to 2028. The research includes an exhaustive evaluation of the administration of the key market companies and their revenue-generating business strategies adopted by them to drive sustainable business. The Service industry report further enlists the market shortcomings, stability, growth drivers, restraining factors, opportunities for the projected timeframe.

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The top companies in this report include: DSM, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Sunfood Nutraceuticals, Galderma, Capsugel, Fine Foods N.T.M., BASF SE, Nestle, Naturex, Kemin Health, Groupe Danone S.A., JW Nutritional, Nutri-Force Nutrition, Amway, Koninklijke DSM N.V., Merk CH, Boots.

The Global Food Supplement Ingredients market is expected to register a notable market expansion of XX% during the review period owing to the largest market value in 2019. The market study provides a measure of the effectiveness of the product, real-time Food Supplement Ingredients market scenario, along custom ease. The study further offers market analysis, strategies and planning, R & D landscape, target audience management, market potential, due diligence, and competitive landscape.

Scope of the report:

A thorough analysis of statistics about the current as well as emerging trends offers clarity regarding the Food Supplement Ingredients market dynamics. The report includes Porters Five Forces to analyze the prominence of various features such as the understanding of both the suppliers and customers, risks posed by various agents, the strength of competition, and promising emerging businesspersons to understand a valuable resource. Also, the report spans the Food Supplement Ingredients research data of various companies, benefits, gross margin, strategic decisions of the worldwide market, and more through tables, charts, and infographics.

The Food Supplement Ingredients report highlights an all-inclusive assessment of the revenue generated by the various segments across different regions for the forecast period, 2021 to 2027. To leverage business owners, gain a thorough understanding of the current momentum, the Food Supplement Ingredients research taps hard to find data on aspects including but not limited to demand and supply, distribution channel, and technology upgrades. Principally, the determination of strict government policies and regulations and government initiatives building the growth of the Food Supplement Ingredients market offers knowledge of what is in store for the business owners in the upcoming years.

Global Food Supplement Ingredients Market Segmentation:

Market Segmentation: By Type

Vitamins, Amino Acid, Omega-3, Probiotics, Folic Acid, Oxalic Acid, Iron, Collagen Peptides, Magnesium

Market Segmentation: By Application

Infant, Old-Age, Children, Pregnant Women, Adults

Geographic analysis:

The global Food Supplement Ingredients market has been spread across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and the rest of the world.

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COVID-19 Impact Analysis

The pandemic of COVID-19 has emerged in lockdown across regions, line limitations, and breakdown of transportation organizations. Furthermore, the financial vulnerability Food Supplement Ingredients Market is a lot higher than past flare-ups like the extreme intense respiratory condition (SARS), avian influenza, pig influenza, bird influenza, and Ebola, inferable from the rising number of contaminated individuals and the vulnerability about the finish of the crisis. With the rapid rising cases, the worldwide Food Supplement Ingredients refreshments market is getting influenced from multiple points of view.

The accessibility of the labor force is by all accounts disturbing the inventory network of the worldwide Food Supplement Ingredients market as the lockdown and the spread of the infection are pushing individuals to remain inside. The presentation of the Food Supplement Ingredients makers and the transportation of the products are associated. If the assembling movement is stopped, transportation and, likewise, the store network additionally stops. The stacking and dumping of the items, i.e., crude materials and results (fixings), which require a ton of labor, is likewise vigorously affected because of the pandemic. From the assembling plant entryway to the stockroom or from the distribution center to the end clients, i.e., application ventures, the whole Food Supplement Ingredients inventory network is seriously compromised because of the episode.

The research provides answers to the following key questions:

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‘Nepal has the potential to pursue world-class research and design’ – The Kathmandu Post

Posted: at 7:07 am

Mankinds quest to inhabit Mars is becoming less fictitious and nearing execution with the advent of technology each year. For this dream to materialise, scientists, researchers, and engineers have been striving relentlessly to build cutting edge tools required to visit the red planet in the near future. One such element crucial for this process is an airlock, which acts as a bridge between the atmosphere of our planet and Mars. Celestial Labs, a team from the University of Regina in Canada, have created the aforementioned Martian airlock prototypeadding one more piece to the puzzle. Hailing all the way from Palpa, Nepal, Anwit Adhikari is the division head of Celestial Labs. Adhikari exemplifies what Nepali engineers are capable of, when moulded by tenacity, the right resources, and a healthy support system.

In conversation with the Posts Pasang Dorjee, the Canada-based mechanical engineer/entrepreneur details his intense fervour for design and technologyand how his university team built the airlock prototype for the purpose of allowing humans to visit Mars in the future.

Could you define what an airlock is in laymans terms?

An airlock is a small room attached to the outside of an extraterrestrial habitat that prevents the human-friendly atmosphere inside from leaking out into the hostile environment of space or Mars. It acts as a bridge between the atmosphere on Mars and the Earth-like atmosphere needed in space for people to breathe. It allows astronauts on Mars to walk on one side of the structure, wait for the pressure to adjust, and then walk out the other side.

What led to the conception of this airlock?

The Martian airlock came out of a nationwide competition organised by the Mars Colony Team at the University of British Columbia back in 2018, whose goal was to see which Canadian university could design and build the best airlock system to be used on Mars. The competition was divided into two phases: the design phase in May 2019, and the prototype phase in August 2021. The airlock that our team had a role in designing bagged the first prize in both. The team at Celestial Labs was divided into multiple smaller, self-motivated teams that pursued their objectives in parallel. I was leading the team that designed the structural and ventilation systems for the airlock, while other teams handled radiation, insulation, and electronic systems, along with logistics and finances for manufacturing. Since no major aerospace firm has (at least publicly) worked on a Martian airlock, our team is hoping that some of our design solutions could be used in a real Martian airlock someday.

What have been some of the challenges faced by your team while building this airlock?

Given that Mars is a novel environment, everything had to be designed from scratch. Considering Mars temperature and radiation, using metal presented difficulties so we had to find a new polymer that could perform well under those circumstances. Making everything modular enough that it could be 3D printed on Mars was challenging. We had to be creative in creating a structure that could handle the stress loads but could also be folded neatly into a compact volume and transported to Mars. In the division that I led, there were almost 100 major design iterations over the course of the last two years alone.

It seems that you have been involved with start-ups since 17, which could mean that your passion for engineering is not something completely moulded by the limited options in the Nepali educational curriculum but rather out of personal interest? Would you say so?

I have been interested in technology since I was six. I could not see how the options provided by the Nepali education system could foster my interest in design, so I pursued it independently. I have also always been fascinated by the beauty in design, and aircraft and spacecraft represent the highest form of design and problem solving that there is for me. As a child, I would spend hours looking at aircraft, and I knew I wanted to be the person who designed them.

I tried my hand at multiple projects when I was a kid, including a compressed air-piston engine and a telescope. They all failed, but they reinforced my belief that I should pursue R&D as my career, and so I took a major leap when I was 17 and started working on my own research project. Growing up in Kathmandu, I remember visiting the British Council library to read materials related to physics and would scour through the shelves of Mandala Book Point to devour books that catered to my interests. After finishing Grade 10 from Triyog Higher Secondary School, I went on to complete my A levels from Rato Bangala School in 2010. In the subsequent years, I paused my education to further cultivate my interests and travelled to Silicon Valley to network with entrepreneurs and study the start-up culture. I eventually decided to pursue my undergraduate in Physics at the University of Regina in 2015 and completed it in 2020.

Who have been the strongest influences in your life?

That has always been my parents first and foremost, who, through our routine trips to my home village in Palpa, made me understand how fortunate I was in being able to have a middle-class upbringing in the capital. I understood that not every Nepali child had that privilege, and I was careful to not take it for granted.

I was always fascinated by Sergei Korolev, the Russian rocket engineer who pioneered many firsts in the space industry, ranging from Sputnik, the first satellite in space, to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Sergei Korolevs rocket system, the Soyuz, is still in use today more than 60 years later. Ive also been inspired by Kelly Johnson, the American aerospace engineer who led the design of the SR-71 Blackbirdthe iconic 1962 spy plane that could travel faster than a bullet and was so fast it evaded every enemy missile that was shot at it in its 30 years of service.

How did you come across Celestial Labs? Tell us about your journey as the division head of the company.

Before coming to Celestial Labs, I was working on my research on the side, focusing on solar energy. I was introduced to the project head of Celestial Labs by a mutual friend who knew about my interest in start-ups and technology. I essentially picked the systems that no one else was working on at that time, and once the team lead had trust in my ability to follow through with these problems, I was made the team lead for my division.

In relation to your endeavour in engineering, do you see yourself doing something in Nepal?

I do believe Nepal has the potential to pursue world-class research and design in multiple advanced technical fields, and I would be happy to contribute to that in the future. As of now, I am focused on establishing my experience and credibility in my own field before I decide to return to my hometown.

What do you suggest could be done to foster an environment in our country that is conducive for future generations of aspiring engineers and physics enthusiasts?

Nepalis have a risk-averse mindset when it comes to pursuing entrepreneurship and technological innovation, and that cannot change unless we have a national dialogue on how crucial innovation is to our economy and national pride. We have to be comfortable with our youth engaging in projects they care about, even if they fail. I have witnessed world-class teams led by former NASA interns and nuclear physicists fail, and that is a part of the learning process, but this is a difficult concept to absorb in our culture that does not tolerate career failure.

What do you think your representation in the field of physics could mean for the larger Nepali community?

It means that it is possible for an average Nepali citizen to accomplish something they find meaningful, given the opportunity. Even the best teams at the design rooms of SpaceX and NASA are ultimately just a group of people who pursued what they found meaningful. Although it may seem daunting from the outside, I still see absolutely no reason why the Nepali community cannot replicate that.

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It’s Time to Think About Tesla at $3 Trillion (Here is Why ? ) – The Lee Daily Register

Posted: at 7:07 am

The wait is over: Tesla finally achieved one trillion-dollar market capitalization on Monday 25th October 2021 after signing the deal to sell one lakh vehicles to Hertz, the rental car company. It is estimated that this deal is worth four billion dollars approximately. Tesla is the fifth one to join the one trillion market club after Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.

When it comes to naming some of the worlds renowned carmakers Tesla is surely one of them. After many years of hard work and determination when Tesla came under the supervision of Elon Musk last year, the company started to make huge profits, and this prompted the company shares to rise. While considering the above facts we can now start thinking about Tesla reaching three trillion dollars also if it keeps on excelling at a similar momentum.

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The investment of Elon Musk in Tesla is twenty-three percent which is equivalent to two hundred and thirty billion dollars. Though today the worth of Tesla is fifty-nine billion dollars Musk aims to expand it to six hundred and fifty billion dollars. Moreover, after the confirmation of the deal with Hertz the shares have risen by nearly thirteen percent.

Hertz will not only pay for the electric vehicles rather would establish the chain of charging stations too. The demand for electric vehicles is increasing rapidly globally which would be in favor of Tesla. In comparison with other trillion club companies, Tesla took the least time to enter one trillion market capitalization. It took twenty-three years for Amazon to hit this high but only eleven years by Tesla.

Tesla is the only car manufacturer that attained this rare level of success in the market. Its worth is equal to the nine largest car manufacturers market capitalization. With this excelling rate, Tesla would soon enter the three trillion-dollar club.

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The sales target has been set to grow by fifty percent. More than twenty million vehicles are expected to be sold annually. Apart from vehicular progress, the industries would also be revolutionized. It is predicted by Elon Musk that the automation which is coming due to robots and artificial intelligence (AI) would be capable of doing everything and may displace the need for the human workforce.

A dream which humans were trying to accomplish over the decades, of going and living on other planets like Mars is close to becoming a reality. Hence, according to Elon Musk interplanetary living would be possible and a colony would be built on Mars. SpaceX is claiming to send its first rocket to Mars in 2022. Later, in 2024 when Mars and Earths orbit would sync the crew would also go.

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Over time these crews will form colonies on Mars. Furthermore, Elon has recently proposed the idea of using rockets as airplanes to travel around the world. After the traveling experiments were conducted between the farthest countries around the globe, the results showed a travel time of thirty minutes. Therefore, a rocket flight would not be a bad option to travel anywhere you want to within just thirty minutes!

After knowing the future aims of Tesla, we can now start looking forward to its three trillion success news. It seems a difficult milestone to be aced but Elons confident statements and claims are the sign that its high time and now people should start thinking about Tesla at three trillion dollars. Tesla has proven to be the best in the past years and this time also it is expected to outstand and to enter the three trillion-dollar club soon.

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Moro Hub Accelerates the Digital Transformation Adoption in MBRSC – Al-Bawaba

Posted: at 7:07 am

Moro Hub (Data Hub Integrated Solutions LLC), subsidiary of Digital DEWA, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), signed a corporate agreement with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) to work jointly on augmenting its digital capabilities. The signing ceremony between Moro Hub and MBRSC took place on the third day of GITEX Technology Week at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, in the presence of HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), HE Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Chairman of MBRSC and HEYousufHamad Al Shaibani, Director General ofMBRSC, along with Marwan Bin Haidar, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of Digital DEWA and Waleed Bin Salman, Board Member, Digital DEWA.

The corporate agreement was signed by Mohammad Bin Sulaiman, CEO of Moro Hub and Salem Al Marri, Deputy Director-General of MBRSC with a goal of cooperating on various digital activities and providing enhanced technology services to MBRSC, where, Moro Hub will provide MBRSC with enhanced cloud services, security solutions and professional and managed services.

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), said, Moro Hub is inspired by the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to position the UAE as a leader in digital solutions and Dubai as the digital capital of the world. This agreement provides a concrete basis for Moro Hub to continue its drive in implementing a digital transformation in the UAE. While this agreement will facilitate MBRSC and Moro Hub to work together efficiently under the shared objective of bolstering capacities in the digital sector, it will also serve as a benchmark for collaboration with government entities. We are proud of our cooperation with MBRSC that aims to make a positive impact on their digital transformation journey by providing technologies inspired from the fourth industrial revolution.

HEYousufHamad Al Shaibani, Director General ofMBRSC said, MBRSC is significantly enhancing its digital capabilities to rapidly design, develop and deploy space technologies. We are excited to partner with Moro Hub, as they have made a positive impact with state-of-the-art services and will further leverage digitisation of our operations. This partnership is an important step for us to unveil the next generation of space technologies and solutions, that will help us in accelerating our operations and technology transformation.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre is home to the UAE National Space Programme. The Centre builds and operates earth observation satellites and has also launched the Emirates Mars Mission Hope Probe, the first Arab interplanetary mission, which is currently gathering key scientific data about Mars. Recently, the Centre announced the launch of the Emirates Lunar Mission, the first Emirati and Arab mission to explore the Moon and plans to develop MBZ-SAT, the most advanced commercial satellite in the region in the field of high-resolution satellite imagery. MBRSC is also responsible for the UAE Astronaut Programme as well as the development of the Mars 2117 Programme to build a human colony on Mars.

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Moro Hub Accelerates the Digital Transformation Adoption in MBRSC - Al-Bawaba

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Surviving the Aftermath is Leaving Early Access and Launching Next Month | XboxAchievements.com – XboxAchievements

Posted: at 7:07 am

Colony building game Surviving the Aftermath is finally leaving early access and launching in full on Xbox One next month.

Like its predecessor Surviving Mars, Surviving the Aftermath sees you build and manage a colony, this time set after a world-ending event on earth. You'll be able to construct over 130 buildings, and recruit eighty unique specialists, in order to survive in the harsh post-apocalyptic world.

You can then send your specialists outside of your colony into a procedurally generated world, where you can meet rival colony leaders, set up outposts, or gather materials. You'll have to make tough judgements along the way, and there are secrets to be found out in the world that might unravel the mystery of the apocalypse, so it doesn't happen again.

After 20 major content updates focused on expanding gameplay mechanics and addressing player feedback, Surviving the Aftermath has evolved greatly from the version of the game that launched into Early Access two years ago, said game director Lasse Liljedahl. I dont think Ive ever worked on a game where the community was as integral to development as it has been for Aftermath. Truly, every decision, change, and addition we made stemmed from our community feedback - if we could put them all in the credits we would! They had just as much a part in development as we have.

Surviving the Aftermath is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC on 16th November 2021.

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The Real Reason Why Mature Markets Are Losing Steam – The Indian Wire

Posted: at 7:06 am

There would be little or no need for commercial banks if everyone always paid their debts in full and on time. Everyone would then have the best credit rating possible, would not require monitoring, and could borrow or lend at the default-free rate of interest. Although many formal macroeconomic models (implicitly) assume a default-free system in their so-called trans- versatility assumption, this isnt a feature of the real world. Indeed, the probability of default (PD) is a critical concept in any assessment of financial fragility. The term financial fragility is most commonly associated with Hyman Minskys financial instability hypothesis (FIH), which was published more than 30 years ago (Minsky, 1975). According to the FIH, during an upswing of a business cycle, a capitalist, market economy naturally progresses through three states or regimes. Synopsis With rising non-financial corporate debt and evidence of elevated borrowing levels among non-bank financial companies, the fragility caused by excessive leverage has returned to haunt developed-country financial markets. The fact that the failure of a little-known family office firm like Archegos Capital Management resulted in massive losses for leadingbanks suggests that the failure of a rogue, overleveraged speculator can have systemic consequences similar to those seen in 2008. At the end of March 2021, when the world was exhausted from fighting the ongoing pandemic for more than a year, news broke that Wall Street traders were looking for the source of a $19 billion fire sale of tech, media, and other stocks. That burst of selling resulted in the collapse of stock prices for companies such as Viacom CBS, Baidu, and Tencent Music, wiping out approximately $33 billion in share values. The Archegos Incident: Too Big To Fail? Archegos, the family office of former Tiger Capital Management portfolio manager Bill Hwang, captured the attention of investors worldwide in mid-March when the firm suffered catastrophic losses as a result of a portfolio with two major flaws: high leverage and intense concentration in a few stocks. The Archegos messdrew global attention not only because of the magnitude of the losses but also because of its distinct pre-financial-crisis vibe. There were derivatives, huge losses, exposure for large international banks, counterparty risks all of the hallmarks of the 2008 meltdown. However, as disastrous as the Archegos trade unwinding was, the billions of dollars in losses that accrued at the banks (specifically, their prime broker units) that facilitated the trades did not spill over into other markets. Specific stocks in the portfolio were certainly hammered, as evidenced by Viacoms share price, and the dealers who took losses, such as Credit Suisse and Nomura, saw a hit to their stocks as well, but overall market volatility did not rise. In other words, a multibillion-dollar meltdown at a massive fund to which some of the worlds largest banks had massive exposure was largely ignored by the financial system as a whole. AND, Thats fantastic news, it shows that the reforms enacted in the aftermath of the global financial crisis to increase the number of capital banks hold were successful. Global Banking System Turns Protectionist The US banking system was highly leveraged as it approached the meltdowns of 2007 and 2008. Bank borrowing accounted for more than 90% of risk-weighted assets and is increasing. Tier 1 capital, which includes first-in-line-for-losses equity and internally generated earnings, contributed only about 8% of the funding. That figure is much higher and more stable post-crisis, at 12 percent. Banks are accumulating more capital and borrowing less in relation to their assets. Leverage has decreased, while capital has increased. This is importantbecause if a bank has capital equal to 8% of its assets, it is technically insolvent if the value of its assets falls by 8%. Banks have raised the bar for insolvency by increasing capital levels in the event of a sudden drop in the value of their assets. Financial fragility is recognized as a significant issue for individual well-being. According to various estimates, between 46 and 59 % of American adults are financially fragile and thus vulnerable in terms of their well-being. We argue that the role of financial control in shaping well-being outcomes has received less attention in the literature than the role of financial fragility, it is equally or even more important. The total amount of household debt in the United States is $13.5 trillion (Federal Reserve Bank of New York 2019, i.e., 80 percent of the total amount of debt in the United States). Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (International Monetary Fund 2019). It is currently at an all-time high, putting American debtholders in a vulnerable position and increasing their vulnerability to external shocks (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic). These high levels of debt were previously linked to a lack of financial planning skills, poor financial management, and harmful consumption behaviours resulting from beliefs that material possessions can lead to happiness. The Curse of Covid-19 Aside from soaring infection rates, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread lockdowns, a shattering decline inoutput, and spikingpoverty. Behind these trends, a quieter financial crisis is gaining traction. The financial fallout from the pandemic disregards regional or socio-economic differences. Nonperforming loans are on the rise in financial institutions around the world. COVID-19 is also a regressive crisis, disproportionately affecting low-income households and smaller businesses with fewer assets to avoid bankruptcy. Macroeconomic policies have sought to offset the sharp declines in economic activity associated with widespread shutdowns since the outbreak of the pandemic. Wealthier countries have been able to respond more quickly. Multilateral lending institutions have also aided in funding the response to the health emergency in developing countries. Temporary moratoriums on bank loans to households dealing with unemployment and struggling businesses have also aided the macroeconomic response. Financial institutions in all regions have granted grace periods in loan repayment. The understandable rationale has been that because the health crisis is temporary, so is the financial distress of businesses and households. However, as the pandemic has progressed, many countries have found it necessary to broaden these precautions. Banking regulation has frequently been lax in terms of provisioning for bad loans and determining which loans are nonperforming. Even with available vaccines, significant financial damage has already been inflicted. Forbearance policies have proven to be an effective coping mechanism, but even extended grace periods must come to an end. As 2021 progresses, more will be revealed about whether the problem confronting countless firms and households is insolvency or illiquidity. High leverage will amplify the financial sectors problems. This type of balance-sheet damage takes time to repair and frequently precedes a lengthy period of deleveraging. Financial institutions lending practices become more cautious. A credit crunch is typically a significant impediment to recovery. Consequences It has been suggested that the interventions by the government can be ossifying or liquifying and the destabilizing consequences of the policy of the government should take into consideration in the areas of the bank, taxation, monetary control and also the lender of last resort. Activist governments will be unable to rid their economies of financial fragility, and efforts to reduce fragility may backfire by causing unintended consequences. Knowing that financial factors can act as shock sources or propagators does not always translate into effective options for mitigating ossifying financial effects. Financial fragility is an unavoidable byproduct of a dynamic capitalistic economy.

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A call for increased visual representation and diversity in robotics – VentureBeat

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Sometimes its the obvious things that are overlooked. Why arent there pictures of women building robots on the internet? Or if they are there, why cant we find them when we search? I have spent years decades doing outreach activities, providing STEM opportunities, and doing women in robotics speaker or networking events. So Ive done a lot of image searches looking for a representative picture. I have scrolled through page after page of search results ranging from useless to downright insulting every single time.

Finally, I counted.

Above: Graph: Image search results via Google showing results of what comes up when the term woman building robot is searched.

Image Credit: Andra Keay

My impressions were correct. The majority of the images you find when you look for woman building robot are of female robots. This is not what happens if you search for building robot, or man building robot. Thats the insulting part, that this misrepresentation and misclassification hasnt been challenged or fixed. Sophia the robot, or the ScarJo bot, or a sexbot has a much greater impact on the internet than women doing real robotics. What if male roboticists were confronted with pictures of robotic dildos whenever they searched for images of their work?

Above: Example of image results from Andra Keays Google search for women building robots

Image Credit: Andra Keay

The number of women in the robotics industry is hard to gauge. Best estimates are 5% in most locations, perhaps 10% in some areas. It is slowly increasing, but then the robotics industry is also in a period of rapid growth and everyone is struggling to hire. To my mind, the biggest wasted opportunity for a young robotics company growing like Topsy is to depend on the friends of founders network when it leads to homogenous hiring practices. The sooner you incorporate diversity, the easier it will be for you to scale and attract talent.

For a larger robotics company, the biggest wasted opportunity is not fixing retention. Across the board in the tech industry, retention rates for women and underrepresented minorities are much worse than for pale males. That means that you are doing something wrong. Why not seriously address the complaints of the workers who leave you? Otherwise, youll never retain diverse hires, no matter how much money you throw at acquiring them.

The money wasted in talent acquisition when you have poor retention should instead be used to improve childcare, or flexible work hours, or support for affinity groups, or to fire the creep that everyone complains about, or restructure so that you increase the number of female and minority managers. The upper echelons are echoing with the absence of diversity.

On the plus side, the number of pictures of girls building robots has definitely increased in the last ten years. As my own children have grown, Ive seen more and more images showing girls building robots. But with two daughters now leaving college, Ive had to tell them that robotics is not one of the female-friendly career paths (if any of them are). Unless they are super passionate about it. Medicine, law, or data analytics might be better domains for their talents. As an industry, we cant afford to lose bright young women. We cant afford to lose talented older women. We cant afford to overlook minority hires. The robotics industry is entering exponential growth. Capital is in abundance, market opportunities are in abundance. Talent is scarce.

These days, Im focused on supporting professional women in the robotics community, industry, or academia. These are women who are doing critical research and building cutting-edge robots. What do solutions look like for them? Our wonderful annual Ada Lovelace Day list hosted on Robohub has increased the awareness of many new faces in robotics. But we have been forced to use profile pictures, primarily because thats what is available. Thats also the tradition for profile pieces about the work that women do in robotics. The focus is on the woman, not the woman building or programming, or testing the robot. That means that the images are not quite right as role models.

Above: Further examples from Andrea Keays image search results that better represented females in robotics

Image Credit: Andrea Keay

A real role model shows you the way forward. And that the future is in your hands. The Civil Rights activist Marian Wright Edelman said, You cant be what you cant see.

Above: A set of images from Andra Keays search results displaying the few good images found in the search more accurately representing women working in robotics.

Image Credit: andra keay

So Women in Robotics has launched a photo challenge. Our goal is to see more than 3 images of real women building robots in the top 100 search results. Our stretch goal is to see more images of women building robots than there are of female robots in the top 100 search results! Take great photos following these guidelines, hashtag your images #womeninrobotics #photochallenge #ibuildrobots, and upload them to Wikimedia with a creative commons license so that we can all use them. Well share them on the Women in Robotics organization website, too.

Above: Andra Keays guidelines for what makes a great, accurate, and realistic photo representing women in robotics.

Image Credit: andra keay

Hey, wed also love mentions of Women in Robotics in any citable fashion! Wikipedia wont let us have a page because we dont have third-party references, and sadly, the mention of our Ada Lovelace Day lists by other organizations have not credited us. We are now an official 501c3 organization, registered in the US, with the mission of supporting women and non-binary people who work in robotics, or who are interested in working in robotics.

Above: Additional details of the women in robotics photo challenge additional example and call for submission to photos@womeninrobotics.org.

Image Credit: andra keay

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then we can save a forests worth of outreach, diversity, and equity work, simply by showing people what women in robotics really do.

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A call for increased visual representation and diversity in robotics - VentureBeat

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Robotics to be designated as official school activity in W.Va. – Huntington Herald Dispatch

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Robotics to be designated as official school activity in W.Va. - Huntington Herald Dispatch

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‘I try to show the other side of robotics, the good side’ – swissinfo.ch

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Margarita Chli is one of the few women who havesucceeded in the field of robotics in Switzerland. She advocates for more role models teachingthe subject and she also wants to show how robots can be beneficial for humans.

Writes about the impact of new technologies on society: are we aware of the revolution in progress and its consequences? Hobby: free thinking. Habit: asking too many questions.

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Margarita Chlis family inspired her to pursue a degree in computer engineering, but it was during her PhD in the UK that she became interested in robotic vision, which allows robots to see the world around them and process visual data through sensors, software and cameras. She now heads the Vision for Robotics Lab at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich.

The 37-year-old professor has not only found the ideal conditions for robotics research and innovation in Switzerland thanks to generous funding and numerous experts but also a second home, where the green hills and the lakes and rivers that fill up with bathers in summer remind her of her home island, Cyprus.

Chli is determined to get more women into robotics, a field which she believes will improve the quality of human life, be it through mobile robots in search and rescue missions or in personalised healthcare. SWI swissinfo.ch asked her about the challenges of studying and working in robotics and how researchers women and men alike could pave the wayin Switzerland.

Switzerland has less female researchers than other European countries. The proportion of female professors stands at 23% and is even lower in natural and technical sciences.

The Covid-19 pandemic seems to have further limited the scientific work of women: Swiss researchers recently analysedExternal link thousands of studies published between January 1, 2018 and May 31, 2021 and noticed that during the first wave of the pandemic women were listed less often as leading authors than in previous years. According to the authors of this research, one possible explanation was that female researchers struggled to reconcile work and family during the lockdowns and therefore published less articles than their male counterparts.

What can be done to reduce the gender gap and make science more inclusive? In its new series Women in Science, SWI swissinfo.ch is portraying successful female scientists, to inspire and encourage other women to enter the field.

SWI swissinfo.ch: Do you see more female students in robotics classes than you did a decade ago?

Margarita Chli: Unfortunately not. Its a sad story. When I first came to Switzerland, there were maybe two girls out of a total of fifty students. Its been ten years since my PhD and I cant say Ive seen much change in the female presence in classrooms. Perhaps this has to do with my path and the move from the UK to Switzerland. If Im honest, the situation in Switzerland is worse than in the UK in this respect.

I work in the mechanical engineering department, which traditionally doesnt attract many girls, but we hear all the time that the sector needs more women and that we need to do everything to get more female graduates. Its clear we need to do more to make our courses more attractive to girls. We are trying to figure out how to do that, but it takes a lot of patience because the fruits of what we sow today will only be seen in twenty years time.

SWI: When you chose this career, did you know it would be an obstacle course?

M.C.: I come from a family where gender never mattered in studies and work. So it was a real shock when I realised that there were only three girls out of a hundred students in my computer science course. Thats when I started thinking that maybe something was wrong.

SWI: How could women be encouraged to enrol in science courses?

M.C.: I think a good strategy is to increase the number of female professors in order to create role models. We need to encourage girls in every possible way, putting more women in power, promoting discussion and creating more opportunities for confrontation. In this way, perhaps we will succeed in moving, inch by inch, this great rock that history has placed in the path of many women.

SWI: Have you ever felt discriminated against?

M.C: Of course, who has never felt discriminated against? I am not a heroine, everyone has their own stories and barriers to break down. You can be discriminated against because of religion, because of where you come from, because of the colour of your skin. You have to be able to let everything slide past and move towards your goal.

To be successful, it is important to know how to listen to yourself. Perhaps men know how to do that better. My advice is: dont listen to the chatter that undermines your path. And if you think you are doing the right thing, dont stop, keep working towards your goal. If someone thinks you are where you are because you are a woman, dont care about it. Sooner or later you will prove these people wrong. The same advice also applies to men. We have to get rid of gender stereotypes.

SWI: Do you feel inspired by what you do?

M.C.: Absolutely. I think I have one of the most beautiful jobs in the world. I work with motivated people, brilliant minds who want to make an impact on society. But its the daily work with students and the satisfaction of seeing them progress on their journey that fulfils me the most.

The idea of contributing even slightly to improving the quality of life and changing the common view of robotics is a very important driver in my work.

Robots are still negatively associated with surveillance and the military. People are afraid of automation and what it can do. It's true that it can cause a lot of damage. But instead of just focusing on that aspect, you should look at all the benefits it can bring.

SWI: How do you raise awareness of the benefits of robotics?

M.C.: Every time I give a lecture, I try to show the other side of robotics, the good side. I talk about the contribution we are trying to make in areas such as search and rescue in the event of alpine avalanches or earthquakes, or the monitoring of anomalies in factories.

Last summer, whole areas of Greece suffered from fires. A friend of mine asked me if we could do something with drones to monitor these areas. Unfortunately, we are still so far behind in research to be able to do that. But this shows how much robotics could do to improve our lives.

SWI: Switzerland decided to break off discussions with the European Union on the framework agreement, which means that the country will not be associated with key research programmes such as Horizon Europe. Does this affect your work?

M.C.: Yes, of course, its a heavy blow for Swiss research. In the past I have worked on European projects while there were sanctions in place against Switzerland. Despite this, Swiss institutions had done everything they could to make life easier for us researchers.

Living in a rich country like Switzerland, where the government funds research, helps to heal the wound. But it will be important to continue to collaborate with European institutions, there is a lot to gain. And as a wealthy country, Switzerland has the responsibility and the duty not only to take but also to give.

SWI: What contribution would you like to make to robotics?

M.C.: Someone once made me reflect on the fact that my career path was not accessible to women 20 years ago. This is a big responsibility, but also a very exciting opportunity. My dream is to become a good role model and inspiration, someone who attracts both young men and women to the world of science because: I would like to become like her. I would like to show everyone what robotics can do for our society and add my contribution to make it better. But who, after all, dreams of anything different?

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'I try to show the other side of robotics, the good side' - swissinfo.ch

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