Archives for March 2021

Digital Twin liiudheuhggga Technology Gets Set To Take The World By Storm

San Diego, CA based vScenario is reaching out to build awareness of Virtual Twin Technology and the myriad advantages it has to offer in almost every industry and company. The company also looks forward to discussing this technology’s software with all those who reach out to them.

An electronic twin, as the title may suggest, is built entirely within a digital medium, and it might reflect a real-world product or platform in numerous manners. This twin, the company says, is considerably greater than a mere 3D representation of the product that remains inert within cyberspace — it was made to reflect the exact physiological properties of its real life counterpart. This expression is so accurate that its founders can use the virtual model to safely (and immediately ) test the effects of numerous factors without putting their merchandise in harm’s way or needing to wait extended periods to observe effects which take a long time to occur.

VScenario clarifies that clients may use this technology at various phases of development, relying upon a digital representation of this product (from development and manufacturing to installation ) to correctly test its limits over the full length of its lifespan. Among the most obvious scenarios in which this can be useful is for goods which are intended to survive the test of time. While a business can scarce afford to spend a few decades observing the tear and wear a product undergoes, for instance, this predicament is swiftly solved by means of a virtual twin.

As virtual twins exist entirely in electronic distance, a virtually endless variety of conditions may be applied that correctly reflect their environment and response to physical factors, such as stress. The impact of seasonal changes on a building, for example, can be correctly calculated over multiple years or longer in order to demonstrate the arrangement’s endurance under these circumstances. This type of evaluation is practically impossible to operate in the physical world (prior to construction), and companies usually make long-term predictions based on relatively short term tests. VScenario aims to produce these predictions a lot more true through their digital twin technology.

Based on the scenario, this technology can be put on the design, construction, building analysis and scenario training creation of a specific location, place or building, effectively enabling clients to recognize critical issues until they present themselves at the real world (or, crucially, prior to a financial investment was made in a venture that might not be as successful as hoped). In essence, that enables a client to test their product or systems beneath any possible scenario that may threaten it or affect its functionality. This makes it invaluable as a comprehensive troubleshooting tool which simulates problems before they happen in the real world as well as making it extraordinarily simple for manufacturers to ascertain the exact point of collapse that led to an undesirable event.

The reach of this technology usually means it can be applied on multiple scales, from straightforward household items to vast superstructures with complicated machinery and so on to account for. In a movie which can be found on their website, Mike Yeager of vScenario utilizes substations as an instance of an environment that would benefit from use of an electronic twin. Yeager says,”Substations can be very, very dangerous areas. Envision new hires being able to explore a substation almost, familiarize yourself with all the hazards, understand the dangers without being in harm’s way on a substation. There is some very, very powerful security and training benefits using these models. And again, there’s nothing else to it. As soon as you have this model, then it’s just as simple as placing somebody in there and building a training program around it.”

The company’s site also provides a great deal of information on the technology and the kind of data accumulation, it ought to function efficiently. Scenarios can also be reached through their social networking stations.

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Foxconn mulls making electric vehicles at Wisconsin plant

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, is considering making electric vehicles at its highly anticipated Wisconsin plant that has been scaled back since its announcement in 2017, the company’s chairman said Tuesday.

The decision will be between whether to go to Mexico or the U.S. for manufacturing electric vehicles, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital. He said the decision, which will be finalized before July 1, will hinge on business, not politics.

The Wisconsin project was scaled back after Foxconn initially signed a contract with the state of Wisconsin under then-Gov. Scott Walker in 2017 to earn nearly $4 billion in state and local tax incentives for a $10 billion display screen manufacturing campus and plant that would employ up to 13,000 people. But the Republican governor lost a reelection bid in 2018 to Democrat Tony Evers, who ran as a critic of the project.

After the deal was signed, Foxconn said it was downsizing the factory. In October last year, the state of Wisconsin told Foxconn that it wouldn’t qualify for billions of dollars in state tax credits unless it strikes a new deal for a scaled-back factory complex. The two sides are now negotiating a new deal.

“I took over the Wisconsin task, and I need to make it a viable one, so I need to find a product that fits that location,” Liu said Tuesday. “Whether it’s Wisconsin or Mexico, it’s not political, it’s business from my perspective.”

“But as I said, my consideration first would be to have a product that makes sense. That’s number one,” he added. He said he views government subsidies as a short-term form of support that “would not sustain if the product does not make sense.”

Foxconn, best known for making Apple iPhones, is now looking at the electric vehicle market, which automakers believe will dominate the industry in the coming years.

Liu said that the company wants to take 10% of the market share of EVs, whether the company manufactures entire vehicles or components.

In Pennsylvania, Biden showcases aid to small businesses

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden turned up at a minority-owned flooring business in suburban Philadelphia to highlight how his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package can help small businesses and to put a face on those who have struggled throughout the pandemic.

The visit Tuesday to Smith Flooring Inc. was Biden’s first stop in a cross-country administration roadshow — also involving his vice president and his wife — designed to publicize, and take credit for, the virus relief package.

It “took some loud, strong voices to get this done,” Biden said, making a subtle dig at Republicans during his visit to the small union shop that will benefit from the relief. “And it’s not like it passed with 100 votes. It was close.”

While Biden was in Pennsylvania for his first stop on the “Help is Here” tour, Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff were reinforcing the small business theme Tuesday with stops in Colorado.

With Harris and Emhoff taking notes during a business roundtable in Denver, Lorena Cantarovici, who began making empanadas in her garage after emigrating from Argentina, told of how her small shop grew over the years into three Maria Empanada locations but then was forced to lay off workers when the coronavirus struck.

She said 80% of her team came back through previous relief programs but it could take two years to get back to full capacity and “recover all this loss.” Harris and Emhoff did their part by departing with empanadas in tow.

Gabriela Salazar, whose Colorado Artisans represents more than 100 artisans in Denver, estimated more than 90% of those artisans are unemployed or collecting unemployment. Salazar, a small business owner for 30 years, told Harris that help from the Small Business Administration has “kept me afloat but more is needed.”

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Smith Flooring had 23 employees during peak times but currently is employing 12 workers. It is using the loan to help retain workers and upgrade technology. Borrowers are eligible for forgiveness if they meet certain requirements, including devoting at least 60% of the proceeds to payroll expenses.

In his chat with the owners of Smith Floors, Biden repeatedly asked “what else” they thought his administration should be doing to help businesses like theirs.

In Washington, the Senate confirmed Isabel Guzman, Biden’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration on Tuesday. She is expected to play a key role in implementing the relief bill.

Biden is trying to showcase how the aid package will bring transformational change to the nation by halving child poverty, fueling record levels of hiring and pumping money to parents, schools and state and local governments. It’s a sharp turn from the start of the Biden administration, when vaccination goals were relatively modest and Americans were warned the country might not return to normal until Christmas.

The Biden administration estimates that 400,000 small businesses have closed because of the pandemic and millions more are barely surviving. His aid package includes a $28 billion grant program to support restaurants and drinking establishments. It also includes $15 billion in flexible grants.

The visit to Smith Flooring was meant to drive home that point. The business saw revenue fall about 20% during the pandemic. It recently qualified for a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan during a two-week window in which the Biden administration focused the program exclusively on helping businesses with 20 or fewer employees.

Harris also held a virtual chat with the operators of a Fort Lupton, Colorado, vaccine clinic.

The second day of the vice president’s tour to publicize the virus relief was disrupted because of a mechanical issue with the government plane that flew the vice president to Las Vegas and Los Angeles on Monday. A smaller backup plane was sent to fly her to Denver, relegating most of her staff, Secret Service and a small group of reporters to fly on a cavernous cargo plane.

Because of the plane issue, Harris scratched her plan for her visit to the vaccine clinic, Plan De Salud Del Valle Inc., and instead spoke with the clinic’s staff over Zoom. She praised their work, making particular note of the clinic’s focus on helping minority communities get vaccinated.

“The President and I from the beginning of this have made it one of our highest priorities to make sure that we are taking into account racial disparities, and that we supply folks on the ground with the resources you need so that we have equitable outcomes,” she said.

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Superville reported from Denver and Madhani from Chicago.

Encrypted messaging app Signal blocked in China

HONG KONG (AP) — Encrypted messaging app Signal appears to have been blocked in mainland China, the latest foreign social media service to cease working in a country where the government tightly controls the flow of information.

As of Tuesday, users of the app within China had to connect to a virtual private network (VPN) that allows them to circumvent China’s so-called Great Firewall, a censorship system which blocks websites, services and apps deemed inappropriate by the Chinese government.

The move to silence Signal, one of the few remaining messaging apps in China that allowed users to engage in encrypted messaging, comes as China expands controls to shape public opinion and at times limit private discourse.

Users in China said Tuesday that they could not get the app to connect without a VPN service. Messages failed to send and calls did not go through.

In China, services like Facebook, Google and Twitter have been blocked for years. Most recently, popular social-audio platform Clubhouse was also shut down in the country, shortly after Chinese users on the app started taking part in real-time audio discussions deemed sensitive by authorities, such as China’s mass detentions of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a daily news briefing Tuesday that he was “not aware of the situation” around Signal being banned in China.

“What I can tell you is that as a principle, China’s internet is open, and the Chinese government manages internet-related affairs according to law and regulations,” Zhao said.

Signal could not be immediately reached for comment.

Signal uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services, which prevents any third-party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls.

The app recently had grown popular among users in China concerned about privacy issues, although the numbers of Signal users in the country is still small compared to the ubiquitous WeChat messaging app. WeChat has over a billion users and is a mainstay of everyday life in China thanks to its payments services and social media features.

However, politically sensitive messages and content on WeChat are often censored, and authorities have detained users for spreading rumors online. Messages on WeChat are encrypted only between its servers and the users’ devices, and in theory could be accessed by Tencent, WeChat’s parent company.

To circumvent the China’s censorship and access sites like Twitter or Facebook, users in China often use VPN services, although the use of such services to access blocked services is illegal in the country.

Child border crossings surging, straining US facilities

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surge of migrants on the Southwest border has the Biden administration on the defensive, with the head of Homeland Security acknowledging the depth of the problem but insisting it’s under control and saying he won’t revive a Trump-era practice of immediately expelling teens and children.

The number of migrants being stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border has been rising since last April, and the administration is still rapidly expelling most single adults and families under a public health order issued by President Donald Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is allowing teens and children to stay, at least temporarily, and they have been coming in ever larger numbers.

More than 4,000 migrant children were being held by the Border Patrol as of Sunday, including at least 3,000 in custody longer than the 72-hour limit set by a court order, according to a U.S. official. The agency took in an additional 561 on Monday, twice the recent average, according to a second official. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss figures not yet publicly released.

It has put President Joe Biden in a difficult spot, blasted by Republicans for what they view as encouragement to illegal border crossers and by some Democrats over the prolonged detention of minors. It’s also a challenge to his effort to overhaul the broader Trump policies that sought to curtail both legal and illegal immigration.

“The situation at the southwest border is difficult,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas conceded Tuesday in his most extensive remarks to date on the subject. “We are working around the clock to manage it and we will continue to do so. That is our job.”

The number of migrants attempting to cross the border is at the highest level since March 2019, with Mayorkas warning that it is on pace to hit a 20-year peak.

The number of children crossing by themselves, mostly from Central America, appears to be surging in particular in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. The Border Patrol took in 280 there alone on Monday.

The total of 561 unaccompanied minors from Monday offers a snapshot of how quickly conditions have changed along the border. That was up 60% from the daily average in February, one of the officials said. In May 2019, during the last surge, the one-day peak was 370 teens and children.

Children and teens crossing by themselves rose 60% from this January to more than 9,400 in February, according to the most recent statistics released publicly by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The Health and Human Services Department plans to open shelter facilities at Moffett Federal Airfield near San Francisco and in Pecos, Texas, to handle the flow. It is also looking to expand a facility in Donna, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, to hold 2,000.

Also, the Dallas Convention Center is scheduled to begin holding children as early as Wednesday with plans to accommodate up to 3,000. Another makeshift holding center in Midland, Texas, that opened last weekend for 700 children had 485 on Monday.

Some of the increase in adults is due to people who are repeatedly caught after being expelled under the public health order issued last year to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Other factors include economic upheaval caused by the pandemic and recent hurricanes that worsened living conditions in Central America. Officials say it’s also likely that smugglers have encouraged people to try to cross under the new administration.

Mayorkas said the a surge in the number of children is a challenge for the Border Patrol and other agencies amid the coronavirus pandemic. But he rejected a Trump-era policy of sending them immediately back to Mexico or other countries.

“They are vulnerable children and we have ended the prior administration’s practice of expelling them,” he said.

Though there have been previous migrant surges, including under Trump, Republicans in Congress say that Biden’s support for new immigration legislation and his decision to allow people to make legal asylum claims have become a magnet for migrants.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Jim Inhofe held up a photo of a small crowd of demonstrators in Tijuana, Mexico, wearing matching T-shirts with the words “Biden, Please Let us in” that circulated widely on social media in recent days.

“They’re all coming across the border, they’re coming fast, and they’re wearing Biden T-shirts,” said the Oklahoma Republican.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy led a delegation of a dozen Republican lawmakers on Monday to the border in Texas and blamed the Biden administration for driving an increase in migrants by actions that include halting border wall construction and supporting legislation in Congress that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people now in the country.

“The sad part about all of this is it didn’t have to happen. This crisis was created by the presidential policies of this new administration,” McCarthy said.

Biden pushed back in an interview Tuesday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, noting previous surges under Trump and pointing out that his administration has been trying to discourage people from crossing while it works to restore an asylum system undermined by his predecessor. “I heard the other day that they’re coming because they know I’m a nice guy. Yeah, well here’s the deal. They’re not.”

Trump confronted a similar surge in 2019 even as he rushed to expand the border wall system along the border and forced people seeking asylum to do so in Central America or remain in Mexico. A year earlier, he forcibly separated migrant children from their families as part of a zero-tolerance campaign that became one of the most significant political challenges of his administration.

The Biden administration is allowing migrants who are under 18 years old and cross by themselves to remain in the country while the government decides whether they have a legal claim to residency, either under asylum law or for some other reason.

Mayorkas noted that 80% of the minors, most of whom are from the three Northern Triangle countries of Central America, have relatives in the U.S. and 40% have a parent. “These are children being reunited with their families who will care for them,” he said.

The Biden administration last week ended a Trump policy that made relatives reluctant to contact HHS to retrieve children for fear of being deported themselves.

Besides setting up new temporary facilities to house migrant children, it is also backing aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to try to stem the flow of migrants at the source.

Mayorkas took swipes at the previous administration for dismantling an asylum system that would have enabled a more “orderly” immigration process, cutting aid to Central America and failing to vaccinate Border Patrol agents.

Also, he said the Biden administration is working to make the asylum process shorter and to make it possible to petition from an applicant’s home country rather than make a dangerous and uncertain journey. “We have no illusions about how hard it is,” he said, “and we know it will take time.”

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Spagat reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Ron Nixon and Colleen Long contributed to this report.

Archives for March 2021

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