A HOLDINGS, SHIZUOKA CITY SEAL DEAL TO ADDRESS PFAS CONTAMINATION ISSUES

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- A Holdings Co Ltd and Shizuoka City have signed a partnership agreement to solve per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination problems domestically and internationally using a subcritical water integrated system.

According to a statement, both parties have been working on a PFAS contamination removal demonstration experiment at Shizuoka City's "Miho Rainwater Pump Station" where high concentrations of PFAS were detected.

Based on the experimental results showing successful contamination removal of up to 88.7 per cent, a "Partnership Agreement for Promoting Efforts to Remove and Detoxify PFAS in the Environment and Implement the Subcritical Water Integrated System to Realize an Environmentally Advanced SDGs City", has been signed recently.

Prior to the agreement, in Shizuoka City, high concentrations of PFAS exceeding the national provisional guideline values have continued to be detected in waterways and well water around the factories that are the cause in Shimizu Ward.

Upon hearing that Shizuoka City had set up a countermeasure team within the city hall and was exploring ways to deal with this problem, A Holdings proposed a demonstration experiment for PFAS contamination removal using its subcritical water integrated system.

After laboratory verification, the company installed a pressurised floating separation device using its special technology at the Miho Rainwater Pump Station in July this year and began a demonstration experiment for PFAS contamination removal.

Based on the positive results, A Holdings and Shizuoka City will continue the demonstration experiments aimed at reducing contamination below the national provisional guideline values.

As a result, an agreement has been reached with the aims of promoting research and social implementation of PFAS contamination removal technology using a subcritical water integrated system, realising Shizuoka City as an environmentally advanced Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) city through business development based in the city.

Furthermore, A Holdings will also establish a new corporation, with Shizuoka City participating in it, to solve environmental problems worldwide, by promoting research and development for utilising the functions of this subcritical water integrated system in multiple ways.

-- BERNAMA

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY SPECIALTY INSURANCE REVEALS ASIA'S KEY LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced it has appointed Kiran Prakash as Head of First Party Lines, overseeing Energy, Construction and General Property in Asia.

In addition, BHSI also promoted Jessie Yuen to Head of Energy, Asia, succeeding Min Ong who has been relocated to London where she now serves as the company’s Underwriting Manager, Energy Property, while Jess Au continues in her role as Head of General Property in Asia.

“BHSI has seen strong profitable growth in Asia. Kiran, building and developing our Construction business, and Jessie, strategically positioning our Energy Property portfolio in the market, have been pivotal to our expansion.

“Our success is a credit to their excellent work bringing the ‘BHSI story’ to the marketplace and building strong relationships,” said its Head of Asia and the Middle East, Marc Breuil in a statement.

Prakash, who joined BHSI in 2015 as Vice President, Regional Head of Engineering and Builders Risk in Asia, will retain his current position in addition to his new role. A mechanical engineer by training, he has nearly 20 years of insurance industry experience.

Meanwhile, with over 20 years of experience in first-party lines, Yuen joined BHSI since 2019 as a Property Energy Underwriter. As she transitions into her new role, she will be in charge of the Property Energy business in Asia, providing solutions for power, mining, and oil & gas customers throughout the region.

Incorporated in Nebraska, United States, BHSI provides commercial property, casualty, healthcare professional liability, executive and professional lines, transactional liability, surety, marine, travel, programmes, accident and health, medical stop loss, homeowners, and multinational insurance.

-- BERNAMA

BDX INDONESIA TO BOLSTER AI INNOVATION VIA STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH NEUTRADC

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- BDx Indonesia, a joint venture between BDx Data Centers, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH), and Lintasarta, along with NeutraDC, a subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia, has launched the first phase of their interconnected Internet Exchange (IX) ecosystem in Indonesia.

BDx Data Centers Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mayank Srivastava said BDx is proud to collaborate with NeutraDC in the spirit of Gotong Royong to advance Indonesia’s digital infrastructure.

"This initiative will go a long way in enhancing the quality of internet infrastructure, enhancing the user experience for all customer segments," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, NeutraDC CEO, Andreuw Th.A.F said: "This collaboration is designed to democratise internet access, ensuring that even the most remote areas are connected to a resilient and robust digital network. By working together, we will democratise internet access and foster a transformative digital landscape."

The initiative, first revealed at a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony at the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) 2024 conference in January, will result in the establishment of a portfolio of 108 interconnected colocation and edge sites across Indonesia.

Phase-1 includes the operational launch of BDx's CGK3 & 3A campus in Jakarta and NeutraDC's Cikarang facility, where these sites will serve as internet aggregation points, creating a hyperconnected and resilient internet backbone that will support Indonesia's digital transformation.

NeutraDC and BDx Indonesia will operate independent IXs that are interconnected to each other’s data centre ecosystem, offering a seamless customer experience. The BDx IX PoP is live at CGK3A and set to launch at NeutraDC’s Cikarang facility next month.

The NeutraDC and BDx IXs will be connected on a multi-terabit fibre ecosystem, creating a high speed resilient network on IOH and Telkom networks.

This initiative will significantly advance internet connectivity across the region, benefitting businesses, driving economic growth, and enhancing digital inclusion. With 108 interconnected sites, it offers improved resilience, faster access, scalability, and robust disaster recovery.

BDx’s specialised artificial intelligence (AI) data centres are designed to meet the demanding requirements of AI training, while the interconnected infrastructure mesh supports inference at the edge, creating a future-proof distributed AI model.

-- BERNAMA

EMPLIFI REVEALS INSTAGRAM REMAINS THE PLATFORM OF CHOICE FOR SINGAPORE'S PUBLIC SECTOR

● Instagram continues to grow as a key channel to engage with netizens.
● Statutory boards are significantly more active than ministries, producing triple the content.
● Singapore Army's #AnythingButRegular campaign is the standout performer.
 

SINGAPORE, Aug 21 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Emplifi, a leading customer engagement platform, today released its ‘Singapore Government Social Media Report – H1 2024.’ The report analyzes how 42 statutory boards and 16 ministries are using Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube to connect with Singaporeans on key issues like healthcare, education, and national defence.
 
“Social media is the heartbeat of modern communication. It’s no longer just a platform; it's a critical channel for building trust, transparency, and engagement,” said Varun Sharma, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EMEA and APJ, Emplifi. “This report delves deep into the Singapore government's digital footprint – we provide insights into the government's social media strategy by analyzing key metrics and understanding public sentiment to see how well it's engaging citizens.”
 
“The key takeaway is that Instagram continues to be a dominant force in Singapore's social media landscape, boasting a substantial user base, particularly among young demographics. The platform's popularity is underscored by its consistent position as the most engaging network, outperforming Facebook, YouTube, and X,” adds Sharma.
 
Statutory boards versus ministries
 
Statutory boards are significantly more active than ministries, producing triple the content in the first half of 2024. Both groups saw increased engagement compared to the previous year, with statutory boards and ministries experiencing 6.6% and 13.4% growth respectively. Overall content creation dropped by 42.5% from H1 2023, with X experiencing the largest decline (from 13,751 to 2,956 posts). Despite this decrease, interactions grew by 7%, reaching 3,552,720 in H1 2024 (3,323,381 in H1 2023). Instagram reigned supreme as the most engaging platform, capturing 61.4% of interactions, outperforming Facebook's 36.5%.
 
Most engaging campaigns
 
“The most effective campaigns skillfully combined compelling narratives with diverse media formats. By personalizing these stories to resonate with specific audiences, such as through language, they expanded their reach and fostered a strong sense of community,” said Sharma.
 
Singapore Army’s #AnythingButRegular campaign was the standout performer on social media during the first half of 2024, generating 331,224 interactions across Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Instagram proved to be the driving force behind the campaign's success, contributing to 72.67% of total interactions. By offering a candid glimpse into army life through personal stories, daily routines, and training experiences, the campaign resonated with audiences, particularly those with past or present military ties. The diverse range of media formats used to share these stories further enhanced engagement. Following closely behind, MuslimSG's Ramadan & Raya content secured the second spot with 69,418 interactions. NParks' evergreen campaign, #CityinNatureSG, claimed the third position with 56,224 interactions on Facebook and Instagram.
 
The top 5 most-watched videos on YouTube in H1 2024 accumulated between 2.2 and 8.5 million views each and featured a mix of government agencies: two by the Ministry of Health (MOH), one by Gov.sg, alongside another two by SkillsFuture. MOH racked up 16.88 million views from 47 YouTube videos, and their ‘Try not to pop the balloon!’ video, showcasing healthcare workers' skills with a playful twist, skyrocketed to the top with over 8 million views alone. SkillsFuture SG stood out with its short, engaging videos. These bite-sized clips, often featuring heartwarming stories, effectively captured audience attention and explained SkillsFuture initiatives clearly. Additionally, the availability of subtitles in Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay ensured accessibility for a wider demographic.
 
Singapore’s ministers boost public engagement through social media

Singaporean ministers are utilizing social media to build stronger relationships with citizens. With a substantial follower base on Facebook (55.75%) and Instagram (25.53%), ministers predominantly leverage these platforms, comprising nearly 90% of their content. In terms of audience engagement, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong boasted the highest interactions with 66.53% of engagement attributable to Instagram.

“Social media is a vital tool for Singaporean ministers to connect with the public, with Instagram and Facebook paving the way as the most popular platforms for government communication. We can see that visual content proves particularly effective in resonating with the Singaporean audience,” concludes Sharma.

Methodology

Emplifi analyzed social media performance across Singapore’s public sector, including 42 statutory boards and 16 ministries between 1 January – 30 June 2024. Emplifi collected and aggregated publicly available data through Emplifi Social Marketing, reviewing over 200 social media profiles across Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube on content, engagement, and sentiment.
 
About Emplifi

Emplifi provides exceptional digital customer experiences via a platform trusted by more than 20,000 of the world’s leading brands. With comprehensive and integrated social media marketing, social commerce, and care, combined with unified analytics and AI, Emplifi fuels growth, resulting in happy customers, increased product sales, and improved brand loyalty.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240819974931/en/


Contact

Amlika Lal
International PR Director
press@emplifi.io

Source : Emplifi

XPENG ROLLS OUT XOS 5.2 OTA, ENHANCING GLOBAL USER EXPERIENCE

• XPENG launches its first major synchronized global OTA upgrade for eligible users across Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other markets
• During the 28-day beta, global users engaged enthusiastically, and nearly a hundred feedback items were integrated into the final OTA update. Additionally, there's a plan to roll out at least four OTA updates in the forthcoming year.
• XPENG hosted its inaugural global user OTA salon in Denmark, focusing on customer feedback and advancing smart mobility on a worldwide scale

GUANGZHOU, China, Aug 20 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XPENG Motors (“XPENG” or the “Company,” NYSE: XPEV and HKEX: 9868), a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle (“Smart EV”) company has rolled out their latest Tianji XOS 5.2 Over-the-Air (OTA) upgrade worldwide on August 15, unveiling the Smart Cockpit and Intelligent Driving features. The state-of-the-art advancements are supercharged by AI technology, making XPENG’s OTA updates faster and more robust.

Designed to deliver a superior user experience, this OTA upgrade underscores the company's engagement to its customer-focused values. Alongside its European expansion, these enhancements typify the company's unique culture of innovation compared to traditional automakers. Users are raving about XOS 5.2, and Marius from Norway, a beta tester, is particularly impressed. "I must say that the new software update is just amazing," he says. "One of the things I really like is the new split screen; it allows you to view the surrounding environment on one side, while also showing the car's current charging status."
 

XPENG Tianji XOS 5.2 OTA Asset Library 

He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPENG, said, "We are proud to be the first emerging Chinese auto brand to conduct a public OTA beta test for our global users. The Tianji XOS 5.2 OTA showcases our world-leading smart driving and R&D capabilities. Positive feedback from users worldwide underscores the increasing role of smart experiences in the future of mobility. We are dedicated to listening to our users and consistently enhancing their experiences. We believe that only truly high-quality technological innovations enable global users more quickly and effectively enjoy the convenience and comfort that these innovations offer, driving society towards a more sustainable future."

In line with its latest strategies, XPENG organized an exclusive offline User Salon in Hillerød, Denmark. On August 13, the event drew together about 30 attendees for an interactive morning involving a showroom tour, followed by elaborate presentations about the OTA features and a dedicated Q&A session. The afternoon was punctuated by hands-on experiences, drawing high acclaim from the users.

The month-long beta testing brought considerable praise and actionable insights, culminating in XOS 5.2 addressing 82% of pertinent feedback from Danish customers with continued enhancements in the pipeline for future releases. XPENG is forging ahead, setting new paradigms for the intelligent electric vehicle industry globally, heralding an exciting new era for its owners.

“In Denmark we are deeply engaged with our customers and we have good processes in place to listen to them and take their feedback into consideration when developing our products. We truly believe that our future growth will happen with our customers as co-creators, and with this release we have proved it once again,” said Joachim Vishart Hummel-Gryholm, Head of Marketing for XPENG Denmark.

About XPENG

XPENG is a global smart electric vehicle company founded in 2014 in Guangzhou, China, developing clean, intuitive, and creative mobility solutions. With its industry-leading R&D facilities, XPENG brings vehicles with superior safety, electrical efficiency, and on-road performance to markets around the globe. The company is constantly working to advance its core technologies, including autonomous driving, SEPA 2.0 and captivating in-vehicle infotainment systems. XPENG is headquartered in Guangzhou and Amsterdam, with additional offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Silicon Valley. 

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=49164

UAE'S TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION INSTITUTE REVOLUTIONIZES AI LANGUAGE MODELS WITH NEW ARCHITECTURE

^{UAE’s Technology Innovation Institute Revolutionizes AI Language Models With New Architecture (Photo: AETOSWire)}
 

 

• The Falcon Mamba 7B is the no. 1 globally performing open source State Space Language Model (SSLM), as independently verified by Hugging Face
• SSLMs have a low memory cost and don’t require additional memory to generate arbitrary long blocks of text
• Falcon Mamba 7B also outperforms traditional transformer architecture models such Meta’s Llama 3.1 8B and Mistral’s 7B
• New model reflects the innovation and pioneering approach of Abu Dhabi in AI research and development

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Aug 13 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research center and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has released a new large language model in its Falcon series, the Falcon Mamba 7B. The new model is the no. 1 globally performing open source State Space Language Model (SSLM) in the world, as independently verified by Hugging Face.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240812019509/en/

 

As the first SSLM for Falcon, it departs from prior Falcon models which all use a transformer-based architecture. This new Falcon Mamba 7B model is yet another example of the pioneering research the institute is conducting and the breakthrough tools and products it makes available to the community in an open source format.

H.E. Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of ATRC and Adviser to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology Affairs, said: “The Falcon Mamba 7B marks TII’s fourth consecutive top-ranked AI model, reinforcing Abu Dhabi as a global hub for AI research and development. This achievement highlights the UAE’s unwavering commitment to innovation.”

For transformer architecture models, Falcon Mamba 7B outperforms Meta’s Llama 3.1 8B, Llama 3 8B, and Mistral’s 7B on the newly introduced benchmarks from HuggingFace. Meanwhile for the other SSLMs, Falcon Mamba 7B beats all other open source models in the old benchmarks and it will be the be first model on HuggingFace’s new tougher benchmark leaderboard.

Dr. Najwa Aaraj, Chief Executive of TII, said: “The Technology Innovation Institute continues to push the boundaries of technology with its Falcon series of AI models. The Falcon Mamba 7B represents true pioneering work and paves the way for future AI innovations that will enhance human capabilities and improve lives.”

State Space models are extremely performant at understanding complex situations that evolve over time, such as a whole book. This is because SSLMs do not require additional memory to digest such large bits of information.

Transformer based models, on the other hand, are very efficient at remembering and using information they have processed earlier in a sequence. This makes them very good at tasks like content generation, however, because they compare every word with every other word, this requires significant computational power.

SSLMs can find applications in various fields such as estimation, forecasting, and control tasks. Similar to the transformer architecture models, they also excel in Natural Language Processing tasks and can be applied to machine translation, text summarization, computer vision, and audio processing.

Dr. Hakim Hacid, Acting Chief Researcher of the TII’s AI Cross-Center Unit, said: “As we introduce the Falcon Mamba 7B, I’m proud of the collaborative ecosystem of TII that nurtured its development. This release represents a significant stride forward, inspiring fresh perspectives and further fueling the quest for intelligent systems. At TII, we’re pushing the boundaries of both SSLM and transformer models to spark further innovation in generative AI.”

Falcon LLMs have been downloaded over 45 million times, proving the outstanding success of the models. Falcon Mamba 7B will be released under TII Falcon License 2.0, the permissive Apache 2.0-based software license which includes an acceptable use policy that promotes the responsible use of AI. More information on the new model can be found at FalconLLM.TII.ae.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240812019509/en/

Contact

Jennifer Dewan, Senior Director of Communications
Jennifer.dewan@tii.ae

Source : The Technology Innovation Institute

HPC EXPANDS TEAM IN ASIA WITH TWO SENIOR HIRES

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (Bernama) -- Hunter Point Capital (HPC), an independent investment firm providing capital solutions to alternative asset managers, has appointed SD Chu and Akira Takahashi as Managing Director, Singapore, and Senior Advisor, Japan, respectively, effective immediately.

Chu and Takahashi will exclusively focus on amplifying HPC’s presence in Asia and helping the firm’s General Partner (GP) partners build and strengthen relationships in the region, particularly in Korea and Japan, according to a statement.

“The demand for private capital solutions has gone global and we recognise that Asia is an important and growing region where on-the-ground knowledge of market dynamics is paramount.

“SD and Akira build upon our already strong foundation in Asia, bringing reputable track records and strong investor relationships to our global business,” said HPC Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Avi Kalichstein.

Chu, who will have a specific focus on the Korean market, brings over three decades of experience facilitating fundraising efforts for global firms like Carlyle, where he most recently served as a Senior Relationship Manager working with Korean institutional investors.

Meanwhile, Takahashi, who will have a specific focus on the Japanese market, brings over four decades of experience and investor relationships to the role. Prior to this, he held senior positions with Credit Suisse, where he built and managed Credit Suisse Asset Management in Japan for over two decades.

In addition to Chu and Takahashi, HPC plans to continue expanding the team in Asia, in an effort better to serve GPs with a strategic need for partnership and strengthen relationships in the region.

Headquartered in New York, HPC poised to build enduring franchises and define the next generation of leading investment firms across the globe.

-- BERNAMA