At this rate, it will take years to fix a critical vulnerability that remains in over 900,000 Windows machines. A worm will arrive much sooner.
from Wired http://bit.ly/2WxzcMV
via
Intro Video
Friday, May 31, 2019
Apple WWDC 2019: What to Expect From the Big Developer Show
New York Transit Edges Into a Future Without MetroCards
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and the Art of Worldbuilding
Is Your Wobbly, Illegible Touchscreen Signature Still You?
'I want people to ask me about HIV'
Morocco suspect admits killing Scandinavian hiker
Zamalek chose not to renew Christian Gross' contract
Ottis Gibson: South Africa coach 'happy to be talked of' as Trevor Bayliss replacement
Thursday, May 30, 2019
GM fungus rapidly kills 99% of malaria mosquitoes, study suggests
A behavioral economist explores poverty and development
On a sunny May day, Pierre-Luc Vautrey sits in 1369 Coffeehouse in Cambridge, talking enthusiastically about his work — five research projects to be exact. He speaks quickly, and the coffee gives him an extra boost. He has a lot of ground to cover, and at times he has to re-explain certain areas of his research. Luckily, he’s patient and wants to ensure that people understand his work.
Vautrey is a third-year doctoral student in MIT’s Department of Economics. While he spent his undergraduate years studying applied math and physics in his home country of France, he was always drawn to the humanities and social sciences.
“I still had this itch to go back to social science at some point. It just seemed like a really nice way to bridge science and quantitative approach with social science and humans in general. That’s how I got into economics,” he says.
As a behavioral economist, Vautrey aims to extend our understanding of economic decisions using psychology. This approach questions traditional assumptions, ever so slightly, in order to make outcomes more realistic regarding human behavior.
“Traditional economics has been modeling everything as rational. We assume that the agent learns like a statistician and makes rational decisions. And in the last 20 or 30 years, this model has shown its limits. It’s still very popular for many things, but for others we can do a lot better at explaining people’s behavior and why certain social systems work and some systems don’t work, by using psychology [to understand] how people actually think and make decisions,” he says.
The unifying theme throughout his current work is understanding how people form beliefs and expectations.
“You can use psychology to take a small departure, that’s the key, from rational behavior, which is having correct expectations and basing decisions on these expectations,” he says. “You still make decisions based on expectations, but you have incorrect beliefs for various psychological reasons. That’s kind of the key psychological, irrational approach that I’m interested in. What is the role of beliefs, how do we best measure them, and in various contexts can we explain why people have irrational beliefs? Can we predict incorrect beliefs of people based on context? Does it help us explain sometimes puzzling decisions?”
One of the projects Vautrey is working on, along with Professor Frank Schilbach from the Department of Economics, is how mental health affects beliefs and economic decision making. They began conducting research in India among people with depression in low-income communities with no access to mental health services. They want to evaluate whether depression affects a person’s self-confidence and, consequently, their ability to participate in their economy. They are working with Sangath, an NGO providing low-cost psychotherapy to the study’s participants, to measure the effects of psychotherapy on not only mental health, but also economic decisions. Vautrey began working on the project the fall of 2017, during its early brainstorming stages, and has visited India twice since the field work began.
“You have to go there to see how operations are going, see the actual participants, because it's really hard to get everything from calls. You have people implementing the project, but usually the people who have designed the questions or are initiating the idea are not full-time in the field because they are professors so they have to teach,” Vautrey explains.
Field visits are also important in order to see whether the research objective and the information gathered are consistent with each other.
“You have to design questions that are qualitative, that are verbal, but are going to generate numerical outcomes that you can analyze. It’s a back-and-forth between sociological-style research, when you talk to people and try to understand what they think, and how you go from there to build quantitative measures. You have to be on the field; you have to be face-to-face to understand whether your numeric outcome is consistent with what you want it to mean,” he says.
Traveling is important to executing research, and Vautrey enjoys that aspect of the job. He has loved traveling since his youth and has taken as many opportunities as he could to do so.
Beyond the project in India, Vautrey is working on a few other projects, two more in progress and two in their preliminary stages. In the former two, he is studying how people choose biased information sources and how people are influenced by news repetition. In another project with MIT economics doctoral student Charlie Rafkin, Vautrey is investigating unsafe driving patterns in developing countries and how drivers’ motivated reasoning about road safety leads to more risk taking that could be easily avoided by correcting drivers’ beliefs and overconfidence.
Vautrey’s newest endeavor is taking him to Colombia with Pedro Bessone Tepedino, another MIT economics doctoral student, for preliminary research for a new project centered around crime and teenage involvement in gangs.
While he enjoys doing all of his research, Vautrey finds that the work can make life a bit unstructured at times. He grounds himself by staying active with activities such as biking and rock climbing.
In the future, Vautrey hopes to work in academia. As a professor, he isn’t sure what specifically he wants to specialize in quite yet, but he says that it will likely have something to do with using psychology and economics to answer specific questions linked to poverty and development. He found a love for teaching through his work as a teaching assistant at MIT this past semester. It requires patience, but Vautrey finds the work rewarding.
“It’s a really nice feeling when you manage to get someone to understand something you said. When you have a class, it’s almost impossible to get everyone to understand everything you want,” he says, adding, “To me, if I get half of the class to understand something and to learn something they really value, I’m already happy.”
from MIT News http://bit.ly/2EEHR67
via
Erosion forcing Nigerian families to abandon their homes and farms
Entrepreneurs: There is One Benefit You Must Offer to Attract and Keep Top Employees
In multiple polls and reports, small businesses have cited finding, hiring, and keeping qualified workers among their biggest operating obstacles in recent years. To help divert that challenge, 19% of small businesses now are most likely to grant employees paid time off (PTO).
That perk leads the list of new benefits small businesses plan to offer for the first time in 2019, reveals a new survey from Clutch. Health benefits (15%) and retirement benefits (11%) are among other leading benefits smaller business plan to offer.
Small businesses should plan to expand their benefits offerings in 2019 given the competition from their rivals and the significant return on investment an effective benefits package provides, Clutch maintains. Providing the new benefits can help reduce employee turnover, the Washington, D.C.-based ratings and review firm reported.
All told, 56% of small businesses plan to offer new benefits to their employees in 2019. Clutch surveyed 529 small business owners or managers to learn about employee benefits plans for this year.
Around (11%) of small businesses are considering offering family leave, and 8% plan to introduce student loan repayment.
Benefits that will most effectively attract new job candidates and reduce turnover are perks small business should offer, Clutch says. Bethany Holliday, director of human resources for Cornerstone Insurance Group & Employer Solutions, explained in a news release that paying for benefits that retain employees is often less than the cost of recruiting and training new employees.
“The last thing you want [employees] to do is walk out the door,” she said. “It costs a whole lot less to keep people happy than it does to try and find new people.” Cornerstone Insurance Group & Employer Solutions is an employee benefit and business insurance firm.
Small businesses are more likely to lure and retain talent by designing their PTO policies with employees’ needs in mind. Holliday contends PTO is a perk that employees increasingly expect to earn immediately.
“We still have clients that are making employees wait an entire year before they’re eligible for any sort of PTO,” Holliday said. “I keep trying to transition [clients] out of that because that’s a very antiquated way of thinking.”
Companies with substandard or antiquated PTO policies will struggle to entice and retain top talent, Clutch reports. Some 45% of small businesses already offer employees PTO. However, Clutch claims not enough of small businesses are offering the perk.
So why are new benefits being provided? Thirty percent of small businesses offering new benefits are doing so to fulfill employee requests, while 27% are aiming to improve morale and keep workers. Just 13% of small businesses are issuing new benefits because they are required by law or as a direct result of union negotiations (9%).
“We kind of shifted from paying a lot to now offering a lot of benefits,” said Christopher Willatt, founder and owner of AlpineMaids, a home cleaning service, stated in a news release. “HR is really geared toward convincing our employees that this is a great job and doing everything to retain them.”
Interestingly, Clutch found that 30% of small businesses don’t have formalized HR resources, such as an in-house HR staff, outsourced HR functions, or a contract with an HR consultant.
Of firms without dedicated HR resources, only 10% offer benefits to their employees. In contrast, 64% of companies with HR resources offer benefits to their employees.
The bottom line is it’s critical that small businesses are ready to meet employee benefits requests to attract and retain a talented workforce, Clutch says.
Check out Clutch’s full report.
from Black Enterprise http://bit.ly/2MfPeqF
via
WATCH: Nia Long and Corinne Foxx star in ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ trailer
Entertainment Studios just dropped the trailer for 47 Meters Down: Uncaged. The highly-anticipated sequel to the terrifying 47 Meters Down (2017) stars Nia Long as well as a few familiar faces like John Corbett (Aiden from Sex and the City), among others.
This time around, there will be no Mandy Moore or Nicholas Cage, who starred in the original, but there will certainly be blood and another beautiful Black face– Jamie Foxx’s daughter, Corinne Foxx.
Nia Long says men have gotten rich off of her hard work ‘I was being paid peanuts’
Set in Brazil, the sequel follows the story of four teen girls diving in a ruined underwater city, who quickly find themselves in a watery hell as their fun outing turns into heart-stopping fear when they learn they are not alone in the submerged caves. As they swim deeper into the claustrophobic labyrinth of caves they enter the territory of the deadliest shark species in the ocean.
“We are so pleased by the huge success of 47 Meters Down; it totally exceeded all expectations,” said James Harris of The Fyzz Facility. “[The film] will take the claustrophobia of cave diving and the thrill of shark encounters and move everything to the next level.”
Added Altitude’s Mike Runagall: “47 Meters Down has captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and we’re thrilled to be reteaming with the filmmakers and our friends at The Fyzz for the sequel, which will ratchet up the thrills and spills to a whole new level.”
We can’t wait to see Corinne Foxx take on a shark in this thriller, and the all-grown-up beauty continues to make her famous father proud.
Jamie Foxx’s daughter gushes over his relationship with Katie Holmes
The 25-year-old recently dished to PEOPLE Magazine about Jamie’s relationship with Katie Holmes which has been under wraps for years.
“They are so great and Katie is always so chic. They were wonderful,” Corinne told the magazine when she was asked about the couples’ Met Gala attire. “[It was] my dad’s first Met Gala,” she explained, adding that she felt “cool” because she got to experience the Gala even before her famous dad.
The original 47 Meters Down was a bona fide blockbuster and grossed over $58 million worldwide.
“The sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is well positioned to be a big summer event movie,” said Byron Allen, founder and chairman/CEO of Entertainment Studios, in a statement.
Check out the official trailer:
The post WATCH: Nia Long and Corinne Foxx star in ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ trailer appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2I7DJMX
via
See how Titan Generator is making the future bigger, brighter for Black entrepreneurs
AUSTIN, TX- When Jennifer Drew tells people she is an owns her own business, the response isn’t always as supportive as you might think.
“It’s not typical that I’m taken seriously at first,” says Drew, whose startup company Tiny Heights, helps people become homeowners by selling them affordable homes that are under 1,000 square feet.
“I think being surrounded by other people who do look like me is an opportunity to kind of have some weight, and see how other people are dealing with that in their own community as well.”
READ MORE: Octavia Spencer takes the lead in horror film in ‘Ma’
Drew’s experience of having more up-hill battles as a Black entrepreneur isn’t just in her head. Research shows that Black business owners face unique challenges in everything from getting bank loans to having less access to venture capital and angel investing.
That’s why Drew’s search for the support led her this spring to a group of entrepreneurs of color who can all understand what she’s gone through. = Titan Generator in Austin, TX is an accelerator (or micro-accelerator) program that is bringing start-up companies together for a short period of time to focus on rapidly improving their business models and planning for their long-term success.
READ MORE: WATCH: HBCU grad wants to reopen healthy food store in Nipsey Hussle’s neighborhood
Titan Generator, is the brainchild of Raymar Hampshire, Jessica Lynch and Max Skolnik, all former colleagues at the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.
Hampshire, a former wealth advisor, saw a number of examples of Black talent in the business world who needed help in the early stages while they faced a good number of unfair economic hardships.
“We look at historical moments like Black Wall Street in Tulsa, the Tulsa Race massacre and the riots and see that’s how it was snuffed out,” Hampshire tells theGrio. “There’s always been talent. It’s just been access to opportunities.“
READ MORE: Meet The Black Woman Cannabis Owner Building A ‘High’ End Weed Lounge
What makes Titan Generator different from most accelerators is that it purposefully pairs entrepreneurs of color (the program isn’t exclusive to Black entrepreneurs, but includes Native American and LatinX startup founders too) with social movement activists, such as March for Our Lives and Austin Justice Coalition.
Rather than just getting rich, these entrepreneurs want to address social issues like gun violence and immigration, while they cultivate their businesses.
The inaugural Titan Generator program took place during the same weekend as South By Southwest at the Google Austin headquarters, incorporating hackathon sessions (intense problem-solving), “fist-bump” networking, and discussion.
While Silicon Valley may be known for having “tech-bro” social networks that are hard to break into, at Titan Generator Black entrepreneurs are told to come as they are.
“Entrepreneurs of color… have to navigate this labyrinth, this maze to get to the table right to get to resources,” says Hampshire.
READ MORE: What Hip-Hop can teach you about business
At the end of this year’s inaugural Titan Generator program, 20 entrepreneurs in attendance received special financial awards to further their businesses dreams.
“It’s not enough to just pay the lip service and say ‘we support diverse entrepreneurs’,” says Hampshire. “But how are you creating the space?”
Watch theGrio’s full video going behind the scenes of the inaugural Titan Generator above.
The post See how Titan Generator is making the future bigger, brighter for Black entrepreneurs appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2Mm0m5w
via
Empowering African farmers with data
With a couple billion more people estimated to join the global population in the next few decades, world food production could use an upgrade. Africa has a key role to play: Agriculture is Africa’s biggest industry, but much of Africa’s agricultural land is currently underutilized. Crop yields could be increased with more efficient farming techniques and new equipment — but that would require investment capital, which is often an obstacle for farmers.
A new research collaboration at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) aims to address this challenge with data. The group plans to use data from technologically advanced farms to better predict the value of intervention in underperforming farms. Ultimately, the goal is to create a platform for sharing data and risk among invested parties, from farmers and lenders to insurers and equipment manufacturers.
Sharing data, sharing risk
Many African farmers lack the capital to invest in yield-increasing upgrades like new irrigation systems, new machinery, new fertilizers, and technology for sensing and tracking crop growth. The most common path to capital is bank loans, with land as collateral. This is an unattractive proposition for farmers, who already bear the many risks of production, including bad weather, changing market prices, or even the shocks of geopolitical events.
Lenders, on the other hand, have an incomplete assessment of their risk, especially with potential borrowers who have no credit history. Lenders also lack data and tools to predict their return on investment.
“Building a platform for risk-sharing is key to upgrading farming practices,” says Munther Dahleh, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and director of IDSS. In order to create such a platform, Dahleh and the IDSS team aim to better predict the value of employing advanced farming practices on the production of individual farms. This prediction needs to be accurate enough to incentivize investment from economic stakeholders and the farmers themselves, who are in competition with each other and may be reluctant to share information.
The IDSS approach proposes a data-sharing platform that incentivizes all parties to participate: Technologically advanced farms are rewarded for their valuable data, bankers benefit from data that support their credit risk models, farmers get better loan terms and recommendations that increase their profits and production, and technology companies get recommendations on how to best support the needs of their farmer customers. “Such a platform has to have the correct incentives to engage everyone to participate, have sufficient protection from players with market power, and ultimately provide valuable data for farmers and creditors alike,” says Dahleh.
The absence of data from underperforming farms presents a challenge to extrapolating the value of intervention and assessing the uncertainty in such predictions. With sparse available data, researchers are looking to conduct experiments in strategically selected farms to provide valuable new data for the rest. Researchers will use advanced machine learning, including active learning methodology, to try to achieve both a quantification of the predicted value of intervention and a quantification of the uncertainty of that prediction to a degree of confidence. Once more data is available, IDSS researchers intend to refine their calculations and develop new techniques for extrapolating the value of intervention in less-advanced farms.
Engaging stakeholders
One likely intervention for many African farmers involves using different fertilizers. Many farmers aren’t currently using fertilizers targeted to specific soil or various stages of farming — so fertilizer producers are another vested interest in this agriculture economy.
To help these farmers get access to better loan terms, Moroccan phosphate company OCP is funding a collaboration between IDSS researchers and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco. This research collaboration with OCP, a leading global company in the phosphate fertilizer industry, includes building the data- and risk-sharing platform as well as other foundational research in agriculture. The collaboration has the potential to engage other stakeholders working or investing in African agriculture.
“This collaboration will help accelerate our efforts to develop pertinent solutions for African agriculture using high-level agri-tech tools,” says Fassil Kebede, professor of soil science and head of the Center for Soil and Fertilizer Research in Africa. “This will offer farmers possibilities for better production and growth, which is part of our mission to contribute to Africa’s food-security objectives.”
“African farmers are at the heart of the OCP Group’s mission and strategy, while data analytics and predictive tools are today essential for agriculture development in Africa,” adds Mostafa Terrab, OCP Group chair and CEO. “This collaboration with IDSS will help us bring together new technology and analytical methods from one side, and our expertise with African farmers and their challenges from the other side. It will reinforce our capabilities to offer adapted solutions to African farmers, especially small holders, to enable them to make more precise and timely decisions.”
Ultimately, IDSS aims to bring wins across an entire economic ecosystem, from insurers to lenders to equipment and fertilizer companies. But most importantly, boosting this ecosystem could help lift many farmers out of poverty — and bring about a much-needed increase in the world’s aggregate food production.
Says Dahleh: “To accomplish this mission, this project will demonstrate the power of data coupled with advanced tools from predictive analytics, machine learning, reinforcement learning, and data sharing markets.”
from MIT News http://bit.ly/2I7NTwV
via
BREAKING: R. Kelly now charged with 11 brand NEW counts of sexual abuse
If his mind was telling him no, he probably should have listened. R&B superstar, R. Kelly is now facing a slew of new charges. According to CBS Chicago, the singer has been charged with 11 new counts of sexual abuse on Thursday and will now have to appear in court in Chicago on June 6.
According to court records, these additional charges include aggravated criminal sex assault, criminal sex assault and aggravated criminal sex abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16.
For those who don’t recall, Kelly has already been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse earlier this year after four women came forward to accuse Kelly of these charges. Three of the four women say these alleged crimes occurred when they were still underage.
The story is still developing. Please check back for further details.
The post BREAKING: R. Kelly now charged with 11 brand NEW counts of sexual abuse appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XgVFLk
via
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)