Daily Archives: January 13, 2022

Dr. Selwyn Vickers to take over UAB Health System and UAB/Ascension St. Vincents Alliance – WVTM13 Birmingham

Posted: January 13, 2022 at 5:39 am

The UAB Health System has a new, but familiar, face at the helm!On Wednesday, it was announced that Dr. Selwyn Vickers, senior vice president for Medicine, has been named the CEO of both the UAB Health System and the UAB/Ascension St. Vincents Alliance. He is replacing Dr. Will Ferniany, who is retiring after leading the Health System for about 13 years.Vickers, a Demopolis native, will assume these positions while maintaining his current role as dean of the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The selection of Dr. Vickers as CEO of both the Health System and the Alliance will ensure a seamless transition of executive leadership and an uninterrupted commitment to excellence, said UAB President Ray Watts, M.D. We are proud to have this extraordinarily talented team of leaders, who will elevate our ability to provide the best patient care for our community, state, region and nation.Vickers is a world-renowned surgeon, a pancreatic cancer researcher and a pioneer in health disparities research. He is also a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.He became dean of the Heersink School of Medicine in 2013 and was a member of the UAB surgical faculty from 1994 to 2006.From a young age, I knew I wanted to practice medicine; but more than that, I wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people, Vickers said. Throughout my career, I have been passionate about clinical care, research and education. I have been the medical student, the trainee, the researcher, the physician, the teacher and the administrative leader. As we move forward into 2022 and the years beyond, UAB will continue to pursue high-quality patient care and the best possible patient outcomes, and continue to grow our nationally recognized programs to transform this part of the country into a healthier place to live and work. According to a press release from UAB, Vickers said the alignment of the Health System with the leadership of the School of Medicine is a proven successful strategy used at many academic medical centers.The structural change of our clinical enterprises leadership from two roles to one comes from the significant growth we have experienced in the past few years, he said. As many of our peer institutions have done, it made sense for UAB to consolidate the roles of CEO of the UAB Health System and dean of the Heersink School of Medicine to one person. A singular leader can fuse the interests of all groups at our enterprise and take a thoughtful approach to finances, operations and outcomes of both worlds.Vickers said he prioritizes continuing to build on and expand UABs programs of clinical excellence for the residents of Alabama, the Deep South and America while breaking the socioeconomic barriers to health care and education. A hallmark of his leadership will be focusing on UABs efforts to bring affordable health care to all people and regions of Alabama. UAB'S BIO ON DR. VICKERS"Vickers earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Johns Hopkins University and completed a surgical residency there. He joined the faculty of UAB as an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, where he was later appointed to professor, division director and the John H. Blue Chair of General Surgery. He was a founder of the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center and was principal investigator of UABs first pancreatic cancer SPORE. "In 2006, Vickers left UAB to become the Jay Phillips Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School, one of the oldest and most storied surgery departments in the country. "In 2013, Vickers became senior vice president of Medicine and dean of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, one of the largest public academic medical centers in the United States. In his role as dean, Vickers leads the medical schools main campus in Birmingham, as well as its regional campuses in Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. "He was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor for the class of 2021, which recognizes living Alabamians for their efforts and accomplishments in serving the state and country."

The UAB Health System has a new, but familiar, face at the helm!

On Wednesday, it was announced that Dr. Selwyn Vickers, senior vice president for Medicine, has been named the CEO of both the UAB Health System and the UAB/Ascension St. Vincents Alliance. He is replacing Dr. Will Ferniany, who is retiring after leading the Health System for about 13 years.

Vickers, a Demopolis native, will assume these positions while maintaining his current role as dean of the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The selection of Dr. Vickers as CEO of both the Health System and the Alliance will ensure a seamless transition of executive leadership and an uninterrupted commitment to excellence, said UAB President Ray Watts, M.D. We are proud to have this extraordinarily talented team of leaders, who will elevate our ability to provide the best patient care for our community, state, region and nation.

Vickers is a world-renowned surgeon, a pancreatic cancer researcher and a pioneer in health disparities research. He is also a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

He became dean of the Heersink School of Medicine in 2013 and was a member of the UAB surgical faculty from 1994 to 2006.

From a young age, I knew I wanted to practice medicine; but more than that, I wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people, Vickers said. Throughout my career, I have been passionate about clinical care, research and education. I have been the medical student, the trainee, the researcher, the physician, the teacher and the administrative leader. As we move forward into 2022 and the years beyond, UAB will continue to pursue high-quality patient care and the best possible patient outcomes, and continue to grow our nationally recognized programs to transform this part of the country into a healthier place to live and work.

According to a press release from UAB, Vickers said the alignment of the Health System with the leadership of the School of Medicine is a proven successful strategy used at many academic medical centers.

The structural change of our clinical enterprises leadership from two roles to one comes from the significant growth we have experienced in the past few years, he said. As many of our peer institutions have done, it made sense for UAB to consolidate the roles of CEO of the UAB Health System and dean of the Heersink School of Medicine to one person. A singular leader can fuse the interests of all groups at our enterprise and take a thoughtful approach to finances, operations and outcomes of both worlds.

Vickers said he prioritizes continuing to build on and expand UABs programs of clinical excellence for the residents of Alabama, the Deep South and America while breaking the socioeconomic barriers to health care and education. A hallmark of his leadership will be focusing on UABs efforts to bring affordable health care to all people and regions of Alabama.

"Vickers earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Johns Hopkins University and completed a surgical residency there. He joined the faculty of UAB as an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, where he was later appointed to professor, division director and the John H. Blue Chair of General Surgery. He was a founder of the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center and was principal investigator of UABs first pancreatic cancer SPORE.

"In 2006, Vickers left UAB to become the Jay Phillips Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School, one of the oldest and most storied surgery departments in the country.

"In 2013, Vickers became senior vice president of Medicine and dean of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, one of the largest public academic medical centers in the United States. In his role as dean, Vickers leads the medical schools main campus in Birmingham, as well as its regional campuses in Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa.

"He was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor for the class of 2021, which recognizes living Alabamians for their efforts and accomplishments in serving the state and country."

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McNeese State University fall 2021 honor rolls announced | Ascension | theadvocate.com – The Advocate

Posted: at 5:39 am

McNeese State University announced its fall 2021 honor rolls.

To be on the presidents honor list, an undergraduate student must earn at least a 3.5 GPA or better while carrying at least 15 semester hours. A senior eligible for graduation but carrying less than 15 hours is also eligible, provided the student was on the list the previous semester.

The honor roll lists undergraduate students earning at least a 3.0 or B average while carrying 12 or more semester hours.

Presidents honor list

AMITE: Hezekiah Emanuel Neason

DENHAM SPRINGS: Payton Leigh Dodds, Kamryn L. Duncan, Alaina G. Fontenot

KENTWOOD: Caylon J. Brabham

MAUREPAS: Kameron J. Aime

PONCHATOULA: Aeryn Elizabeth Tyrney

Honor roll

AMITE: Adrianna P. Terrebonne

DENHAM SPRINGS: Christina R. Canale, Erica Carpenter, Lakin A. Fletcher, Tiara Robertson, Maia A. Robinson, Kelly Cazes Smith

HAMMOND: Desha Renee Hubbard

KENTWOOD: Natalie Dorene Johnson

LIVINGSTON: Ashley Alyssa Schenk

WALKER: Katie G. Van Der Mark

Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today.

ZACHARY: Claire B. Chandler

Presidents honor list

BAKER: Terikka Nevels Walter

ZACHARY: Claire E. Thompson

Honor roll

BAKER: Taylor M. Horn

Presidents honor list

ETHEL: Brittany Shay Hall Saxton

Presidents honor list

GONZALES: Ciara E. Young

Honor roll

GONZALES: Andre W. Husers, Raven Re'shaune Jones, Chandler R. Perer, Casie L. Savoy

PRAIRIEVILLE: Christian Ray Donnelly, Ashlyn B. Dufren, Kalleigh Patrolia Flucke, Jasmina Foster, Madason Guitreau, Elizabeth Nicole Sam

ST. AMANT: Zane L. Zeppuhar

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Eskenazi using refrigerated truck to store the dead as COVID-19 hospitalizations reach record levels – Fox 59

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INDIANAPOLIS On Wednesday, Indiana reported its highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations ever. Thats after it broke the record on Tuesday.

At Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, the hospital has run out of room to store the dead. It is using a refrigerated truck that it acquired weeks ago in anticipation of this surge.

A spokesperson for the hospital said its morgue is small and has reached its capacity.

We are over capacity meaning if capacity is 100 percent we are over 100 percent, Dr. Graham Carlos said.

Dr. Carlos is the hospitals executive medical director. He said they have run out of room and have had to get creative to make more beds available.

We have expanded our room capacity to include rooms such as pre-anesthesia rooms, endoscopy rooms, perioperative areas to now be inpatient areas, Dr. Carlos said.

Eskenazi is not alone in this problem. IU Health said it has refrigerated trucks on standby but hasnt had to use them yet.

Several health systems tell FOX59 they have very little room left. Some have none at all.

Our inpatient unit has been full for just days now, so every opportunity we have to discharge a patient home the bed is full immediately, said Linda Wessic, chief operating officer at Major Health Partners.

Franciscan Health Indianapolis told us it currently has 96 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 conditions.

We are approaching our highest level of admissions since late January 2021, when we treated 120 patients, a spokesperson for Franciscan Health said in a statement. The vast majority of these patients are unvaccinated.

Franciscan said it is routinely holding numerous inpatients in the emergency department while they await beds. The systems is also operating beyond its staffed capacity at this time.

Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis hospitals said they are in the same situation.

There are 101 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across the Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis hospitals. That is an increase of 44 patients in the last two weeks.

Ascension said that of the people who have died from COVID-19 at its hospitals, 90 percent of them were not vaccinated.

These are sick patients that are in a hospital because you have a life-threatening problem and so its stressful to be continuously taking care of so many patients, Dr. Carlos said.

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Eskenazi using refrigerated truck to store the dead as COVID-19 hospitalizations reach record levels - Fox 59

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Science & Technology | U.S. GAO

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Members of Congress and their staff need trusted, nonpartisan information on the performance of federal programs and their outcomes for Americans. GAO offers performance evaluations and other assistance and analysis, which have increasingly included science and technology areas such as:

Since its inception, GAOs science and technology team has further expanded its network of experts to increase the depth, breadth, and diversity of its knowledge. In October 2020, the team hosted an inaugural meeting of the Polaris Council, a group of exceptional science, technology, and policy leaders and experts from many fields, established to advise us on emerging science and technology issues facing Congress.

The team also established an Innovation Lab to empower GAO with new capabilities and enhanced capacity to tackle evolving challenges. The data scientists and technologists of the Innovation Lab are working with GAO mission teams and the broader oversight community at the cutting edge of oversight, examining the latest technological advances, every day. Among the Innovation Labs projects is GAOs Operation Warp Speed Dashboard, a digital platform featuring vaccine development and technology readiness information about federally funded COVID-19 vaccines.

For a more detailed look at the new team, see our 2021 testimony, 2020 testimony, and 2019 plan.

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Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize healthcare – Medical Economics

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For healthcare, blockchain can be used for payment processing, but it can also improve interoperability, track claims processing, or develop and maintain provider directories.

Blockchain -- the same technology powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies -- is finding revolutionary new applications in the healthcare sector. Recently, Aetna, Anthem, and the Cleveland Clinic partnered to announce a new blockchain-based healthcare initiative, marking the latest indication of the potential impact blockchain could have on the healthcare sector as a whole.

Blockchain is best known for its security, distributed nature, and immutability. The technology is most often associated with cryptocurrencies; it allows for a record of all transactions that cannot be altered or changed -- necessary for any kind of currency that is not backed by reference to a national government or central bank. For healthcare, blockchain can be used for payment processing, but it can also improve interoperability, track claims processing, or develop and maintain provider directories.

In 2020, Gartner listed blockchain as one of its top 10 strategic trends, following the institution of blockchain as part of the nationwide healthcare system in Estonia in 2016. Such a system is far from reaching full implementation in the U.S., but strides are being made to generate innovation and creativity for the industrys future.

Blockchain also helps to bring new thoughts to long-lasting questions of how to improve outdated technology in healthcare. Many medical offices continue to rely on pagers and fax machines. In contrast, many internet-connected medical imaging devices remain based on insecure operating systems that open them to potential attackers.

Blockchain could provide new solutions to augment the security and protection of personal health data, one of the most important aspects of building trust in the industry. Patient data is sometimes difficult to access because it is stored in one physical location or another, remote from the provider who needs it at a particular time. With the blockchain, encrypted patient data could be stored securely and effectively, with fewer opportunities for lost files or miscommunication. With a secure cryptographic database combined with the potential of a shared ledger, blockchain could provide significant advantages for medical record storage, especially for patients who see multiple providers; this could help to prevent misdiagnosis or unwanted drug interactions while preserving patient confidentiality and security.

Blockchain models include five major elements:

While some healthcare blockchain implementations may use the full blockchain model, others may focus on particular aspects of the technology's potential utility.

Some companies are already working on implementing blockchain technologies in healthcare. One such project used the blockchain to create a community for medical professionals to communicate and make partnerships and agreements. Other companies are creating blockchain solutions for information storage -- both for patient files and practice information.

The new initiative from Aetna, Anthem, and the Cleveland Clinic is drawing even more attention because it involves such significant leaders in the field, evidencing a higher level of commitment to blockchain technologies. Other major companies like IBM and PNC Financial Services are also involved in the consortium Avaneer Health. Several insurance companies have become interested in how blockchain could be used to efficiently handle claims processing and payments between insurance companies and medical providers. It could also be used for these insurers to keep track of and communicate with their in-network providers.

The consortium aims to eliminate inefficiencies and duplications in the healthcare system -- especially those involving multiple copies of files that may be outdated or otherwise incomplete. This may allow insurers, providers, and even patients to communicate quickly and securely about key issues without adding more paper to the process.

Avaneer is not alone; several of the largest insurers and lab companies have also launched the Synaptic Health Alliance to focus on using blockchain-based distributed ledger technology to improve insurers' provider directories. Meanwhile, IBM launched a blockchain network to help healthcare institutions and government agencies identify companies that could supply in-demand health equipment, aiming to address some of the supply chain problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Gartner named blockchain one of its top 10 strategic technology trends, it was not only concerned with billing, claims, and directories -- it was also interested in how blockchain could be used in the provision of medical care. For example, blockchain technologies could provide mechanisms for tracing the origin and spread of food-borne or water-borne illnesses. It could help to find potential contaminants and warn those who may be exposed.

Gartner combined its analysis of potential blockchain uses with other major technologies like distributed cloud computing, artificial intelligence, traceability, and automated democratization. The latter two points, while not necessarily central to many of the enterprise blockchain projects focusing on immutable distributed ledgers, are key contributors to the appeal of cryptocurrencies powered by the blockchain. Doctors, patients, and other companies in the sector could monitor and trace their information through the system with the use of blockchain technology, promoting a greater level of confidence and trust as well as improved efficiency and accuracy.

There may be important lessons to learn from the Estonian blockchain experience. Estonia's national health care system is highly digitized, which includes the use of the blockchain. The blockchain implementation, put into effect in 2016, was first launched in 2011 to develop a highly secure and encrypted system to store medical records, given the sensitivity of the data involved.

Estonian residents can use their electronic ID cards to sign in and view their health records. Blockchain is used to ensure that the data kept there remains immutable, guarded against potential attacks by hackers targeting the system. Several major pharmaceutical companies, including Roche, are working with the Estonian government to determine future applications for blockchain in healthcare -- and the success of blockchain in the healthcare sector in Estonia has also sparked interest in blockchain development for the country's digital court system, business registry, succession registry, and property registry.

There are many more developments to come and technological innovations that can spur further blockchain development in the healthcare industry. Beyond its utility for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain could provide security and transparency that could help to revolutionize how the healthcare industry handles data while protecting patient confidentiality.

Mary Tolan (Website,Twitter,Medium) is co-founder and managing partner of CPF.

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Scope Inspection & Safety Technology Secures Angel Investment – Business Wire

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HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scope Computer Vision Technologies, an inspection automation company that builds deep learning vision systems, today announced it has raised substantial funding from private investors across the state of Texas. The investment will help drive product development and market education around automated inspection in the utility industry.

This investment fuels our ongoing commitment to revolutionizing the way people inspect critical product applications in zero-fail situations," CEO Justin McCoy said. "In circumstances where people's lives rely on a product's ability to perform, we must be able to accurately assess that product's health every time it is used."

Launched in the summer of 2019, Scope is developing automated inspection technology that assesses high performance synthetic rope for manufacturers and operators of utility stringing equipment and users in the maritime industry such as tugboats and mooring systems. This is the first outside investment that the company has taken on.

"Prior to Scope, standard best practice was to inspect miles of synthetic rope by hand, visually looking for damaged areas and making a judgement call on whether the line was safe to use," explains COO Mike Poroo. "Our technology automates this labor intensive task in real-time, in line with operations, with higher accuracy."

Scope's first product, Scope Control, is due to release in the Spring of 2022. The product will be a standalone unit that is positioned between pullers to inspect long distances of stringing lines. "With this product we aim to prove that the technology can be relied on as a form of measurement for the quality of a line," Justin McCoy continued. "The industry is in dire need of a tool to standardize inspection practices."

The Scope Control device uses the latest in sensor and camera technology paired with deep learning neural networks in order to recognize and grade the severity of damage modes that it detects on a stringing line. This is a significant shift from manual visual inspection where an operator is expected to accurately inspect miles of rope at a time. With manual visual inspection, results can vary as much as 45% from person to person, whereas the Scope Control technology is as consistent as only automation can be. Operators can continuously monitor line health in real time with high precision.

The products neural networks were trained to a very high level of accuracy through another Scope product, Scope Capture, which Scope developed for manufacturers of rope. Scope Capture enables manufacturers to build accurate recognition models that are specific to their own rope products.

Scope founders believe that users of rope will demand highly accurate models from manufacturers of rope products, and Scope can serve both ends of the technology spectrum.

"We can equip both the manufacturer and the user of rope products in a way that establishes a common reference for the quality of a rope that is consistent across the industry, resulting in compliance that is realizable and maintainable."

About Scope

Scope is an automated inspection company founded in 2019 to improve safety and compliance in industries that utilize synthetic rope. The companys products Scope Capture and Scope Control leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify defects and damage in high performance rope, assess the severity of the damaged areas and how they relate to one another, grade them, and communicate what actions are required to resolve those conditions. This is accomplished in real time, in line with operations, at a higher-than-human accuracy, with software that is self-improving. Learn more at visionbyscope.com.

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Microsoft announces new research and technology to empower millions of frontline workers – Stories – Microsoft

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New product features come as company sees 400% Microsoft Teams growth per month by frontline workers during the pandemic

REDMOND, Wash. Jan. 12, 2022 On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. released a Work Trend Index Special Report, Technology Can Help Unlock a New Future for Frontline Workers, and announced new features in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Viva designed to serve millions of frontline workers.

The 2 billion frontline workers worldwide represent 80% of the global workforce, with 88% of organizations employing people in frontline roles. Increasingly, companies are investing in digital tools for frontline workers to modernize workflows, enhance job performance, and improve workplace culture and communication. Microsoft has seen 400% growth in monthly active usage of its Teams collaboration platform among frontline workers since March 2020.

The Work Trend Index report reveals key insights that impact nearly every segment of the workforce:

Today, the company is introducing new joint offerings with industry partners as well as capabilities specifically designed to support frontline workers in Teams and Viva, Microsofts employee experience platform introduced in early 2021.

Its no secret that the pandemic is reshaping work for all workers, and at a faster pace than we have ever seen, said Emma Williams, corporate vice president, Microsoft. Empowering frontline workers remains essential for digital transformation. Together with our partners, were equipping frontline workers with tools that allow them to stay connected with their team and company leadership while concentrating on the customer or job at hand. If done well, we believe technology can modernize workflows and enhance job performance while also improving workplace culture and communication.

In addition, on Feb. 1, Microsoft Cloud for Retail will be generally available. Microsoft Cloud for Retail accelerates business growth by providing trusted retail industry solutions that integrate with retailers existing systems. It starts by unifying disparate data sources across the end-to-end shopper journey, allowing retailers to maximize the value of their data, resulting in one holistic view of the consumer. Once connected, data and AI help retailers better understand and elevate the consumer shopping experience. In providing more relevant and streamlined experiences throughout the retail value chain, retailers can build a real-time sustainable supply chain. The solution also includes the Teams and Viva capabilities announced today, all working toward empowering store associates.

To learn more, visit the Official Microsoft Blog, Microsoft 365 Blog and the new Work Trend Index report.

Microsoft (Nasdaq MSFT @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

For more information, press only:

Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications, (425) 638-7777,[emailprotected]

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center athttp://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsofts Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed athttps://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.

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TECNO Debuts the Polychromatic Photoisomer – Breaking Through the Boundaries Between Technology and Art – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:38 am

Shanghai, China--(Newsfile Corp. - January 12, 2022) - On 12th January, 2022, TECNO, a premium international smartphone brand operating in over 70 countries, announced it will be debuting globally its latest polychromatic photoisomer technology, coupled with mobile phone design elements.

The debut reflects the TECNO's commitment to "Stop at Nothing" to bring breakthroughs on smartphones, including design, camera, and system. They envision "Technology to amplify the value of art, and Art to express the value of technology". This breakthrough would be the first time this technology would be applied to mobile phones. A wave of classic art can be expected in the mobile phone industry, bringing users an immersive experience of "light chasing". TECNO has successfully refined the technology of polychromatic photoisomer on the monochromatic back cover of a mobile phone, so allowing display of masters of classic art, a move ahead of the industry.

TECNO

Through Technological Innovation, TECNO Lets Technology Become Art

TECNO data insights indicate that today's young generation of consumers' aesthetic expectations toward technological products are becoming a trend around the world. TECNO is committed to the expansion of mobile phone design and strives to bring artistic beauty to users in the new era, giving technology an artistic touch with innovative technology breakthroughs in the shape, material and appearance design of mobile phone manufacturing process.

This technology consists of 22 steps and underwent 500 iterations of testing, with accuracy reaching nanometer-level. This ensures that it is carefully crafted and rigorously tested to reach exact specifications.

Polychromatic photoisomer technology is an innovation which uses the breakage and recovery effect of the chain of photosensitive molecular bonds under ultraviolet light, making colorless molecular groups become chromogenic and then revert to colorless.

Story continues

The process breaks through the technical limitations of single-color or dual-color discoloration, and realizes for the first time the industry ideal of "making mobile phones not only a technology product, but also a work of art".

Paying Tribute to the Art Masters, TECNO Makes Users Light Chasers

TECNO's debut of the polychromatic photoisomer technology is not only an innovation of mobile phones as technology, but also as a successful exploration of artistic expression. Through TECNO's polychromatic photoisomer technology, users can enjoy multi-color discoloration of mobile phones in different life scenarios. Transforming from an indoor single-color back cover to an outdoor multi-color experience, TECNO makes full use of the dazzling colors brought by the changes of light and shadow, giving the mobile phone an artistic attribute. TECNO is able to elevate the appearance and design of mobile phones to a new level by this integration of technology and art.

It was the French painter douard Manet who brought "light" into painting and created impressionism in the 19th-century. And today, TECNO is paying tribute to Manet by embedding mobile phone design with the elements of "light" to create the collision of colors under the sunlight.

TECNO's creative use of "light" brings the beauty of "change" to the mobile phone, and gives users a personalized, immersive artistic experience. Just like Monet, "an eternal light chaser", TECNO allows users to experience the joy of "chasing light".

The use of light enables dazzling colors, as in the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian's effects when depicting the geometric elements comprised of "primary colors" and straight lines, to reflect an equal and harmonious order. TECNO pays tribute to Piet Mondrian by presenting polychromatic photoisomer technology in a classic and minimalist mobile phone design to inherit perfectly his pure artistic spirit. The mobile phone is no longer a mere technology product but a philosophical artwork in the tradition of Mondrian, with the light and shadow transformation from indoor to outdoors. TECNO's brand, expressed by the debut of polychromatic photoisomer technology, is similar to Mondrian's perfect combination of colors and lines to illustrate the power of nature and the essence of life.

TECNO's global debut of the polychromatic photoisomer technology not only leads the industry for mobile phone design, but also practices its "Stop at Nothing" brand essence. As an innovative leader in mobile phone technology, adhering to the concept of "Technology to amplify the value of art, Art to express the value of technology", TECNO continues to inspire and empower consumers in emerging markets and globally for bringing a unique "chasing light" experience to consumers everywhere.

About TECNO

TECNO is a premium smartphone and AIoT devices brand from TRANSSION Holdings. With "Stop At Nothing" as its brand essence, TECNO is committed to unlocking the best contemporary technologies for progressive individuals across global emerging markets, giving them elegantly designed intelligent products that inspires consumers to uncover a world of possibilities. TECNO understands the needs of consumers from different markets and provides them with localized innovations and design breakthroughs demonstrated through their mastery of serving consumers who are "young at heart" and never stops pursuing excellence. TECNO's portfolio spans across smartphones, tablets, smart wearables and AIoT devices made for consumers in over 70 emerging markets world-wide. TECNO is also the Official Partner of Manchester City, Premier League Champions 2020-21. For more information, please visit: http://www.tecno-mobile.com.

Contact:TECNOJoyce Li+8610 85910986https://www.tecno-mobile.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109884

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TECNO Debuts the Polychromatic Photoisomer - Breaking Through the Boundaries Between Technology and Art - Yahoo Finance

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I-40 bridge shutdown ‘could have been prevented’ with the right technology – Construction Dive

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Catastrophe was averted, but it wasn't pretty.

When the I-40 Hernando de Soto Bridge connecting Tennessee and Arkansas was abruptly closed in May after a crack that had gone undetected for decades was discovered, 40,000 rerouted commuters and truckers traveling between Memphis and West Memphis endured more than two months of hours-long delays. The transportation industry and impacted businesses lost millions of dollars.

The crack in an interior weld on the 48-year-old span likely started shortly after the weld was made in the 1970s but couldnt be seen during conventional inspection until it grew into a fracture, which drone video captured in 2019.

That fracture grew along the bridge's top flange as the result of "a unique combination of low temperatures, increasing tie girder stress and the effect of live loads to which the bridge had not been subjected," according to an investigation by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates.

But the Arkansas DOT employee who inspected it in 2019 and 2020 missed it. After he was fired, he claimed it wasn't safe to get within arm's length of the crack to observe it.

Adel Abdelnaby

Permission granted by University of Memphis

"I feel bad for him. I'm not saying he's not responsible, but I did bridge inspections in the past, and I know a large bridge like that moves a lot. There are safety concerns,"said Adel Abdelnaby, a University of Memphis engineering professor who said he felt like he was having a heart attack (he even got down on his hands and knees and prayed) when he installed seismic sensors on the Hernando de Soto Bridge in a 2017 project with the Tennessee DOT.

That's why it doesnt make sense to rely on one person, who likely shares Abdelnaby's fears of falling into the river, for an inspection of that magnitude, the professor added.

"This could have been prevented if computer modeling and more analysis were being done rigorously by several different people," Abdelnaby said. "You want more redundancy in the system. If an inspector makes an error, but an engineer is doing a computer model, it's hard for all these people to make errors at the same time."

Federal law requires bridges to be inspected every two years and more frequently when potential problems need to be monitored. But some experts say that's not enough.

"Right now, the inspector goes out and looks at a bridge and gives it a rating. There's too much time between inspections, and the inspector might not see everything that's going on," said Kaan Ozbay, professor and director of the C2SMART Center at New York Universitys Tandon School of Engineering.

Fortunately, experts say, advances in sensors and computer modeling technology and a cash infusion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) mean a situation due to human error like I-40 is increasingly unlikely to happen again.

Tony Hunley

Permission granted by Stantec

"Generally, these types of incidents have been very isolated,"said veteran bridge engineer Tony Hunley, bridge sector leader for global engineering and design firm Stantec and program manager for the preservation and replacement initiative Bridging Kentucky. "However, state DOTs struggle to have the funding levels available to stay ahead of the deterioration of our bridge infrastructure."

That the nation's 617,000 bridges are aging is no secret. The 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card found that 42% are more than 50 years old, and more than 46,000 are considered structurally deficient. It would cost $41.8 billion and take 40 years to repair every bridge in the backlog, ASCE reported.

Though chronically underfunded, state DOTs, with guidance from the Federal Highway Administration, have maintained robust inspection programs that have kept bridges relatively safe. (Over the past 30 years, three have collapsed, one of them hit by a barge.) Technology is making that exponentially easier, and the promise of billions in new funding from the infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in November brings new hope to the sector.

"We've been waiting for this infrastructure bill for years and years and years,"said Andrew Herrmann, who was ASCEs president in 2012, and is now principal emeritus at engineering firm Hardesty & Hanover. "It's going to pump money where it needs to be."

Bridges are entering "a new age,"said Greg Nadeau, chairman of infrastructure ventures for composite bridge provider AIT Bridges and a former FHWA administrator under President Barack Obama.

Greg Nadeau

Permission granted by AIT Bridges

"We have to do two things,"he said. "We need more money to address bridge needs and the infrastructure bill has done that in a historic way and we have to start building bridges faster, better, smarter. With a bigger infusion of funds, states are going to be in a better position to really start taking advantage of that to utilize new age approaches and materials."

To help beef up safety monitoring of aging bridges,engineers are increasingly looking to technology.Ozbay said most problems could be averted with simple innovations such as sensors that measure stress and weight levels in bridge roadways' asphalt for predictive modeling and sensors that alert DOTs about problems (much like a Fitbit warns its wearer when their heart rate spikes).

Using well-known structural engineering models, bridge authorities can leverage all the data theyre collecting to make smarter, more informed decisions.

"Sensors are relatively cheap they can have many of them and now it's easy with wireless technology to get data from the field," Ozbay said.

New York-based startup Dynamic Infrastructure, for example, offers an AI-based cloud platform that broadcasts live 3D images and alerts authorities when dramatic changes in bridge conditions occur. The system also analyzes past and current inspection-report photographs to create what the firm calls "visual medical records"that can identify defects and future maintenance risks.

State DOTs are also leveraging data to make systemwide decisions about scheduling repairs and preventive maintenance using Bridge Asset Management which Hunley admits is a big, all-encompassing term.

"At its core, it's leveraging the data that our states are getting through bridge inspections with cost data and deterioration data to plan ahead for what our needs will be,"he said. "When you look at bridges in this more programmatic way, it requires more formal technological tools to manage."

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I-40 bridge shutdown 'could have been prevented' with the right technology - Construction Dive

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Rethinking technology policy and governance for the 21st Century – Brookings Institution

Posted: at 5:38 am

Todays major technology firms wield huge social and political influence across the world to the point that their actions, and the content they host, is often seen as a direct challenge to national sovereignty and the norms and power structures that support states. In regions and countries as varied as Europe, China, the United States, Australia and Russia, governments are proposing andin the case of China, Russia, and Australiaimplementing regulations that purport to protect the national interest by imposing new duties on the largest online players. Their effectiveness in economic or social terms is uncertain, and their impact on rights has been heavily criticized by civil society.

Industrial revolutions of any kind have real and severe implications for economic development, national security, social cohesion, and human rights, and the one we are experiencing nowdubbed the the Fourth Industrial Revolution by the World Economic Forumposes even greater risks along these lines, given the speed and scale at which digital applications and systems can be deployed across traditional borders. The dominance of digital firms, and the uses to which their services are being put, is also creating risks that range from fomenting extremism in Syria, to shifting democratic participation in Kenya, inciting genocidal violence in Myanmar, and the global spread of misinformation around health.

As we point out in our recent report, Interoperable, agile and balanced: rethinking technology policy and governance for the 21st Century, structural shifts in the sources and wielders of economic, social and political powerand the urgent threats that accompany such changessuggests a need for new forms of regulation and governance that ensure common social values survive and thrive. Most importantly, values such as fairness, inclusiveness, and accountability need to be consciously and carefully built into both our governance systems and the technologies themselves to ensure that their direct risks to users and negative externalities to others are well managed.

In the past, it has taken governments decades after the popular adoption of new technologies to appreciate associated externalities and develop and enforce appropriate policies to mitigate them. The automobile was almost 100 years old and responsible for killing over 50,000 Americans a year before road safety was taken seriously at the federal level in the United States in 1970. Yet policymakers today face bigger challenges than their predecessors, as they seek to manage the impacts of complex, rapidly evolving technologies that tend to be developed and jealously guarded by entrepreneurs. As former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright puts it, citizens are speaking to their governments using 21st century technologies, governments are listening on 20th century technology and providing 19th century solutions.

This generational gap is hard to overcome because three critical challenges stymie those seeking to make policy today. A plethora of jurisdictions and approaches has led to regulatory fragmentation among cities, regions, and countries that dramatically reduces the utility of action while creating burden for would-be competitors of digital platforms. The data required to fully understand the extent of social problems is controlled by the very firms suspected of creating them, leaving policymakers with a lack of data to inform their actions. And the reliance of countries and their citizens on the services of the same technology firms that they would like to influence has led to fewer degrees of freedom.

What, then, does 21st century tech policy and governance look like? Essentially, policymakers need to be equipped with a new set of tools that help address these challenges.

First, we need more transparent and holistic policymaking approaches that clearly communicate technology policy goals and identify trade-offs at the national, international, and subnational levels as well as across stakeholder groups. The pervasiveness of digital systems in our lives means that technology policy is rapidly becoming everything policy, with critical and different implications for areas as diverse as infrastructure resilience, national security, the competitiveness of markets, social cohesion, the relationship between citizens and the state, and evenas we have seen recentlyhow well health systems function. Faced with this, policymakers need reasoned, structured approaches that avoid the twin traps of hasty, opportunistic policymaking that only addresses symptoms at one end of the spectrum and paralyzed policymaking that never approaches implementation at the other extreme.

Given its reasonable timeframes for consultation and its interaction with a broad set of stakeholder groups, the European Commissions considered, comprehensive approach to the construction of the Digital Services Act (DSA) is a step in the right direction. But more work needs to be done in identifying and resolving critical conflicts and trade-offs that are emerging in proposals and amendments. For example, the EUs General Data Protection Regulation asserts the right not to be subject to automated decisionmaking, yet current DSA proposals around the removal of objectionable content will create strong incentives for digital platforms to continuously monitor and assess material in ways that will very likely infringe on freedom speech.

Second, even though working with others is hard, effective technology policy requires close collaboration across jurisdictions. Countries need to be systematically gathering and sharing the evidence of effectiveness or failure of diverse technology policy approaches across jurisdictions. To overcome the challenge of a lack of evidence, countries may need to support new processes around sharing insights into the algorithms and datasets of structurally important digital firms. Investing heavily in open, international technology standards focused on current issues will pay capitals back many times over.

Finally, managing the impact of technologies produced with agile development processes requires a shift toward agile governance. We believe that a wider representation of stakeholder interests, combined with a congenial dance between exploration and evidence-based decisions, can lead to more proactive and entrepreneurial governance fit for the 21st Century.

Agile governance processes have been emerging for a while in forward-leaning government departments, creating spaces for policy experimentation and learning. For example, regulatory sandboxes have been used to test rules around drones and innovative financial services. Meanwhile, risk-based regulatory approacheswhich allow for considerable nuance in the application of laws as well as encouraging contextually sensitive assessmentsare at the heart of the EUs recent proposed regulation laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence.

All of this represents an opportunity, rather than a burden. The opportunity is to reform governance in a way that enables us to embed fairness, inclusion, and accountability within the technological systems that increasingly shape our economies and societies. Investing and succeeding in this area could mean that the coming decade of policy governance integrates diverse values in interoperable systems, with regulators and citizens working alongside one another as reciprocal partners, rather than antagonists.

Nicholas Davis is a professor of practice at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the former head of society and innovation at the World Economic Forum.Landry Sign is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and professor and managing directorat the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a distinguished fellow at Stanford University.Mark Esposito is a clinical professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a policy fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

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Rethinking technology policy and governance for the 21st Century - Brookings Institution

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