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Exam Code: MS-740 Practice exam 2022 by Killexams.com team MS-740 Troubleshooting Microsoft Teams Exam Number: MB-340MS-740
Exam Name : Troubleshooting Microsoft Teams
Exam TOPICS
Candidates for this exam are support engineers responsible for supporting Microsoft Teams environments, troubleshooting deployments, tuning performance, collecting and analyzing telemetry and log data, and managing Teams environments.
Candidates should have significant exposure to unified communications and hands-on experience with Microsoft Teams. In addition, candidates should have networking knowledge of Azure fundamentals, telephony, PowerShell, data storage technologies, APIs, app security, authentication and authorization, security, and compliance information, debugging, performance tuning, and monitoring.
Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams voice issues (15-20%)
Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft Teams meetings and live events (20-25%)
Troubleshoot federation issues (10-15%)
Troubleshoot issues signing into Microsoft Teams (15-20%)
Troubleshoot teams and channels (10-15%)
Troubleshoot issues with files (15-20%)
Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams voice issues (15-20%)
Troubleshoot audio and video flow issues
troubleshoot audio and video quality issues
troubleshoot call drops
investigate issues with call quality and dropped calls by using Call Quality Dashboard, network tracing tools, and logs
Troubleshoot emergency calling issues
configure dynamic emergency calling
identify issues with emergency phone number normalization rules
troubleshoot location detection failures
troubleshoot missing locations in outbound calls and missing addresses
troubleshoot dial mask issues
Troubleshoot direct routing issues
troubleshoot issues pairing the Session Border Controller (SBC) with the phone number
service
troubleshoot dial plan issues including normalization rules
identify the root cause of direct-dialing call issues by reviewing the SBC log
troubleshoot audio conferencing issues including provisioning and configuration issues
Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft Teams meetings and live events
(20-25%)
Troubleshoot live events issues
troubleshoot meeting creation and scheduling issues
troubleshoot recording issues including policies related to recording
investigate issues sharing content and viewing reports
troubleshoot reporting issues including issues with attendance reports and moderated
questions
troubleshoot attendee access and playback issues
troubleshoot and optimize networks for Teams live events
investigate issues connecting to the service and joining meetings
Configure and troubleshoot Teams services
configure Microsoft Audio Conferencing licensing
troubleshoot dial pad issues
troubleshoot phone number provisioning issues
configure and troubleshoot issues with the Outlook add-in for Teams
troubleshoot issues enabling and configuring audio and video devices for Teams
troubleshoot online and hybrid call queues and auto-attendant issues
troubleshoot user provisioning issues including licensing users, phone number
assignments, and policies
troubleshoot issues with phone system features
investigate phone system setup and configuration issues
Troubleshoot Teams client issues
troubleshoot Teams client startup issues and crashes on Windows, Mac, and Linux
devices
investigate causes for high memory or CPU usage
investigate network issues including network latency
analyze web traffic and review HTTP status codes by using Fiddler and other tools
troubleshoot issues installing and updating client software
troubleshoot performance issues including long times for uploading files and chats slow
to load or send
troubleshoot call setup issues
troubleshoot issues adding participants to meetings
Troubleshoot messaging issues
troubleshoot message delivery issues
troubleshoot issues attaching files and content to messages
troubleshoot chat notification issues
Troubleshoot federation issues (10-15%)
Troubleshoot issues interoperating with Skype for Business
investigate chat issues when interoperating with Skype for Business
troubleshoot federation issues between Teams and Skype or Skype for Business
troubleshooting Interop chat scenarios
Troubleshoot Teams federation issues
configure federation policies and domain lists
verify tenant configuration settings including allowed and blocked domain lists and type
of federation
Troubleshoot issues signing into Microsoft Teams (15-20%)
Troubleshoot account and network issues
verify Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) health including endpoint availability
and synchronization status
troubleshoot issues with Azure Active Directory Seamless Single Sign-On (Azure AD
Seamless SSO)
identify reasons for blocked accounts by reviewing web log data
verify user virtual private network (VPN) configuration settings including split tunneling
and client version
validate network configuration settings including firewall ports, IP ranges, and proxy
configuration issues
Troubleshoot member sign-in issues
investigate authentication issues
verify whether an applied conditional access policy prevents sign in
determine whether a user account or the device from which a user attempts to sign in is
the cause of a sign-in issue
troubleshoot client sign-in issues by collecting and analyzing Teams debug logs
troubleshoot Teams Rooms System (TRS) sign-in issues by analyzing log data from
Teams Room devices
investigate points of failure in the sign-in process flow
Troubleshoot guest access issues
troubleshoot issues adding guest users to teams
troubleshoot call, message, and meeting issues for guest users by checking the guest
meeting, guest messaging, and guest calling configuration policies
audit invitations sent but not used and inactive accounts
validate configuration settings for federated message flow
review Azure sign-in logs and audit logs for the domain which hosts Teams
Troubleshoot teams and channels (10-15%)
Troubleshoot issues with apps
configure Teams to allow or block an app
validate app permission policies
configure app setup policies
Troubleshoot issues with public and private channels
differentiate between capabilities of public and private channels
identify limitations for private channels
check user permissions, team policies, and tenant policies
verify and troubleshoot channel email settings
troubleshoot tenant replication issues in teams and channels
troubleshoot deletion issues in teams and channels
Troubleshoot issues with files (15-20%)
Troubleshoot person-to-person (P2P) private chat file issues including access and sharing
verify access rights for the user
configure a Teams client configuration policy
troubleshoot issues provisioning users
Troubleshoot file issues for private channels
verify that the SharePoint site for the channel is accessible
verify SharePoint access permissions
confirm that the SharePoint site collection link is intact
Troubleshoot file issues for public channels
verify SharePoint access permissions
determine whether the name for a channel or team have been changed
confirm that the SharePoint site collection link is intact
troubleshoot file synchronization issues and missing files Troubleshooting Microsoft Teams Microsoft Troubleshooting test prep Killexams : Microsoft Troubleshooting test prep - BingNews
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https://killexams.com/exam_list/MicrosoftKillexams : The Stakes Behind the F.T.C.’s Bid to Block Microsoft’s Big Deal
A video-game battle for the ages
The Biden administration yesterday took its boldest step yet in challenging the reach of tech giants when the F.T.C. sued to block Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard.
The move is meant to prevent Microsoft from consolidating power in the video-game industry, but it also represents something bigger. The F.T.C. under Lina Khan wants to rewrite the nation’s antitrust approach to Big Tech and mergers.
The F.T.C. warned about serious blows to competition. Activision, the publisher of hit games like Call of Duty and Candy Crush, has almost 370 million active users each month. Putting it together with Microsoft, which owns the Xbox platform, would run the risk that popular titles would be withheld from rival platforms, according to the agency.
Microsoft has argued that doing so would not make economic sense, and recently agreed to make Call of Duty available to Nintendo for 10 years. (It has extended a similar offer to Sony.) But the F.T.C. is leery of such promises: It cited Microsoft making two titles exclusive to its platforms, despite pledging to European authorities that it had no incentive to do so.
The lawsuit is Microsoft’s biggest challenge in Washington in two decades, when the Justice Department sued the company over its dominance of personal computing. Since then, Microsoft has sought to paint itself as a good corporate citizen, standing with the government on issues like providing A.I. to the Pentagon and arguing against other companies’ closed app ecosystems.
Microsoft pledged to fight this case. “While we believed in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court,” Brad Smith, its president, said in a statement.
Washington may not be Microsoft’s only battlefield, however. Regulators in both the European Union and Britain have already weighed in on the Activision deal, and may be emboldened by the F.T.C.’s aggressive approach.
It’s the biggest test yet of Ms. Khan’s effort to overhaul antitrust law. In exact decades, courts have tended to approve so-called vertical mergers, like the Activision deal, that unite two related companies in an industry, rather than putting together direct competitors.
But Ms. Khan, the F.T.C.’s chair, has argued that approach ignores the effects of vertical mergers on issues like innovation, particularly as big companies get even bigger. (Also yesterday, opening arguments began in the F.T.C.’s lawsuit seeking to block Meta, the parent company of Facebook, from buying the maker of a virtual-reality fitness app, on similar grounds as the Activision suit.)
Ms. Khan has acknowledged that the strategy may not win in the courts every time. But she has defended filing long-shot lawsuits if they expand the boundaries of competition regulation, including by persuading Congress to change antitrust law.
Still, some critics are unconvinced: “Whatever the agency is doing doesn’t really seem to be rattling big tech, which seems to realize the legal scrutiny is part of the cost of doing business,” writes Jessica Lessin, the founder of the tech news publisher The Information.
HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING
Saudi Arabia and China strike a strategic partnership. The agreement, made during the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the Middle East, underscores the growing ties between Beijing and Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been especially keen to diversify his country’s allies beyond the United States.
The W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner lands in the U.S. after a prisoner swap with Russia. Griner, who had been held for 10 months, was released in exchange for the convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.” White House officials acknowledged that the deal raised the risk of prominent Americans being detained as political prisoners.
The S.E.C. requires more corporate disclosure about crypto risks. The regulator issued a new rule that will force companies to list their cryptocurrency holdings and exposure to developments like FTX’s implosion in public filings. Meanwhile, text messages between crypto executives show their fear about the consequences of FTX’s downfall.
Exxon Mobil plans to spend $50 billion on stock buybacks. The move, which will expand a repurchase program from $30 billion, underscores the oil giant’s focus on channeling profits from high energy prices to shareholders. But it also defies the wishes of President Biden and others that such a windfall should instead be spent on new exploration.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema leaves the Democratic Party. The Arizona lawmaker said this morning that she was registering as an independent, after clashing repeatedly with Democratic leaders on a variety of policies. It appears that she will still caucus with Democrats, helping them retain control of the upper chamber, but she may feel freer to oppose some of their bills.
China’s zero-Covid shift may not reassure global business
China this week lifted many of its pandemic restrictions, easing elements of its zero-Covid policy. But the abruptness of the U-turn, coupled with a resurgence in Covid cases and underlying economic and geopolitical problems, won’t make things any easier for global companies operating in the country. Here’s why.
Covid may be ripping through the population. China is reportedly underplaying the scale of a Covid surge, after suddenly lifting requirements for mass testing and lockdowns. That would mean that normality is a long way off, with the population having little built-in immunity and many older citizens still unvaccinated (or having received domestic vaccines that are less effective than Western ones). “Overall, it’s a good thing that they’re reopening and in such a speedy manner,” said Yanzhong Huang, a health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But the way they handled it is puzzling. They switched from one extreme to another without investing in any preparation efforts.”
The economy is expected to suffer for longer. November was the worst month for Chinese trade since the start of the pandemic, while the property sector, which has accounted for about a quarter of economic output over the past decade, is still lagging. Double-digit economic growth rates that were typical in China are unlikely to come back soon.
The rise in infections also means that factories will probably see higher absenteeism rates and that cautious consumers will be unlikely to resume spending.
“The economic bounce that will happen once the virulence of Covid is spent and people’s confidence returns may not be as sharp,” said George Magnus, the former chief economist at UBS and an associate at Oxford University’s China center.
Beijing is maintaining an iron grip. The sudden shift on Covid, without any mitigating measures, is the latest sign that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has almost absolute control on the country. Scores of Western companies in China were already reconsidering their operations there, after Mr. Xi elevated ideology and national security above economic growth and the private sector.
And China’s geopolitical fight with the West remains unresolved, so the balancing act for companies operating in both against the backdrop of pressure to “decouple” the economies won’t soon end.
A new New Normal
Back in 2009, Pimco coined the term “New Normal” to describe how the global economy was probably forever changed by the financial crisis. Now the strategist and economist Mohamed El-Erian — then Pimco’s C.E.O. and now the chief economic adviser at Allianz — thinks that a newer mix of geopolitical tension, pandemic and inflation is permanently changing the global economy, again.
He spoke with Times Opinion’s Ezra Klein on this new phase. Here are some takeaways from their conversation.
Don’t expect a return to a prepandemic world. The biggest mistake forecasters are making is to assume the economy will eventually revert to its 2020 state, Mr. El-Erian told Mr. Klein. Instead, the U.S.’s move to shift its supply chain away from China over deepening political tensions, as well as the realities of addressing climate change, will lead to a period of sustained inflation.
The world we inhabit now will be a lot less predictable, he said. That will require more redundancy planning in everyday life and in business, which will result in rising costs, and require a change in mind-set.
“Unless we do that, unless we open to the possibility that we’re living in a much more fluid world, we may end up undershooting on economic, social and institutional objectives that are really important, not just for this generation, but for the future one,” Mr. El-Erian said.
Yesterday, we told you about a new fund-raising round for Juno, which focuses on providing affordable health care to underserved communities, involving Serena Williams’s firm, Serena Ventures.
But there is a detail in the back story that deserves telling: The deal was co-led by Next Ventures.
If you haven’t heard of Next Ventures, you should. It is led by Lance Armstrong, the former pro cyclist-turned-investor and podcaster. Next Ventures, which he started in 2019, has made more than a dozen investments, including in the fitness tracker Oura Ring and Outside magazine.
Mr. Armstrong got into venture capital when he was still a professional cyclist, as an early limited partner in the firm Lowercase Capital — which in turn made him a very early investor in Uber.
Next Ventures has focused on investments in the health and wellness space. Those now include Juno, which was started by Dr. Akili Hinson. “We have one health care system if you are Black, brown or poor, and then there’s another health system for everyone else,” Dr. Hinson said.
THE SPEED READ
Deals
How Salesforce’s C.E.O., Marc Benioff, reportedly soured on Slack, even before closing the $28 billion deal to buy the messaging app. (The Information)
Unilever is reportedly weighing the sale of ice cream brands like Breyers and Klondike — but not Ben & Jerry’s — for around $3 billion (Bloomberg)
Keurig Dr Pepper will invest $863 million for a 30 percent stake in Nutrabolt, the maker of energy drinks like C4, months after dropping an effort to buy Bang Energy. (Bloomberg)
Policy
Oil company executives remained privately skeptical of a global shift to renewable energy even as they publicly championed such moves, according to documents obtained by House lawmakers. (WaPo)
President Biden announced a $36 billion bailout for the pensions of over 350,000 union workers and retirees. (NYT)
Lawmakers accused Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington Commanders, of impeding investigations into sexual harassment claims against himself and other team executives. (NYT)
Best of the rest
We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com.
Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:44:00 -0600entext/htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/business/dealbook/ftc-microsoft-activision-khan.htmlKillexams : Microsoft offers fix for Windows 11 gaming performance issues
Microsoft is offering Windows 11 users a preview of an update that fixes some gaming performance problems. The software maker originally warned of issues with lower than expected performance in some games earlier this month, after some Windows 11 users that had upgraded to the latest 2022 Update (22H2) noticed problems.
“Some games and apps might experience lower than expected performance or stuttering on Windows 11, version 22H2,” said Microsoft at the time. “Affected games and apps are inadvertently enabling GPU performance debugging features not meant to be used by consumers.”
While Microsoft didn’t list the exact apps and games experiencing problems, the company did block the Windows 11 2022 Update for systems with affected games and recommended people not upgrade. That safeguard was removed around a week ago, and now Microsoft has issued a full fix. If you’re running the Windows 11 2022 Update, you can check Windows Update and find a KB5020044 update preview that you can install.
Separately, Nvidia also had some initial driver issues with the latest Windows 11 2022 Update, which also caused stuttering and frame rate drops. Nvidia addressed problems in September.
Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update also includes the typical bug fixes Microsoft rolls out in cumulative monthly releases, alongside new storage alerts for OneDrive, improvements to the Windows Spotlight feature, and more. You can find the full release notes here.
Microsoft also revealed last month that some Windows 11 virtualization features can impact gaming performance. Microsoft provided instructions for gamers to disable them, but it’s important to turn the features back on if you disable them temporarily to prioritize performance.
Tue, 29 Nov 2022 20:06:00 -0600en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23485717/microsoft-windows-11-gaming-performance-issues-fixKillexams : The Broken Promise Of AI: What Went Wrong Between 2012 And 2022
Lewis Wynne-Jones is the Vice President of Product atThinkData Works.
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In 2012, two things happened that set the tone for the next decade of data investments. One was technological, the other was professional, and they both revolutionized the way we think about data. Together, these events directly led to the emergence of artificial intelligence as a business prerogative. Today, however, AI is fraught with problems, and fewer businesses, not more, are saying they’re data-driven.
Where did things go wrong? And why, as we see year-over-year increases in data investment, are innovation projects often failing? The unfortunate reality is that decisions made in the past 10 years have had a lasting negative impact on data strategies, leading to more investment, less innovation and patchwork data environments held together by the heroic work of a few misunderstood data engineers.
In the early 2000s, data became top-of-mind for many organizations. The dot-com explosion in the ’90s and the dawn of “big data” made many businesses start to reconsider how they managed data as an asset—not just how they stored it, but how they’d use it to Improve business outcomes. The idea that data was not an exhaust pipe, but rather a fuel source, took root in organizations of every size, and technology cropped up to support them in their effort to deliver data-driven value.
One of the technologies that emerged was cloud computing. Between 2006 and 2012, four technology companies (Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Snowflake) launched cloud platforms. The emergence of cloud tech was interesting, as it was a departure from on-premises infrastructure and private data centers, which up to then were necessary realities for data-rich enterprises. The rising cost of on-prem infrastructure (the power, people and hardware) was daunting for any company that sensed the exponential growth of data they would need to store, and the idea of elastic utilization—the ability to scale up and scale down without buying and selling machines—was instinctively appealing to IT divisions that were waking up to the idea that streamlined, easy access to data was going to be a game changer. The cloud could enable this future—and do so relatively cheaply.
The development of this new technology underscored an ideological shift toward decentralization and agile data consumption that soon became the norm. It also laid the technological groundwork for a new type of data professional to emerge and take the business world by storm.
In 2008, when DJ Patil and Jeff Hammerbacher were building the data teams at LinkedIn and Facebook, respectively, they realized that they didn’t know what to call themselves and the teams they were building. “Analyst” was too Wall Street, and “statistician” was too academic. Patil wanted to test what term was best, and since he worked at LinkedIn, he had the data he needed to find out what the market was looking for. He found one, and the “data scientist” was born.
Four years later, Patil and Thomas H. Davenport wrote a frequently cited article calling data science the “sexiest job of the 21st century,” which pointed toward a bright future in which this new breed of business-facing, data-savvy professional with the “training and curiosity to make discoveries in the world of big data” could transform the business landscape into a data-driven utopia. Businesses, already starting to modernize their tech stack to manage the increasing flow of data, embraced the idea and hired data scientists in droves.
These two events in 2012—the emergence of new technology and the rise of a profession that would use it—permanently altered the tech landscape. Cloud technology took off, and data science became one of the most in-demand skills in the market.
The emergence of AI at this time coincides neatly with the investments businesses started making in data science three years previously. Essentially, the hiring boom of data scientists was focused more on developing a talent pool than solutioning a specific problem. Data science as a discipline was poorly understood, and most organizations had not yet implemented a data strategy aligned with their business objectives. Therefore, the first wave of data scientists had the time, training and support of the business to experiment and explore possibilities, just as Patil and Davenport had recommended. “Experimentation” is not scoped to any specific strategic priority, however. In practice, data science was science—a pursuit of knowledge. Real-world applications would have to wait.
The consequence is that AI as a concept matured but AI in practice faltered. Over time, data science divisions moved further from the business strategy they were supposed to support. Silos emerged between business and technical units. Small successes were celebrated and held up as indicators that the process was working. But scaling them proved difficult. Executives, unsure why the whole process isn’t automated, continue to invest in people and technology to try to narrow the gap.
The problem they face isn’t technological, though. It’s cultural. The goal of a company is not to set up a robust data environment; it’s to build, use and sell data products. And while executives may think they’ve been clear about their strategic objectives, the reality is that they have set up R&D departments, not production lines.
AI is a worthwhile pursuit. The premise that lots of data plus lots of modeling equals interesting stuff isn’t flawed; it just ignores the necessity of starting with a problem and working toward fixing it. The problem comes before the solution, and strategy comes before technology. The hiring boom and infrastructure investments made over the past decade laid the groundwork for organizations to support innovation, but many lack a mechanism to connect the people, process and technology in a way that addresses core strategic priorities. Making this connection is what matters. Setting up a truly democratic data environment—one where anyone can access data and use it to solve problems—should be the goal. Until then, artificial intelligence will have to wait.
Wed, 07 Dec 2022 21:00:00 -0600Lewis Wynne-Jonesentext/htmlhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/12/08/the-broken-promise-of-ai-what-went-wrong-between-2012-and-2022/Killexams : How to manage your time as a researcher
Good time management enables researchers to set goals and priorities without sacrificing personal well-being.Credit: Getty
It took less than two years in graduate school for me to burn out. I was spending long hours in the laboratory, yet I worried that I wasn’t making satisfactory progress. Overwork-induced exhaustion made me sloppy and impaired my productivity, creating a vicious cycle.
My experience is far from unique. A 2022 Nature survey found that 70% of graduate students work more than 40 hours per week and that 68% have difficulty maintaining a good work–life balance. And, according to Nature’s 2021 salary and jobs survey, nearly half (45%) of scientists across all career stages report signs of burnout and overwork.
Time-management strategies can help to rein in work hours, but can also promote a culture of unhealthy hyper-productivity or act as a Band-Aid to cover up toxic research environments. Time management shouldn’t be about maximizing the amount of work you can cram into your day; instead, it should help you to prioritize your professional goals without sacrificing personal well-being.
In my case, that meant rethinking how I structured my days, weeks and months. Inspired by computer scientist Cal Newport, author of the 2016 book Deep Work, I’ve cut back my hours in the lab substantially, which has improved my mental and physical health. Yet I have seen no noticeable decline in productivity. To use my time more efficiently and prioritize my most important tasks, I track my goals on three timescales.
Level 1: Big picture
Big-picture planning encompasses long-term goals. For graduate students, this might include your ideal time to graduation, learning specific skills or career exploration; for a research professor, it might be completing projects, applying for funding or improving teaching and mentoring skills.
One of my favourite tools for big-picture planning is the Gantt chart, a type of horizontal bar chart that plots project timelines (Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets have templates for creating these). I created a Gantt chart shortly after joining my PhD lab, and update it a few times per year. It includes timelines for key experiments, major conferences, milestones for my doctoral programme and career exploration.
To avoid distraction from day-to-day tasks, keep your Gantt chart somewhere prominent, such as on a bulletin board near your desk.
Level 2: Academic term
At the end of each academic term, write out a plan for the next quarter or semester that considers three elements:
Reflect. What goals did you set in the previous quarter? Did you accomplish them? Why or why not?
Forecast. What events, commitments and deadlines are coming up this term?
Prioritize. What goals will you set for this quarter? Which ones will you prioritize?
Your targets for the next few months should arise from and contribute to your big-picture goals. These might include completing particular experiments, writing a paper or grant application, or preparing to teach a course. Laying out your research goals alongside other upcoming commitments (teaching-assistant appointments, committee obligations and so on) helps you to set reasonable expectations.
One tool that can be helpful at this level is the Kanban board, which features columns with different labels for you to categorize and track tasks or projects. You might assign tasks based on status (such as ‘In progress’, ‘To do ASAP’, ‘To do next month’ and ‘Not started’) or priority (high, medium and low). Several online tools provide Kanban boards, including Trello and Notion. Alternatively, you can make an old-school board using sticky notes.
Level 3: Daily or weekly
For finest-grained planning, you can use a daily planner, but I prefer to work on a weekly timescale because my research often involves experiments that run over several days. In either case, you can assign specific slots for each task, known as time blocking, or use to-do lists.
Time blocking is ideal for planning experiments around other commitments and for organizing protocols across multiple days; it works best for tasks that require at least 30 minutes to complete. All you need is an electronic or paper planner. Keep in mind that your plan should be flexible: if an experiment takes longer than expected or if journal editors request manuscript revisions on a tight timescale, you’ll need to accommodate these changes.
To-do lists save you from having to schedule every minor task and can help to remind you of small but important jobs. However, they’re less than ideal for longer tasks that take several hours or stretch across several days. Without blocking out specific times, it can be difficult to predict whether your immediate to-do list is reasonable.
Time to work
Here’s how I use these three elements in practice.
First, decide how many hours you’re comfortable working in a week. This is highly personal — don’t let your answer be swayed by your perceptions of other people. Block out any fixed appointments, such as classes or meetings. Second, create slots for the most urgent and important tasks. Try to schedule recurring tasks (such as reading papers, preparing lecture materials or building next week’s plan) at the same time each week. Finally, fill any remaining time with lower-priority tasks, including responding to e-mails, ordering supplies and so on.
If you cannot fit everything you want to accomplish into your allotted hours, your options are to delay the remaining tasks or remove them entirely. Delaying a few tasks is fine, but do so sparingly or you might find your task list ballooning.
If a task does not contribute to the goals you outlined in your big-picture and academic-term plans, it’s a candidate for removal. For research tasks, it’s helpful to envision the story you plan to tell in your future paper: does this experiment contribute to that story or fall outside its scope?
Simple as it seems, this strategy has completely changed how I spend my time. I’ve found it easier to decline new commitments when I could clearly see that they would not fit into my schedule or contribute to my goals. I’ve become a better mentor for my undergraduate researchers, and carved out space for my hobbies, health and social life.
At the same time, my research is more streamlined. I don’t begin a new experiment until I convince myself that it’s both necessary and has the best experimental design to test my hypothesis. Looking back, many of the experiments that once kept me in the lab late into the night will never end up in a publication; they were often weakly designed or unnecessary.
When we value our time, we spend it more wisely.
Sun, 04 Dec 2022 10:00:00 -0600entext/htmlhttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04364-2Killexams : Stanford debuts first AI benchmark to help understand LLMs
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In the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), 2022 has arguably been the year of foundation models, or AI models trained on a massive scale. From GPT-3 to DALL-E, from BLOOM to Imagen — another day, it seems, another large language model (LLM) or text-to-image model. But until now, there have been no AI benchmarks to provide a standardized way to evaluate these models, which have developed at a rapidly-accelerated pace over the past couple of years.
LLMs have particularly captivated the AI community, but according to the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)’s Center for Research on Foundation Models, the absence of an evaluation standard has compromised the community’s ability to understand these models, as well as their capabilities and risks.
To that end, today the CRFM announced the Holistic Evaluation of Language Models (HELM), which it says is the first benchmarking project aimed at improving the transparency of language models and the broader category of foundation models.
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“Historically, benchmarks have pushed the community to rally around a set of problems that the research community believes are valuable,” Percy Liang, associate professor in computer science at Stanford University and director of the CRFM, told VentureBeat. “One of the challenges with language models, and foundation models in general, is that they’re multipurpose, which makes benchmarking extremely difficult.”
HELM, he explained, takes a holistic approach to the problem by evaluating language models based on a recognition of the limitations of models; on multi-metric measurement; and direct model comparison, with a goal of transparency. The core tenets used in HELM for model evaluation include accuracy, calibration, robustness, fairness, bias, toxicity, and efficiency, pointing to the key elements that make a model sufficient.
Liang and his team evaluated 30 language models from 12 organizations: AI21 Labs, Anthropic, BigScience, Cohere, EleutherAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Tsinghua University and Yandex. Some of these models are open-source to the public, others are available through commercial APIs, and others are private.
A ‘comprehensive approach’ to LLM evaluation
“I applaud the Stanford group’s initiative,” Eric Horvitz, chief scientific officer at Microsoft, told VentureBeat by email. “They have taken a comprehensive approach to evaluating language models by creating a taxonomy of scenarios and measuring multiple aspects of performance across them.”
Benchmarking neural language models is crucial for directing innovation and progress in both industry and academia, he added.
“Evaluation is essential for advancing the science and engineering of neural models, as well as for assessing their strengths and limitations,” he said. “We conduct rigorous benchmarking on our models at Microsoft, and we welcome the Stanford team’s comparative evaluation within their holistic framework, which further enriches our knowledge and insights.”
Stanford’s AI benchmark lays foundation for LLM standards
Liang says HELM lays the foundation for a new set of industry standards and will be maintained and updated as an ongoing community effort.
“It’s a living benchmark that is not going to be done, there are things that we’re missing and that we need to cover as a community,” he said. “This is really a dynamic process, so part of the challenge will be to maintain this benchmark over time.”
Many of the choices and ideas in HELM can serve as a basis for further discussion and improvement, agreed Horvitz.
“Moving forward, I hope to see a community-wide process for refining and expanding the ideas and methods introduced by the Stanford team,” he said. “There’s an opportunity to involve stakeholders from academia, industry, civil society, and government—and to extend the evaluation to new scenarios, such as interactive AI applications, where we seek to measure how well AI can empower people at work and in their daily lives.”
AI benchmarking project is a ‘dynamic’ process
Liang emphasized that the benchmarking project is a “dynamic” process. “When I tell you about the results, tomorrow they could change because new models are possibly coming out,” he said.
One of the main things that the benchmark seeks to do, he added, is capture the differences between the models. When this reporter suggested it seemed a bit like a Consumer Reports analysis of different car models, he said that “is actually a great analogy — it is trying to provide consumers or users or the public in general with information about the various products, in this case models.”
What is unique here, he added, is the pace of change. “Instead of being a year, it might be a month before things change,” he said, pointing to Galactica, Meta’s newly released language model for scientific papers, as an example.
“This is something that will add to our benchmark,” he said. “So it’s like having Toyota putting out a new model every month instead of every year.”
Another difference, of course, is the fact that LLMs are poorly understood and have such a “vast surface area of use cases,” as opposed to a car that is only driven. In addition, the automobile industry has a variety of standards — something that the CRFM is trying to build. “But we’re still very early in this process,” Liang said.
HELM AI benchmark is a ‘Herculean’ task
“I commend Percy and his team for taking on this Herculean task,” Yoav Shoham, co-founder at AI21 Labs, told VentureBeat by email. “It’s important that a neutral, scientifically-inclined [organization] undertake it.”
The HELM benchmark should be evergreen, he added, and updated on a regular basis.
“This is for two reasons,” he said. “One of the challenges is that it’s a fast-moving target and in many cases the models tested are out of date. For example, J1-Jumbo v1 is a year-old and J1-Grande v1 is 6-months-old, and both have newer versions that haven’t been ready for testing by a third-party.”
Also, what to test models for is notoriously difficult, he added. “General considerations such as perplexity (which is objectively defined) or bias (which has a subjective component) are certainly relevant, but the set of yardsticks will also evolve, as we understand better what actually matters in practice,” he said. “I expect future versions of the document to refine and expand these measurements.”
Shoham sent one parting note to Liang about the HELM benchmark: “Percy, no good deed goes unpunished,” he joked. “You’re stuck with it.”
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Thu, 17 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0600Sharon Goldmanen-UStext/htmlhttps://venturebeat.com/ai/stanford-debuts-first-ai-benchmark-to-help-understand-llms/Killexams : NJ responds to a big drop in K-12 test scores with a tutoring 'call to action'
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TOKYO (Reuters) -Singapore-based hedge fund 3D Investment Partners got two of its nominees on the board of software developer Fuji Soft Inc on Sunday, in the latest proxy fight by activist investors seeking more independent oversight of Japanese firms.
Three battles in exact months have questioned how independent from management Japan's outside board members really are after nearly a decade of governance reform has sharply increased the number of independent directors.
Governance experts say outside directors are only nominally independent if they have close ties to management or fail to supply proper oversight.
3D, which owns more than 20% of Fuji Soft, has nominated four additional members for the company's nine-member board at Sunday's extraordinary general meeting (EGM), saying existing outside directors have failed to address years of inefficient capital allocation.
Fuji Soft has endorsed two of the fund's candidates.
The Yokohama-based firm defended its current board, telling Reuters in a statement that the independence of its outside directors "has been ensured with no conflict of interests with shareholders. They have given objective opinions and have contributed to fostering active debate".
3D this year sought an EGM at Toshiba Corp to restart a strategic review of the conglomerate to explore options including going private.
Hong Kong-based Oasis Management on Thursday asked Fujitec Co Ltd to hold an EGM to remove all six incumbent outside directors and appoint seven new ones nominated by the fund.
The elevator maker, just an hour before its June shareholders meeting, withdrew a proposal to re-elect its chief executive to the board following revelations of real estate transactions involving his family. The board then appointed him unelected chairman.
Oasis, which owns 16.5% of Fujitec, said the board had "decided to egregiously breach shareholders' most basic right – the right to vote and hold directors accountable," demonstrating a complete lack of independent counterbalancing power.
Fujitec declined to comment, saying the company has not yet confirmed the content of Oasis's EGM request.
HOW INDEPENDENT?
The Tokyo Stock Exchange says 92% of the roughly 1,800 firms on its prime section define at least one-third of their directors as independent. But it is hard to gauge their independence from management beyond a set of written criteria.
Governance experts say having a committee to nominate directors would help ensure such independence, but only 3.9% of the top-tier companies have a statutory nomination committee, where a majority of its members must be outside directors.
Even such a committee may not ensure effective independence.
Tokyo-based Strategic Capital has sought an EGM at Japan Securities Finance Co (JSF) for an independent investigation into the securities finance provider's long-held practice of nominating former Bank of Japan, Finance Ministry and Tokyo Stock Exchange officials to top management and director positions.
The practice of senior government officials landing post-retirement jobs in the private sector has long been criticized as a source of corruption in the Japanese bureaucracy.
JSF has a statutory nomination committee, but Strategic Capital said its inaction over the troubled practice shows the committee is dysfunctional.
The company has said the appointments have been made based on the people's qualifications.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by William Mallard and Lincoln Feast.)
Sun, 04 Dec 2022 07:59:58 -0600en-CAtext/htmlhttps://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/fuji-soft-proxy-fight-the-latest-test-of-japan-inc-board-independence/ar-AA14TAwJKillexams : Test preparation market in the US to grow by USD 11.93 billion, Insights on the Key Drivers and Trends - Technavio
NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The test preparation market size in the US is projected to grow by USD 11.93 billion, progressing at a CAGR of 6.39% from 2021 to 2026. The market size growth of the university exams will be higher than the other segments during the forecast period. The rising number of enrollments in nationalized as well as standardized tests in the US and rising demand for private tutoring because of increased competition among the students are the prominent factors facilitating the growth during the forecast period.
Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Test Preparation Market in US 2022-2026
Test Preparation Market in the US: The increasing use of analytical tools in test preparationsdrives the growth
The increasing use of analytical tools in test preparations is one of the key drivers supporting the test preparation market growth in the US. The analytical tools provide not only effective and efficient test preparation modules but also offer various insights that can be used by teachers, trainers, as well as students to identify their progress by means of reporting tools, thereby optimizing the entire learning process. For instance, Kaplan, through its corporate partnership programs, provides various Kaplan Partner Solutions (KPS) consisting of test preparation programs that offer performance analysis tools. These performance-tracking tools help educators identify program trends and any outstanding matriculation and retention issues associated with individual students. Other factors such as the growth of the test prep market in India and other countries will drive the test preparation market growth during the forecast period.
Test Preparation Market in the US: Technological advances in test preparation services are the key trend in the market
Technological advances in test preparation services are one of the key trends in the market. The rising tech-savvy population and rising adoption of tablets, mobile phones, and other mobile devices have led to an increased demand for the technologically advanced mode of delivery, as well as innovative test preparation through the incorporation of various visual technologies. Moreover, educators are emphasizing the use of visual technologies such as AR and VR and other technologies such as virtual schools to impart education to students. For instance, MITAR games developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade blend real-life locations with virtual individuals and scenarios to enhance the learning skills of the student. Hence, these factors fuel the growth of the test preparation market in the US.
Test Preparation Market in the US: Segmentation Analysis
This market research report segments the test preparation market in the US by Product (University exams, Certification exams, High school exams, Elementary exams, and Other exams) and End-user (Higher education and K-12).
The competitive scenario categorizes companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, and growth in market share, among others. buy the report!
Some of the key syllabus covered in the report include:
Test Preparation Market in India by Product, End-user, and Learning Method – Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The test preparation market size in India is projected to grow by USD 9.07 billion from 2021 to 2026. This report extensively covers market segmentation in India by product (university exams, certification exams, high school exams, elementary exams, and other exams), end-user (post-secondary and K-12), and learning method (offline learning and online learning).
Sample Preparation Market by Product, End-user, and Geography – Forecast and Analysis 2020-2024:The demo preparation market size is projected to grow by USD 2.29 billion during 2020-2024. This report extensively covers market segmentation by product (consumables and instruments), end-user (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic and research institutes, clinical, and others), and geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW).
Test Preparation Market In The US Scope
Report Coverage
Details
Page number
120
Base year
2021
Forecast period
2022-2026
Growth momentum & CAGR
Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.39%
Market growth 2022-2026
USD 11.93 billion
Market structure
Fragmented
YoY growth (%)
5.61
Competitive landscape
Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks
Key companies profiled
ArborBridge Inc., Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc, Club Z Inc., CogniFit Inc., Edgenuity Inc., Graham Holdings Co., Instructure Inc., McGraw Hill Education Inc., Pearson Plc, and TPR Education IP Holdings LLC
Market dynamics
Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period.
Customization purview
If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.
Table of Contents:
1. Executive Summary
1.1 Market Overview
Exhibit 01: Key Finding 1
Exhibit 02: Key Finding 2
Exhibit 03: Key Finding 5
Exhibit 04: Key Finding 6
Exhibit 05: Key Finding 7
Exhibit 06: Key Finding 8
2. Market Landscape
2.1 Market ecosystem
Exhibit 07: Parent market
Exhibit 08: Market characteristics
2.2 Value chain analysis
Exhibit 09: Value chain analysis: Education services
2.2.1 Inputs
2.2.2 Operations
2.2.3 Marketing and sales
2.2.4 Support activities
2.2.5 Innovations
3. Market Sizing
3.1 Market Definition
Exhibit 10: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition
3.2 Market segment analysis
Exhibit 11: Market segments
3.3 Market size 2021
3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026
Exhibit 12: US - Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026 ($ million)
Exhibit 13: US market: Year-over-year growth 2021 - 2026 (%)
4. Five Forces Analysis
4.1 Five Forces Summary
Exhibit 14: Five forces analysis 2021 & 2026
4.2 Bargaining power of buyers
Exhibit 15: Bargaining power of buyers
4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers
Exhibit 16: Bargaining power of suppliers
4.4 Threat of new entrants
Exhibit 17: Threat of new entrants
4.5 Threat of substitutes
Exhibit 18: Threat of substitutes
4.6 Threat of rivalry
Exhibit 19: Threat of rivalry
4.7 Market condition
Exhibit 20: Market condition - Five forces 2021
5. Market Segmentation by Product
5.1 Market segments
Exhibit 21: Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)
5.2 Comparison by Product
Exhibit 22: Comparison by Product
5.3 University exams - Market size and forecast 2021-2026
Exhibit 23: University exams - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)
Exhibit 24: University exams - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)
5.4 Certifications exams - Market size and forecast 2021-2026
Technavio's customer landscape matrix comparing Drivers or price sensitivity, Adoption lifecycle, importance in customer price basket, Adoption rate and Key purchase criteria
8.1 Overview
Exhibit 48: Customer landscape
9. Drivers, Challenges, and Trends
9.1 Market drivers
9.1.1 Increasing use of analytical tools in test preparations
9.1.2 Increasing emphasis on online mode of test preparation
9.1.3 Rising demand for test preparation services in the US
9.2 Market challenges
9.2.1 Availability of open-source test preparation materials and growth of the unorganized sector
9.2.2 Rising number of test-optional institutes
9.2.3 Increase in education debts
Exhibit 49: Impact of drivers and challenges
9.3 Market trends
9.3.1 Technological advances in test preparation services
9.3.2 Rising emphasis on private tutoring
9.3.3 Increase in M&A activities and the number of startups
10. Vendor Landscape
10.1 Competitive scenario
Exhibit 50: Vendor landscape
10.2 Landscape disruption
Exhibit 51: Landscape disruption
Exhibit 52: Industry risks
11. Vendor Analysis
11.1 Vendors covered
Exhibit 53: Vendors covered
11.2 Market positioning of vendors
Exhibit 54: Matrix on vendor position and classification
11.3 ArborBridge Inc.
Exhibit 55: ArborBridge Inc. - Overview
Exhibit 56: ArborBridge Inc. - Product and service
Exhibit 57: ArborBridge Inc. - Key offerings
11.4 Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc
Exhibit 58: Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc - Overview
Exhibit 59: Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc - Business segments
Exhibit 60: Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc - Key News
Exhibit 61: Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc - Key offerings
Exhibit 62: Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc - Segment focus
11.5 Club Z Inc.
Exhibit 63: Club Z Inc. - Overview
Exhibit 64: Club Z Inc. - Product and service
Exhibit 65: Club Z Inc. - Key offerings
11.6 CogniFit Inc.
Exhibit 66: CogniFit Inc. - Overview
Exhibit 67: CogniFit Inc. - Product and service
Exhibit 68: CogniFit Inc. - Key offerings
11.7 Edgenuity Inc.
Exhibit 69: Edgenuity Inc. - Overview
Exhibit 70: Edgenuity Inc. - Product and service
Exhibit 71: Edgenuity Inc. - Key offerings
11.8 Graham Holdings Co.
Exhibit 72: Graham Holdings Co. - Overview
Exhibit 73: Graham Holdings Co. - Business segments
Exhibit 74: Graham Holdings Co. - Key News
Exhibit 75: Graham Holdings Co. - Key offerings
Exhibit 76: Graham Holdings Co. - Segment focus
11.9 Instructure Inc.
Exhibit 77: Instructure Inc. - Overview
Exhibit 78: Instructure Inc. - Product and service
Exhibit 79: Instructure Inc. - Key offerings
11.10 McGraw Hill Education Inc.
Exhibit 80: McGraw Hill Education Inc. - Overview
Exhibit 81: McGraw Hill Education Inc. - Business segments
Exhibit 82: McGraw Hill Education Inc. - Key offerings
Exhibit 83: McGraw Hill Education Inc. - Segment focus
11.11 Pearson Plc
Exhibit 84: Pearson Plc - Overview
Exhibit 85: Pearson Plc - Business segments
Exhibit 86: Pearson Plc - Key offerings
Exhibit 87: Pearson Plc - Segment focus
11.12 TPR Education IP Holdings LLC
Exhibit 88: TPR Education IP Holdings LLC - Overview
Exhibit 89: TPR Education IP Holdings LLC - Product and service
Exhibit 90: TPR Education IP Holdings LLC - Key offerings
12. Appendix
12.1 Scope of the report
12.1.1 ????Definition
12.1.2 ????Objectives
12.1.3 Notes and caveats
12.2 Currency conversion rates for US$
Exhibit 91: Currency conversion rates for US$
12.3 Research methodology
Exhibit 92: Research Methodology
Exhibit 93: Validation techniques employed for market sizing
Exhibit 94: Information sources
12.4 List of abbreviations
Exhibit 95: List of abbreviations
About Technavio
Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.
With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.
Contacts
Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/
Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:34:00 -0600en-UStext/htmlhttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/test-preparation-market-us-grow-143000953.htmlKillexams : Inside NATO’s Cyber Range: How armies prepare against attack and why nations must work together
At the touch of a button, a soldier holding a laptop sends sparks flying on a circuit board, causing a power generator to flash bright red as a beeping sound grows louder. This is the representation of a country’s power infrastructure coming under a cyber attack.
Though the map of circuit boards depicts a fictional island, with streets called “Blockchain Street” and “Macintosh Street,” a real-life cyber attack may not be as visible as this. Still, the effects on infrastructure can be just as devastating, causing homes to lose power or water.
The scenario is just a simulation but it serves as a training ground for soldiers who are at the NATO Cyber Range in Estonia’s capital Tallinn.
At the CR14 NATO Cyber Range, around 145 on-site commanders from as many as 30 countries - most of them NATO countries but some not - are put to the test on how they would prevent a cyber attack.
Inside the three-storey building which houses it, the first floor is where food and refreshments are provided and some of the innovations are showcased. The second floor is used for training and where phones are not allowed. And the third floor is where the real action happens, but is out of bounds for journalists.
Ukraine and Article 5
NATO’s week-long cyber operation, which took place last week, is an annual affair. This year has seen the most participants, which comes as no surprise given the war in Ukraine.
“What we've seen in Ukraine is really nonstop cyberattacks since February, since really just even before the war started,” said David Cattler, assistant secretary general for intelligence and security at NATO.
“Additional cyber operations are ongoing… Some of these operations have been linked to the Russian military intelligence, to the GRU, and are clearly designed to cause psychological effects and to exhaust cyber defence resources, which again highlights the role that cyber plays in a crisis and is played in this war,” he said.
NATO takes cyberattacks so seriously that its secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg said this year that cyberattacks against a NATO member could trigger Article 5, meaning it is considered an attack on all NATO members and the alliance could react.
Truth in fiction
Back at the Cyber Range, made-up storylines for the participants to solve involve the fictitious island of “Icebergen,” home to the nations of supposed NATO member “Anduaria” and “Harbardus,” an enemy.
“It [the situation in Ukraine] brings more of a seriousness in terms of how this actually happens. It's not as fictitious anymore. And that's the difference that this thing brings,” Bernd Hansen, Branch Head of Cyberspace at the NATO Allied Command Transformation, told Euronews Next.
Although the storylines are kept very secret by the participants and NATO, they do say it can include infrastructure attacks, network intrusion, and potential insider threats.
I have felt really, really proud to be treated really warm-heartedly. And part of this is because there are people who I walk around with here and they sort of treat me as an ally.
Markus Riihonen
Major Defence Commander in the Finish Defence Forces
But the focus is on how each participating country shares information and can help the other out in the event of an attack, rather than competing with each other.
This is called the “locked shields” operation, a real-life exercise in which they would react and help other countries.
“I believe, it sets the focus on collaboration and nothing else, because if you start competing, you tend to be in a situation where you don't share as much because you want to be in a good situation in locked shields and you could get points by sharing,” said Tobias Malm, a Swedish Armed Forces major in cyber defence.
“Of course, there will always be a competitive side in that sense that all technicians want to solve the technical issues by themselves and be the first ones to solve them. So in that sense, that's a competitive ingredient in the exercise,” he told Euronews Next.
Although it’s not currently a NATO member, Sweden may soon be after NATO members quickly welcomed its application to join the alliance alongside neighbour Finland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But it is not the first time that Sweden has participated in NATO’s training programmes.
“We have been in this exercise for I think 10 or 12 years. So it's nothing new,” Malm said.
“But for us working together regarding cyber defence is good, we learn a lot and I think we can bring something new to NATO with regards to how we work and also regarding how we work”.
Although both Sweden and Finland have been here before, this year has been important for the countries.
“This year we have made improvements in capability and in information exchange,” said Markus Riihonen, Major Defence Commander in the Finish Defence Forces.
“I have felt really, really proud to be treated really warm-heartedly. And part of this is because there are people who I walk around with here and they sort of treat me as an ally,” he told Euronews Next.
“I'm looking forwards to having two very high-level cyber security countries [Finland and Sweden], which is very beneficial for them [NATO]. This is what they [NATO] have let me know that they are very much looking forward to the accession and integration in the future”.
Tech innovations
With the numerous cyber security start-ups in Finland and Sweden, NATO has all the reason to be excited about the countries joining.
“We're very much looking forward to being able to welcome Finland and Sweden into our innovation ecosystem to maintain our technological edge. I mean, they're their world-class partners or invitees now, and there'll be work real close allies as well” said David van Weel, NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General for Emerging Security Challenges.
The threat from cyberspace is real and it's growing and we need to do more investment more in our enhancing our cyber defences, more expertise, more enhance cooperation, also with the private sector
David van Weel
NATO Assistant Secretary-General for Emerging Security Challenges
“These are two very capable countries, especially when it comes down to the field of innovation. They have a history of strong engagement with their private sectors. They have flourishing innovation ecosystems,” he said.
Van Weel said working with the private sector and academia will prove crucial to cyber defence, which can be seen in how companies like Starlink and Microsoft have helped Ukraine.
“NATO is committed to maintaining its technological edge and exercises like the cyber coalition, help us to test and put these new technologies into practice,” he said.
“The threat from cyberspace is real and it's growing and we need to do more investment more in our enhancing our cyber defences, more expertise, more enhance cooperation, also with the private sector”.
In the NATO Cyber Range building, innovation is on show in the shape of the world’s first 5G scooters that whizz around the long corridors. Although it is only there for inspiration, it shows how transportation operating on 5G could come under attack.
Similarly, there is also a battleship simulator, which could come under cyber attack if the digital map the vessel uses were hacked and countries or islands disappeared.
But the biggest test for the participating countries is on infrastructure, such as street lights, water supply and heating coming under cyber attack.
This, in the real world, is a serious threat, which Ukraine has experienced since October after Russia began attacking its energy infrastructure, leaving around 30 per cent of power stations across the country destroyed and many without heating or light in the winter.
Georgia, which also neighbours Russia, is also worried about cyber attacks. The post-soviet country, which is not a NATO member, was attacked by Russia 13 years ago in a five-day war.
Much of Georgia’s infrastructure is also Soviet in design and installation.
“For the Ministry of Defence cyber security is one of the top priorities because we are facing a lot of a lot of challenges,” said Nika Gogindze from Georgia’s ministry of defence on cybersecurity.
He said NATO’s cyber security week has allowed him to Improve Georgia’s cyber cooperation with other countries.
“Our aim was to Improve the coordination with our allies and its nature and decrease the time in finding new ways for communicating with them during the cyber attack crisis.
“So the goal was achieved and I am so happy with that”.
As the week ends, so does of course any cyber trace of the operations that happened. All email logins are wiped from the building and a new week begins for new cyber training operations.
Fri, 09 Dec 2022 01:46:00 -0600entext/htmlhttps://www.euronews.com/next/2022/12/09/inside-natos-cyber-range-how-armies-prepare-for-attack-and-why-nations-must-work-together2Killexams : The Army's Fitness Test Might Be Revamped Yet Again for Gender-Neutral and Job-Specific Standards
The Army will likely have to implement further changes to its embattled fitness test, just months after the long-in-development Army Combat Fitness Test, or ACFT, was finally rolled out, as Congress pushes for gender-neutral and potentially job-specific standards.
The must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which sets funding and policy priorities for the Pentagon, would require Army Secretary Christine Wormuth to revamp the ACFT within 180 days of the bill's passing, establishing the same fitness standards for men and women "that ensure soldiers can perform the duties of their respective" jobs. The language of the bill was unveiled late Tuesday and is expected to become law in the coming weeks.
The poor pass rate for women was partly attributed to the leg tuck, an exercise in which soldiers would touch their knees to their elbows on a pull-up bar. That exercise was eliminated in favor of the plank, which is generally seen as a better measurement of core strength. However, the two-mile run is still the most failed event.
The service was also aiming for job-specific scoring, the idea being an infantryman needs to be held to a higher standard of physical fitness than a soldier who works in an admin job.
Army officials interviewed by Military.com said that differentiating based on jobs quickly gets complicated and test developers who had tried to create such standards before the ACFT was put into use couldn't figure out critical logistics, including whether to grade a soldier based on their job title on paper or responsibilities within a unit. For example, someone in combat arms might be in a recruiting position or a non-combat arms soldier might be assigned to a cavalry unit.
The ACFT went live for active-duty soldiers in October and is set to be the test that determines career advancement and potential separation for part-time soldiers in the National Guard and reserve in April. Soldiers have been taking the test in a beta period, during which there are no consequences for results, since 2019.
The ACFT took more than a decade to develop, replacing the decades-old Army Physical Fitness Test, or APFT, which was widely seen as a poor measurement of fitness, grading soldiers only on push-ups, sit-ups and a two-mile run. Soldiers now are evaluated on deadlifts, a plank, hand-release push-ups, a two-mile run, and throwing a 10-lb. ball behind them as far as possible, among other fitness tests.