Limerick Institute of Technology to Offer Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Programme with Lufthansa Technik

Irish based Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) in conjunction with Lufthansa Technik Shannon Limited (LTSL) have launched a dynamic new course in aviation open to students all over the globe. The new Bachelor of Science in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering is a full-time QQI Level 7 accredited course that will run for 28 months.

Expressing her interest in the affiliation, Cliona Campbell – Director of International Affairs, Limerick Institute of Technology said, "Collaborating with Lufthansa Technik Shannon helps us to create an extraordinary teaching programme that will boost a student’s career in aviation." Successful students will not only be awarded with a degree from LIT, they will also have completed an European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part-66 Category A programme as well as completing 70% of the B1 and 50% of the B2 aircraft maintenance licence modules. “Having heard about the Indian populace, the delegates from LIT look forward to meeting with the Indian students at the Education in Ireland fairs to discuss our new BSc in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and other courses that LIT has to offer.”

The high calibre training programme is divided into three stages, which will equip students with the skills, expertise and confidence to begin a career in the global aviation industry. Students will gain experience across every area of the aircraft and will experience modules such as, Electric Fundamentals, Inspection Techniques, Basic Aerodynamics, and many more to bolster their knowledge. Students will also have the distinct opportunity to complete On-The-Job training in Lufthansa Technik Shannon, an EASA and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 145 facility, which specialise in providing airframe heavy maintenance services to the world’s leading airlines.

David Ward, Business Development Manager for Aviation Training with Lufthansa Technik Shannon says, “We are excited to get the opportunity to visit India with LIT and Education Ireland to promote our new BSc in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering. This unique degree offers students the best possible entry into the world of aircraft maintenance engineering. An academic qualification from LIT and a European Aviation Safety Agency Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Licence. We look forward to meeting everyone and discussing his or her possible future careers in the aviation industry.”

Mr. Barry O'Driscoll - Senior Education Adviser for Education in Ireland mentions, "This is another significant milestone for Education in Ireland as we continue to reach out for quality and excellence in the programmes we offer." On successful completion, graduates will be qualified to apply to the Irish Aviation Authority for a EASA Part-66 Category A Aircraft Maintenance Licence. Requirements for the licence have been carefully integrated into the programme so that students can begin their career immediately. He adds, "The Aircraft Maintenance Programme will open direct employability access for graduate students in the aviation markets."

Graduates from this programme can also find employment as Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers in aircraft base maintenance facilities, Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers in airline line maintenance, Complete B1.1 and or the B2 licence, Tech Services / Continued Airworthiness Management to name a few.

Interested candidates will have the opportunity apply directly to the BSc in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering or learn more about it from both Limerick Institute of Technology and Lufthansa Technik Shannon who will attend the bi-yearly Education in Ireland fairs held in Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai in October 2019.

Fitness Chain - cult - Celebrates 100 Fitness Centres in Namma Bengaluru

Leading health and wellness start-up cure.fit, celebrates 100 cult fitness studios in Bengaluru, making fitness more accessible to their consumers in the city.

cult operates over 200 centres across Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur , Ahmedabad, Mysore, Kolkata, and Dubai. The phenomenal achievement for the preventive healthcare leader is the result of organic growth through and inorganic growth with the acquisition of Mumbai-based Fitness First chain in late 2018, one of the most prominent developments in the start-up space last year.

Commenting on this, Naresh Krishnaswamy, Growth and Business at cure.fit, said, “Opening 100 centres in a single city, for any brand is a great achievement .We are proud to have achieved it in a short span of time and in Namma Bengaluru, where our journey started.  We are India’s largest and most loved fitness brand and want to thank the cult family for supporting us in this journey. “

We have over 200 operational centres and by the end of 2020, we aim to have over 500 operational centres. Our focus remains metros, making inroads in non-metro cities as well and our international expansion.”

cult.fit has an active membership count of over 150,000, by making fitness easy for the urban Indians to access a variety of workout formats and achieve their health goals. The fitness chain’s non-equipment, trainer led group workouts span multiple intensity and impact formats, including Strength and Conditioning, Boxing, Yoga, as well as exclusive celebrity curated modules, including Hrithik Roshan’s HRX and Tiger Shroff’s PROWL. cult.fit’s Do-It-Yourself (DIY) workout videos are also popular on the company’s mobile app, where downloads have crossed two million.

One of the highest funded startups, cure.fit plans to leverage technology and brick-and-mortar expansion to increase the company’s overall subscriber base.

How AR and VR is Changing the Museum Experience?

Have you ever wanted to explore an ancient pyramid in Egypt, have a conversation about the theory of relativity with Albert Einstein or understand the enormity of a Tyrannosaurus Rex? As augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) become more accessible to the general population, your wish might now be possible. AR and VR exhibits are increasingly becoming a main attraction at major museums and art galleries across the globe. But how is this type of interactive technology being used to increase a museum’s audience engagement and ultimately help children and adults retain valuable information in an educational atmosphere? Many museums are offering innovative and exciting ways for patrons to enjoy exhibits. The use of interactive elements and new technologies in a museum environment is not a new concept. “Museums have historically been a place for physical artifacts,” explains IEEE member Todd Richmond. “Emerging technology has been used over the years – audio recordings with explanations, interactive displays, video pieces. AR/VR will continue this trend, both likely used in slightly different ways.”

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AR AND VR IN MUSEUMS?

While both AR and VR have their benefits, the two technologies offer different types of engagement experiences. It’s important for a museum curator to understand these technologies in order for children and adults to be fully captivated or immersed in the experience. “VR’s strength is embodiment and immersion,” explains Richmond. “So instead of looking at a physical display or video screen that recreates a time, place and/or objects, a user will be able to be inside that time/place.” The benefit of using VR in museums means guests can feel like they’re walking in someone else’s shoes, understand their different viewpoints and engage in those interactions rather than just observe in a traditional setting.

“AR is slightly different in that it can overlay information, people and/or objects on the physical space,” says Richmond. “So, museums and classrooms can be inhabited by a combination of physical spaces/objects and digital representations of information, details or people/objects.” Utilizing AR in museums means that digital experiences can become context-aware based off the user, change for different times of the day, or even adapt to different spaces. Museums often use AR for interactive scavenger hunts that encourage exploration throughout a space.

HOW TO KEEP ENGAGEMENT LEVELS HIGH WITH AR/VR TECHNOLOGY

Once an AR/VR technology is established in a museum, users must be able to easily interact and stay engaged with the curated story line and technology. “Right now, AR/VR is novel, so you can gain attention rather easily,” says Richmond.” That said, once you have someone’s attention, you need to keep it, and to do that the experience needs to be compelling, entertaining and useful. ”But as AR/VR becomes an increasingly popular trend in educational environments such as in museums, Richmond is hopeful the technology will improve to increase engagement and offer an interactive way to learn. “We’re still in the early days of immersive mediums, so the types of experiences that are both engaging and have efficacy are challenging to create,” says Richmond. “But as with any medium, the more we experiment, the better we get.”

Unfolding the Crisis of Residential Project Delays: Is the Problem all Pervasive?

Highlights

* Delhi-NCR and Mumbai are major contrib utors of delayed projects
* Affordable and mid-income projects do not account for much of the delayed projects except in select cities like Kolkata and Pune

The story of the residential ma rket is uncomfortable when looked at from a buyer’s perspective. Contrary to the already published reports indicating that the real estate sector is struggling with billions of USD worth of delayed residential projects in the top seven cities of Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, it is has been observed that the problem lies with only the upper middle income and premium category projects.

JLL Research takes a closer look at the problem of ‘project delays’ and for this purpose, a period of five years from the launch of the project has been considered to estimate the delayed/stalled residential projects. To elaborate, the residential projects laun ched on or before 2014 and still ‘under-construction’ have been referred to as delayed/stalled projects and the total number of flats/apartments in these projects are categorised as delayed/stalled residential units.

Now, let us understand the current market dynamics before painting the entire sector with a single brush.

Mumbai & Delhi-NCR: The two cities account for 84% of the total delays

It is the common perception that the entire residential sector is reeling under the pressure of delayed projects. JLL’s study demystifies this. The aggregate data shows that total number of residential units classified as delayed/stalled in the top seven cites stands at 4.54 lakh. However, as high as 84 per cent of these units are present in two major metro cities: Delhi NCR (62%) and Mumbai (22%). Needless to say, these two cities had always been on the radar of investors due to the promising returns and the scope for expansion that they offered. The percentage share of rest of the cities is in single digit.

Even at the city level, it is important to note that in Delhi, around 3/4th of the residential units are delayed/stalled and one out of every three residential units in Mumbai falls in the same category. For rest of the cities, this proportion is not significant. Hence, the delay in project completion is concentrated in NCR Delhi and Mumbai not a trend across all the top 7 cities of India – a reality that needs to be brought to light!

Where are the funds trapped?

In monetary terms, the delayed/stalled projects stand at a whopping INR 4.62 lakh crore and Delhi NCR and Mumbai again account for nearly 90% of this value. The large proportion of delayed projects being concentrated in these two cities is alarming!

However, as we move forward we will see that the trend of delay varies not only geographically but also across different types of residential projects.

Having said that, the question remains: Is the delay endemic across all categories of residential projects?

JLL data says ’No’.

We classify the houses with prices up to INR 75 lakh as affordable and mid segment category for all cities except Mumbai. Due to the high real estate prices, the threshold of affordable and mid segment in Mumbai is INR 1 crore. While the total value of delayed/stalled projects is INR 4.62 lakh crore, it would be misleading to say that it is across the entire spectrum of housing categories. The reality is not all that grim as the funds are mainly stuck in projects belonging to the upper-mid and premium categories. This is reflected in the average price of residential units across cities. For instance, the average price of delayed residenti al units stands at INR 1.99 crore for Mumbai as compared to INR 95 lakh in Bangalore, INR 94 lakh in Hyderabad and INR 87 lakh in Chennai.

Do We Trust Artificial Intelligence Agents to Mediate Conflict? Not Entirely

We may listen to facts from Siri or Alexa, or directions from Google Maps or Waze, but would we let a virtual agent enabled by artificial intelligence help mediate conflict among team members? A new study says not just yet.

Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of Denver created a simulation in which a three-person team was supported by a virtual agent avatar on screen in a mission that was designed to ensure failure and elicit conflict. The study was designed to look at virtual agents as potential mediators to improve team collaboration during conflict mediation.

Confess to them? Yes.  But in the heat of the moment, will we listen to virtual agents?

While some of the researchers ( Gale Lucas and Jonathan Gratch of the USC Viterbi School Engineering and the USC Institute for Creative Technologies who contributed to this study), had previously found that one-on-one human interactions with a virtual agent therapist yielded more confessions, in this study “Conflict Mediation in Human-Machine Teaming: Using a Virtual Agent to Support Mission Planning and Debriefing,” team members were less likely to engage with a male virtual agent named “Chris” when conflict arose.

Participating members of the team did not physically accost the device (as we have seen humans attack robots in viral social media posts), but rather were less engaged and less likely to listen to the virtual agent’s input once failure ensued and conflict arose among team members.

The study was conducted in a military academy environment in which 27 scenarios were engineered to test how the team that included a virtual agent would react to failure and the ensuring conflict. The virtual agent was not ignored by any means. The study found that the teams did respond socially to the virtual agent during the planning of the mission they were assigned (nodding, smiling and recognizing the virtual agent ‘s input by thanking it) but the longer the exercise progressed, their engagement with the virtual agent decreased. The participants did not entirely blame the virtual agent for their failure.

“Team cohesion when accomplishing complex tasks together is a highly complex and important factor,” says lead author, Kerstin Haring, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Denver.

“Our results show that virtual agents and potentially social robots might be a good conflict mediator in all kinds of teams. It will be very interesting to find out the interventions and social responses to ultimately seamlessly integrate virtual agents in human teams to make them perform better.”

Study co-author, Gale Lucas, Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science at USC, and a researcher at the Institute for Creative Technologies, adds that some feedback from study participants indicates that they perceived virtual agents to be neutral and unbiased. She would like to continue the work to see if virtual agents can be applied “to help us make better decisions” and press “what it takes to have us trust virtual agents.”

While this study was conducted in a military academy with particular structures, the researchers are hoping to develop this project to improve team processes in all sorts of work environments.

“Conflict Mediation in Human-Machine Teaming: Using a Virtual Agent to Support Mission Planning and Debriefing” by Kerstin S. Haring, Jessica Tobias, Justin Waligora, Elizabeth Phillips, Nathan L. Tenhundfeld, Gale Lucas, Jonathan Gratch, Ewart J. de Visser, and Chad C. Tossell was presented at The 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication on October 15 in New Delhi, India.

Online Threats Multiply During the Festive Season. Here’s How to Stay Safe: Kaspersky

Globally, festivals tend to be notorious for a spike in nefarious online activities. Cyber criminals may take the opportunity to lure unsuspecting users through inviting offers and swipe them clean of their money. With Diwali approaching, every Internet user is a potential victim of cyberthreats like phishing scams which may also include financial phishing emails which are used by cybercriminals who are out looking for financial information and account details – and ultimately money – they are increasingly adept at hiding in the noise, targeting their attacks and exploiting human emotions, such as fear and desire. Other potential threats include password theft, bank credentials theft, spyware, etc.

Brands selling an array of products – from jewellery and clothing to electronics and even holiday packages – tend to register a significant percent of their annual sales during Diwali. Users are on a buying spree and in a mood to celebrate, making it way easier to lead them on. Hackers, phishers and malware spreaders thrive in this environment and use legitimate-looking messages to bait users.

Global cyber security provider Kaspersky makes it extremely simple for users to stay safe in this very hazardous digital eco-system by making its bestselling security products even more rewarding. From October 1 – November 15 2019.

Kaspersky offers giveaway schemes on its Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) for Mac & PC and Kaspersky Total Security (KTS) products. For each purchase of KIS, the buyer gets an assured movie voucher worth INR 250 and for KTS, the voucher value is INR 500.

Apart from this, there will be attractive weekly rewards, and 2 Mega Award winners will bag an astounding 3 Nights/4 Days trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, inclusive of roundtrip airfare and accommodation (T&C applied)

Said Mr. Purshottam Bhatia, Digital Sales Manager – Kaspersky, “Kaspersky always puts the customer at the heart of every decision. We realize that the need for digital vigilance is at its highest during Diwali, so we wanted to make it more attractive and fulfilling for the consumers to get our KIS and KTS packs. We hope that every user of the Internet makes the most of this offer. Each page you visit, including your email, is a potential threat. We wish all our consumers a very Happy and Safe Digital Diwali!”

Mr. Shivshankar Kharade, Tangible Sales Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia): “We would like to wish all our consumers Best Wishes for this Festive Season. We hope and pray that this festive season brings you great joy and safety just like Kaspersky ensures your cybersecurity with our product range and amazing offers for all our consumers.”

Being cyber-safe has never been simpler, or more rewarding. Make sure to get yourself Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac & PC (KIS) and Kaspersky Total Security (KTS) for your devices at work and home. Gift yourself and your loved ones a gift that keeps giving all year long. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to keep your fingers crossed. You may just win attractive modern gadgets or even be on that plane to Dubai!

Seeing Plastic Waste as a Resource: Covestro Plans to Promote Circular Economy

With a long-term program, Covestro plans to place a strong focus on the circular economy and to be a creative force for the entire plastics industry. In particular, the company aims to use raw materials from sustainable sources such as waste, plants and CO2 as much as possible in production. The aim is to achieve the greatest possible departure from fossil resources such as crude oil. Above all, used plastics must be recycled systematically and to the greatest possible extent. Covestro intends to develop new technologies exactly for this purpose. Overall, the company wants to shape the transition from a disposable economy to a circular economy with as many partners as possible and expects this to open up entirely new business opportunities.

“The great challenges of our time, such as climate change and the increasing consumption of resources by the growing world population, make truly sustainable ways of living and economies an indispensable necessity. The linear patterns in consumption and production based on one-time use have become obsolete – we must rather strengthen the idea of recycling and consistently align our actions accordingly, ” stresses Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann.

According to Steilemann, the plastics industry in particular can and must drive the change to achieve a circular economy. “Our company wants to be a pioneer in this process – for the benefit of the environment and society, but of course also for the benefit of our customers, who want to join us on our path to the circular economy.”

Moving carbon in circles

In order to promote the circular economy, Covestro has taken a first step in establishing a global strategic program to establish circularity throughout all areas of the company. It will then be backed by concrete and measurable objectives. The materials manufacturer has already taken several steps in this direction. For instance, it has recently been using alternative raw materials instead of crude oil to move the important element carbon virtually in a circle. Especially when it comes to using CO2 as a new raw material, Covestro sees itself as a pioneer and, with its innovative technology, is now in the grand finale of the prestigious German President’s Award.

However, the greatest potential for closing cycles is likely to lie in the recycling of plastic waste. In order to be able to make greater use of it than before, waste disposal systems must be considerably improved and redesigned. Covestro wants to contribute to this above all by developing new recycling technologies. The aim must be to use the most energy-efficient methods possible to convert used plastics back into their molecules. In a joint project, for example, the company is conducting concrete research into the reuse of soft polyurethane foam, which is used to make mattresses.

On top of this, Covestro intends to increasingly design plastics from the outset so that they can be effectively recycled. At the same time, plastic products must last as long as possible and be used to avoid waste.

Plastics as problem solvers

"Society, but also industry, must produce less waste. Above all, waste has to be disposed of systematically and must no longer end up uncontrolled in the environment," says CEO Steilemann. "Plastic waste in our oceans is essentially the result of inadequate waste management. Plastic in itself is not the problem and should not be prohibited. On the contrary, high-quality plastics are a problem solver and are urgently needed – for renewable energies, new forms of mobility and sustainable construction, for instance."

In order to stop the flow of plastic waste into the bodies of water, Covestro is also involved in the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a worldwide company network that has been active since early 2019. In the new Circular Plastics Alliance, the company is also working with numerous other businesses and organizations to promote the recycling of plastics in Europe.

Overall, Covestro wants to cooperate with as many players as possible in all areas of the value chain in order to find the best solutions for the circular economy. The company assumes that a recycling-oriented economy will also lead to new business opportunities. New value creation paths and new business relationships beyond the existing B2B business are potential opportunities.

At the world's largest plastics trade fair, K 2019 in Düsseldorf, Covestro will be presenting many prime examples of products and technologies that can help close material cycles in various sectors. Together with its partners, Covestro has for example developed a concept for manufacturing new electronic components from used polycarbonate. Covestro will also be hosting a special theme day at its booth on October 23 dedicated to the topic of the circular economy.