The 24 March, 2020 will be remembered by some for the news that Prince Charles tested positive for Covid and was isolating in Scotland. In Athens it was memorable as the day the traffic went silent. Twenty-four hours into a hard lockdown, Greeks were acclimatising to a new reality in which they had to send an SMS to the government in order to leave the house. As well as millions of text messages, the Greek government faced extraordinary dilemmas. The European Union's most vulnerable economy, its oldest population along with Italy, and one of its weakest health systems faced the first wave of a pandemic that overwhelmed richer countries with fewer pensioners and stronger health provision. One Greek who did go into the office that day was Kyriakos Pierrakakis, the minister for digital transformation, whose signature was inked in blue on an agreement with the US technology company, Palantir. The deal, which would not be revealed to the public for another nine months, gave one of the world's most controversial tech companies access to vast amounts of personal data while offering its software to help Greece weather the Covid storm. The zero-cost agreement was not registered on the public procurement system, neither did the Greek government carry out a data impact assessment – the mandated check to see whether an agreement might violate privacy laws. The questions that emerge in pandemic Greece echo those from across Europe during Covid and show Palantir extending into sectors from health to policing, aviation to commerce and even academia.
'Forensic artists' in Scotland have reconstructed the faces of two people from Edinburgh who lived around 700 years ago. A two-person team used fragments of skulls taken from the grounds of South Leith Parish Church in the Scottish capital's north. The skull fragments were digitally scanned to create a virtual 3D copy on computer software, which the team used to reconstruct other lost parts of each skull. This skeletal reconstruction allowed the scientists to recreate facial features, like the size and shape of the nose and chin. The facial reconstructions depict a man and a woman, both aged between 35 to 50 years at time of death, possibly as early as the year 1300.
The Scottish government has outlined an artificial intelligence (AI) strategy that puts ethics and inclusion first and foremost. The strategy was put forth in a report entitled Scotland's artificial intelligence strategy: Trustworthy, ethical and inclusive. It is said to complement the country's digital strategy, an updated version of which was published earlier this month. The government said the strategy would ensure that AI-driven technologies are "used for positive effect across the economy and society" and "highlight the opportunity to become a world leader in ethical AI". It put a big emphasis on committing to the expansion of "international collaboration on AI and children", and on "upskilling and reskilling of displaced workers and people vulnerable to exclusion".
Apparently, the project's domain relies on the most popular liquor in the world -- Whiskey. A dark spirit coming from a great variety of grains, distilled throughout the world and arriving at quite a number of styles (Irish, Scotch, Bourbon etc) [1]. Scotland, Ireland, Canada & Japan are among the famous exporters and on an international scale, the global production almost reaches the level of $95m revenue [2]. The main scope, hereof, is to introduce in a… 'companionable' way, how helpful can the Clustering Algorithms prove to be, anytime we need to find patterns in a (large) dataset. Actually, it might be considered as a powerful expansion of the standard Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), which is often very beneficial to try, before using Supervised Machine Learning (ML) models.
Drones are being used to carry Covid-19 test samples and other medical materials up to 40 miles (64km) across four locations in western Scotland. London drone firm Skyports has become the first operator to receive permission from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to carry diagnostic specimens by drone. Cargo – including test samples, medicine, personal protective equipment (PPE) and Covid-19 testing kits – is being transported by the drones in the Argyll & Bute region. A whole fleet of the drones are carrying up to 3kg of the supplies each, improving services for patients and healthcare staff in one of the UK's most remote areas. Drones can complete a journey that takes a whopping 36 hours by road and ferry to just 15 minutes, while increasing the frequency of pick-ups.
A Frasers spokesman said: "Despite the global pandemic, numerous lockdowns and the turbulence caused for British retail, the landlord hasn't been able to work mutually on a fair agreement, therefore resulting in the loss of 200 jobs and a vacant site for the foreseeable future, with no immediate plans.