Browse the business section of any bookshop and you'll find dozens of titles promising to share the secret to climbing the corporate ladder. But the day is not far off when such books will seem as quaint and outmoded as a housekeeping manual from the 1950s. One of the key workplace trends of the 21st century has been the collapse of the corporate ladder, whereby loyal employees climbed towards the higher echelons of management one promotion at a time. Cathy Benko, vice-chairman of Deloitte in San Francisco and co-author of The Corporate Lattice, says that the ladder model dates back to the industrial revolution, when successful businesses were built on economies of scale, standardisation and a strict hierarchy. "But we don't live in an industrial age, we live in a digital age. And if you look at all the shifts taking place, one [of the biggest] is the composition of the workforce, which is far more diverse in every way," she says.

Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep, REMS) is a unique phase of mammalian sleep characterized by random movement of the eyes, low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the sleeper to dream vividly. This phase is also known as paradoxical sleep (PS) and sometimes desynchronized sleep because of physiological similarities to waking states, including rapid, low-voltage desynchronized brain waves. Electrical and chemical activity regulating this phase seems to originate in the brain stem and is characterized most notably by an abundance of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, combined with a nearly complete absence of monoamine neurotransmitters histamine, serotonin, and norepinepherine.[1] The cortical and thalamic neurons of the waking or paradoxically sleeping brain are more depolarized--i.e., can "fire" more readily--than in the deeply sleeping brain.[2] The right and left hemispheres of the brain are more coherent in REM sleep, especially during lucid dreams.[3] REM sleep is punctuated and immediately preceded by PGO (ponto-geniculo-occipital) waves, bursts of electrical activity originating in the brain stem.[4] These waves occur in clusters about every 6 seconds for 1–2 minutes during the transition from deep to paradoxical sleep.[5] They exhibit their highest amplitude upon moving into the visual cortex and are a cause of the "rapid eye movements" in paradoxical sleep.[6][7] Brain energy use in REM sleep, as measured by oxygen and glucose metabolism, equals or exceeds energy use in waking. The rate in non-REM sleep is 11–40% lower.[8]

Dubai: In keeping with the global decline the growth of assets under management (AuM), the Middle East also witnessed a sharp fall in the total AuM last year, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Globally, AuM stalled with marginal growth last year. The BCG report shows the global value of AuM rose just 1 per cent in 2015, to 71.4 trillion (Dh262 trillion) from 70.5 trillion in 2014, after growing 8 per cent that year, and at an average annualised rate of 5 per cent from 2008 through 2014. In contrast, the Middle East's AuM declined 10 per cent and net new flows of assets, revenue growth, and revenue margins all dipped lower in 2015. In absolute terms the region's AuM plummeted from 1.4 trillion in 2014 to 1.3 trillion in 2015.

Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox' -- a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers -- connecting them to the internet," T.J. Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilize the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said. With the refrigerators, stored groceries can be monitored using internal cameras and object recognition technology.

I can't remember whose idea it was to go out for lunch. It might have been my idea. Of course it was my idea. I start thinking about lunch the second that last morsel of granola hits my taste buds and disappears down that endless cavern known as my belly. Should we order a salad?

In-brief: Alphabet, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon are teaming to pioneer ethical guidelines for artificial intelligence, the New York Times reported. The New York Times is reporting on a new cross-industry effort by some of the U.S.'s leading technology firms to pioneer standards of ethics in the arena of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the report, researchers at Google's parent company, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft have been meeting to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, transportation and "even warfare." The specifics of what the industry group will do or say -- even its name -- have yet to be hashed out. But the basic intention is clear: to ensure that A.I. research is focused on benefiting people, not hurting them, according to four people involved in the creation of the industry partnership who are not authorized to speak about it publicly.

NEW YORK: Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox' -- a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers -- connecting them to the internet," T.J. Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilise the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said. With the refrigerators, stored groceries can be monitored using internal cameras and object recognition technology.

Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox', a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers, connecting them to the internet," T J Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilise the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said. With the refrigerators, stored groceries can be monitored using internal cameras and object recognition technology.

Automation has disrupted work for centuries. Two hundred years ago in Britain, the Luddites rose in rebellion, smashing the machines that made their weaving skills obsolete. Today it's high status cognitive jobs that are under threat. Earlier this year ROSS, a legal version of IBM's Watson, was launched and hailed as the first artificially intelligent lawyer. Future iterations may put lawyers out of work.

U.S. stocks rose Friday as investors found some positive aspects in a middling employment report. Job growth slowed in August, and traders hope that will persuade the Federal Reserve to wait before raising interest rates. Stocks started the day with big gains following the Labor Department's job report. Energy companies rose more than the rest of the market as oil prices broke out of a four-day slump. The gains were broad, but the stocks that rose the most were utilities, which would stand to benefit if interest rates remain low.