June 16, 2024

Human and AI Partnership Drives Manufacturing and Distribution Forward

Industry 5.0 offers a promising solution to the persistent challenge of labor shortages. By fostering a symbiotic dynamic between humans and robots, it lightens the resourcing burden. Human workers bring adaptability and problem-solving skills to the table, while robots contribute to speed and precision in task handling. This collaboration not only boosts job satisfaction and productivity but also promotes employee skill development and reduces overall errors. Moreover, for any hazardous tasks, Industry 5.0 assigns robots to handle physically demanding or risky duties, enhancing safety and minimizing human error in critical situations, thus creating a healthier work environment.?It can also significantly enhance supply chain resilience, a critical concern on every manufacturer and distributor’s radar following the recent Red Sea crisis. Leveraging real-time data analytics and AI-driven insights assists human decision-making in predicting and mitigating disruptions.?Advanced sensors and IoT devices?continuously monitor supply chain activities, including early detection of potential issues such as transportation delays or inventory shortages.?

Beyond Traditional: Why Cybersecurity Needs Neurodiversity

Neurodiverse individuals often exhibit exceptional logical and methodical thinking, attention to detail, and cognitive pattern recognition skills. For example, they can hyperfocus on tasks, giving complete attention to specific issues for prolonged periods, which is invaluable in identifying and mitigating security threats. Their ability to engage deeply in their work ensures that even the smallest anomalies are detected and addressed swiftly. Moreover, many neurodiverse individuals thrive on repetitive tasks and routines, finding comfort and even excitement in long, monotonous processes. This makes them well-suited for roles that involve continuous monitoring and analysis of security data. Their high levels of concentration and persistence allow them to stay on task until solutions are found, ensuring thorough and effective problem-solving. Creativity is another significant benefit that neurodiverse individuals bring to cybersecurity. Their unique, nonlinear thinking enables them to approach problems from different angles and develop innovative solutions. This creativity is crucial for devising new methods to counteract evolving cyber threats.?

Missing Links: How to ID Supply Chain Risks

Current events seem to indicate that supply chain resilience is something companies need to master, sooner rather than later. To get there, they need real-time, end-to-end visibility into supply chain issues and the ability to proactively plan for various types of supply chain risks. “We have discussed the next best action for decades in our supply chains and operations, but realistically, we have never had the flexibility in our process and systems to enable that,” says Protiviti’s Petrucci. “As the world is adopting cloud and more cloud-native design and thinking it will enable us to move close to breaking away from the traditional systems and design more capable supply chain risk, execution, and next best action capabilities. We have started to enable our customers in moving in this direction.” ... The increasing risk of being tied to one region is now at the highest level ever, and I believe we’ll continue to see a shift in supplier sourcing strategies, with the pendulum swinging towards regional diversification,” says Fictiv’s Evans. “Regional optionality continues to be top of mind for supply chain leaders based on geopolitical uncertainties and the need to mitigate risk where possible.?

Human I/O: Detecting situational impairments with large language models

Situational impairments can vary greatly and change frequently, which makes it difficult to apply one-size-fits-all solutions that help users with their needs in real-time. For example, think about a typical morning routine: while brushing their teeth, someone might not be able to use voice commands with their smart devices. When washing their face, it could be hard to see and respond to important text messages. And while using a hairdryer, it might be difficult to hear any phone notifications. Even though various efforts have created solutions tailored for specific situations like these, creating manual solutions for every possible situation and combination of challenges isn't really feasible and doesn't work well on a large scale. ... Rather than devising individual models for activities like face-washing, tooth-brushing, or hair-drying, Human Input/Output (Human I/O) universally assesses the availability of a user’s vision (e.g., to read text messages, watch videos), hearing (e.g., to hear notifications, phone calls), vocal (e.g., to have a conversation, use Google Assistant), and hand (e.g., to use touch screen, gesture control) input/output interaction channels.

Do IDEs Make You Stupid?

An IDE can be an indispensable tool when used to help a developer think better. But when it’s used as a means of automation while removing the developer’s need to understand the underlying tasks of modern computer programming, an IDE can be a detriment. No doubt, an IDE provides a benefit by automating programming tasks that are tedious and repetitive, or even those tasks that require the programmer to do a lot of typing. Still, those commands are there for a reason, and a developer would do well to understand the details of what they’re about and why they need to be done. ... The “hiding the math” aspect of using an IDE might not matter to senior developers who have the experience and insight to understand the hidden details that an IDE has automated. However, for an entry-level developer, using an IDE without understanding what it’s doing behind the scenes can limit the developer’s ability to do the type of more advanced work that’s needed to progress in their career. Knowing the details is important. ... An IDE can improve cognitive ergonomics, but you must want it to. Passive interaction with the tool will get you only so far.?

How to streamline data center sustainability governance

Achieving sustainability goals requires an extensive understanding of energy systems – specifically how, where, and when power is used. Eaton’s Brightlayer Data Centers suite includes the industry’s first digital platform that natively integrates asset management, IT and operational technology (OT) device monitoring, IT automation, power quality metrics, and one-line diagrams into a single, configurable application. Leveraging decades of expertise in the data center industry (from low- and medium-voltage switchgear and transformers to uninterruptible power supplies, battery storage, and power distribution units) this platform consolidates information traditionally siloed in disparate applications. ... More effective data and reporting on sustainability will help future-proof compliance, uncover opportunities to reduce resource consumption, increase customer satisfaction, and differentiate businesses. This approach improves data center performance by applying digitalization to make assets work harder, smarter, and more sustainably.

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