Air

The core objective of plant population ecology is to understand changes in numbers of individuals/organisms across time and space.1 Achieving this depends on methods that permit plants to be mapped and monitored at informative scales.2-4 Surveys of plant populations have been undertaken using a variety of different methods such as transect sampling, quadrat sampling and with unmanned aerial systems (UAS).5-7 Each of these methods has an inherent trade‐off between the area that can be surveyed and the intensity at which the subjects in that area can be studied.8 Transect and quadrat sampling can be used for either small area, high‐intensity studies or large area, low‐intensity studies, but typically not both.9 UAS present a unique opportunity for ecological monitoring because, potentially, they can yield data across both large spatial areas and at high survey intensity.

In this Oct. 31, 2018, file photo, a man, who declined to be identified, has his face painted to represent efforts to defeat facial recognition during a protest at Amazon headquarters over the company's facial recognition system, "Rekognition," in Seattle. San Francisco is on track to become the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial recognition by police and other city agencies. These days, with facial recognition technology, you've got a face that can launch a thousand applications, so to speak. Sure, you may love the ease of opening your phone just by facing it instead of tapping in a code. But how do you feel about having your mug scanned, identifying you as you drive across a bridge, when you board an airplane or to confirm you're not a stalker on your way into a Taylor Swift concert?

Black box machine learning models are currently being used for high-stakes decision making throughout society, causing problems in healthcare, criminal justice and other domains. Some people hope that creating methods for explaining these black box models will alleviate some of the problems, but trying to explain black box models, rather than creating models that are interpretable in the first place, is likely to perpetuate bad practice and can potentially cause great harm to society. The way forward is to design models that are inherently interpretable. This Perspective clarifies the chasm between explaining black boxes and using inherently interpretable models, outlines several key reasons why explainable black boxes should be avoided in high-stakes decisions, identifies challenges to interpretable machine learning, and provides several example applications where interpretable models could potentially replace black box models in criminal justice, healthcare and computer vision.

Decades after Isaac Asimov first wrote his laws for robots, their ever-expanding role in our lives requires a radical new set of rules, legal and AI expert Frank Pasquale warned on Thursday. The world has changed since sci-fi author Asimov in 1942 wrote his three rules for robots, including that they should never harm humans, and today's omnipresent computers and algorithms demand up-to-date measures. According to Pasquale, author of "The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms Behind Money and Information", four new legally-inspired rules should be applied to robots and AI in our daily lives. "The first is that robots should complement rather than substitute for professionals" Pasquale told AFP on the sidelines of a robotics conference at the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences. "Rather than having a robot doctor, you should hope that you have a doctor who really understands how AI works and gets really good advice from AI, but ultimately it's a doctor's decision to decide what to do and what not to do." "The second is that we need to stop robotic arms races. There's a lot of people right now who are investing in war robots, military robots, policing robots."

Wing, an offshoot of Google's parent company, Alphabet, will launch drone deliveries to one of Finland's most populous areas next month according to a recent blog post from the company. Pilot deliveries will be rolled out in the Vousari district of Finland's capital, Helsinki, and will deliver products from gourmet supermarket Herkku foods and Cafe Monami. As noted by Wing, deliveries will include'fresh Finnish pastries, meatballs for two, and a range of other meals and snacks' that can be delivered in minutes. Wing will launch deliveries for customers in Finland starting next month. Wing, the first commercial drone company approved by the FAA in the U.S. will start delivering in Virginia.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - A Yemen rebel drone strike this week on a critical Saudi oil pipeline shows that the otherwise-peaceful sandy reaches of the Arabian Peninsula now are at risk of similar assault, including an under-construction nuclear power plant and Dubai International Airport, among the world's busiest. U.N. investigators said the Houthis' new UAV-X drone, found in recent months during the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen, likely has a range of up to 1,500 km (930 miles). That puts the far reaches of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two main opponents of the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen, within reach of drones difficult to detect and track. Their relatively simple design, coupled with readily available information online, makes targeting even easier, analysts say. "These installations are easily findable, like on Google Earth," said Tim Michetti, an expert on illicit weapons technology with experience in Yemen.

The FAA plans to release its remote identification ruling for UAS in July, UAS Integration Office Executive Director Jay Merkle said in front of Congress last week. The remote ID rules -- often compared to license plates for drones -- would allow the FAA, police officers and other public officials to look up a UAS by a broadcast unique identifier and find out information about the operator. This would go hand-in-hand with registration rules to prevent uncooperative flights around airports or other illegal uses from going unpunished. "We are working currently to ensure that we keep the policy component along with standards and remote id infrastructure all developed and harmonized," Merkle said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing about integrating new entrants into the National Airspace System. Remote ID has its detractors, who say it exposes too much private information of operators, but the FAA determined that it is necessary since, unlike with a car, the operator is not present, and there needs to be some accountability attached to that anonymity.

Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Artificial Intelligence in Aviation sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source. On the basis of Application, Virtual assistants are expected to hold the largest share of the Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Market throughout the forecast period. AI-based virtual assistants help airline companies to improve their productivity and increase the efficiency of pilots by reducing recurring works, such as changing radio channels, reading wind forecasts, and providing position information on requests. These recurring jobs are taken care of by the AI-enabled virtual assistants. The research methodology used to estimate and forecast the AI in aviation market begins with obtaining data on key vendor revenues through secondary research. Some of the secondary sources referred to for this research include Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, European Association for Artificial Intelligence, Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association. The vendor offerings have also been taken into consideration to determine the market segmentation. The report will make detailed analysis mainly on the development environment, Market size, development trends, operation situation and future development trends of Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Market on the basis of current situation of the industry in 2019 so as to make full comprehension and judgment on the competitive situation of Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Market Carrier and assist manufacturers and investment organization to better grasp the development course of Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Market.

Can this paper packaging go into the recycle bin? Where should this bubble wrap go? A robot at YVR can now answer these questions for you. Most people try their best to recycle and it can often be a confusing process, which is why Vancouver International Airport recently introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) sensor that oversees a cluster of smart waste bins at a central location within the terminal building. This AI, called Oscar, has an artificial intelligence powered camera that automatically identifies recycling from trash and instructs users on whether it belongs in the compost bin, paper bin, or landfill stream bin.

A sister company of Google, Alphabet's Wing Aviation, just got federal approval to start using drones for commercial delivery. Amazon's own drone-delivery program is ready to launch as well. As drones take flight, the world is about to get a lot louder – as if neighborhoods were filled with leaf blowers, lawn mowers and chainsaws. Small recreational drones are fairly loud. Serious commercial drones are much louder.