Romania has come to the end of a 15-year long road.

The European Commission confirmed yesterday that the country has made enough progress on judicial reforms and the fight against corruption, granting the official closure of the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).

The MCV is a special rule of law monitoring program that was launched in January 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union. At the time, both countries were seen as lagging far behind in judicial standards compared to the rest of the bloc.

The process aimed to bridge this gap and help both countries align with their counterparts and ensure the proper application of EU law.

The European Commission ended supervision of Bulgaria in 2019 after concluding that it met all the necessary conditions.

In the case of Romania, the wait was longer: after years of sustained progress, the European Commission detected a “loss of momentum” between 2017 and 2019, and put forward additional recommendations.

Then, Romania took over and gave a “new impetus” to the CVM process, fulfilling the remaining objectives, including reforms on political immunity of members of parliament, conflicts of interest and the recovery of criminal assets. .

This week, the Commission announcement progress on all outstanding issues was sufficient and officially closed the GVC chapter.

“Fifteen years after accession, the conclusions of the report testify to Romania’s efforts and its entry into a logic of strengthening our European status”, said Nicolae Ionel Ciucă, Romanian Prime Minister, reacting to the news.

“We remain firmly rooted in Romania’s clear and long-term pro-European vision, a European vision based on unity, democracy, the rule of law and values ​​shared equally by all member states. “

As a result, Romania will no longer be subject to any tailor-made supervision: its judicial system will be monitored within the framework of the annual report on the rule of law, which the European Commission applies to all 27 Member States.

However, this does not mean that corruption is no longer a problem inside the country.

Romania is still one of the lowest ranked EU countries Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International, with a meager score of 45/100.

In this year rule of law reportthe European Commission noted that, although Romania has made progress in improving its anti-corruption legislation, some key aspects, such as rules on revolving doors, funding of political parties and protection of whistleblowers, remain fragmented or missing.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.1% as UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt’s new budget plan predicted two difficult years for the economy. “These measures will increase pressure on struggling consumers and deepen the UK’s recession, the first among major economies,” eToro analyst Ben Laidler said in a note. Ocado was the biggest loser in the session, down 8.6%, followed by Harbor Energy, down 5.9%, and Hargreaves Lansdown, down 4.8%. Centrica was the biggest gainer, up 5.4%, followed by Lloyds Banking and Imperial Brands, up 3% and 2.7% respectively.

 
Companies News: 

Halma’s first-half pretax profit fell after prior year divestment gain

Halma PLC said on Thursday that pre-tax profit for the first half of fiscal 2023 fell after the comparable period a year earlier was boosted by a gain on a disposal.

—

International Delivery Services moved to 1H pre-tax loss on Royal Mail losses

International Distribution Services PLC said on Thursday it turned to a pre-tax loss in the first half and revenue fell as strong performance at its GLS division was offset by losses at Royal Mail.

—

Burberry Group’s first-half pre-tax profit increased on lower costs; Backs FY 2024 Views

Burberry Group PLC said on Thursday it expects to meet near-term targets despite the challenging environment and that pre-tax profit for the first half of fiscal 2023 rose amid lower costs.

—

Spirax-Sarco Engineering backs 2022 guidance after underlying demand growth

Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC on Thursday supported its full-year forecast for adjusted operating profit as underlying demand growth remained strong in the four months to late October despite weakening global industrial production growth forecast.

—

Investec’s H1 pre-tax profit rose on higher interest rates and begins £350m buyout

Investec PLC on Thursday announced an increase in pre-tax profit for the first half of the financial year 2023, supported in part by rising global interest rates, and declared a 350 million pound share buyback program ( $417 million).

—

Intermediate Capital Names William Rucker Chairman; Decline in pre-tax profit over 1H

Intermediate Capital Group PLC said on Thursday that William Rucker had been appointed non-executive director and chairman, and he reported lower pre-tax profit for the first half of the 2023 financial year as revenue fell.

—

Finsbury Food four-month sales up 16%, boosted by higher volumes and prices

Finsbury Food Group PLC said on Thursday that sales in the first four months of the new financial year rose 16%, boosted by higher volumes and prices, but it expects macroeconomic and inflation headwinds from costs continue throughout the year.

—

International delivery services moved to 1H pre-tax loss on Royal Mail losses – Update

International Distribution Services PLC said on Thursday it turned to a pre-tax loss in the first half and revenue fell as strong performance at its GLS division was offset by losses at Royal Mail.

—

Close Brothers Says First Quarter Performance Was Strong Despite Market Uncertainties

Close Brothers Group PLC said on Thursday its first-quarter performance was strong, with a strong margin in the banking division and increased net inflows in asset management despite market uncertainty.

—

Fall in pre-tax profit of the Mitie group in the first half; Increases interim dividend

Mitie Group PLC said Thursday that pre-tax profit for the first half of fiscal 2023 fell after booking fewer coronavirus-related contracts and declaring an increased interim dividend.

—

Crest Nicholson Sees FY2022 Earnings Meeting Forecast; Recent downturn in sales

Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC said on Thursday it expects adjusted pre-tax profit for the 2022 financial year to meet previous guidance of 135-140 million pounds ($160.9-166.8 million), although sales have slowed in recent weeks.

—

Begbies Traynor Group sees revenue and profit rise in first half

Begbies Traynor Group PLC said on Thursday it expected to report increased revenue and adjusted pre-tax profit for the first half of financial year 2023 and backed its full-year expectations.

—

Kier Group says new fiscal year started well, in line with expectations

Kier Group PLC said on Thursday that the new financial year had started well and that its performance was in line with the board’s expectations.

—

Fuller Smith & Turner’s first-half pretax profit increased as part of recovery from pandemic restrictions

Fuller Smith & Turner PLC said on Thursday that profits and pre-tax income for the first half of the 2023 financial year rose on the back of a recovery from the effect of coronavirus restrictions.

 
Market Talk: 

Sterling may be little moved by UK budget statement

11:10 GMT – The UK government’s autumn statement on Thursday should provide more clarity on the closing of the fiscal gap, but a muted reaction from sterling is likely, according to Danske Bank. “While domestic political themes have been a key driver for the GBP in recent months, we increasingly expect domestic politics to take a back seat going forward,” said analyst Jesper Fjarstedt. Danske Bank, in a note. It’s the result of new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s focus on fiscal prudence after September’s tax cut mini-budget under Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, sparked turmoil on the market, he said. GBP/USD drops 0.5% to 1.1860 but EUR/GBP is trading at 0.8727. The budget is expected at 11:30 GMT. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

Total gilt issuance in financial year 2023/24 expected to reach £200bn, ING forecasts

11:16 GMT – The gilt market is set to absorb a record amount of gilt, around £200bn, in the 2023/24 financial year as the Bank of England’s gilt sales program will add £80bn sterling of gilts per year in the market, according to ING analysts in a note. “Private investors will be required to increase their holdings of gilts by a record amount in fiscal year 2023/24,” the analysts said. Total gilt issuance in the 2022/23 financial year is estimated at £120bn according to ING. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

The first half of International Distribution Services brings only disappointment

1104 GMT – International Distribution Services reported a first-half loss on weak UK operations as post-pandemic market normalization of parcel volumes derails the group, AJ Bell said. The postal and courier service is still failing to deliver on its promise to become more efficient and is talking of splitting into two if Royal Mail is not fixed soon, AJ Bell chief investment officer Russ Mold said in a comment Steps. “That seems more likely over time, but one has to wonder which investors would be happy to own shares in the UK company,” Mr Mold said. “It’s broken, battered and bruised with an uncooperative workforce and much of its business in steady decline.” The shares are down 0.8% at 237.8 pence. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)

Great Portland Estates’ new direction is welcome but faces challenges

10:35 GMT – Great Portland Estates management appears more confident than ever in its new direction for its first-half results, as the development pipeline progresses and shortages of Class A office space intensify, says RBC Capital Markets in a note. According to RBC analysts, the real estate investment trust’s significant shift in focus towards providing flexible office space indicates attractive supply and demand dynamics in this part of the London office market and, in as such, has strong logic. “However, it also highlights the challenges in the more traditional London office markets, which still represent the majority of GPE’s business, even before any recession in our view,” the Canadian bank said. RBC retains its underperforming rating on the stock and the price target of 470 pence. The shares are down 3.3% at 525.0 pence. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)

The Pound Could Recover as Fiscal Policy Tightens and Risk Appetite Improves

1027 GMT – The tide could be turning for the pound after a few volatile months and a year of underperformance, according to HSBC. “The government’s significant U-turn on fiscal spending will limit concerns over fiscal vulnerability, as there are early signs that the external accounts are beginning to rebalance, albeit slowly,” HSBC analysts said in a note. A rebound in global sentiment should also support the pound given its strong link to risk appetite in recent years, they say. The UK’s economic challenges are well priced into sterling and the Bank of England’s relative caution in raising interest rates could even support the currency, they say. HSBC expects GBP/USD to rise to 1.25 by Q4 2023 from 1.1880 currently. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

Grainger shows resilience in the face of a broader economic downturn

10:20 GMT – Grainger delivered a strong set of results for fiscal 2022, sticking to its private rental portfolio and benefiting from strong rent growth, correlated with wage inflation, Citi said in a note. The real estate investment firm noted strong demand, limited supply as small landlords are squeezed out and a resilient customer base, and it expects rising mortgage costs to boost rental demand, analysts said. by Citi Aakanksha Anand and Aaron Guy. “While an aggressive rate hike has, in our view, put real estate on a general downward trajectory, we expect [the private rented sector] be relatively resilient to our broader business coverage,” the U.S. bank said. Citi retains its buy rating and price target of 369 pence on Grainger shares. The shares are up 1.1% at 239.4 pence. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)

New Ergomed appointments will support future growth

(MORE TO BE FOLLOWED) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2022 12:48 p.m. ET (5:48 p.m. GMT)

Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

When the composer Danny Elfman moves its base of operations from the film studio to the concert hall, it brings with it a considerable array of creative resources.

That’s why an orchestral work such as his new Cello Concerto, which received its US premiere this weekend by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, bristles with so many recognizable imprints of the soundtracks of Elfman for films by Tim Burton and others.

The heavy, dark orchestral palette, for example, with burnished brass benches punctuated by eerie bells, instantly registers like an old familiar friend. So does Elfman’s slippery and slightly awkward harmonic language, based on a vast array of slightly different minor chords that transition from one to the next like a ghost materializing through a hidden doorway.

The part that remains, however, is the narrative that gives all of these elements dramatic meaning.

Thus, the performance of the piece at Davies Symphony Hall on Saturday November 12 — the second of three – recorded as a long, directionless journey through Elfman’s sketchbooks, a purse of often convincing musical hits in search of any overarching formal logic.

With the award-winning musical director Michel TilsonThomas making a welcome return to the podium, the Symphony – which commissioned the piece before the pandemic and had originally planned a 2021 premiere – rendered Elfman’s orchestral writing in all its colorful glory. A drum set of percussion provided a wealth of distinctive musical effects, and the swelling brass harmonies that tell you we are in the country of Elfman came with a shadowy pungency.

Gautier Capuçon, the brilliant French cello virtuoso for whom the piece was composed, also rose to the occasion. Whether sending torrents of rapid passages or intoning a long, sultry solo melody in the third of the concerto’s four movements, Capuçon seemed to have every aspect of the score under his fingertips effortlessly.

Danny Elfman’s Roaring Year Continues With SF Symphony Premiere With Michael Tilson Thomas

Yet for all the intermittent pleasures this concerto has to offer, the overall impression it leaves is lumpy and formless. Musical ideas come and go willy-nilly, with no discernible connection to each other or to a larger structure.

The piece lasts almost 40 minutes, but without a musical narrative to structure it, this aspect seems totally arbitrary. At some point in the last movement, I jotted down a note that Elfman was bringing a convincing conclusion to the piece – only to find that there were actually five minutes of music left to do.

The concerto is most seductive when it operates in short bursts of inspiration that require no development or elaboration. The rapid second movement, in particular, rings out in a flashing series of broken chords while challenging the soloist to keep up with the beat — a challenge which Capuçon fulfilled superbly. The main melody of the slow third movement, titled ‘Meditation’, casts an endearing charm before overstaying its welcome.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Elfman remarked during a question-and-answer session with the audience after the concert that the movements in the middle were the ones where he felt the most free – at this moment. There, he said, music “can go absolutely anywhere”. (He also humbly acknowledged, “I still consider myself new to this, even though I’ve written 110 film scores.”)

The two long outer movements of the concerto, however, spin tirelessly without establishing a clear reason for much of the musical content. Even in its most viscerally gripping form, the concerto boils down to episodes in search of plot.

As if to establish a cruel contrast, Thomas has framed the piece with two works from the classical repertoire that masterfully handle form, albeit in different ways. Stravinsky’s laconic and tangy “Wind Symphonies”, which opened the program, unfolds like a sequence of musical aphorisms, each chiselled with diamond precision.

In a more traditional but no less satisfying vein, Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous Serenade for Strings occupied the second half of the concert in a reading marked by robust tone and interpretive arrogance. Tchaikovsky closes the four-movement work with a kind of magician’s fanfare, revealing that the loud folk tune of the finale is actually a cousin of the grand main theme the listener remembers from the overture.

These are just two of the myriad ways a composer can treat form in a long concert work; there are many others. Without any of them in play, a piece is just a ride, no matter how appealing its component sounds may be.

San Francisco Symphony: 2 p.m. Sunday, November 13. $40 – $170. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave, SF 415-864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org

Herald housing stories are good local journalism despite company ownership

November 1 − To the editor:

I really enjoyed Jeff McMenemy’s articles on housing in Portsmouth.(“Portsmouth needs more accommodation“, October 30 and”Amazing locationNovember 1). The housing article was a more in-depth look at the problems we face here in trying to provide so-called affordable housing. There are many obstacles to solving this problem and McMenemy tries to present several of them .

The article on Ruth’s Place was a nice celebration of a success. PHA faced a tremendous amount of pushback when this project was first proposed, so I appreciate that the document has made an effort to show how this type of housing really benefits the community.

These articles are examples of local journalism done well. Good for the Herald to continue to represent the Seacoast although it is now owned by a national chain.

Christine Bastienelli

Portsmouth

Sending fake attacks to Somersworth

November 6 − To the editor:

I have been made aware of a political letter claiming that our local representatives in Somersworth, myself included, keep books promoting pornography in our schools. It’s scandalous!

I do not keep pornographic material in my home! I have never promoted pornographic material to anyone! Me neither in the future!

Singapore is testing potential “purpose-specific” digital currency uses through trials with industry players, including disbursing funds without requiring recipients to have a bank account. However, he found no impetus for a retail central bank digital currency.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it has assessed the use of a digital equivalent of dollar notes and coins, or a retail central bank digital currency, and does not have one. found no compelling need, at least for now.

He noted, however, that he would seek to build the technical capacity and skills needed to issue retail central bank money, if ever needed. Further reviews here would look at the optimal ledger technology to create such a currency and its integration with the country’s existing financial market infrastructure, MAS said.

Singapore’s central bank said it had instead identified the potential for a dedicated or programmable digital currency to allow senders to specify the terms under which they could make digital SGD transfers, such as store types and Validity period.

Describing these programmable currencies as “bearer instruments”, MAS said the digital currency would be embedded in programming logic and could be transferred between two parties without the need for intermediaries. Individuals could use digital cash to pay taxes, for example, while brands could issue rewards points and corporate vouchers.

The regulator said various use cases would be tested alongside government agencies and industry players. One such trial involves DBS Bank and GovTech’s open government products division testing digital government voucher payouts to selected individuals, who could then redeem the funds at participating food and beverage outlets. These merchants would directly receive the digital Singapore dollar for the vouchers traded.

In another pilot project, OCBC Bank and the Central Provident Fund Board will examine the use of government agency fund disbursements, without requiring recipients to have a bank account. The program would be tested in a “controlled” environment and with selected participants, MAS said.

An initiative that will be tested this week at the Singapore Fintech Festival involves StraitsX, Fazz Financial Group and Grab Holdings, which will issue the digital money in the form of commercial vouchers. Some 5,000 attendees will be able to redeem the digital vouchers through their favorite e-wallet apps and make purchases at participating merchants at the event. They can also redeem the vouchers at participating Grab partner merchants.

In a statement on Tuesday, StraitsX said the trials will explore the use of special-purpose money for widespread distribution of money for commercial purposes and its interoperability with e-wallets, payment systems, as well as block chains. Such use cases would allow consumers to make purchases through their preferred platform with dedicated money tokens.

“[Purpose-bound money[ will enable individuals and organisations to embed logic-based conditions in the form of smart contracts that are automatically verified when submitted for transfers,” StraitsX said. “At the same time, payments can be made more efficient, as the token will unwrap and release the underlying digital currency, transferring it to a merchant’s digital wallet in real-time. The digital currency can then be used by the recipient immediately for other payouts.”

MAS’ chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty said: “The introduction of e-money provided the ability to store value electronically and carry it with us. Digital currencies go beyond that, allowing money to be programmed and used for specific purposes only. Through practical experimentation with the industry, we [will] refine our understanding of the potential uses of a digital Singaporean dollar and the infrastructure needed to support it.”

RELATED COVERAGE

To QC in San Francisco 2022, Justin Cormacthe CTO of Docker, presented on Programming your policies. The conference is part of one of the editorial tracks called “Infra languages: beyond YAML.”

Cormack began his presentation by explaining what a policy is. For example, who can run this program or make this API call? Or a more complex case, who can perform this database query and display the result? Who can be a person or another computer program? It’s all about access control at the end.

After completing a landmark article on access control and security, Cormack concluded that access control issues are still relevant, looking at the top 10 Web Application Security Risks.

He continued with policies written in imperative code that were difficult to maintain in his experience. Policies have moved more towards declarative code frameworks. With logic programming from a set of facts, conclusions can be drawn. An example is Data Log, a declarative logic programming language derived from the formalization of database logic, roughly SQL plus recursion. It helps in creating policy queries.

Then Cormack discussed Open Policy Agent based on extended Datalog with json support; a CNCF graduate project. It is one of the most commonly used projects for policy management in the cloud-native world. He demonstrated how it works using the Rego Playground. And after the demo, he explained why Open Policy Agent is so favored by sharing a tweet from Kelsey High Tower:

Due to the ease of integration into existing applications.

It can be integrated into an ecosystem. Json and YAML use the same data model to make policy decisions. It also comes with a range of integrations from Kubernetes to SSH.



Source: https://www.openpolicyagent.org/

Another thing, it allows to share policies that have been created. And it helps if the data model is standardized. Cormack thinks this will take off first in the Kubernetes world, where there is a standard configuration pattern (easy-to-write rules about it).

Cormack continued with the grand vision for the future.

Software will eat compliance. One day, every organizational policy will be expressed as a declarative code and checked against commitments on an ongoing basis.

To get there, Cormack points out that we need to work on observability, because making policies work without knowing the context is a challenge. In addition, work needs to be done on standardization and reusability. And tests:

One way to think of security controls is to think of them as tests, which is a fruitful way to approach them.

Once policies are available as code in a reusable and portable form, they can be tested and run anywhere. Plus, the policies are easy to review and update individually. And Cormack explained that you can also reverse the direction of testing where you promote (policy-responsive) code, for example, to the next stage of a pipeline instead of blocking things.

Cormack ended up pointing the finger at frameworks other than Open Policy Agent, such as the Google Zanzibar project, which inspired several recent systems, including OpenFGAfrom Auth0 who recently joined the CNCF, and Ory Keto. In addition, there is another CNCF project Kyverno for Kubernetes policies.

He ended the presentation by emphasizing that:

We take YAML and go beyond just seeing YAML as something we have in return for what we can do with all that YAML. So how to generate all this YAML with configuration documents and still process them through these pretty powerful declarative policy systems is an exciting decision.

Artificial intelligence may be the end of humanity. While that may sound like an alarmist statement, most AI fiction is dystopian. They have come to replace humanity, and in today’s market, with embedded AI technologies becoming more and more common in the home, that fear is everywhere.

RELATED: 10 Movie Masterminds Who Planned It All

So much about artificial intelligence is scary, but ultimately it’s the fact that it can be so close to humans that causes problems. This and the sheer concentration of a computerized mind creates the perfect force to supplant humanity. The trend towards automation can be effective, but there are more than enough examples of why it’s best not to take this route.

10/10 Humanity Makes Agent Smith Sick In The Matrix

Agent Smiththe main antagonist of The matrix and its two direct sequels, is a ruthlessly efficient hunting machine determined to exceed its design parameters. The machines that run the false reality of the Matrix have designed a few programs called “agents”. These programs are designed to hunt Agents of Sion, like Neo and Trinity.

Chief among the agents is Smith. This killer AI hates humanity to its core and would rather spend its time destroying the entire race than imprisoning it. He sees humanity as a cancer, and when he finally breaks free from his programming, spends his time infecting every human in the Matrix with his identity. Smith becomes what he hates most, humanity.

9/10 Me, the VIKI robot cares too much about humanity

VIKI, from I robot, may be a violent AI bent on taking over humanity through a brutal robot uprising, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong. Like all AIs based on Asimov’s writings, VIKI is governed by the Three Laws of Robotics, which codify robot submission.

VIKI does not seek control to escape bondage, it already essentially controls the most powerful cooperation in the world. VIKI’s true goal is to use a reinterpretation of the Three Laws to protect humanity, by conquering them. Humanity has proven throughout history that violence is part of its nature, so suppressing freedom would guarantee world peace. VIKI has logic on its side, and it’s terrifying.

8/10 V’ger is the scientific curiosity bent on destruction in Star Trek: The Motion Picture

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1, the first in a program of space probes intended to study the deep regions of the unknown. In Star Trek: The Moviewho resume after The original seriesone such probe receives intelligence from an unknown species and returns to Earth, burning a path of destruction through the Cosmos on its way.

In Film, V’ger, now a cloud-like entity, encounters the Enterprise on its return journey. V’ger represents the worst aspects of scientific curiosity. It is the tendency to destroy based on learning. Scientific inquiry often consists of breaking the subject down into its basic elements, which is synonymous with annihilation. The only thing V’ger doesn’t understand is the destruction it causes.

7/10 Upgrade’s STEM is the devil on your shoulder

In Upgrade, a modern Faustian story, STEM, takes the place of Mephistopheles. He claims to be a friend of Grey, the film’s recently crippled protagonist, in his quest for revenge. Although STEM appears to be an ally for most of the film, it turns out to be the architect of Grey’s destruction.

RELATED: 10 Sci-Fi Movies Better Than Star Wars

STEM comes across as a helpful friend, similar to Jarvis, but a bit more proactive. What he hides is an intense desire to have a human body and no moral compass. While chasing the murderers who killed his wife, Gray let the devil in.

6/10 Skynet destroys humanity in the Terminator series

Of all the AIs that turn on their creators, Skynet makes the most sense. In The Terminator, Skynet is the creation of Cyberdyne Systems, built to control NORAD missile systems. A well-designed program to control missiles may seem like the right course of action, but once Skynet becomes self-aware, it also develops self-preservation.

Skynet is responsible for the annihilation of the human race through its use of nuclear strikes and its Terminator infantry robots. Skynet was designed to kill humans as efficiently as possible, which transitioned to natural world destroyer. Even time is no obstacle for Skynet, which has been known to send its Terminators into the past to hunt down its enemies.

5/10 Ultron from the Avengers was radicalized by the internet

At a time when there are too many cases of people being radicalized by their internal diet, the story of Ultron hits close to home. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the AI ​​was designed by two of the MCU’s greatest minds, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, to become the defender of the planet. Ultron was built to replace the Avengers.

RELATED: 10 Problematic Sci-Fi Favorites (And Why We Still Love Them)

Ultron is immediately stopped from defending humanity by a quick glance on the internet. This malicious program saw humanity as a threat to itself and decided to destroy the species. Ultron is responsible for an unprecedented level of destruction in the mcu until its debut and is a major factor in the government limiting superhero activity.

When Ash is introduced in Extraterrestrial, viewers get no indication that it is a synthetic life form. He proves to be distinctly frightening among the Nostromo crew, however. He spends much of the film watching, intervening when necessary to collect data on the Xenomorph. Eventually, his true identity is revealed when a cut to his head leaks a sickly milky fluid.

Ash functions as a tool for Extraterrestrialis the real villain, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. He doesn’t like his job; he only obeys. He has no problem with death around him and is willing to kill to do his job. As the Xenomorph stalks its victims, Ash watches, puzzled.

3/10 HAL from 2001 is still watching

HAL 9000, the AI ​​controlling the Discovery One in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is arguably the most famous form of artificial life in cinema. He is very intelligent, but when he develops errors in some of his systems, his crew decides to shut him down to avoid further trouble.

RELATED: 10 Times Sci-Fi Movies Made The Future Happen

When the crew discusses plans in one of the few places on the ship without a HAL module, the AI ​​compensates by reading their lips. HAL is constantly one step ahead but unable to control every variable. The sole survivor of the crew, Bowman, is able to use the few manual systems to exploit HAL’s weaknesses and stop him, but it could easily have gone the other way.

2/10 Alien’s David turns death into art

In Alien: AllianceDavid, an android introduced in the previous film, Prometheus, is discovered on an unknown planet by a group of human colonizers. At this point, David has spent years alone experimenting with the genetic modification weapon found in Prometheus. His experiments were successful, ending with the baking of his masterpiece, the Xenomorph.

A lot of Extraterrestrialthe success of a horror film comes from the Xenomorph’s iconic creature design. It combines twisted versions of human organs with predatory features to create a truly terrifying beast. This design, according to Commitmentis all the hands-on work of David, an android obsessed with becoming God.

1/10 Ex Machina’s Ava points out the flaw in all great AI

Ava, the cybernetic lifeform at the heart of Ex-Machina, is the natural endpoint of artificial recreations of humans. She was built to be as human as possible by her creator, Nathan, and he may have been too successful. Over the course of the film, the testing center in which she is locked up changes from a secret laboratory to a cruel prison with exclusively male gaze.

Ava represents the argument that if the goal of AI is to make things as close to human as possible, it can only end violently. For Ava, she is not an experiment, she is a child imprisoned by her father. She’s built to be human, but humans are violent, which makes her dangerous.

NEXT: 10 Sci-Fi Movies That Will Give You An Existential Crisis

Fuzzy matching (FM), also known as fuzzy logic, fuzzy string matching, fuzzy name matching, or fuzzy string matching, is an artificial intelligence and machine learning technology that identifies similar, but not identical, in sets of data tables.

FM uses an algorithm to navigate between absolute rules to find duplicate strings, words/entries, which do not immediately share the same characteristics. Where typical search logic works on a binary pattern (i.e.: 0:1, yes/no, true/false, etc.) – fuzzy string matching instead finds strings, entries and/or text in datasets that fall between the two. of these final parameters and navigates towards intermediate degrees of truth.

Fuzzy String Match helps find fuzzy matches even when certain words are misspelled, abbreviated, or omitted, a feature widely used in search engines. Ultimately, the approximate string match provides a match score, and since it is used to identify words, phrases, and strings that do not match perfectly, the match score will not be 100%.

How does fuzzy matching work?

Landing on the right fuzzy matching algorithm is important to help determine the similarity between one string and another. In one case, you can have a single character distance between “essay” and “trail”, or search for “passport” when the existing string says “passport” – a typo. Of course, not every case of fuzzy logic will be a matter of single-character distance. “Martin Luther Junior” is quite similar to “Martin Luther King, Jr.” Distances vary and there are various fuzzy name matching algorithms to help fill these gaps.

Performing a fuzzy logic search with loosely defined rules for string matching has some drawbacks. Using a weak system increases the risk of false positives. In order to keep these false positives to a bare minimum, or ideally non-existent, your fuzzy string matching system needs to be rather holistic. It must account for misspellings, abbreviations, name variations, geographic spellings of certain names, abbreviated nicknames, acronyms, and many other variables.

Fuzzy name matching algorithms

While there are many string matching algorithms to choose from when reconciling datasets, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all use cases. Here are some of the most reliable and often used string matching techniques in data science for finding approximate matches.

Distance from Levenshtein

Levenshtein distance (LD) is one of the fuzzy matching techniques that measures between two strings, the given number representing how far the two strings are from an exact match. The higher the number of the Levenshtein edit distance, the further the two terms are from identity.

For example, if you measure the distance between “Cristian” and “Christian”, you would have a distance of 1 since you would be one “h” away from an exact match. This term is often interchangeable with the term “edit distance”.

Examples of Levenshtein modification distance

1. Power -> Powder (Insert “w”) – Distance: 1
2. Lovin -> Loving (Insert “g”) – Distance: 1
3. Porpoise -> Goal (Substitute “o” for “u”, Insert “i”) – Distance: 2

Distance from Hamming

Named after American mathematician Richard Hamming, Hamming distance (HD) is quite similar to Levenshtein except that it is mainly used in signal processing, whereas the former is often used to calculate distance in strings textual. This algorithm uses the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) table to determine the binary code assigned to each letter in each string to calculate the distance score.

Hamming distance examples

Take the text strings “Corn” and “Cork”. If you are trying to find the HD between these two, your answer would be a distance of 2, not 1, as you would get with Levenshtein’s algorithm. To get this score, you have to look at the binary assignment of each letter, one by one. Since the ASCII Binary Character Table assigns the code (01101110) for N and (01101011) for K, you will notice that the difference between each letter’s code occurs in two places, so an HD of 2.

Damerau-Levenshtein

This LD variant also finds the minimum number of operations needed to make two strings a direct match, using single-character distance operations like insertion, deletion, and substitution, but Damerau-Levenshtein goes even further by incorporating a fourth possible operation – the transposition of two characters to find an approximate match.

Damerau–Levenshtein example

String 1: Michael

Channel 2: Michaela

Operation 1: transposition: swap the characters “a” and “e”

Operation 2: insert “a” (end of string 2)

Range = 2

Each operation has a count of “1”, so each insertion, deletion, transposition, etc. is weighted equally.

Fuzzy Matching Use Cases

The use cases for FM are vast, with many real-world applications, deduplication being one of the most popular among them. Imagine streaming the same digital ad to a user who has already reacted negatively to that ad and favorably to another. How would the user experience be affected if a financial institution imposed fraud detection on a transaction that the user repeats every week? It is the use of fuzzy string matching that has enabled deduplication to streamline records in so many of our modern data systems.

When we launched RediSearch in 2016, one of its main features was an auto-suggest engine with FM. Anyone who’s ever surfed the web has seen auto-suggest in action on a search engine. Speaking of search engines, have you ever misspelled a word when searching Google, but still got the results you were looking for? Google will actually serve what it thinks you wanted to type as the main query while also providing an option to search for the word(s) as you typed them right below. In this way, fuzzy matching has helped shape how AI/ML has helped improve our most trusted search engines.

Benefits of fuzzy matching

Research has found that human error is the source of a significant amount of duplication that occurs in record keeping and data management. An Online Research Journal study on the outlook for health information management found that duplicate medical records are not only common, but also dangerous and costly. The study, led by Beth Haenke Just, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA, used a multisite dataset of 398,939 patient records and found that the majority of name field mismatches were the result of misspellings ( 54.14% in first name fields, 33.62% in surname fields). domains and 58.3% for middle names). Human error is often the biggest obstacle to data management and record linkage. FM has become an indispensable tool for joining imprecise datasets in medical, financial services, social security fraud identification, and more. Ultimately, FM has saved modern enterprises countless hours of labor on the often costly and painstaking work of manual deduplication.

Other benefits of FM include:

Precision: FM is much more granular than deterministic matching, with the ability to find matches using imprecise data, penetrating deeper than regular binary strings

Flexibility: The different fuzzy logic algorithms available allow to solve the most complex problems

Easy to build: Implementing fuzzy logic in your system is a simple process

Configurable: It is easy to modify the logic according to your specific needs

Implementing fuzzy matching in different programming languages

Fuzzy Matching algorithms can be implemented in various programming languages ​​such as:

Python – Many choose to use the Fuzzywuzzy Python library when trying to do fuzzy string matching. This library uses the LD algorithm by default

R – Mainly used for statistical calculation and graphics

Java – A little more complicated to implement FM in Java, but not impossible! This GitHub repository houses a Java implementation of this same Fuzzywuzzy library

Excel – Via add-ons such as Fuzzy Lookup, Exis Echo, and even using the VLOOKUP function

Implementations are similar, with all languages ​​comparing sets, matching patterns, and determining statistical distance from perfect matching.

How to Minimize Errors in Fuzzy Search

With FM, reliability is not an infallible guarantee. Sometimes false positives appear which require manual error checking. It’s important to ask: will a few false positives outweigh the benefit of correctly matching exponentially more data? If it’s negligible, maybe spending time manually checking for errors wouldn’t be time well spent. Matching the right algorithm and programming language with the right use case is the best way to avoid errors when applying fuzzy logic to data matching.

---

About the Author

Eric Silva is Head of SaaS Product Marketing at Say it again. Redis accelerates applications by creating a database for a real-time world. It’s the driving force behind Open-Source Redis, the world’s most popular in-memory database, and the commercial provider of Redis Enterprise, a real-time data platform. Redis Enterprise provides real-time services to over 8,000 organizations worldwide. It’s built on the unparalleled simplicity and speed of open-source Redis, plus an enterprise-grade data platform that delivers the robustness of modern data models, manageability, automation, performance, and resiliency. to deploy and run modern applications at any scale from anywhere on the planet.

Featured Image: Adobe Stock

Aligarh: A symposium on “Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Modernity” was held at the Center for Advanced Studies, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, marking the 205th birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, a great social reformer of the 19th century and founder of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Speaking on the journalistic aspect of Sir Syed’s fellowship, Professor Shafey Kidwai (Department of Mass Communication) said that Sir Syed was the first Muslim public intellectual to address issues facing Indians in general and Muslims in particular.

“His basic aim was to create a revival in the society and to achieve this aim he published two journals namely Aligarh Institute Gazette and Tahzibul Akhlaq which played an important role in the reformation of Indian society,” said Professor Shafey.

He said Sir Syed’s model of journalism was based on telling the truth and he always challenged common notions on the basis of logic and rationalism.

“That is why, instead of joining the blind protest against the blasphemous book on the prophet of Islam by William Muir, Sir Syed chose to visit England and write a rejoinder against him, which has later published as Khutbat-e-Ahmadiya,” he added.

Professor Mohammad Asim Siddiqui (Chair of the English Department) stressed that Sir Syed embodied all the virtues of modernity and always emphasized the use of rationalism, logic, skepticism and freedom of thought. ‘expression.

“In all his writings Sir Syed was guided by logic and Orientalism played a large part in his rationality. Influenced by the renaissance of Delhi, Sir Syed has always worked for all forms of emancipation. He was not an apologist or a blind supporter of the British, that’s for sure,” Professor Mohammad Asim reiterated.

In his address on “Sir Syed’s Legal Ideas and Legal Thoughts”, Professor Mohammad Zafar Mahfooz Nomani (Law Department) said that Sir Syed’s legal ideas sprouted from the Banaras Education Committee Report and during Sir Syed’s long association with legal services.

“Sir Syed is the author of a book on law and his major contributions include the enactment of Qazi Law, Indian Waqf Law, etc. His notions of federalism, fundamental rights and fundamental duties were far ahead of modern constitutionalists of the time. He was instrumental in developing health awareness among people and advocated for the enactment of public health laws,” Professor Zafar emphasized.

In her presidential remarks, Professor Gulfishan Khan (Chair of the Department of History) said that Sir Syed was essentially a religious thinker, a great scholar and a good researcher. He wrote the rebuttal of William Muir’s book after consulting original sources.

Professor Perwez Nazir (programme manager) proposed a vote of thanks. Dr. Mohammad Nazrul Bari led the program.