1. FRA’s RD&T mission is to ensure the safe, efficient, and reliable movement of people and goods by rail through basic and applied research, and development of innovations and solutions. Safety is DOT’s primary strategic goal and thus, the principal driver of FRA’s RD&T program. FRA’s RD&T program also contributes to other DOT strategic goals because safety-focused projects typically yield solutions toward state of good repair, economic competitiveness, and environmental sustainability goals. The RD&T program also has an important role to play in workforce development.
FRA’s RD&T program is founded on an understanding of safety risks in the industry. Hazard identification and risk analysis allows us to identify opportunities to reduce the likelihood of accidents and incidents, and to limit the consequences of hazardous events should they occur. Key strategies include stakeholder engagement and partnerships with other researchers such as the Association of American Railroads, prioritization of projects, and conducting research through cost-effective procurement.
1.Most large corporations today are beginning to invest aggressively in artificial intelligence (AI), the applications of which range from self-driving cars to virtual personal assistants, but governments have yet to jump on the bandwagon. In the public sphere as well as in policy circles, there has been much talk about the impact of AI on society (for example, what the future of work will look like), but there has been very little effort devoted to understanding how AI could transform government itself.
History is, however, replete with examples of new technologies or methodologies having fundamentally affected how government operates. Advances in technology can not only enhance or streamline administrative tasks and service delivery, they can also change the role of government or entirelyreorganise its core functions.
2.The technological and industrial history of the United States describes the United States' emergence as one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. The availability of land and literate labor, the absence of a landed aristocracy, the prestige of entrepreneurship, the diversity of climate and large easily accessed upscale and literate markets all contributed to America's rapid industrialization. The availability of capital, development by the free market of navigable rivers and coastal waterways, as well as the abundance of natural resources facilitated the cheap extraction of energy all contributed to America's rapid industrialization. Fast transport by the very large railroad built in the mid-19th century, and the Interstate Highway System built in the late 20th century, enlarged the markets and reduced shipping and production costs. The legal system facilitated business operations and guaranteed contracts. Cut off from Europe by the embargo and the British blockade in the War of 1812 (1807–15), entrepreneurs opened factories in the Northeast that set the stage for rapid industrialization modeled on British innovations.
2.What pressures do American families experience in our new data-driven, tech-dependent society? Over the past forty years, information and communication technologies have transformed the way we work, the nature of learning and education, and the methods by which we achieve personal and collective goals. Parents, grandparents, children, and the range of loved ones who form part of the modern family today face new and challenging choices about technology use, access, and control. In this blog, Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Lisa Guernsey, and Greta Byrum capture the broad trends, helping to link questions about technology other social concerns and set the stage to reenvision social policy through the lens of the family. The piece is an excerpt of a newly published report released by New America’s program on Family-Centered Social Policy.
3.The steel highway improved the lives of millions of city dwellers. By the 1890s, the United States was becoming an urban nation, and railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, building materials, and access to markets. The simple presence of railroads could bring a city economic prosperity.
3.Internet has the most influence on communities due to its interactive nature and wide usage. ... Internet, and computer-mediated communication supports and accelerates ways how people operate at the centers of partial, personal communities, and switching rapidly and frequently between different groups (Wellman, 1996).
