After the recent discovery of a destructive mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, some experts say California officials have failed to effectively enforce laws designed to protect waterways from invaders carried in ships’ ballast water. A state law enacted 20 years ago has required California officials to inspect 25% of incoming ships and sample their ballast water before it’s discharged into waterways. But the tests didn’t begin until two years ago — after standards for conducting them were finally set — and testing remains rare. State officials have sampled the ballast water of only 16 vessels out of the roughly 3,000 likely to have emptied their tanks nearshore. Experts say stronger regulations are needed, as well as better enforcement. “It’s not really a surprise that another invasive species showed up in the Delta,” said Karrigan Börk, a law professor and the interim director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. “It’s likely to continue happening.” Native to eastern Asia, the mussels — detected near the Port of Stockton, in a small San Joaquin Valley reservoir and several other Delta locations — were the first to be detected in North America. If the mollusc evades eradication efforts, it could spread over vast areas of California and beyond, crowd out native species and clog parts of the massive projects that export Delta water to cities and farms. Ted Lempert, a former Bay Area Assemblymember who authored a 1999 state law aimed at preventing ships from bringing invasive species into California, said state officials “apparently took their eyes off the ball.” “We were trying to get ahead of the game, so I’m really frustrated that after all these years some of the events we were trying to prevent have come to pass,” he said. But the prospect of an invasive species colonizing a new region frequented by ships “is a numbers game” that can happen even under the most rigorous regulations and enforcement, said Greg Ruiz, a marine ecologist with the Marine Invasions Research Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. “This is not a failure in the system,” he said. Ballast water is stored in tanks to stabilize vessels at sea. Often taken on at the port of departure and released at the port of arrival, it is a global vector of invasive species, including pathogens that cause human diseases. To address the threat to ecosystems and water supplies, the State Lands Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard enforce a suite of overlapping regulations. The goal of these state and federal rules is to reduce as much as possible the number of living organisms in discharged ballast water. Vessel operators can achieve this by exposing their ballast water to ultraviolet light, filtering it and treating it with chlorine, which is then removed before discharge. About 1,500 ships a year entering California waters release ballast water, according to Chris Scianni, environmental program manager of the State Lands Commission’s Marine Invasive Species Program. To check for compliance, officials board and inspect nearly all of them, plus another thousand vessels prioritized for inspection for other reasons, Scianni said. During these inspections, officers review ballast water logbooks and reporting forms, interview crew members, inspect water treatment equipment, and occasionally take water samples for testing. “We’re the only entity in the world that’s doing this right now,” Scianni said. A 2003 state law declares that the State Lands Commission “shall take samples of ballast water, sediment, and biofouling from at least 25% of vessels” subject to invasive species regulations. But commission officials told CalMatters they interpret it to mean that 25% of ships must be inspected, with no specific requirements for sampling. Sampling for some ships began in 2023, after the commission enacted standards for how the tests are conducted. It’s a considerable endeavor : A cubic meter of water — which weighs a metric ton — must be collected from a ship. It can take an hour to draw, and it must be done while the vessel is actively discharging. Hours more may pass before results are ready. Federal officials have their own ballast oversight program. It leans on a system of self-reporting by vessel operators — which critics consider a weak tool for ensuring compliance. An EPA spokesperson said the agency “can assess compliance with (the rules) either through a desk audit or an on-site inspection.” Many experts told CalMatters that the state and federal limits on how many organisms are allowed in discharged water are adequate but that enforcement is lacking. “We had the highest (ballast water management) standards in the world, but they were never actually enforced because the state couldn’t come up with a set of technologies to implement them,” said Ben Eichenberg, a staff attorney with the group SF Baykeeper. Ted Grosholz, a professor emeritus with the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute said “the standards are very exacting...The problem we have is compliance. How many ships coming in with ballast water can we really sample and verify? Enforcement officials can’t watch everyone.” Smithsonian’s Ruiz said state records show that all documented ballast discharges at the Port of Stockton since 2008 have followed state regulations. Ships that discharge, however, occasionally remain uninspected as they enter a port. And some vessel operators may cheat, filling their ballast tanks with clean ocean water to pass off a faulty water treatment system as functional. Moreover, even treated ballast water can contain high levels of zooplankton. Ruiz, who has studied California’s data on ship arrival and locations of the mussels, said it’s probable the golden mussel entered the Delta at least a year ago and even possible that it’s been there for a decade or more, adding that “it could even have happened in the pre-treatment (of ballast water) era.” Somehow, the creature slipped through the cracks and made itself a new home in what has been called one of the most invaded estuaries on the planet. It’s an outcome that Lempert as an assemblymember tried to prevent a quarter-century ago, when he authored the Ballast Water Management for Control of Non-indigenous Species Act . The law required incoming vessels to either retain their ballast water, drain it while simultaneously refilling with new water hundreds of miles out at sea, or use an “environmentally sound” treatment system. It tasked the California State Lands Commission with monitoring vessels for compliance. California has since enacted a complex system of regulations: In 2003, the Marine Invasive Species Act expanded the scope of Lempert’s legislation. Three years later, the Legislature required the commission to set limits on organism concentrations in ballast water; these “ standards of performance ” were implemented in 2022. While the standards allow minute levels of organisms in the water, the goal is “zero detectable living organisms” by 2040. Several federal laws also aim to protect U.S. waters from creatures like the golden mussel. Penalties for breaking ballast management rules have been modest. At the state level, violations have resulted in 24 fines in the past six years, totaling just over $1 million. Federal fines are rare, with just nine penalties issued amounting to about $714,000 in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region since 2013. Commission officials said “the frequency of noncompliant discharges ... has dropped dramatically since our enforcement regulations (with penalties) were adopted in 2017.” California officials say achieving the law’s goal of zero organisms in ballast water discharged into waterways is infeasible. It would require a network of treatment plants at coastal ports, costing $1.45 billion over 30 years. The shipping industry would face another $2.17 billion in costs for installing systems capable of transferring ballast water to the floating treatment plants. But Eichenberg said some ships already use commercially available systems that consistently, and by a wide margin, outperform industry standards. He said the state’s failure to require that vessels use the most advanced treatment systems available — technology capable of nearly sterilizing ballast water — has culminated in the golden mussel’s arrival. “Something like this was bound to happen eventually,” he said. State and federal performance standards — modeled after international standards — limit the concentration of living zooplankton-sized organisms, like mussel larvae, in ballast water before discharge to 10 per cubic meter. For smaller organisms, allowances are higher. But even in ballast water that has undergone treatment in approved systems, zooplankton concentrations can be off-the-charts for reasons not always clear, according to Hugh MacIsaac, an aquatic invasive species researcher at the University of Windsor in Ontario, who has studied the spread of the golden mussel in South America and central China. Treating ballast water doesn’t necessarily work. A study in Shanghai found up to 23,000 zooplankton-sized organisms per cubic meter in the ballast water of half of ships sampled, MacIsaac said. Ruiz, at the Smithsonian research center, said the study’s sample size of 17 ships is too small to be representative and that such high concentrations are abnormal in the United States. “We sample vessels here, and that’s not what we see coming into the U.S.,” he said. Ship operators have shifted radically in the past 20 years “from no management to a nearly complete use of open-ocean exchange to, now, an almost complete transition to ballast treatment technology,” Ruiz said. The federal government, not state agencies, will soon become the key player in ballast management. That’s because new EPA rules, which are likely at least 18 months away from full implementation, will preempt state regulations. The new rules — which state officials will help enforce — will keep the existing standards for organism concentrations, but prevent states from implementing their own rules that exceed federal standards. For example, California’s goal of zero detectable organisms in ballast discharge will be nixed. Nicole Dobrosky, the State Lands Commission’s chief of environmental science, planning and management, said states can petition the federal government for changes to the rules. Shippers welcome the shift to national rules that align with international standards, said Jacqueline Moore, Long Beach-based vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association . “An international industry by nature, the maritime community always appreciates consistent standards across the board, and across the ocean in this case,” Moore said. “It’s much easier for everyone.” But the change of regulatory oversight concerns Marcie Keever, the oceans and vessels program director with Friends of the Earth. She said that to date the State Lands Commission has been the more active enforcer. Preempting state laws with federal standards that she says are too weak “will essentially give the shipping industry a free pass to pollute...These shipping companies are self-reporting pollution instances, and no one is doing anything about it except for the state.” In 1973, the EPA exempted ballast water from the Clean Water Act. Eventually forced by court rulings to comply with the act, the agency released its newest standards in October for limiting organism concentrations in ballast water. Keever said the EPA is not setting the bar as high as it should. “We’re still basically at the same place we were at 20 years ago,” Keever said. “The EPA has never set what we see as the best available technology for ballast water discharges.” More than 150 environmental groups made similar claims in a 2022 letter to President Joe Biden, arguing that the technology exists now to almost entirely sterilize ballast water. “[W]e have the technical ability to efficiently remove or kill organisms that are trapped in a tank of water,” they wrote. “For half a century federal law has required EPA to use that ability to protect the environment and public health — yet EPA still refuses to do so.” The EPA disagrees with the criticism. Joshua Alexander, press officer with the agency’s Region 9 San Francisco office, told CalMatters that “the EPA concluded that these standards (in the new rules) are the most stringent ones that the available ballast water test data can support.” October’s discovery of the golden mussel in California is being treated urgently by state and federal officials. The creatures have wreaked havoc on water supply and hydroelectric facilities in South America, and they are spreading rapidly through central China. In the Great Lakes, invasive zebra mussels cause $300 to $500 million in damages annually to power plants and other water infrastructure — the types of impacts officials in California hope to avoid. Tanya Veldhuizen, the Department of Water Resources’ special projects section manager, said officials are considering the use of chemicals to remove the creatures from pumps, intakes and pipelines of the massive State Water Project, which transports water to farms and cities. Several scientists told CalMatters that with most nonnative species, eradication is only possible early in the game — meaning management officials often have one shot at success. Biologist Andrew Chang, who works at the Smithsonian research center’s Marin County field lab, noted an old adage in invasion ecology — containing the spread of a nonnative species is like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube. “The more time that passes, the process of putting the toothpaste back in the tube gets messier and messier,” Chang said. University of Windsor’s MacIsaac thinks California may be on the cusp of an unstoppable mussel invasion. “This is an enormous problem for your state,” he said.
Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes Sunday and the Jacksonville Jaguars earned a season sweep of the visiting Tennessee Titans with a 20-13 victory. Jones connected on 15 of 22 passes for 174 yards, finding Parker Washington and rookie Bryan Thomas Jr. for scores, as Jacksonville (4-12) left Tennessee (3-13) behind in the AFC South cellar. Cam Little booted field goals of 48 and 44 yards. Mason Rudolph hit 19 of 31 attempts for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Titans, which dropped their fifth consecutive game. Tyjae Spears rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries, playing in place of Tony Pollard (flu/ankle). Jones' 11-yard scoring strike to Thomas with 7:05 left in the game gave the Jaguars a 20-10 lead but Tennessee responded with Matthew Wright's 28-yard field goal at the 2:02 mark. After getting a three-and-out, the Titans had a chance to force overtime and reached the Jacksonville 26. But Rudolph's fourth-down pass intended for Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was knocked down at the goal line with nine seconds left. The pregame storyline concerned which team could benefit most from a loss. Both entered a game behind the New York Giants for the potential No. 1 overall pick in April's NFL Draft. Jacksonville initiated scoring on the game's opening drive, needing to drive only 38 yards on nine plays to set up Little for his first field goal at the 10:46 mark. The Jaguars got into the end zone for the first time with 8:59 left in the half on Jones' 2-yard touchdown pass to Washington, coming five plays after Rudolph tossed a tipped-ball interception. Little's second field goal upped the margin to 13-0 with 2:02 remaining before Tennessee pieced together a two-minute drive that set up Wright for a 39-yard field goal as time expired, making it 13-3 at halftime. The Titans started the second half with their best drive of the game, chewing up 85 yards and eight minutes before Rudolph hit Nick Vannett with an 8-yard strike to cut the margin to 13-10. --Field Level Media
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State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing sent a video speech to the ceremony marking the 60th Anniversary of the University of Economics of the Ministry of Education on 13 December 2024. The full text of the translated message is as follows: – Everybody, Mingalaba! First of all, I would like to extend my best wishes for the health and well-being of all the distinguished guests and responsible individuals who attended today’s ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Yangon University of Economics. This includes officials from the State and regional governments, scholars, rectors and faculty members from universities, students, and invited dignitaries. Yangon University of Economics, which was established in 1964, celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2024. It is a source of pride and joy to be able to commemorate this 60th anniversary with such a grand and vibrant celebration. Economists play a crucial role in driving the continuous economic development of a country. The 60-year history of Yangon University of Economics, which has been nurturing such vital economists, is indeed a source of pride. Looking back at the history of Yangon University of Economics, it can be seen that it was established in the 1923-1924 academic year as the Faculty of Economics under Yangon University. Initially, only the subject of Economics was taught. Later, in the 1940-1941 academic year, the subject of Commerce was introduced, followed by accounting in 1953. By 2024, the Faculty of Economics reached its centennial milestone. On 7 September 2024, the centenary celebration of the Faculty of Economics was held. In 1955, the Department of Economics and the Department of Accounting were able to be organized as separate faculties. In addition to these three faculties, the Departments of Psychology, Political Science and History, and Sociology and Social Work were merged to form the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1958. According to the University Education Law of 1964, the Institute of Economics was established as a separate university on 1 October 1964. Teaching began on 2 November 1964. The Institute of Economics became the only university in Myanmar specializing in economic disciplines. In 1964, due to the integration of four supporting departments — Myanmar Language, English Language, Geography, and Mathematics — there were a total of seven teaching departments. In 1966, the Department of Research and Management Studies was established at the University of Economics (Hline Campus), which marked the beginning of national research initiatives. On 5 February 1988, under a new university organizational setup, the core departments were reorganized, with the Applied Economics Department and the former Research and Management Department being restructured as the Department of Management Studies. In 2021, the Department of Applied Statistics was expanded, bringing the total number of teaching departments to ten. With the aim of regional economic development, the Monywa University of Economics and the Meiktila University of Economics were established after 1998. As a result, with the addition of these three economics universities, the original University of Economics was renamed Yangon University of Economics. In the year 2000, the Yangon University of Economics (Ywathagyi Campus) was officially opened, and it has since been joined by two other campuses in Kamayut and Hline, making a total of three university campuses. At these campuses, various academic programmes are offered, including undergraduate, honours, Master’s, and PhD courses, as well as post-graduate diploma courses. Degree programmes such as Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Business Administration, Master’s in Economics, Master’s in Commerce, Master’s in Business Administration, and Diploma in Management and Administration (DMA) have been offered since before 1964. Additionally, PhD courses have been available since the 1998-99 academic year. In addition, to align with the market economic system being practised in the country, it was observed that in 2001, courses for accounting degrees, business management degrees, development studies degrees, public administration degrees, and demography degrees were introduced. Furthermore, in 2003, a Master’s degree in Statistics was launched, and in 2004, a Master’s degree in demography was also offered. In order to fulfil the economic goals of the nation and meet market demands, the Yangon University of Economics launched the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in 1995, under the Human Resource Development Programme. Since then, it has successfully produced 2,920 MBA graduates. The Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) programme was launched in the year 2000, with a total of 1,631 graduates. The Master’s in Development Studies (MDevS) programme began in 2002, producing 924 graduates. The Master’s in Banking and Finance (MBF) programme, aimed at systematically developing Myanmar’s banking and financial sectors, was started in 2012 and has since graduated 637 MBF individuals. Since 2017, it has been observed that various master’s degree programmes, including Master of Applied Statistics, Master of Marketing Administration, Master of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Master of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Master’s degrees in Insurance Business and Insurance Science, have been expanded and made available. The Human Resource Development Programme, which began in 1998, has also been able to offer additional training courses, including the Diploma in Development Studies (Dip DS) for university graduates, the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Management (PGDMM), the Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (PGDHRM), and the Postgraduate Diploma in Research Studies (PGDRS). After successfully completing the university entrance exam, programmes such as the Certificate in Business Studies (CBS) and Certificate in Advanced Business Studies (CABS) were introduced to enhance business knowledge and skills. These programmes are designed to help individuals improve their understanding of business concepts. Additionally, those who successfully completed these courses were also given the opportunity to pursue further studies with the Diploma in Business Studies (DBS). Since 2019, Yangon University of Economics has been offering remote degree programmes under the “One Campus, Two Systems” initiative, providing specialized courses in Economics and Business Management. In order for the country to develop and progress, it is necessary to widely distribute the economic knowledge needed. Therefore, as experts from Yangon University of Economics, we have observed the involvement in various programmes and training sessions at institutions such as former workers’ college, distance education universities, National Management Degree College, project department, the Auditor-General Office, Civil Services Academy (Lower Myanmar), educational management training schools, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Defence College. In addition to delivering lectures on relevant subjects, there is also active participation in supervising and inspecting theses. As a government, in line with the economic objectives we have adopted, we are working to enhance the nation’s economic driving force through MSME businesses to promote exports. To achieve this, skilled human resources are necessary. Therefore, during the 2022-2023 academic year, the Yangon University of Economics led the initiative to open BA (Economics) degree programmes at 39 universities of arts and science. In the future, graduates with a BA (Economics) degree will be able to use their economic knowledge and perspectives to contribute to the development of their regions and the progress of society. Since 1964, for 60 years, Yangon University of Economics has produced 110 graduates with doctoral degrees, 7,587 with master’s degrees, 61,850 with bachelor’s degrees, 1,217 with honours degrees, and 7,708 with diploma certificates. Currently, the university is continuing its educational programmes with 4,359 on-campus students and 4,618 distance-learning students enrolled. Graduates with an MBA from the Universities of Economics are now skilled entrepreneurs in various sectors of private businesses and are working as senior managers in the field of management. Graduates with an MDevS degree are successfully working in the government sector, private sector, and NGOs and INGOs. Those with an MBF degree can also be found in senior positions as experts and managers at the Central Bank of Myanmar, government and private banks, and financial organizations. I would like to express my gratitude and pride as I recognize that graduates of business schools are contributing to the nation’s development. They serve as skilled public servants, private sector employees, and business leaders, making significant contributions in various sectors for the economic and social progress of the country. Similarly, graduates of Yangon University of Economics are also found to be prominent figures in various fields such as politics, economics, and social affairs. Among the graduates of the university are individuals who hold senior positions in the government, including the President of the country, Union Ministers, Union Auditors-General, Central Bank Governors, advisors, Chief Ministers and Ministers of States and Regions, Deputy Ministers, and Directors-General. This is a source of pride and admiration. In recognition of the 60th anniversary of Yangon University of Economics, which plays a key role in the nation’s development, a series of events will be held, including an exhibition of historical photographs showcasing the growth of the university, research paper readings, and research poster presentations. Additionally, a ceremony will be held to honour the distinguished professors and faculty members who have taught over the years, and a grand commemoration event will take place to celebrate this milestone. Yangon University of Economics has completed its 60th anniversary and, as a prominent institution, has contributed significantly to the country’s economic and social development by nurturing exceptional individuals who excel in various fields. Moving forward, may it continue to produce knowledgeable and talented generations who value and take pride in their education. I wish for the university to remain permanently steadfast, thriving, and perpetual existence from the celebration of the 60th anniversary and beyond. Thank you all.
(The Center Square) – The taxpayer cost of enhancing Tier II pensions in Illinois isn’t known as legislators hear of a proposed change they could take on in the new year. For months, members of the General Assembly have been holding hearings about what some say is the need to enhance benefits for some public employees hired after 2011, because their benefits may not be in line with standards set by Social Security. There were also arguments that the benefits are not enough to attract and retain talent for the public sector. Groups of labor unions took part in Friday’s Illinois House Personnel and Pensions Committee, pitching a measure to increase the wage cap, change the cost of living adjustments, and restore the Tier I retirement age for Tier II public employees hired after 2011. Pat Devaney with the We Are One coalition said the taxpayer cost isn’t known. “We stand ready to work with the leaders in the General Assembly and the governor’s office to identify revenue to pay for our proposals when the costs are known,” Devaney told the committee. It’s also unclear what it could cost to comply with Social Security standards if nothing is done. During an Illinois House committee Friday, Pat Devaney with the We Are One Coalition and state Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, discuss the unknown taxpayer cost of pension enhancements. Separately, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski discuss pensions. “I’ve seen several estimates, let’s just call it three to $6 billion total over a 20-plus year period,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday at an unrelated event. “So that is something that has to be done.” State Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, said without knowing the costs, they need to focus on the debt that is known. “And I think it gives the taxpayers, people who are actually paying the bill, an understanding of what we are doing about this debt because this debt is hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles and it's never going to go away,” Reick said during the committee hearing Friday. The Illinois Commission on Government and Accountability reports the state’s unfunded liability grew $1.5 million last year to $143.7 billion, the second highest since it was $144.2 billion in 2020. Separately, Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said the conversation should be about cutting the costs, not increasing benefits. “Some of these Tier II plans increase costs for taxpayers by billions, some as much as $80 billion, and so we’re not going to fix Illinois until we fire a bunch of those politicians that refuse to talk about pension reform,” Dabrowski told The Center Square. Dabrowski advocates for a constitutional amendment to allow for pension benefits to be reduced.
It was a crazy scene in Columbus after the final whistle blew in the Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Michigan Wolverines game on Saturday afternoon. With the Wolverines pulling off the upset of the year, beating No. 2 Ohio State, 13-10, a brawl broke out between players on the field after Michigan players tried to plant their team's flag on the middle of the field in a disrespectful manner. Buckeyes' players understandably took offense to this, and a huge fight ensued, leading to police officers to get involved and try to break things up. At one point during the scuffle, some officers used pepper spray to try and stop players who were involved in the altercation. Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images After everything settle down in Columbus, the Ohio State Police Department issued a statement on the events, confirming that pepper spray was used, and saying that the incident was going to be further investigated. "Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation," the OSUPD said. "During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate." Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation. During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate. It's unclear whether or not further punishment or suspensions are expected after this fight, but it was an ugly scene that capped an ugly day for Ohio State. There will likely be further fallout in the Ohio State program, as head coach Ryan Day faces some serious questions following his fourth consecutive loss to Michigan, his team's biggest rival. While the Buckeyes had a chance to clinch a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and play for a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff with a win, they are now being sent home, waiting to hear their fate as an at-large bid next weekend. Meanwhile, there are a lot of fans who are calling for Day to be fired from the Buckeyes after once again failing to beat "That Team Up North." Related: Fans Calling for Ohio State Coach Ryan Day’s Job After Devastating Loss to Michiganonversational artificial intelligence (AI) tools may soon "covertly influence" users' decision making in a new commercial frontier called the "intention economy", University of Cambridge researchers warned in a paper published Monday. The research argues the potentially "lucrative yet troubling" marketplace emerging for "digital signals of intent" could, in the near future, influence everything from buying movie tickets to voting for political candidates. Our increasing familiarity with chatbots, digital tutors and other so-called "anthropomorphic" AI agents is helping enable this new array of "persuasive technologies", it added. It will see AI combine knowledge of our online habits with a growing ability to know the user and anticipate his or her desires and build "new levels of trust and understanding", the paper's two co-authors noted. Left unchecked, that could allow for "social manipulation on an industrial scale", the pair, from Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI), argued in the paper published in the Harvard Data Science Review. It characterizes how this emergent sector -- dubbed the "intention economy" -- will profile users' attention and communicative styles and connect them to patterns of behavior and choices they make. With exclusive interviews and in-depth coverage of the region's most pressing business issues, "Prospects" is the go-to source for staying ahead of the curve in Indonesia's rapidly evolving business landscape. By registering, you agree with 's Please check your email for your newsletter subscription. "AI tools are already being developed to elicit, infer, collect, record, understand, forecast, and ultimately manipulate and commodify human plans and purposes," co-author Yaqub Chaudhary said. The new AI will rely on so-called Large Language Models -- or LLMs -- to target a user's cadence, politics, vocabulary, age, gender, online history, and even preferences for flattery and ingratiation, according to the research. That would be linked with other emerging AI tech that bids to achieve a given aim, such as selling a cinema trip, or steer conversations towards particular platforms, advertisers, businesses and even political organizations. Co-author Jonnie Penn warned: "Unless regulated, the intention economy will treat your motivations as the new currency." "It will be a gold rush for those who target, steer, and sell human intentions," he added. "We should start to consider the likely impact such a marketplace would have on human aspirations, including free and fair elections, a free press, and fair market competition, before we become victims of its unintended consequences." Penn noted that public awareness of the issue is "the key to ensuring we don't go down the wrong path".
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BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (AP) — Po'Boigh King had 28 points in North Carolina Central's 78-77 victory over Gardner-Webb on Saturday. King added six rebounds for the Eagles (4-7). Isaac Parson scored 13 points and added seven assists and three steals. Keishon Porter shot 2 of 7 from the field, including 1 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 3 for 4 from the line to finish with eight points. The Runnin' Bulldogs (4-6) were led in scoring by Anthony Selden, who finished with 25 points. Jamaine Mann added 15 points for Gardner-Webb. Shahar Lazar finished with 10 points and four assists. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Pakistan slams US sanctions on ballistic missile programme
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Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes Sunday and the Jacksonville Jaguars earned a season sweep of the visiting Tennessee Titans with a 20-13 victory. Jones connected on 15 of 22 passes for 174 yards, finding Parker Washington and rookie Bryan Thomas Jr. for scores, as Jacksonville (4-12) left Tennessee (3-13) behind in the AFC South cellar. Cam Little booted field goals of 48 and 44 yards. Mason Rudolph hit 19 of 31 attempts for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Titans, which dropped their fifth consecutive game. Tyjae Spears rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries, playing in place of Tony Pollard (flu/ankle). Jones' 11-yard scoring strike to Thomas with 7:05 left in the game gave the Jaguars a 20-10 lead but Tennessee responded with Matthew Wright's 28-yard field goal at the 2:02 mark. After getting a three-and-out, the Titans had a chance to force overtime and reached the Jacksonville 26. But Rudolph's fourth-down pass intended for Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was knocked down at the goal line with nine seconds left. The pregame storyline concerned which team could benefit most from a loss. Both entered a game behind the New York Giants for the potential No. 1 overall pick in April's NFL Draft. Jacksonville initiated scoring on the game's opening drive, needing to drive only 38 yards on nine plays to set up Little for his first field goal at the 10:46 mark. The Jaguars got into the end zone for the first time with 8:59 left in the half on Jones' 2-yard touchdown pass to Washington, coming five plays after Rudolph tossed a tipped-ball interception. Little's second field goal upped the margin to 13-0 with 2:02 remaining before Tennessee pieced together a two-minute drive that set up Wright for a 39-yard field goal as time expired, making it 13-3 at halftime. The Titans started the second half with their best drive of the game, chewing up 85 yards and eight minutes before Rudolph hit Nick Vannett with an 8-yard strike to cut the margin to 13-10. --Field Level Media
