Latest news with #Straub
Yemen Online
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yemen Online
UAE set to use AI to write laws in world first
The United Arab Emirates aims to use AI to help write new legislation and review and amend existing laws, in the Gulf state's most radical attempt to harness a technology into which it has poured billions. The plan for what state media called 'AI-driven regulation' goes further than anything seen elsewhere, AI researchers said, while noting that details were scant. Other governments are trying to use AI to become more efficient, from summarising bills to improving public service delivery, but not to actively suggest changes to current laws by crunching government and legal data. 'This new legislative system, powered by artificial intelligence, will change how we create laws, making the process faster and more precise,' said Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Dubai ruler and UAE vice-president, quoted by state media. Ministers last week approved the creation of a new cabinet unit, the Regulatory Intelligence Office, to oversee the legislative AI push. Rony Medaglia, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, said the UAE appeared to have an 'underlying ambition to basically turn AI into some sort of co-legislator', and described the plan as 'very bold'. Abu Dhabi has bet heavily on AI and last year opened a dedicated investment vehicle, MGX, which has backed a $30bn BlackRock AI-infrastructure fund among other investments. MGX has also added an AI observer to its own board. The UAE plans to use AI to track how laws affect the country's population and economy by creating a massive database of federal and local laws, together with public sector data such as court judgments and government services. The AI will 'regularly suggest updates to our legislation,' Sheikh Mohammad said, according to state media. The government expects AI to speed up lawmaking by 70 per cent, according to the cabinet meeting readout. But researchers noted it could face many challenges and pitfalls. Those range from the AI becoming inscrutable to its users, to biases caused by its training data and questions over whether AI even interprets laws in the same way humans do. Although AI models are impressive, 'they continue to hallucinate [and] have reliability issues and robustness issues,' warned Vincent Straub, a researcher at Oxford university. 'We can't trust them.' The UAE's plans are particularly novel because they include using the AI to anticipate legal changes that may be needed, said Straub. They could potentially also save on costs — governments often pay law firms to review legislation. 'It seems that they are going a step further . . . from viewing AI as, let's say, like an assistant, a tool that can assist and categorise and draft, to one that can really predict and anticipate,' said Straub. Keegan McBride, a lecturer at the Oxford Internet Institute, said the autocratic UAE has had an 'easier time' embracing sweeping government digitalisation than many democratic nations have. 'They're able to move fast. They can sort of experiment with things.' There are dozens of smaller ways governments are using AI in legislation, McBride said, but he had not seen a similar plan from other countries. 'In terms of ambition, [the UAE are] right there near the top,' said McBride. It is unclear which AI system the government will use, and experts said it may need to combine more than one. But setting guardrails for the AI and human supervision would be crucial, researchers said. The AI could propose something 'really, really weird' that 'makes sense to a machine' but 'may absolutely make no sense to really implement it out there for real in a human society', said Marina De Vos, a computer scientist at Bath university.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Norfolk pressure washes Scope, plans arena and Chrysler Hall upgrades
To quote the rap group OutKast, Norfolk's Scope arena is looking 'so fresh, so clean.' City crews blasted dust and grime off the 53-year-old building during a pressure wash in late March. It's one of several upgrades to the arena and neighboring Chrysler Hall that the city has planned for the next few years, according to Norfolk spokesperson Kelly Straub. During the pressuring washing, crews on a large crane cleaned the arena's buttresses and addressed surface cracks, she said. 'We are safeguarding an important architectural feature of Scope, ensuring it remains as close as possible to its original intent while improving its durability and longevity,' Straub wrote in an email. The pressure washing is a prelude to larger planned renovations at the 12,600-capacity arena and Chrysler Hall. First up are numerous renovations at Chrysler Hall, which are expected to begin in late 2026, Straub said. The $87 million project would improve the loading dock area, making the process more efficient and reducing impacts along St. Paul's Boulevard, Straub said. Other improvements include upgraded restrooms, enhanced concession areas and a new center aisle. Improvements like the modernization of elevators, heating and air systems and integrated building technology would bring the facility, built in 1972, in line with other performance venues and allow it to remain competitive in attracting Broadway productions. The $87 million project includes $1.5 million in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the city budget proposal. It's an increase of $11 million from the $76 million renovation plan presented to City Council members back in 2021. The city plans to use historic tax credits to partially fund the renovations. The city is also in the planning stages of Scope renovations, Straub said. Planners are figuring out what future programming at the venue will look like, which will guide the size of the renovations, she said. Initial goals include reconfiguring the building layout so all back-of-house functions — like dressing rooms and support spaces — are on the same side of the arena as the loading area, which Straub said would improve efficiency. Another goal is relocating spaces like meeting rooms and restaurants to offer a better separation of public and background areas. Straub said the Scope renovations would happen after the completion of the Chrysler Hall project. Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345,
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wichita among cities most reliant on Canada money
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — According to a Canadian Chamber of Commerce report, Wichita is among the top 20 US cities reliant on exports to Canada. In Wichita, aerospace and agriculture are the main sectors that Canada buys from. Exports to Canada make up almost 4 percent of Wichita's GDP. The Trump administration is placing tariffs on longtime trade partners in an effort to create better trade agreements. Towne West rezoning to potentially bring economic boost, jobs 'There's most definitely gonna be a ripple effect,' said Dr. Larry Straub, associate professor of management at Newman University. 'This has blown apart long-standing relationships that have been decades and decades in the making.' Straub says the U.S. is playing a big game of chicken. While he says our country has a strong hold on international trade and could come out on top, he says the trade war will likely drive up inflation faster in the Wichita area. Professor Straub says this could, in turn, cause stagflation, where tariffs drive up inflation but the economy is slow, so wages cannot keep up. I spoke to aerospace manufacturers locally. The trade war is impacting everyone a little differently. For some, the future is up in the air. 'Recently we've been noticing a lot of uncertainty,' said Amir Etezazi, CEO of Etezazi Industries. Etezazi says tariffs could be a good thing. He says the trade war with Canada is causing international customers to hesitate before signing contracts with U.S. manufacturers. As a result, they're looking to other countries to source parts. 'We're gonna have the same issues with them not wanting to buy products from us,' said Etezazi. He says if the U.S. stops being a global player, it could tamp down innovations. Meanwhile, Globe Engineering in Wichita mostly sells domestically. Canadian exports only make up 2 to 3 percent of their total product. 'If I lost all my Canada work right now, we wouldn't lay anyone off, we wouldn't slow,' said Jeff Teague, President and CEO of Globe Engineering. 'We'd fill it with somebody else.' He says there's plenty of demand domestically, so he's not too concerned about tariffs. 'I don't think there's a hard, fast answer for some of this stuff,' Teague said. 'I think be patient see where it hits.' As for Amir, he says he's moving forward with plans to contract with more customers internationally anyway. For now, the tariffs aren't affecting his bottom line. He says the full impact is yet to be seen as new contracts come up. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
18-03-2025
- Science
- Associated Press
America's Underground Lab overhauls its WWII era wooden mine shaft
Lead, SD, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in the Black Hills of South Dakota is America's Underground Lab – with cutting-edge experiments in biology, geothermal energy, engineering, and physics. Experiments at SURF include the world's leading dark matter detector, LUX ZEPLIN, and the on-going construction of the massive Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The facility's high-tech science experiments are kept inside a massive historic structure of 370 miles of tunnels and shafts that was once North America's deepest gold mine. The Yates Shaft is one of two mineshafts used to access the underground laboratory space. The Yates is a World War II era shaft that reaches nearly a mile to the main laboratory site 4850 feet below the surface. The Yates Shaft is lined all the way down with a complex lacing of timber framed wood beams. Over the last three years, an intrepid crew of technicians replaced the large timbers and added or replaced rock bolts and steel mesh along the shaft walls from the top to the bottom of the shaft. The crews essentially built a wooden timber framed structure a mile deep—with all the added complications of working underground inside a mine shaft. 'I don't think there's any word that could describe the pride in the four crews that we have working on this project,' said Wendy Straub, Chief Operating Officer at SURF. 'This is something that doesn't come with a set of instructions. It was really engineering on the fly. I think today they are stronger and better for everything that they've achieved. Blood, sweat and tears, we've seen it all, and it's been worth it.' Straub gives extra praise to four crews, a total of 16 technicians, alongside two logistics coordinators, three superintendents, and eight hoist operators, who completed the work to the highest standards while prioritizing safety. 'The hardest part was definitely at the beginning; we had to figure out how to approach this whole thing,' said Will Hover, infrastructure technician at SURF. 'There aren't a lot of people even left alive that have worked timber inside a mine shaft like this. We had to learn for ourselves how to rebuild it from the top down.' One of the big challenges crews encountered were areas of instability of the rock wall behind the timber framed shaft. In some locations, large boulders broke off the shaft wall and pressed against the timbers. 'We would go in and use the jackleg, which is like a jackhammer, or handheld hammers and break down those boulders to manageable sizes. Then we would use winches and pulls to move those boulders into the skip conveyance and get them moved out of the way,' said Russ Bauer who leads one of the four-person shaft crews that worked both day and night shifts on the maintenance project for the past two years. 'The boulders were among the bigger challenges we encountered, and it's definitely great to have three other heads on the crew to help figure out obstacles like this,' Bauer said. The long-list of daily protective equipment Bauer and his crew wear each day includes safety harnesses, carabiners, and slings that keep them from falling 5,000 feet to the 300-foot pool of water at the bottom of the pitch-dark shaft. 'We're extremely safety focused, always looking out for each other,' Hover said. 'It's a pretty hazardous area down there, and we're constantly working to identify and mitigate danger.' Safety is first among SURF's cores values, and the facility maintains an excellent overall safety record. The safety of those who use the shaft for the daily commute underground is one of the reasons this top-down maintenance was completed. 'There was a stop work issued in July of 2021. I was fortunate enough to have people above me, including the management team at SURF, to back the decision to go in and do full, heavy top-down maintenance to make sure that the shaft is safe to operate going forward,' Straub said. The Yates Shaft was first constructed during the lead-up to WW II, when the country's need for steel necessitated the use of timbers to support the walls of the structure, rather than steel. After more than 70 years of use in both the former gold mine and the more recent underground laboratory, the timbers needed replacement. Shaft workers marvel at the work of the miners who completed the timber lined shaft by hand so many years ago. Bauer and Hover are among many current employees at SURF who have deep family connections at the facility. 'My grandpa was a hoist operator. My dad was a hoist operator who just retired, and I got a couple uncles that are still hoist operators up here. I'm incredibly proud of my family history on this site,' Bauer said. 'My grandfather was a miner, my dad was a motorman for the mine, and then he was the head of the emergency response team here at SURF until he retired a couple years ago. Getting to see and experience this whole facility, where two generations of my family have dug into the Black Hills, is awesome,' Hover added. 'The incredible work of this team, who spent the past three and a half years refurbishing the timber in this shaft, is a testament to their own perseverance and grit, and an extension of the long history and deep skillsets that made America's Underground Lab possible. I'm so proud of our Yates team in reaching this milestone with strong safety performance,' said Mike Headley, executive director of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and laboratory director at SURF. Headley points out that SURF is home to experiments with lifespans that could carry research here well into the 21st century, so it's possible, Hover, Bauer, and others at SURF could see their own children take up this work where they leave off—continuing this legacy—with a new purpose. 'I grew up in the mining community and been around mining all my life. So, when someone asks what I do inside this shaft all day, I pretty much just tell them, we're mining for science,'' Hover said. The expertise these crews have built in refurbishing this shaft for science will remain valuable in coming years. SURF is planning to reline the Yates Shaft with steel, in a similar overhaul completed on the Ross Shaft in the ramp up to the DUNE project. Regardless of the composition of the shafts, the maintenance required to keep them safe and operational will keep crews of workers gainfully employed at SURF for decades to come.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Yahoo
Columbus police host training on how to foster dialogue during protests
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Columbus Division of Police is setting an example about growing community relationships to police departments across the continent. This week Columbus police (CPD) hosted a training about its new and improved strategies to respond to protests, developed through the division's dialogue team. Police say there were officers from 15 departments nationwide and even some from Canada. Columbus residents may have seen CPD officers at a protest or community event wearing a light blue vest, which designates them as dialogue officers. Columbus Police Sgt. Kolin Straub said he is excited to hear officers' positive feedback from the training and eager to see how they implement the knowledge in their city. One dead, one arrested after Pickerington shooting 'We're humbled that people want to come to Columbus, Ohio, and learn what we've been doing,' Straub said. Straub said the division formed the state's first dialogue team in response to protests in the summer of 2020 centering around police brutality and reform. 'Dialogue has been our city's 'how we have moved forward from 2020, how we're trying to move forward from 2020.' We looked critically at what we did. We got a lot of feedback about what we did,' Straub said. Straub said the team is not doing enforcement action. Instead, these officers are having genuine conversations with people at these protests. 'We hope that these officers that are working with different crowds, different protests, we stress honest dialogue requires honest intent. And they need to come into those conversations with protesters genuinely trying to facilitate their First Amendment Rights,' Straub said. CPD said officers started by teaching the science behind why genuine communication is important, then moved to scenario-based training. Father behind Lauren's Law in Ohio sues disability care facility after eviciton 'We just built out this program and it's done very well in the sciences, and guided us very well. And we're happy to share that knowledge,' Straub said. Commander Lawrence Davis oversees community engagement and homeless operations for the Austin Police Department in Texas. He said he was impressed by the training. 'I think that the Columbus Division of Police has been so bold, so daring to say that not only are we going to find value in the voices of all of our community members, we're going to take it a step further,' Davis said. 'We're going to go out there, find them great and small, and we're going to give them a voice, a seat at the table. In fact, we're going to find them where they are and meet them at their level. So, that was kind of impressive to me.' Davis said he can think of many situations in his career where this training could have bettered the situation. He said he is looking forward to exploring what he has learned and bringing this back to his department. 'I just think that having the courage to touch this thing gives us access to the very thing that communities across the country have already been asking for. And it gives the police departments a pathway to three things: public trust, public confidence and police legitimacy,' Davis said. Straub said this team has given the division a better picture of what is actually happening during a protest. He said they better understand the dynamics and are building relationships with the crowd rather than just sitting back and watching. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
