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Announcing Phi-3 fine-tuning, new AI models, other Azure AI updates to empower organizations

We are excited to announce several updates to help developers quickly create customized AI solutions with greater choice and flexibility leveraging the Azure AI toolchain. AI is transforming every industry and creating new opportunities for innovation and growth. But, developing and deploying AI applications at scale requires a robust and flexible platform that can handle the complex and diverse needs of modern enterprises and allow them to create solutions grounded…

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Lee Schwamm: Smarter Healthcare Systems With AI

Harlan Krumholz: Welcome to Health & Veritas. I’m Harlan Krumholz. Howard Forman: And I’m Howie Forman. We’re physicians and professors at Yale University. We’re trying to get closer to the truth about health and healthcare. Our guest today is Dr. Lee Schwamm, but first we always like to check in on what’s a hot topic or a current topic in health and healthcare. Harlan, what do you have today? Harlan…

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Pioneers and Pathfinders Virtual Roundtable Series – Board Leadership in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

Wednesday, August 7, 202412:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. CDT10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. MDT9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PDT About the Program Seyfarth’s Pioneers and Pathfinders virtual roundtable series has tackled critical topics intended to help our clients navigate the implications of generative AI and natural language processing models in the legal industry. Our first roundtable covered the risks and benefits of generative AI, the…

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Navigating and Pre- and Post-Election Tensions in the Workplace, Part II: Providing Support to Staff During Periods of Change

Quick Hits Research shows that there can be a decline in job performance after an election, due to employees who experience strain and distraction. Employers can take several proactive steps to maintain productivity and a supportive work environment. Proactive measures include adjusting schedules, pointing employees to support resources, and promoting inclusion efforts. Employers can also bolster civil dialogue by showing respect, seeking understanding, and finding common ground. Research shows there…

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Make a Positive Impact & Earn $ With Civility Partners

You read our blog every week because you care about an inclusive work environment for all individuals at all levels. Either you consult in a similar space, or want to have an impact on your own workplace. For the past 15 years, Civility Partners has been on a mission to transform workplaces into environments where positivity and respect flourish. To that end, our dedicated team of facilitators, coaches, and consultants…

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Inside the engine room: Debunking the myths of scaling a new business

Building a business is hard, and doing so in a start-up or scale-up context is even harder. Building a successful start-up is akin to building a rocket ship: the team setting the direction (market and product–market fit), growth engines (go-to-market [GTM] strategy and product), crew (talent and leadership), and capabilities (strategy and planning) are essential to helping the start-up reach new heights. Another critical element is the engine room: the…

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Georgian Black Sea Ports: A Stimulus or Stumbling Blocks for the Middle Transport Corridor?

Any successful development of the Middle Corridor will at best take years and at worst remain uncertain, Franz J. Marty writes. The Middle Corridor, a transport corridor meant to connect China to Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus, and the Black Sea, has received increasing attention and is often displayed as a main future thoroughfare and replacement for the Northern Corridor between China and Europe, which goes…

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How Teaming Supercharges Collaboration

In the complex, uncertain and fast-changing world we live in, success and even survival require intensive collaboration among individuals, organisations and countries. The outcomes of such collaboration can be breathtaking – consider the growth of Netflix and Amazon, the rebirth of Microsoft and General Motors, the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.Yet, most people and organisations fail to collaborate, preferring competition to cooperation. In business, up to 70…

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Logistics start-up funding: The investor pullback continues

The decline in post-pandemic logistics funding continues. After reaching an unprecedented $25.6 billion in 2021, venture funding for logistics start-ups fell to just $2.9 billion in 2023—a two-year plunge of nearly 90 percent, and the lowest level of funding since 2015. A number of factors are driving this sharp pullback by investors, including high interest rates (which curb venture investment in general), a global slowdown in the shipping industry (as…

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Six Signs of a Successful Chief Experience Officer

A winning CXO plays a crucial role in influencing customer satisfaction and company success. Amelia Dunlop July 24, 2024 Reading Time: 4 min  Fergs/Ikon Images Remember the idea of keeping an empty chair in the corporate boardroom as a reminder that the customer deserves a seat at the table? The concept of “experience” embraces every touch point that a customer (or an employee) has with a company or brand, from…

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Cost Accounting Board Issues Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Conform Certain CAS Standards to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

On June 27, 2024, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s  Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking public comments on proposed changes to the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) on conformance to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) related to CAS 408 (Accounting for costs of compensated personal absence) and CAS 409 (Cost accounting standard depreciation of tangible capital assets). The CAS Board has provisionally…

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Forgiving Medical Debt Won’t Make Everyone Happier

The solution seems obvious. Forgiving medical debt should ease both financial and emotional burdens for the two in five people in the US who carry it.Yet a new comprehensive study that tracked more than 200,000 patients and randomly relieved more than $169 million of medical debt for 83,401 patients finds the reality is much more complicated when it comes to languishing hospital bills. Canceling overdue medical debt on average does…

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Could “salary sacrifice” help you achieve your dream retirement faster?

Your pensions are one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal when saving for retirement. This is because, as well as your own monthly payments, you may benefit from employer contributions and tax relief. Additionally, the wealth you save in your pensions is invested, so it could potentially grow over time. You also don’t pay Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on the returns from investments…

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Countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles

In October 2023, the European Commission launched an ex officio (i.e. started by the Commission on its own initiative rather than at the request of industry) investigation into a sample group of Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles (of the more than 300 that exist in total) and non-Chinese ones based in China. Manufacturers that agreed to participate in the investigation but were not included in the sample group could face…

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Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI

Over the past couple of years, the world has marveled at the capabilities and possibilities unleashed by generative AI (gen AI). Foundation models such as large language models (LLMs) can perform impressive feats, extracting insights and generating content across numerous mediums, such as text, audio, images, and video. But the next stage of gen AI is likely to be more transformative. We are beginning an evolution from knowledge-based, gen-AI-powered tools—say,…

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Newsflash – More Allyship is Needed Here

For many years, women’s rights have been campaigned for with multiple studies confirming why equity and equality are so important. More recently, conversations have moved from focusing on one characteristic that people may identify with to a greater understanding of intersectionality. Acknowledging that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression is key, and we must consider anything that can marginalise people, such as gender, race, class, sexual…

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Sprinting to Cut Carbon: Lessons From the Paris Olympics

In this short video, the 2024 Paris Olympics’ sustainability director offers business leaders advice on making dramatic cuts to carbon emissions. MIT Sloan Management Review July 23, 2024 Reading Time: 1 minute subscribe-icon Subscribe Share [embedded content] Sustainability efforts, including carbon reduction, are a priority for many organizations. However, many leaders struggle to scale this work. “Just knowing that it can be done would have been helpful from the start,”…

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Cal/OSHA Schedules Advisory Committee Meeting on Enterprise-wide and Egregious Violation Classifications Proposed Rules

Quick Hits On August 19, 2024, Cal/OSHA will hold an advisory committee meeting to solicit input on proposed rules on enterprise-wide and egregious violations on employee safety and health requirements. The California Department of Industrial Relations plans to amend the existing framework for citation classification and penalty calculations to accommodate new classifications and provide definitions and procedures for issuing enterprise-wide and egregious citations to California employers. The proposed regulation would…

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Connect with Microsoft Security at Black Hat USA 2024​​ Aug. 3-8 in Las Vegas

Black Hat USA 2024 is packed with timely, relevant information for today’s security professionals. During the conference this August, we’ll share our deep expertise in AI-first end-to-end security and extensive threat intelligence research. Join us as we present our main stage speaker Ann Johnson, Corporate Vice President and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Microsoft Security, as she shares threat intelligence insights and best practices from the Office of…

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Transforming the Workplace for People with Disabilities

Brian Kenny: In April of 1945 while stationed in Italy, a 21-year-old American soldier was struck by enemy fire and left with debilitating wounds to his right arm and hand. That life-changing moment that could have sent him spiraling would instead motivate him in ways he never could have imagined. A life devoted to public service, 30 years in Congress, earning his party's nomination for president and championing a key…

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Germany: The end of the single-family home?

Over more than 50 years, the number of newly built single-family homes has trended lower In the 1970s, around 250,000 single-family homes were completed each year. This figure had fallen to less than 150,000 by the time of reunification. Subsequently, there was a strong catch-up in the new states. At the peak in the mid-1990s, nearly 250,000 were again being built each year. However, this was followed by years of…

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On the digital euro holding limits

One of the ongoing discussions about the establishment of a digital euro – a central bank digital currency currently being scoped by the European Central Bank – is about the holding limit. This limit, which would determine the maximum value of digital euros a consumer would be allowed to have, is currently proposed to be between €3000 and €4000. The ECB also proposes to link holdings of digital euros automatically…

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How to Coach Abrasive, or Bullying Leaders

Consider that abrasive leaders, or workplace bullies, engage in aggressive behavior mainly because they’ve been allowed to by their own boss, even encouraged to through promotions, accolades and increased pay.  Their high value to the organization (e.g., sales, organizational knowledge, professional network) means leadership works around them or ignores their behavior for fear that addressing it may end poorly. That is, leadership is worried the leader will retaliate with even…

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BRICS as an Alternative Rule Maker in Global Governance

The West, led by the US, has been the main global rule-maker for decades. However, the ‘Rest’ have not been satisfied with the global rules made by the West. In order to address how we must develop an alternative world order, we need to understand the shortcomings of the one which currently exists. The main problems with the present international order are not with its values or institutions, but with…

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Extend summer learning with a free game from Microsoft

Our free summer learning game, Leaps and Logs, offers a variety of fun and engaging resources to keep students thinking, collaborating, and building skills until the first day of school! While many students in the northern hemisphere are enjoying their summer break, they don’t have to stop learning. Our free summer learning game, Leaps and Logs, offers a variety of fun and engaging resources to keep students thinking, collaborating, and…

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The New Rules of Trade with China: Navigating Tariffs, Turmoil, and Opportunities

When former President Donald Trump slapped sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports in 2019, the economic dynamics between the world’s two biggest economies forever shifted. American businesses hoping President Joe Biden would return to decades-long precedent instead find some tariffs escalating, upending longstanding principles of free trade established when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Today, multinational firms must adapt, both in terms of trade and doing business within…

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Today’s industrial revolution calls for an organization to match

What is humanity’s greatest innovation of the industrial age—the steam engine? Penicillin? The internet? These are all good candidates, yet without the productivity gains from another crucial innovation, the modern business company, it’s hard to imagine how these inventions could have improved the world at the same scale. The trouble is that few industrial organizations have truly cracked the productivity code to maintain high performance over the long run. A…

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Cambridge and SAS launch partnership in AI and advanced analytics to accelerate innovation in the healthcare sector

The SAS Advanced Analytics Hub will embed SAS experts and its AI platform capabilities into the University, enabling targeted collaboration with leading researchers and early-stage entrepreneurs.Based on the Cambridge West campus, the Hub will have capacity to recruit and support several high-quality, high-impact academic research projects and promising early-stage startups in the health-tech space, providing their innovative ideas with extra momentum. The partners have already demonstrated the effectiveness of the…

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Navigating Pre- and Post-Election Tensions in the Workplace, Part I: A Guide for Employers

Quick Hits Before an election, employers may want to take several measures to navigate potential workplace tensions, such as establishing clear guidelines that outline when and where political paraphernalia can be worn, the ground rules for appropriate workplace political discussions, the limitations on political speech in the workplace including bumper stickers, and political postings that help to foster a culture of respect. In addition, employers may want to consider conducting…

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When can protecting the “customer experience” infringe competition law?

If a brand owner prevents its authorised resellers from using the internet to make sales, this type of restriction will generally infringe UK or EU competition law. Despite this, competition authorities continue to identify online sales bans, with these types of restriction exposing companies to risks including financial penalties of up to 10% of group worldwide turnover, as well as actions for damages. Under the UK competition law regime, individuals…

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Repo markets: Understanding the effects of a declining Eurosystem market footprint

23 July 2024By Svetla Daskalova, Federico Maria Ferrara, Pedro Formoso da Silva, Pamina Karl and Thomas Vlassopoulos[1]Repo markets are vital for banks to source liquidity and securities. They also represent an essential link in the monetary policy transmission chain. While the Eurosystem is in the process of reducing its market footprint, repo markets are going through a phase of change. The ECB Blog looks at dynamics in this market.Monetary policy…

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Cooperation Between Russia and Africa in the Programmes of the Valdai Club

On July 24, 2024, the Valdai Discussion Club will hold the 2nd African Conference, titled “Russia – Africa: Strategy for Cooperation in a Multipolar World.” The first African conference was held a year ago in St. Petersburg on the eve of the Russia-Africa summit. Now, for the first time, the Valdai Club Conference will take place on African soil. It will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with the…

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Where To Next? Opportunity on the Edge

Topics Strategy Global Strategy Jon Krause/theispot.com The Philippines isn’t new to foreign investment. Long considered one of the striving tiger cub economies, its bustling ports and big cities have represented attractive investment opportunities for companies like General Electric, KKR, and Cargill.1 However, despite its prime location, young English-speaking workforce, and considerable natural-resource wealth, its performance lags behind that of its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers.2 For foreign businesses looking…

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Commissioner Sonderling to Depart from EEOC in August 2024

Seyfarth Synopsis: EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling, a Republican who first joined the EEOC in 2020, has announced his departure from the Commission in August 2024. Sonderling’s tenure was marked by his significant contributions to discussions on artificial intelligence in employment, establishing him as a leading authority on the subject. His departure leaves the EEOC with a 3-1 Democratic majority, and so it does not alter the Commission’s current political balance.…

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How Leaders Finally Walk Away

This essay was originally published in Time magazine. President Biden is being celebrated among Democrats for his superb tour of duty and for putting the nation’s interests over his own by stepping out of the campaign. Political pundits, wealthy donors, and prominent fellow political leaders were bewildered as to why President Biden resisted their pressure that he leave the campaign for so long. These critics didn’t realize that their pressure…

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SEKO’s head of ocean freight on the AI future

SEKO launched in 1976 with one office, in Chicago. The logistics, transportation, forwarding, and warehousing firm now boasts 150 locations in more than 60 countries. It serves as a global end-to-end logistics partner for its customers, aiming to turn supply chain strategy into a competitive advantage.Akhil Nair, based in Hong Kong, is SEKO’s senior vice president for global ocean freight. McKinsey spoke with Nair about ongoing disruptions to supply chain…

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How the aviation industry could help scale sustainable fuel production

Airlines around the world are committing to ambitious decarbonization goals to reach the industry target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Among potential decarbonization measures, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will make the biggest contributions—up to 50 percent of abatement, depending on the airline. Sustainable fuels, which are already certified for use in today’s jet engines, produce about 80 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil kerosene. The SAF industry is still…

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Presidential Elections in Iran: The Impact on the Foreign Policy of Tehran

We can assume that the new Iranian president and his pro-reform team will strive to pursue a more balanced foreign policy course; without highlighting any of its directions, it will advance where circumstances allow, without crossing the “red lines” outlined by Iran’s top leadership, Alexander Maryasov writes. The victory of the moderate reformer Masoud Pezeshkian in Iran’s early presidential elections came as a surprise to many, both in the Islamic…

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Russia and Africa: Reliable Partners

On July 19, the Valdai Club held an expert discussion dedicated to the 2nd Russian-African Conference, titled “Russia – Africa: A strategy for cooperation in a multipolar world,” which will take place on July 24 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Moderator Oleg Barabanov invited participants to discuss how Russian foreign policy with regards to Africa is developing and what tasks it sets for itself.Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry…

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INSEAD Insights: July 2024 Research Picks

This month’s selection of new research by INSEAD faculty offers some counterintuitive insights, from how misunderstandings can be productive to the possible negative effects of corporate social responsibility under certain conditions. Other studies reveal the significance of understanding the actions and interactions of human actors to achieve ideal outcomes. They include how traders’ strategic response to short selling can harm price efficiency, why the right structures can shift the needle in…

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