Providence Technology Group

Is cultivated meat — essentially, animal protein grown under lab conditions — a nourishing prospect to help feed the world, or is it more sizzle than steak? A consortium of researchers at the University of California, Davis, aims to explore the long-term sustainability of cultivated meat, supported by a new grant of up to $3.55 million from the National Science Foundation Growing Convergence program, in addition to previous support from the Good Food Institute and New Harvest. “The societal need is to feed 9 billion people,” said principal investigator David Block, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. “What we want to know is, will cultivated meat be a viable suppleme...[Read More]

The city of Sacramento, the Greater Sacramento Urban League and the Greater Sacramento Economic Council on Monday announced the Digital Upskill Sacramento Program. Started in partnership with General Assembly and Merit America, is intended to provide new job skills to those affected by the coronavirus pandemic through full-time, virtual learning and projects. Potential participants, especially those from underrepresented communities seeking professions in technology, will vie for 40 spots in the program through an application and admissions process in early October. Those who are selected will receive a free laptop and receive job skill and technology training for nine weeks while being paid $600 per week. The program will end in December with each enrollee receiving a digital certificate ...[Read More]

In late 2018, as smoke from the Camp Fire engulfed the Bay Area for days on end, Nina Lewis bought a PurpleAir sensor. For about $250, the small WiFi-equipped air pollution monitor allowed her to track the air quality index, or AQI, as well as particulate matter levels in real time outside her home near San Mateo, California. Compared to readings from the closest government air monitor nine miles away, the sensor gave Lewis a clearer picture of how much pollution was affecting her local surroundings, informing her about things like whether to wash the car or take the dog for a walk. She thought her neighbors might also appreciate that data, which populates a free public map of global PurpleAir sensors. But she didn’t realize how dependent others had become until the day her husband unplugg...[Read More]

The University of California, Davis, Library’s DataLab will be able to complete the digitization of a vast collection of 17th century texts, art, music and cultural records thanks to a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The three-year, $360,000 grant from the NEH will support what will be the most comprehensive digital humanities project of its kind in the world. “This grant really puts UC Davis at the forefront of this work that integrates data science and the humanities,” said Carl Stahmer, executive director of DataLab at the UC Davis Library and co-founder of the English Broadside Ballad Archive, or EBBA, project. “It is true interdisciplinary work.” Keep reading this article at Ucdavis.edu

Some Yolo County residents didn’t get evacuation alerts from the emergency alert system as fires burned mere miles away from their homes and property due to robocall blocking, officials say. County officials addressed county residents’ concerns in a virtual town hall held Friday afternoon. The meeting was hosted by Supervisor Don Saylor, who is responsible for District 2, which includes the city of Winters where evacuation zones 58 and 60 are located. The LNU Lightning Complex wildfires have burned through 373,324 acres in Yolo, Solano, Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties. The complex is 41% contained as of Saturday afternoon, according to Cal Fire. In the early morning of Aug. 19, the fires came dangerously close to Winters’ surrounding rural areas, prompting mandatory and advisory evacuation ...[Read More]

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Thousands of school and universities in the United States have been preparing for a back to school season that will start off-campus. And for more and more of them, this means installing Smart Lockers to contactlessly distribute learning tools like laptops and Chromebooks. Created by California-based Luxer One, the solution is a multi-unit system of smart lockers accessed through the Luxer APP. Faculty load and electronically lock individual lockers for students and families to, later, pick-up the contents using an electronic touchpad to open their assigned locker without a key or combination. Keep reading this article at thestreet.com

At 8 a.m. Pacific time last Wednesday, I joined David Anderson’s 12th-grade government class at Live Oak High by clicking on a Zoom link. Because California suffered a surge in coronavirus cases this summer, students in Live Oak, a town about 50 miles north of Sacramento, will be learning virtually for the foreseeable future. Both Anderson and his students seemed nervous about how it would go. At 8:03, only eight of the 24 students had logged on, despite the fact that Anderson’s “classroom expectations” sheet requested that everyone “log in to class on time and prepared every day.” It might not have been the kids’ fault. Many students are poor in this rural chunk of the Sacramento Valley. The school ordered Wi-Fi hotspots for the students, but they won’t be available until August 22. In a ...[Read More]

(TNS) — Before he became California governor last year, Gavin Newsom built his reputation as a tech-savvy Bay Area politician, who wrote a book arguing government should follow Silicon Valley’s lead and embrace new technology. But five months into the biggest crisis of his governorship, technology problems have become major stumbling blocks to his coronavirus strategy. The state’s unemployment system has been mired in delays, leaving thousands of people desperate for aid checks in limbo. California’s health insurance program for low-income residents has dropped coverage for thousands of people due to computer errors. And last week state officials announced they had vastly undercounted coronavirus case data due to a series of human mistakes and IT glitches. None of the problems have easy fi...[Read More]

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Leaders from the State of California, REACH, the 30th Space Wing, Cal Poly State University and Deloitte today announced a commitment to develop a thriving spaceport at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the surrounding area. According to the memorandum of understanding, the parties will develop a master plan that identifies the required infrastructure, human capital development, governance and financing necessary to support the United States Space Force mission and position California as a global leader in the future of the commercial space industry. Chris Dombrowski, Acting Director of GO-Biz, said: “California has been at the forefront of the aerospace industry for more than a century. This MOU cements that leadership...[Read More]

SkySlope, the leader in real estate transaction and brokerage software, has launched SkySlope Forms — the most innovative form product to come into the market. SkySlope Forms, which is being rolled out to Arizona customers, uses state-of-the-art technology to create a seamless user experience by giving agents and TCs a streamlined and efficient way to execute real estate transactions. With a frictionless transition between transaction management, paperwork, and digital signature, SkySlope Forms helps agents and TCs save time and improves compliance for brokers. SkySlope’s comprehensive platform for brokers, agents, auditors, and transaction coordinators enables real estate professionals to centralize their work while remaining compliant. As the transaction management platform that se...[Read More]

As opt-in contact-tracing applications across the US are being built for state-specific usage, attention inevitably turns to the privacy risks they present, and how authorities must balance public health with cybersecurity to build systems that are fully fit for purpose.In the battle to control COVID-19, the fundamental role of contact-tracing applications is to alert people when they’ve come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. They have been touted as a vital tool in identifying localized spikes in infections and helping authorities to quickly isolate anyone who may be at risk of spreading the virus further. Keep reading this article at darkreading.com.

Caltrans and the UC Davis Advanced Highway Maintenance and Construction Technology Research Center, or AHMCT, today (July 13) released two reports highlighting ways to prevent rare but often deadly collisions involving wrong-way drivers. One of the prevention measures included in the three-year pilot program — reflectors that alert drivers they are entering the roadway in the wrong direction — proved to be so effective that Caltrans has already installed the reflective markers on hundreds of miles of highways. “Adding the two-way reflective markers proved to be so effective that Caltrans updated its statewide design standards,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin. “It’s a low-cost measure we can use throughout the state to deter wrong way drivers and potentially save lives on California’...[Read More]