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Uber northern European manager Jo Bertram quits | Embattled ride-hailing company Uber has received another blow as its top executive in Britain announced her departure. Northern European manager Jo Bertram leaves the company just as the firm fights to overturn the decision to strip it of its licence in London. Bertram had been with Uber for four years and in an email to staff she commented that "an exciting new opportunity” had arisen for her, which she did not disclose. Bertram’s resignation comes as Uber's new global chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, flies to Britain to meet the head of Transport for London. Bertram will leave in a few weeks' time.
| http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-top-uk-boss-jo-bertram-quit-2017-10?IR=T | 2017-10-02 11:07:03.560000 | Jo Bertram, regional general manager - Northern Europe at Uber. Jo Bertram / Linkedin
Uber's top boss in Britain will quit the taxi hailing app just as the firm battles to overturn a decision to strip it of its license in London, according to an email seen by Reuters.
The British capital's transport regulator deemed Uber unfit to run a taxi service last month and decided not to renew its license to operate, citing the firm's approach to reporting serious criminal offences and background checks on drivers.
But in an email seen by Reuters on Monday, Uber's Northern European Manager Jo Bertram, who has responsibility for Britain among other countries, said the firm needed a new manager in the region to tackle the issues it faces.
"Given some of our current challenges, I’m also convinced that now is the right time to have a change of face, and to hand over to someone who will be here for the long haul and take us into the next phase," she said.
In response, Uber's top boss in Europe, the Middle East and Africa said that the firm would now seek out Bertram's replacement.
"Jo will remain with us over the next few weeks in order to help with a smooth transition, and I look forward to working closely with the excellent team she leaves behind," Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty said in an email seen by Reuters.
The firm's London boss Tom Elvidge will head up UK operations on an interim basis, he said.
Uber's new global Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi is due in London on Tuesday to meet the head of the city's transport regulator in a bid to keep operating in one of its most important foreign markets.
Bertram heads up the San Francisco-based app's operations in ten countries including Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
In the email, she declined to say where she would be moving to.
"An exciting new opportunity has arisen that will allow me to apply what I’ve learnt here and I’ll be able to share more details with you soon," she said.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) |
Build to rent sector grows by nearly 40% quarter on quarter | The UK build to rent sector had a total of 95,918 homes in the planning process, being built or completed between April and June this year, an increase of 37.4% from Q1's 69,824, according to estate agents Savills. The rate of growth for build to rent homes either in construction or planning has increased by even more, from 56,547 to 78,917, or 39.6%. London has the largest number of build to rent homes underway, with 54,978 recorded as being in planning, being built or completed. However, there are 12,316 homes being built in the regions as against 11,696 in London.
| https://www.propertywire.com/news/uk/build-rent-almost-40-quarter-quarter-uk/ | 2017-10-02 11:05:35.600000 | The Build to Rent sector in the UK now has 95,918 homes completed, under construction or in planning, a quarter on quarter rise of almost 40%, new research shows.
The number has increased from the 69,824 recorded in the first quarter of 2017, a rise of 37.4%, according to the data produced by real estate firm Savills for the British Property Federation (BPF).
When looking exclusively at the number of Build to Rent homes under construction and in planning, the rate of growth is even stronger, up from 56,547 to 78,917, an increase of 39.6%.
With 54,978 homes complete, under construction and in planning, London still has the highest number of Build to Rent homes but regionally numbers are growing with 12,316 currently under construction compared to 11,696 in London.
The size of Build to Rent developments also continues to experience significant growth, with 34 developments currently in the pipeline set to provide over 500 new rented homes each compared to 24 developments in the first quarter of the year.
‘The data allows us to track Build to Rent’s growth across the UK. Correcting the supply-demand imbalance in the UK is fundamental to addressing the housing crisis, and we have demonstrated that Build to Rent has much to offer,’ said Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the BPF.
He welcomed the Mayor of London’s continued support of the sector and his recognition of its capacity to deliver much-needed homes. ‘We look forward to the Government’s formal response to the national Housing White Paper, which formally recognised Build to Rent in the National Planning Policy Framework,’ he added.
‘We need all housing tenures to be fully supported by the right policy framework if we are going to reverse the damage caused by years of undersupply,’ he concluded. |
Exclusive yacht club combats plastic ocean waste | The Costa Smerelda yacht club has created an environmental charter which calls on sailors across the world to fight plastic pollution in the ocean. The exclusive Sardinian club, established 50 years ago by the Aga Khan, is publishing the charter at a conference in Milan this week. The charter aims to commit yacht clubs, marinas and other groups to reducing marine waste, with proposals include the elimination of single use plastics, adoption of renewable energy, preservation of water resources and marine habitats, and ethical and responsible behaviour.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/02/sardinia-yacht-club-targets-sailors-with-charter-to-cut-plastic-waste | 2017-10-02 11:02:27.667000 | One of the most exclusive yacht clubs in the world has drawn up an environmental charter to ask 150,000 sailors across the globe to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean.
The Costa Smerelda yacht club in Sardinia, established by the Aga Khan 50 years ago, is publishing the charter to cut plastic waste at the One Ocean Forum conference. International sailing organisations have signed up to support the document which will be disseminated to 150,000 sailors who compete across the world.
Riccardo Bonadeo, commodore of the club, said there was a need to raise awareness among sailors, people who live on and use the coast, and the wider public, about the need to reduce plastic waste and adopt more environmentally friendly marine practices.
The charter aims to gather a commitment from yacht clubs, their members, marinas and other ocean users to adopt a set of principles and actions to reduce marine waste.
Oliver Schwall, managing director of the Sailing Champions League which has contact with individual national leagues across the world, has signed the charter. “Behind the Sailing Champions League and the International Sailing League Association are up to 300 sailing clubs from 15 countries who have more than 150,000 members.
“This give us a great opportunity to make the ideas of the Charta Smerelda known throughout Europe,” he said.
The charter will be published at a conference run by Costa Smerelda yacht club in Milan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Bonadeo believes there has never been a more pressing time to promote its message which includes:
eliminating single-use plastics
preserving water resources
protecting and preserving marine habitats
adopting renewable energy
adopting ethical and responsible behaviour during boating and sailing and
raising public awareness of marine litter and pollution and the need to reduce it.
Data from the Ellen MacArthur foundation show the scale of marine pollution. The foundation in a report in 2016 revealed that every year more than 8m tonnes of plastic are leaked into the ocean. Up to 40% of the world’s oceans are heavily affected by human activities causing pollution, loss of coastal habitats and depleted fisheries, according to the UN’s sustainable development goals. By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight, according to the Ellen MacArthur foundation.
New figures revealed by the Guardian showed a million plastic bottles are bought across the world every minute. By 2021 purchase of plastic bottles will rise by 21% to 583bn bottles across the world. |
Dubai government set to launch digital currency | The government of Dubai is set to launch emCash, its own digital currency, as part of an ambitious plan to have blockchain to underpin the Emirate's financial system. In a statement, Ali Ibrahim, deputy Director General of Dubai Economy, said emCash would be used through a new wallet called emPay, which would offer fiat payments as well as real-time digital transactions. Other blockchain-based services, including real-time settlement and peer-to-peer lending, would also be developed, according to the government's statement. | http://www.trustnodes.com/2017/09/28/dubai-launch-state-issued-blockchain-based-digital-currency | 2017-10-02 10:59:04.790000 | Dubai’s government is to launch a cryptocurrency following a partnership between Emcredit, a subsidiary of Dubai’s Department for the Economy (also known as Dubai Economy) and a UK based blockchain start-up called Object Tech Grp.
The new “encrypted digital currency,” called emCash, will be based on the latest blockchain technology, Dubai’s economy department says in a statement, and will be usable through emPay, a wallet launched by Emcredit to support contactless payments. |
Canadian asset managers launch an ETF nearly every day | Canada's asset management industry launched more than 20 exchange traded funds in September. WisdomTree, Invesco and RBC Global Asset Management were among the firms to bring new offerings to the market, with additional fund products expected later in the year. The Canadian ETF market now offers more than 600 funds with a total of CAD135bn ($108bn) under management. | https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/more-than-20-new-etfs-launched-in-september/article36453026/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&service=mobile | 2017-10-02 10:54:55.030000 | Share
Exchange-traded funds providers continue to pump out new investment offerings with a plethora of products hitting the shelf in September.
More than 20 ETFs have launched over the last few weeks – both in the active management space and passive investing – pushing the total number of ETF offerings in the Canadian market beyond the 600 mark. The assets flowing into the Canadian ETF market have been consistently heading north month over month and now sit at $135-billion in assets under management.
Here is a roundup of the most recent product launches – as well as those set to hit the market this fall:
Wisdom Tree Canada added three dividend-paying equity funds to its ETF offering. WisdomTree Canada Quality Dividend Growth Index ETF (DGRC); WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index ETF (EMV.B); and WisdomTree U.S. MidCap Dividend Index ETF (UMI and UMI.B). They all follow a dividend-weighted approach, rather than weighting by market capitalization and charge management fees between 0.21 per cent to 0.38 per cent.
Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. introduced its new developed markets strategy with the launch of Horizons International Developed Markets Equity Index ETF. With the ticker HXDM, investors will gain exposure to developed market stocks outside of North America through tracking the MSCI EAFE Index. Management fees for HXDM are 0.20 per cent.
Horizons has also filed preliminary prospectuses for three additional funds expected to launch later this year: Horizons Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO); Horizons Active Intl Developed Markets Equity ETF (HADM); and Horizons Active A.I. Global Equity ETF (MIND).
RBC Global Asset Management Inc. launched a suite of seven index-tracking ETFs sub-advised by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the investment management arm of State Street Corp. The funds include: RBC Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF (RCSB); RBC Canadian Bond Index ETF (RCUB); RBC Global Government Bond (CAD Hedged) Index ETF (RGGB); RBC Canadian Equity Index ETF (RCAN); RBC U.S Equity Index ETF (RUSA); RBC International Equity Index ETF (RINT); and RBC Emerging Markets Equity Index ETF (REEM). The seven ETFs will follow indexes provided by FTSE Russell and have management fees ranging from 0.05 per cent to 0.35 per cent.
RBC already has plans to launch an additional five funds later this year and filed a final prospectus for four actively managed fixed-income ETFs and one index-tracking fund. These upcoming ETFs will leverage the investment capabilities behind the PH&N and BlueBay fixed-income funds and includes: RBC 6-10 Year Laddered Canadian Corporate Bond Ladder ETF (RMBO); RBC Canadian Bank Yield ETF (RBNK); RBC Short-Term U.S. Corporate Bond ETF (RUSB, RUSB.U); RBC PH&N Short-Term Canadian Bond ETF (RPSB); and RBC BlueBay Global Diversified Income (CAD Hedged) ETF (RBDI).
Newcomer Evolve funds just announced four of its ETFs are now actively trading on the TSX. The funds had already filed preliminary prospectus early in the summer and received approval from regulators. With management fees of 0.40 per cent, Evolve Gender Diversity (HERS); Evolve Cybersecurity (CYBR); and Evolve Automobile Innovation Index ETF (CARS) are all indexed based funds, while Evolve Active Canadian Preferred Share ETF ( DIVS) is actively managed with a fee of 0.65 per cent and is sub-advised by Foyston, Gordon & Payne Inc.
Evolve has more products set to launch this fall including a global health care fund – Evolve Global Healthcare Enhanced Yield ETF (LIFE).
Dynamic Funds and BlackRock Canada expanded the Dynamic iShares Active ETFs lineup with three actively managed fixed-income ETFs that provide exposure to U.S. mid-cap equity and global financial services: Dynamic iShares Active Tactical Bond ETF (DXB); Dynamic iShares Active U.S. Mid-Cap ETF (DXZ); and Dynamic iShares Active Global Financial Services ETF (DXF) all provide exposure to active investment strategies implemented by Dynamic fund managers Christine Horoyski for DXB, Tom Dicker and Steven Hall for DXZ, and Yassen Dimitrov for DXF. Management fees range from 0.50 per cent to 0.75 per cent.
Invesco's Powershares introduced two income-focused ETFs that will offer investors exposure to intermediate-term corporate bonds and the real estate sector. The PowerShares 1-10 Year Laddered Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index ETF (PIB) will aim to track the FTSE TMX Canada Investment Grade 1-10 Year Laddered Corporate Bond Index, while PowerShares S&P/TSX REIT Income Index ETF (REIT) will track the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Income Index. Management fees for PIB and REIT are 0.25 per cent and 0.45 per cent, respectively.
Hamilton Capital Partners expanded its fund family with the addition of the Hamilton Capital US Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD). The fund provides investors the opportunity to gain long-term returns in U.S. dollars, consisting of capital growth and dividends from an actively managed equity portfolio of, primarily, United States-based mid-cap (market capitalization between US$500 million and US$20 billion) financial services companies. With the ticker HFMU.U, the portfolio may include commercial and investment banks, insurance companies, brokerages, asset managers, exchanges, real estate investment trusts and other investment companies. Management fees are 0.85 per cent.
First Asset has added to its actively managed suite of funds with two new ETFs: First Asset Enhanced Short Duration Bond ETF (FSB) and First Asset Cambridge Global Dividend ETF (FCW and FCW.B ) have management fees of 0.60 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively. FSB aims to provide positive absolute returns, monthly distributions along with very low volatility , while FCW aims to provides attractive total investment return, consisting of dividend income and capital gains, by investing primarily in equity and equity-related securities of issuers anywhere in the world. The company also launched a rules-based ETF with an unhedged version of the First Asset Tech Giants Covered Call ETF with the ticker TXF.B and management fees of 0.65 per cent. |
UK grocer Ocado trials robo-deliveries using Oxbotica CargoPod | Trials of the first UK self-driving grocery delivery service have begun in a partnership between grocer Ocado and autonomous vehicle manufacturer Oxbotica. The service's CargoPod vehicle is equipped with Oxbotica's Selenium autonomy software, which enables the vehilce to navigate, detect obstacles and make emergency stops using cameras and sensors. It can carry up to 128 kg of groceries that can be offloaded by customers from lockers on the side of the vehicle. The CargoPod is being tested for public trust and logistical possibilities, as well as its ability to handle highway code regulations. | http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/design-engineering-features/technology/the-uks-first-autonomous-grocery-delivery-trials/161318/ | 2017-10-02 10:40:05.120000 | Earlier this year, the GATEway Project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment), led by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) trialled autonomous pods to shuttle people around the Greenwich peninsula. Also, Project partner Oxbotica drove it’s Geni vehicle more than 100km around the roads of the borough. The residents of Greenwich are certainly getting used to the sight of driverless vehicles on their streets and pedestrianised areas.
Professor Nick Reed, academy director from TRL, says: “We are coming to the twilight of the project, but this third trial is around deliveries. And, as in all of the use cases, we are looking at public trust and acceptance of automated vehicles.”
Now, the project together with online supermarket Ocado and Oxbotica has completed the UK’s first trials of an autonomous delivery vehicle called CargoPod.
“We need to understand how these vehicles will support the future of logistics in the city,” adds Prof Reed. “Whether that will be supermarkets, fuel filling stations or hospitals. Can we improve the efficiency of deliveries to these environments by using autonomous vehicles that are completely safe and produce zero emissions?”
CargoPod has been developed by Oxbotica and is guided by the company’s Selenium autonomy software system, which uses two lidar sensors as well as several cameras to enable real-time, accurate navigation, planning and perception in dynamic environments like busy residential areas. The CargoPod is run by the same software as the autonomous shuttles, meaning that it can predict the trajectory of people, cyclists and other vehicles that are moving around it. It is programmed to make emergency stops if someone were to step out in front of it, yield to other vehicles and follow people or cyclists at a perceived safe distance of around 5m. Although this will be subject to the result of the public trial and how comfortable the public is with being followed by an autonomous vehicle.
Dr Graeme Smith, chief executive of Oxbotica, a spin-out from Oxford University, explains: “We took a standard electric vehicle and modified it so we could drive it electronically. The compartment on the back swings open so you can load up to 128kg of groceries using a forklift truck. Once the boxes are in there, the customer will get a message on their phone to say which of the eight lockers on the side of the vehicle is theirs to open when it arrives.”
Although Oxbotica developed the vehicle for the trial, the company’s main role in the project is as software manufacturer and developer. It is working on how the vehicle reacts to pedestrians and other road users as well as the more formal rules of the highway code. Another area they are pioneering is the laser mapping of environments where GPS is ineffective and has been overlooked by initiatives like Google’s street-mapping.
“There are a lot of companies that are laser mapping all the roads in the world, but when you get into a community like this or a campus community, maybe your own driveway, these are not things that anybody has ever mapped before,” Dr Smith says. “The technology that we introduce has to have the capability of being able to form maps itself and then transmit those maps between other vehicles that might want to use the same area.”
Uniquely, the focus of this study is both on the commercial opportunities of self-driving technology and how it functions alongside people in a residential environment. It also explores the public’s perceptions and understanding of driverless delivery vehicles.
Last-mile delivery
Ocado Technology has already invested heavily in autonomous tech for its warehouses to increase efficiency and throughput. It is using the GATEway trial to explore the logistics and practicalities of deploying electric autonomous ‘last-mile’ delivery vehicles and could be the next step to replace or augment its fleet of diesel delivery vans.
David Sharp, head of technology at Ocado, is quick to point out that last-mile delivery is not the end of human delivery drivers. He explains: “This is just another delivery mechanism. The Ocado driver who carries all the heavy stuff up your flights of stairs is still a very valuable way of having things delivered. But, to economically deliver small numbers of items, having a more autonomous delivery mechanism might be more value for money.”
The research findings will also help guide the wider roll out of autonomous vehicles which, in the future, may play an
important role in cutting inner city congestion and air pollution. The trial is run in partnership with ‘Digital Greenwich’, an initiative that has established Greenwich as a flagship ‘smart city’, where emerging technologies, such as these, are being developed and tested in real-life, complex urban environments. GATEway is one of several projects taking place around the UK.
The residents of Greenwich may have become used to the sight of autonomous vehicles, but do they like them? Dr Smith says: “It’s been amazing, we haven’t found anyone that’s been negatively opposed.
“For example, we had an older lady, a real technophobe, she was terrified of being in the vehicle, but after it had been going for about 30 second she said, is this it? It’s just like a train. And from that minute she was over that hump.”
Over the horizon With its role in the GATEway project virtually over with the completion of this test, Oxbotica is setting its sights on the next, bigger project, focussing on the highest levels of autonomy. Dr Smith says: “We have just won a £13 million Government project called ‘Driven’, which is going to put six autonomous vehicles on the road between London and Oxford.” Finishing in 2019, the Driven project, which Oxbotica is leading, is underway now. It will use everything it has learned from developing the GATEway pods and transfer that into full-sized cars travelling at national speed limits. The first cars are expected to be on the roads by the beginning of 2018.
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Franklin Mutual adds water leak alerts from Roost home telematics | New Jersey-based Franklin Mutual Insurance is making use of telematics provided by home-monitoring firm Roost to track water leaks and pipes freezing. Franklin hopes that by using data provided by Roost's home-monitoring devices it can mitigate the cost of claims related to water leaks. Policyholders with Franklin will be provided with Roost's smart water leak and freeze detectors, which send alerts to homeowners' smartphones if they detect a leak and also freezing conditions or excess humidity.
| http://iireporter.com/franklin-mutual-insurance-selects-roost-home-telematics-for-engagement-and-loss-control/ | 2017-10-02 10:38:25.080000 | The carrier is using the Roost Roost Smart Water Leak and Freeze Detector, designed to sense water leaks as well as humidity and freezing temperature situations.
(Image source: Roost.)
Franklin Mutual (Branchville, N.J.) has selected Roost’s (Sunnyvale, Calif.) home telematics solutions for water leak and freezing detection in order to drive greater customer engagement and satisfaction, and to mitigate the costs of water leak claims.
“By partnering with Roost to offer our policyholders Roost Smart Water Leak and Freeze Detectors, we are continuing our commitment to better serve our policyholders with innovative services, products and coverages,” comments Brian Lytwynec, President and CEO, Franklin Mutual Insurance. “Together we are pairing valuable innovative devices with excellent insurance that delivers protection and priceless peace of mind around the home for our customers.”
Roost Smart Water Leak and Freeze Detector is designed to sense water leaks as well as humidity and freezing temperature situations. The device then delivers smartphone alerts via the Roost/Franklin Mutual Insurance App to help minimize water damage and loss. Roost says that the smart Wi-Fi enabled detector sets up in less than 5 minutes and is easily located in places around the home that are most prone to water leaks such as sinks, hot water heaters, toilets and various appliances.
Impact of Preventing Water Claims
“We are gratified to be working with one of New Jersey’s most established and respected insurers and see this as another strong validation of our smart sensor notification platform,” comments Roel Peeters, co-founder and CEO of Roost. “Franklin Mutual Insurance clearly sees the impact our solutions can have on helping to prevent water claims as well as improving their customer engagement and retention.” |
Bidalgo aims for $250m in 2017 | Israeli firm Bidalgo is on target to end 2017 with revenues of $250m, compared to the previous year's figure of $86m, according to CEO Peli Beeri. The company is an advertising partner of Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram, and has developed an artificial intelligence-backed platform offering an end-to-end mobile ad-buying solution for game and app marketers. Bidalgo oversaw 25 million installs in the past year, and Beeri said the firm will concentrate on growing its share of ad spending in the future.
| https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/02/bidalgo-targets-250-million-in-2017-revenue-for-ai-based-mobile-advertising-platform/ | 2017-10-02 10:33:41.507000 | Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.
Bidalgo has created an automated advertising platform for mobile app developers and publishers, and the Tel Aviv-based company expects to close 2017 with more than $250 million in revenue, up dramatically from $86 million in 2016.
Peli Beeri, CEO of Bidalgo, said in an interview with VentureBeat that the company has averaged $25 million in revenue for the past three months, and that means its revenue run rate is $300 million going forward. That means that it could generate $300 million in revenue in the next 12 months as it becomes a one-stop shop for those who buy mobile ads to promote their apps and games.
He said that an increase in clients, global expansion, and additions to the company’s services have fueled the growth. Bidalgo is an official marketing partner of Facebook, Instagram, Google, Snapchat, and Pinterest, and it also covers Apple Search Ads. Bidalgo’s AI-based algorithms automate and optimize the entire ad-buying process, including automatic creation of new ads and ad content managing how much to pay for each ad.
The company has delivered more than 25 million installs in the past year and generated more than $1 billion in revenue for app developers, based on the revenue from those installs. Bidalgo’s algorithms take approximately 2.5 million actions per day to optimize campaign performance on behalf of its clients.
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Image Credit: Bidalgo
“App marketing has become extremely complex, making it practically impossible for marketers to scale their apps all on their own,” said Beeri. “The market is up, but Bidalgo has offered a self-serve, one-stop shop to help app marketers acquire new users, and that has helped us grow faster than the market.”
Bidalgo started in Israel in 2010, and the company became a Facebook ad partner in 2011. It opened a San Francisco office in 2015. The company now has 80 employees, a number that is up 50 percent since the start of the year. Beeri anticipates the company will have 100 employees by the end of the year. Israel has a strong heritage in marketing and advertising technology, and Bidalgo gained momentum early by working with Israeli game and app companies, such as Playtika and Plarium.
Now, hundreds of advertisers — from early-stage app developers to Fortune 500 companies — rely on Bidalgo’s platform and services to scale their user acquisition programs. Bidalgo’s customers include Playtika, Plarium, Scientific Games, Wargaming, and dozens of other top grossing app developers.
Automation, which artificial intelligence software enables, helped Bidalgo gain traction with advertisers, Beeri said.
“It gave us an advantage in achieving results for user-acquisition managers,” Peeri said. “We started out small, but today, our customers are spending millions with us.”
Beeri said that the company provides a dashboard that serves as a way to view a bunch of campaigns across platforms, all at once.
Image Credit: Bidalgo
“Using Bidalgo’s AI solutions has allowed us to not only scale to millions of users with incredible return on ad spend but also understand what type of additional game content to produce and who our target audience is on a deeper level,” said Filippo De Rose, head of marketing and ad monetization at Pixelberry Studios, in a statement. “Bidalgo was one of our key partners in breaking into the top 20 grossing apps.”
One of the impediments is ad fraud, which has become a $1 billion problem.
“The ad networks have a problem with ad fraud, and that has shifted a lot of momentum back to the platforms like Google and Facebook,” Beeri said. “This comes back to the fact that we are fully transparent. You can log into our platform and see most of what is happening.”
Rivals include Nanigans and Smartly.io. By the end of 2018, Beeri hopes to target total revenues of $1 billion. Bidalgo is concentrating on getting a bigger share of ad spending. For a customer who might spend $10 million on all advertising in a year, Bidalgo might get 5 percent of the spending.
“Everyone says they have AI and automation,” he said. “It’s challenging to compete. But we are focused completely on this mobile-app market. We have a lot of things in the pipeline and plan to be even stronger going forward.” |
Telemedicine eyes wider adoption after US disaster response | Telehealth services in the US may have turned a pivotal corner after they were successfully used in the relief operations of back-to-back hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Companies including Teladoc, MDLive and Nemours deployed action plans to offer crucial triage in the wakes of the storms. Telehealth firms were able to provide other services such as mental health support and access to clinicians outside affected states. Industry insiders said they hoped the experience would lead to more government officials and hospitals embracing the fast-growing sector.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/depth-recent-hurricanes-show-proper-preparation-telemedicine-shines-during-disasters | 2017-10-02 10:27:20.170000 | As wide swaths of the southeastern US work to recover from the recent spate of hurricanes, they won’t be reliant on local health care providers alone. Since Hurricane Harvey began threatening the Houston area in late August, telemedicine vendors and healthcare providers alike have opened up their lines to receive emergency calls and support relief efforts free of charge.
This isn’t the first time that telemedicine providers have pitched in during a disaster, but it’s clear that the technology is now enjoying a much warmer reception. For Hurricane Irma, Nemours Children’s Health System told MobiHealthNews that downloads of its CareConnect telemedicine app increased 554 percent between September 8th and September 12th, while Florida Hospital told the Orlando Sentinel that its eCare service received 2,700 new users between September 8th and September 10th. In addition, Nemours noted that its social media posts describing the free services spread among followers like wildfire, and quickly became the system’s most widely shared posts.
“We decided once a state of emergency was called in the state of Florida that we could really provide the care and access that might be needed to parents across the state, and also to southern Georgia,” Carey Officer, administrator of telehealth at Nemours, told MobiHealthNews. “There were a lot of doctor’s offices that were closing due to the storm, and so parents were scrambling. Kids get sick when they want to get sick — they don’t wait for a storm to pass when they do. I think it brought a lot of relief to parents as they were [encountering] certain situations where they couldn’t leave their house.”
Teladoc — who along with American Well, Click-A-Clinic, Cure Companion, Doctor on Demand, MDLive, the Rowe Network, Vidyo, and other telemedicine vendors opened up their services during the disasters — saw a similar increase in use. Over the course of Harvey and Irma, its emergency line served more than a thousand people, Anne Stowell, Teladoc’s vice president of member experience, told MobiHealthNews. While the volume of callers was undoubtedly driven by the severity of the storms, Stowell she felt that these numbers could also represent a turning point for the maturing telemedicine industry.
“Telemedicine is reaching a critical mass of people being aware of what it is, and how it can help,” Stowell said. “It’s been a lot easier to help people understand how that fits into their life when they are displaced and need care. Five years ago it was much less of a known quantity. I think now that people know what it is, and when we make it available, it’s something people are inclined to trust and use, just because there’s a wider public awareness.”
Learning to prepare
Medical literature has long viewed telemedicine as an an opportunity to expand and support care during disasters — in fact, disaster medicine experts have been singing the praises of telecommunications as far back as 1995. However, understanding how best to leverage the developing technology and meet its growing demand has been a continuous learning experience.
“It’s an extremely important service in times of disaster,” Officer said. “We’re looking at it very closely to find ways that we can be proactive [in the event of] another storm, and learn from these lessons.”
Officer said that one of her organization’s major takeaways from its Harvey and Irma relief program was the value of raising awareness through various media channels prior to the event. Whether through social media or mainstream news, Officer and Stowell both stressed the need to connect with potential patients, and the impact doing so had on call volume.
“We have kind of an engagement engine running here at Teladoc,” Stowell said. “We’re working to get our members aware and registered using our service. With this, it’s really easy for us to switch that engine over to making people in Texas, or in Florida, or in Louisiana aware of the hotline itself. … There’s been much more uptake as well as much more chatter for the Harvey and the Irma relief efforts, and I think that has to do with our ability to push that message out in an effective way.”
Meet this demand and the numerous challenges of a natural disaster also requires extensive planning. Stowell said that her company’s experience providing service during prior emergencies led Teladoc to develop a multi-phase internal emergency preparation and response plan. In the weeks before, a team will gauge the expected severity of an event and, if it’s deemed to be a significantly pressing emergency, begin reaching out to partners and sending out awareness messages to the public. Then, once the storm hits, Stowell said, their teams will have their infrastructure prepared for the influx of callers.
“Because we have such a robust technology infrastructure, we were able to turn that on within a day and our network was able to support the volume of the thousand-plus people who were coming to us well above our normal volume,” Stowell said. “We couldn’t do this — turn it on quickly and do it well — without the groundwork.”
Disaster preparedness plans are not unusual for telemedicine vendors. MDLive told MobiHealthNews last month that it also had a pre-drafted plan ready prior to Hurricane Harvey. However, it still pays to be flexible, Officer said, as their service had to quickly increase the number of providers on-call to meet the growing demand.
Telemedicine can benefit larger relief efforts
Beyond securing their own infrastructure, telemedicine services must also coordinate with relief organizations, local and federal government, and other emergency responders. As a system of pediatricians, Officer said that much of Nemours’ role during the storm involved supporting shelters or other healthcare providers on the ground who may not be fully equipped to provide the appropriate specialty care.
“Talking to the leaders of the special needs shelters, they didn’t even think about having an iPad,” Officer said. “Having the opportunity to have an app ready to go, and ensuring that there are lines of communication that can handle that type of video conferencing — that would be tremendous, and that really solves a lot of the equation when you start to think about having the right expertise at the right place. That’s a part of the conversation today, and I think that has to become a very important piece of how we prepare for disaster moving forward.”
Teladoc, on the other hand, has a standing partnership with the American Red Cross that allows the company to assist shelter staff and those who have evacuated but may not have a working mobile device. The arrangement, Stowell explained, is an example of how telemedicine can be integrated into organized relief efforts.
“Our partnership with the Red Cross is a really good model for that, and I think it’s extendable to any other relief agency, or governmental agency, or support infrastructure [after] an event like Harvey or Irma,” she said. “We have worked to make sure that they have the information they need in shelters, so when people evacuate and stay in a Red Cross shelter, the Red Cross staff there has information about the available Teladoc services and hotline, and then they are able to deploy it in the shelter.”
Dedi Gilad, cofounder and CEO of telemedicine vendor TytoCare, also sees larger-scale collaborations between telemedicine providers and relief efforts as the future of disaster relief. He argued that while telemedicine companies are “being nice” by distributing services to disaster evacuees, the relatively low number of government-backed emergency telemedicine programs is a missed opportunity that needs to be amended.
“[We] really should do it in a more organized way, and be better ready to support these kinds of situations,” he told MobiHealthNews. “I’m not part of any governmental or state board, but if I were I’d say it is relatively simple and low-cost to get ready with this kind of tool. We basically only need communication, and maybe some very basic tools.”
Such preparations may be sparse now, but telemedicine’s growing adoption during these emergencies could improve its chances of being noticed. In an story published on FierceHealthcare.com following Harvey, Nathaniel Lacktman, a partner and chair of the telemedicine industry tream at Foley & Lardner LLP, said he expects public and government officials to appreciate telemedicine’s support during emergencies, and suspected that many “forward-looking hospitals” may look to integrate telehealth into their disaster preparations. For Officer, though, the case has already been very clearly made.
“What we saw during Hurricane Irma is confirmation that telehealth can also be a very important channel for connecting families with providers when traditional means of accessing care are blocked,” Officer said. “Reviews from families who used Nemours CareConnect during the storm were very positive and our providers felt they were truly able to help. I expect this will be an important solution as our country responds to future disasters."
Overcoming telemedicine's shortcomings
Telemedicine does have its shortcomings when it comes to providing disaster relief, however. Perhaps the most stark limitation is the inability to treat life-threatening injuries or other critical conditions that require hands-on attention.
“The first challenge is really what we can help with and what can’t we help with,” Stowell said. “Someone has a broken leg in Houston — telehealth definitely can’t help that.”
Still, the technology can provide indirect help to these patients by reducing the number of patients flooding emergency departments with low-priority issues, Gilad explained. And in many cases, the capacity to provide prompt, personalized triage alone will provide the best outcomes for those weathering the storm.
“When someone is very physically hurt, even a good quality camera to be able to look at a cut, or a bruise, or any issue that requires attention [is useful],” Gilad said. “The diagnostic side is important just to tell you if this is serious and you have to run to the hospital, or if just putting on some bandages and getting some rest [is enough].”
Officer agreed that, for many, telemedicine’s primary role may simply be diagnostic. However, she stressed that this benefit cannot be understated when people are displaced and in need of more information.
“There was a lot of great triage because parents have a lot of questions,” she said. “You know, you’re hearing across the state ‘Stay in, stay in, don’t go out, it’s too dangerous.’ So, you have a lot of nervous people, a lot of families that were moving across the state thinking they were escaping the storm and then having to move again, so not necessarily in their normal communities.”
Another issue comes with infrastructure and connectivity. Winds and water can frequently knock out power, telephone, and internet services, meaning that many of those taking shelter in boarded-up homes are effectively cut off from the outside world. Further, those who do leave their houses to seek care or shelter may not have a mobile device with them, or might lose their source of communication after the first few days of traveling.
For these particular storms, Officer said that she was surprised at how many people maintained connectivity despite any service outages. Regardless, she admitted that Nemours and other telemedicine providers need to challenge themselves to find a good way for the technology to overcome these roadblocks. Conversely, Stowell said that in Teladoc’s experience with these storms and those prior, well-equipped relief shelters with a sturdy connection have served as the best means for expanding access. Gilad took this approach one step further, and argued that more should be done to make access ubiquitous outside of major shelters.
“You can deploy this kind of low-cost solution in schools, in malls, and other shelters,” he said. “You can have a few rooms with very good service tools and communications where people can come in. You can put it in many, many areas … and maybe as part of the more governmental or state-wide strategy you can define locations that have high-quality networking.”
Additional logistical issues arise as other services in disaster-struck communities, such as local pharmacies, begin to close their doors. Officer said this is a key concern that comes with storms, and ensuring that patients who need antibiotics or specialized treatments for chronic diseases can find an open distributor is a top priority for telehealth services. The issue is only exasperated by evacuees seeking shelter in unfamiliar communities, Stowell noted, leading her company to tap outside resources when helping patients.
“The ways that we solve that is working with third parties who publish lists of pharmacies that are still open and making sure that that is available on social media and available through our provider networks,” Stowell explained. “So, if someone is providing care to someone in the moment, they can also help advise where to go.”
Telemedicine fills gaps in disaster care
Despite these challenges, the recent relief efforts have been a showcase of telemedicine’s specific strengths, including its capacity to provide continuous support in the days and weeks following a disaster. Dr. Deborah Mulligan, chief medical affairs officer for MDLive, explained last month that virtual physicians are capable of diagnosing the various infections that come from upended sewage systems, for example, and using video consultation can examine bites marks from feral animals. Her company — along with Teladoc, Doctor on Demand, and others — also provides behavioral and mental health treatment, which normally might be pushed to the wayside when local providers have their hands full with physical conditions.
“Roughly 20 percent of the population suffers from a mental health diagnosis at some point in their life,” Mulligan said in an earlier interview with MobiHealthNews. “A hurricane of this gravity may exacerbate pre-existing conditions, as well as increase stress levels, anxiety and depression in those affected.”
The back-to-back storms have also better demonstrated the benefits of a decentralized physician network. Whether it’s due to a wide-sweeping power outage or an emergency evacuation, local doctors frequently find themselves unable to handle patients, Stowell and Officer explained. In these situations, providers who are unaffected, or are easily able to resume their services after a blackout, are an invaluable advantage.
“We have our providers in multiple states and locations,” Officer said. “Once we lost power, it was wonderful to have consistent service from our clinicians who were in a different state. So the fact that we do have physicians sitting in multiple states was a wonderful advantage — that we could bring the same level of pediatric care, the same protocols, the same quality of care to our patients and families, not relying on all of our physicians being in Florida in a storm.”
While Florida and other states have allowed out-of-state practitioners to lend their services through telemedicine for some time, Texans recovering from Harvey would have been left in the cold if not for a new Texas telemedicine law that went into effect earlier this year. The law, signed on May 27, made Texas the last state to abolish the requirement that patient-physician relationships be established with an in-person visit before telemedicine can be used.
Even during an emergency, though, complications remain when coordinating cross-state care. According to the American Telemedicine Association’s resource page for disaster relief, “most states” have existing statutes for out-of-state providers that waive the need for additional licensure. As of Sept. 29, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Texas have all declared States of Emergency and are still seeking outside assistance (although the ATA still suggests that providers contact state licensing boards to ensure appropriate practice in the affected area).
That being said, many of these restrictions would primarily apply to professionals interested in volunteering their services through telemedicine without specific licensure. Teladoc, Nemours, and the long list of other established providers who have opened up their services will have a collection of cross-state practitioners ready for action. It’s just another part of the planning and groundwork whose importance Stowell says becomes more clear to telemedicine providers with every disaster.
“The lesson learned, at least for me, is that preparation pays off,” she said. “Making sure you have a plan, and making sure that you have the technology infrastructure, and the people, and the processes, and the awareness mechanisms in place to be able to help people quickly in the right way is really critical.”
Or, in fewer words:
“Prepare for the worst, and you’ll be a little better when the worst comes.” |
Texas homebuyer loses $23,000 in fake account email scam | An email scam in Texas has cost a homebuyer his new house after he sent $23,000 to a fake account purporting to belong to his seller's title company. The executive vice-president of the San Angelo Association of Realtors, Kandi Pool, urged buyers to verify the source of any emails dealing with payment instructions, following reports of scam companies operating in Texas. In the scam, criminals hack into emails sent by title firms and use the details to set up fake accounts, before sending the account information to would-be buyers with requests for payment. The FBI is investigating the case.
| http://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/28/real-estate-scam-hits-san-angelo-homebuyer-loses-23-000/714872001/ | 2017-10-02 09:56:13.647000 | Krista Johnson
San Angelo Standard-Times
Homebuyers beware: An email scam this week cost a soon-to-be San Angelo homeowner over $23,000 — and the house they were trying to buy.
“A buyer went to his closing only to find out that his down payment and closing cost funds had not been received by the title company,” said Kandi Pool, executive vice president of the San Angelo Association of Realtors.
“We’ve been seeing this particular situation happen around the country,” Pool wrote in an email, adding that the Texas Association of Realtors has been warning the realtors community about these scams moving into the state.
Title companies generally give buyers instructions on where to wire their money shortly before closing on the property; however, scammers are hacking into the emails of title companies, lenders, buyers and real estate agents. Using the information in those emails, the scammer will then set up a fake email account similar to the title company’s, then send the buyer fraudulent wiring instructions.
“In our local case, the FBI and local authorities have been notified and are working the case, but, there’s no expectation of recovering the funds,” Pool wrote. “So, the loss of closing funds is now affecting not only the buyer, who has lost his savings/funds, but the seller, whose property is now not sold and mostly likely it will have to be put back on the market to wait on another buyer.”
She said that those who have worked on the property, such as the appraiser, surveyor and termite company, might not be able to be paid now either.
“It’s a really sad situation, especially for home owners that get duped,” she said.
To avoid falling victim to these scams, Pool said that buyers should always verify the source of the email by calling the title company or their real estate agent and confirming the wiring instructions are legitimate. |
UAV swarms close to being controlled via brain-computer interface | The notion that swarms of drones could be controlled by a brain interface mechanism is inching closer to becoming a reality, according to Panos Artemiadis, the director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control Lab at Arizona State University. He cited several examples of projects that could be operational within the next three to five years, including groups of drones being deployed in a search-and-rescue capacity, swarms helping fight forest fires, or even snapping aerial photos at large-scale entertainment events.
| https://phys.org/news/2017-10-drones-brain-computer-interface.html | 2017-10-02 09:47:25.373000 | Panagiotis Artemiadis, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Arizona State University, with two drones in his Human-Oriented Robotics and Control (HORC) Lab at the ASU Tempe campus. Credit: Deanna Dent/ASU Now
Single unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) directed by joysticks, radio controllers, and mobile phones are already accomplishing a variety of useful tasks, such as aerial photography and security patrols. But using multiple drones requires multiple human operators, and this presents a coordination problem.
Now a single operator using emerging human-brain interfaces can control a swarm of drones, making possible new classes of applications, according to Panos Artemiadis, director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control (HORC) Lab at Arizona State University.
Artemiadis is available to discuss how drone swarms using human-brain interface mechanisms will, in the next three to five years, make inroads where individually controlled UAVs cannot. Here are a few of the drone applications that are now within reach:
Search and Rescue Missions
Humans will collaborate with swarms of robots in search and rescue scenarios. The brain-robot interface enables control of many robots at the same time, and it scales the ability of a robotic team to cover larger areas in less time. If the controller detects something in the video stream that warrants closer surveillance, the swarm can be directed to close in on that area.
Fire Fighting
Armed with infrared imaging equipment, a drone swarm can be used to track the spread of a forest fire over large areas in real time, allowing firefighters to adjust their plans accordingly. The human controller can follow a reported change in weather conditions, such as a shift in wind direction, with a swarm of drones to determine if the fire has jumped to a new area.
Agriculture Analysis
Teams of drones will oversee and analyze large agricultural fields – creating topographic maps for soil analysis and irrigation planning. In addition to being outfitted with cameras, aerial drones will use sensors to identify necessary irrigation adjustments and scanners that can identify crop infections or infestations. Some drone systems are already being used for crop spraying – swarms will be able to accomplish the task more quickly and efficiently.
Entertainment
As drones enter the entertainment arena, we will begin to see mind-controlled drone swarms for events. For example, a single person could operate a fleet of drones shooting photos and videos at an outdoor concert or sports venue, narrowing in on spectator activities for display on the Jumbotron. And while Lady Gaga's Super Bowl drones were controlled by a central computer (and filmed in advance of the show), smaller swarms can be managed by a single human for smaller light displays or to drop gifts (t-shirts or CDs, for example) into a crowd.
Cyber-physical surveillance systems
Understanding brain-drone interfaces allows building cyber-physical surveillance systems that combine human intuition and experience with the sensing capabilities of multiple drones. This would allow more efficient and accurate surveillance systems than what is now available – especially for large, security sensitive events like bowl games, marathons and political rallies. |
Rapid expansion of build to rent needed to meet demand: Savills | There is an urgent need for more build-to-rent homes to meet rising demand and boost affordability in the UK, according to estate agents Savills. For the first time, the total rent paid by tenants is double the total cost of mortgage interest paid by homeowners. Private landlords received £54bn ($72bn) in rent in a year, while £26.5bn in mortgage interest was paid by homeowners. The rental bill has risen by £14bn in the past five years, a 35% increase. "We need policy that encourages the rapid expansion of build to rent," said Lucian Cook, Savills' head of residential research.
| http://www.savills.co.uk/_news/article/72418/220651-0/10/2017/rent-bill-more-than-double-mortgage-interest-rate-bill | 2017-10-02 09:39:17.680000 | More homes urgently to rent needed to boost rental affordability, according to international real estate adviser, Savills.
Rising numbers of renters unable to access home ownership and low interest rate payments for those with their own homes mean that the total rent bill is now more than double the total interest being paid by mortgaged homeowners for the first time on record.
Renters are now paying over £54 billion in rent to private landlords across Britain. This is more than twice the £26.5 billion mortgage interest paid by owner occupiers - a figure which excludes capital repayments being made on mortgages.
The total private rental bill has risen by £14 billion over the past 5 years. This is a 35 per cent increase, while the number of homes in the private rented sector have risen just 21 per cent.
By contrast, the amount of mortgage interest fell by £6.4 billion, largely due to low interest rates. Also, older homeowners have continued to pay down debt, thus reducing the interest rate bill. Just five years ago, the gap between the private rental bill and the mortgage interest rate bill was just £7.4 billion. It now stands at £28 billion.
The increase in private rental bill has been greatest in London, where stretched affordability and constrained mortgage lending, has prevented more aspiring home owners accessing the market, creating greater competition for homes to rent. Here, the total rental bill has risen by 42 per cent over the past five years, to over £20 billion and now accounts for over a third (35%) of the total GB private rent bill and almost four times the total mortgage interest paid by owner occupiers in the capital.
Rental need is growing rapidly as the housing market becomes less accessible due to house price growth and lending constraints. This is particularly impacting younger households, with those under the age of 35 now paying some 44 per cent of the total rent bill, equivalent to 4.5 times the mortgage interest paid by this cohort.
“It is widely accepted that the solution to the affordability crisis in home ownership is to build many more homes,” says Lucian Cook, Savills head of residential research. “The same is true in the private rented sector. Savills analysis for the British Property Federation shows that there are now almost 100,000 build to rent homes under construction or in planning across the UK, up from 48,000 last year.
“This is real progress, but we need policy that encourages the rapid expansion of build to rent.”
Private rents (at over £54bn across GB) now twice owner-occupiers mortgage interest, due to rising levels of renting and falling mortgage interest rates |
Monarch customers' insurance may not provide coverage | The Association of British Insurers has warned the approximately 300,000 travellers who had booked future flights with Monarch to check their insurance providers' websites, as most policies "do not cover for the failure of a scheduled airline". The advice follows the collapse of the Luton-based carrier, which left around 110,000 customers stranded overseas. The UK government is working with the Civil Aviation Authority to bring them home.
| https://www.postonline.co.uk/insurer/3320816/monarch-customers-may-not-be-covered-under-travel-policies | 2017-10-02 09:34:58.763000 | Travellers affected by the collapse of Monarch may not be covered for cancelled flights under their travel insurance policies.
Some 300,000 future bookings have been cancelled after the airline went into administration this morning, with 110,000 customers currently overseas.
A spokesman for the Association of British |
Hotels, hospitality and leisure product revamped by Axa | Axa Insurance has revamped its Vantage offering, covering the hotels, hospitality and leisure industry. Aimed at businesses with premiums of between £10,000 ($13,200) and £100,000, the new proposition includes full theft protection for hotels with permanent occupancy, and increased protections against profits in the event of an employee's death or disablement, among other additions. The changes, which Jon Walker, MD, commercial intermediary said: "recognise some of the recent changes in this extremely diverse market sector", are part of a broader initiative by Axa to update its mid-market policies.
| https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/products/3147731/axa-offers-fresh-hotels-hospitality-and-leisure-product | 2017-10-02 09:30:07.337000 | The policy is part of Axa’s revamped Vantage mid market proposition.
Axa Insurance has refreshed its hotels, hospitality and leisure proposition to include loss of wedding and civil partnership licenses and full theft protection for hotels with permanent occupancy.
The revamp is part of Axa’s shake up of its mind market proposition Vantage.
According to the insurer the policy is aimed at businesses in the sector with premiums of between £10,000 and £100,000 and policyholders can claim up to £1m for public liability and environmental clean-up costs.
The |
XL Catlin boosts Italian operation with hire | XL Catlin has appointed former AIG broker channel manager Antonio Invernici as senior client and distribution leader for Italy. Based in Milan, Invernici will report to Simona Fumagalli, country manager for XL Catlin's insurance operation, and "will extend our reach to the broker community and further strengthen our existing relationships," said Fumagalli.
| http://www.4-traders.com/XL-GROUP-LTD-30325827/news/XL-Catlin-in-Italy-appoints-Antonio-Invernici-as-Senior-Client-Distribution-Leader-25191933/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=20170928 | 2017-10-02 09:26:34.960000 | Milan, ItalyThu Sep 28, 2017-
Milan, Italy - XL Catlin's insurance operation in Italy today announced the appointment of Antonio Invernici as Senior Client & Distribution Leader for Italy. In his new role, Mr. Invernici will support the profitable growth of XL Catlin's insurance business. He is based in Milan and reports into Simona Fumagalli, Country Manager for XL Catlin's insurance operation in Italy.
Commenting on the appointment, Simona Fumagalli said: 'I am very pleased to have Antonio join us. He combines a considerable experience in underwriting, broking and client management with a thorough understanding of the Italian market. He is ideally positioned to help us extend our reach to the broker community and further strengthen our existing relationships with brokers. Antonio's appointment sees us not only making our broad product suite available to more clients, but also adding talent in a critical area of our business.'
Antonio Invernici has more than 20 years experience working in the insurance industry. He joins XL Catlin from AIG where he was Broker Channel Manager since 2012. He previously worked in leadership roles at Groupama Assicurazioni, Phenix Soleil and Zurich International. In 2008, he received the Master qualification Formation Supérieure des Managers from Paris' ESSEC Business School.
About XL Catlin's Insurance Operations
XL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.
About XL Catlin
XL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com. |
Eucalyptus and pine trees could provide aviation fuel | Researchers from Washington State University’s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and the University of Nevada-Reno have developed a low-cost method for synthesising jet fuel from plants such as eucalyptus and pine. Using a biphasic tandem catalytic process to create cyclic hydrocarbon compounds, they have been able to create structures capable of storing large quantities of energy. The team said their process could make a dense jet fuel that could compete with petroleum-based fuels for cost. | https://news.wsu.edu/2017/09/19/eucalyptus-to-jet-fuel/ | 2017-10-02 09:19:37.437000 | By Brett Stav, College of Engineering and Architecture
PULLMAN, Wash. – A research team led by Hongfei Lin, associate professor from Washington State University’s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, has developed a novel process for synthesizing dense jet fuel from mint, pine, gumweed, eucalyptus or other plants.
The research is a significant step towards making high-energy density biofuels affordable in the aviation industry.
Jet fuel from numerous plants
The process, known as biphasic tandem catalytic process (biTCP), synthesizes cyclic hydrocarbon compounds for jet fuel from terpenoids, the natural organic chemical compounds found in many plants. Cyclic hydrocarbons are molecular compounds with structures that can store high levels of energy. The researchers were able to create a high yield of the cyclic hydrocarbon p-menthane from eucalyptus oil.
Collaborating with the University of Nevada-Reno, the researchers’ work was recently published in the journal Green Chemistry.
Cost effective process
Lin’s research focus is on developing highly efficient, cost-effective, sustainable catalytic processes for synthesizing fuels and chemicals from renewable resources.
“When creating biofuels, a big challenge is keeping them cost-effective,” Lin said. “We are developing catalytic processes that will use special biomass materials to create a specialty fuel product that could be more price-competitive than petroleum-based fuels.”
Petroleum-based super dense jet fuels, which can make airplanes fly faster, further and with bigger payloads, are expensive to produce. For instance, Lin says, refining the molecule in JP-10 fuel, exo-tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene, from crude oil is comparable to “processing diamonds from dirt.” Because of their structure, terpenoids are an attractive economic alternative to petroleum fuels.
Lin is currently investigating catalytic methods to synthesize super dense bio-jet fuels with colleagues from the Australian National University, who have studied ways to boost terpenoid production of eucalyptus trees.
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States go it alone on drug price legislation | Lawmakers in Maryland are daring to legislate where their federal counterparts have not: As of Oct. 1, the state will be able to say “no” to some pharmaceutical price spikes.
| https://medcitynews.com/2017/09/states-go-alone-drug-price-legislation/?rf=1 | 2017-10-02 09:15:03.477000 | Lawmakers in Maryland are daring to legislate where their federal counterparts have not: As of Oct. 1, the state will be able to say “no” to some pharmaceutical price spikes.
A new law, which focuses on generic and off-patent drugs, empowers the state’s attorney general to step in if a drug’s price climbs 50 percent or more in a single year. The company must justify the hike. If the attorney general still finds the increase unwarranted, he or she can file suit in state court. Manufacturers face a fine of up to $10,000 for price gouging.
As Congress stalls on what voters say is a top health concern — high pharmaceutical costs — states increasingly are tackling the issue. Despite often-fierce industry opposition, a variety of bills are working their way through state governments. California, Nevada and New York are among those joining Maryland in passing legislation meant to undercut skyrocketing drug prices.
Maryland, though, is the first to penalize drugmakers for price hikes. Its law passed May 26 without the governor’s signature.
The state-level momentum raises the possibility that — as happened with hot-button issues such as gay marriage and smoke-free buildings — a patchwork of bills across the country could pave the way for more comprehensive national action. States feel the squeeze of these steep price tags in Medicaid and state employee benefit programs, and that applies pressure to find solutions.
“There is a noticeable uptick among state legislatures and state governments in terms of what kind of role states can play in addressing the cost of prescription drugs and access,” said Richard Cauchi, health program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Many experts frame Maryland’s law as a test case that could help define what powers states have and what limits they face in doing battle with the pharmaceutical industry.
The generic-drug industry filed a lawsuit to block the law from taking effect, arguing it’s unconstitutionally vague and an overreach of state powers. A federal court judge on Friday denied their request for an injunction.
The state-level actions focus on a variety of tactics:
“Transparency bills” would require pharmaceutical companies to detail a drug’s production and advertising costs when they raise prices over certain thresholds.
Cost-limit measures would cap drug prices charged by drugmakers to Medicaid or other state-run programs, or limit what the state will pay for drugs.
Supply-chain restrictions include regulating the roles of pharmacy benefit managers or limiting a consumer’s out-of-pocket costs.
A New York law on the books since spring allows officials to cap what its Medicaid program will pay for medications. If companies don’t sufficiently discount a drug, a state review will assess whether the price is out of step with medical value.
Maryland’s measure goes further — treating price gouging as a civil offense and taking alleged violators to court.
“It’s a really innovative approach. States are looking at how to replicate it, and how to expand on it,” said Ellen Albritton, a senior policy analyst at the left-leaning Families USA, which has consulted with states including Maryland on such policies.
Lawmakers have introduced similar legislation in states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Montana. And in Ohio voters are weighing a ballot initiative in November that would limit what the state pays for prescription drugs in its Medicaid program and other state health plans.
Meanwhile, the California legislature passed a bill earlier in September that would require drugmakers to disclose when they are about to raise a price more than 16 percent over two years and justify the hike. It awaits Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
In June, Nevada lawmakers approved a law similar to California’s but limited to insulin prices. Vermont passed a transparency law in 2016 that would scrutinize up to 15 drugs for which the state spends “significant health care dollars” and prices had climbed by set amounts in recent years.
But states face a steep uphill climb in passing pricing legislation given the deep-pocketed pharmaceutical industry, which can finance strong opposition, whether through lobbying, legal action or advertising campaigns.
Last fall, voters rejected a California initiative that would have capped what the state pays for drugs — much like the Ohio measure under consideration. Industry groups spent more than $100 million to defeat it, putting it among California’s all-time most expensive ballot fights. Ohio’s measure is attracting similar heat, with drug companies outspending opponents about 5-to-1.
States also face policy challenges and limits to their statutory authority, which is why several have focused their efforts on specific parts of the drug-pricing pipeline.
Critics see these tailored initiatives as falling short or opening other loopholes. Requiring companies to report prices past a certain threshold, for example, might encourage them to consistently set prices just below that level.
Maryland’s law is noteworthy because it includes a fine for drugmakers if price increases are deemed excessive — though in the industry that $10,000 fine is likely nominal, suggested Rachel Sachs, an associate law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who researches drug regulations.
This law also doesn’t address the trickier policy question: a drug’s initial price tag, noted Rena Conti, an assistant professor in the University of Chicago who studies pharmaceutical economics.
And its focus on generics means that branded drugs, such as Mylan’s Epi-Pen or Kaleo’s overdose-reversing Evzio, wouldn’t be affected.
Yet there’s a good reason for this, noted Jeremy Greene, a professor of medicine and the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University who is in favor of Maryland’s law.
Current interpretation of federal patent law suggests that the issues related to the development and affordability of on-patent drugs are under federal jurisdiction, outside the purview of states, he explained.
In Maryland, “the law was drafted narrowly to address specifically a problem we’ve only become aware of in recent years,” he said. That’s the high cost of older, off-patent drugs that face little market competition. “Here’s where the state of Maryland is trying to do something,” he said.
KHN’s coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Image: mattjiecock, Getty Images |
On Medi-Cal And Feel Shut Out Of Nursing Homes? Here Are Tips To Claim Your Bed. | Most everyone agrees it can be very difficult — next to impossible, really — for Medi-Cal enrollees to snag a spot in a nursing home, especially if they’re transferring from their homes or assisted living facilities rather than going straight from the hospital.
| https://californiahealthline.org/news/on-medi-cal-and-feel-shut-out-of-nursing-homes-here-are-tips-to-claim-your-bed/ | 2017-10-02 09:14:04.940000 | Most everyone agrees it can be very difficult — next to impossible, really — for Medi-Cal enrollees to snag a spot in a nursing home, especially if they’re transferring from their homes or assisted living facilities rather than going straight from the hospital.
Not everyone agrees on the reasons, however.
“There’s massive, systemic Medi-Cal discrimination,” says Pat McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. She believes some nursing homes illegally turn away enrollees because they don’t want to accept Medi-Cal’s lower reimbursement rates.
“If they can get more money with private pay or Medicare, they would rather accept one of them,” she says.
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Deborah Pacyna, director of public affairs for the California Association of Health Facilities, which represents most of the state’s standalone nursing homes, says it’s illegal for nursing homes to discriminate based on payment type. She blames access problems on the state’s rapidly aging population.
“Projections are that we will run out of nursing home beds by 2020,” Pacyna says. “That is putting even more pressure on the Medi-Cal population.”
No matter what you believe, the situation amounts to a crisis for Californians who desperately need a nursing home and are covered by Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program for low-income residents, says Susan Geffen of Hermosa Beach, an elder law attorney, gerontologist and author of the book “Take That Nursing Home and Shove It!”
If you think low-income doesn’t mean you, think again. Many middle-class Californians need Medi-Cal to help pay for their long-term care because they run out of money paying the bills on their own, she says.
Despite the access challenges many Medi-Cal enrollees face, about two-thirds of California’s nursing home residents rely on the program to cover all or part of their costs.
The state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which oversees Medi-Cal, says that nearly 90 percent of California’s 1,400 nursing homes accept its enrollees. The department is the only entity I interviewed that “is not aware of Medi-Cal members who are having difficulty finding a nursing home that will accept them.”
Today, I’m offering some advice if you or a loved one needs a nursing home for a long-term stay. It will be easier if you’re already in the hospital, which I realize is cold comfort.
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Finding a bed if you’re not in the hospital — especially a bed in your community — might mean you’ll have to pay out of your own pocket initially. Or it might require some creative maneuvering, like working with your doctor to get you admitted to a hospital. Even then, “a hope and a prayer” might be necessary, says Derrell Kelch, executive director of the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging.
If You’re Coming From the Hospital
More than 90 percent of nursing home admissions last year came directly from hospitals, according to data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
If you or a loved one is in the hospital and may not be able to return home afterward, “start working with the hospital discharge planner immediately” and ask for a list of nearby nursing homes, Kelch advises.
If you have fee-for-service Medi-Cal, you will require prior authorization, and the request must be made by the hospital or the nursing home, says DHCS spokeswoman Carol Sloan. If you’re in a Medi-Cal managed care plan, it will help determine where you go, she says.
You may want to visit the facility first before committing your loved one to it, Pacyna suggests. Also check out Nursing Home Compare on the Medicare website for quality ratings.
Medicare, the publicly funded health insurance program for older Americans, is often the first payer when you move into a nursing home. Under certain conditions, it will cover you for a limited time — up to 100 days.
The traditional form of Medicare will pay 100 percent for the first 20 days, after which you will owe $164.50 a day for up to 80 additional days. But you can qualify for this coverage only if you enter a Medicare-approved nursing facility within 30 days of an inpatient hospital stay that lasted at least three days. Beware: “Observation” care in the hospital won’t count as an inpatient stay.
Medicare does not cover long-term nursing home stays.
So, once you are in the nursing home, don’t wait to apply for Medi-Cal if you’re not already enrolled in it, Geffen says. Medi-Cal can help cover your Medicare copays, if you’re eligible, and then take over when your Medicare coverage ends, she says.
“They can’t just discharge somebody [from a nursing home] because they’re going on Medi-Cal,” McGinnis says.
If the nursing home balks and says it can’t keep you after you’ve switched to Medi-Cal, you can seek help from McGinnis’ organization (www.canhr.org or 800-474-1116) or another advocacy group, including legal services organizations or your local Long-Term Care Ombudsman, she says.
Be sure to let the facility know that you know it can’t discriminate against Medi-Cal enrollees, McGinnis adds.
If You’re Coming From the Community
Just because a small percentage of patients admitted to nursing homes last year came from their homes or assisted living facilities doesn’t mean people aren’t trying, says Mike Connors, an advocate for McGinnis’ group.
“It’s just extraordinarily difficult,” he says. “People end up waiting for months. … They get sick and get hospitalized.”
To find a facility that is certified for Medi-Cal, go to the state Department of Public Health’s database at hfcis.cdph.ca.gov. You might need to target larger nursing homes that have higher turnover, McGinnis says.
If it’s financially possible, consider starting out as a private-pay client.
Instead of getting rid of all of your money ahead of time to become eligible for Medi-Cal long-term care coverage, Geffen suggests keeping some in reserve so you can gain entry as a cash customer.
Then, once you’re a resident and run out of money, “they’re not allowed to kick you out,” Kelch says.
Geffen also knows of people who have gone to the hospital in the hope of getting admitted, so they can be discharged directly into a nursing home. “Some people have had to go to extraordinary feats in order to get into a nursing home on Medi-Cal,” she says.
You can also consult with your doctor to devise a plan. If she agrees that you need to be in a facility, request documentation that you can take to the nursing home as proof, Pacyna says. Or, “if you’re ill, it may be appropriate to be admitted to the hospital,” Connors says.
I wish there were more support for individuals and families struggling through this.
Placement services, such as A Place for Mom, can help you find a nursing home with openings. You can also talk to an elder law attorney.
You can even ask your county social services department for help, says Benson Nadell, director of the San Francisco Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. “People cannot navigate this complex system on their own,” he says. |
Replacing Faulty Heart Devices Costs Medicare $1.5 Billion in 10 Years | Medicare paid at least $1.5 billion over a decade to replace seven types of defective heart devices, a government watchdog says. The devices apparently failed for thousands of patients.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/health/heart-devices-medicare.html?partner=rss&emc=rss | 2017-10-02 09:12:35.313000 | WASHINGTON — Medicare paid at least $1.5 billion over a decade to replace seven types of defective heart devices, a government watchdog says. The devices apparently failed for thousands of patients.
A report released on Monday by the inspector general’s office for Health and Human Services said officials needed to do a better job tracking these costly product failures to protect patients from harm. More detailed reporting could lead to earlier recognition of serious problems with medical devices and faster recalls of all types of “poorly performing” ones, the inspector general’s office said.
The report marks the first effort by anyone in government to assess the losses to taxpayers and patients 65 and older from medical gear that proves faulty.
Officials said the $1.5 billion lost from the seven devices from 2005 through 2014 was a “conservative estimate.” Patients also paid $140 million in out-of-pocket costs for this care, the report noted. |
Healthcare companies aim to convert partisan gridlock into progress | In a show of unprecedented unity, healthcare providers and payers banded together to defeat Senate Republicans' latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
| http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170930/NEWS/170929859 | 2017-10-02 09:10:34.277000 | Ceci Connolly, president of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, said there is a "real danger" in not addressing CSR payments. "If the CSRs go away and many of those working families decide they can't afford coverage without that help, that has real negative effects on the risk pool, which will in turn have negative effects on health plans, which will in turn have negative effects on the market. It is a fragile assembly of pieces that could fall apart very quickly."
Insurance companies also face the prospect that Trump may sign an executive order soon to allow cross-state insurance sales. Experts have long warned that such a policy would weaken consumer protections and further damage the individual market.
Michael Consedine, CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, said in a statement that the NAIC "has long been opposed to any attempt to reduce or pre-empt state authority or weaken consumer protections." He noted that insurers already are able to sell plans in multiple states.
Insurance companies are also pressing the Trump administration to continue enforcing the individual mandate, which requires most people to enroll in coverage, and reinstate funding for Obamacare marketing and outreach. HHS announced in August that it would slash the marketing budget, and many plans worry those cuts, coupled with a weakly enforced mandate, will lead to lower enrollment. Now, 10.3 million Americans are enrolled in ACA marketplace coverage.
Providers, insurers and state insurance departments are stepping up their outreach efforts in the wake of the loss of federal funding.
"We have the same mechanisms in place to support enrollment in exchange plans or Medicaid expansion and continue those efforts, notwithstanding the administration's efforts around decreasing funding for navigators," said Dr. Richard Gilfillan, CEO of Catholic-sponsored system Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Mich.
Not-for-profit safety net health plans in the Association for Community Affiliated Plans will also do their own marketing, according to association CEO Margaret Murray. She added that her organization is pushing for reducing the number of plans that don't comply with the ACA, such as grandfathered health plans, which she said help to destabilize the individual market and increase premiums.
Healthcare companies are hopeful a bipartisan solution to stabilize the ACA marketplace can be reached. They are urging Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to revisit their bipartisan talks to shore up the individual insurance marketplaces in time for open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1.
In September, the two senators held a series of hearings before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on how to stabilize the market, but the conversation was abandoned when Republicans returned their attention to repealing the ACA.
"I hope that there will be a more bipartisan approach to looking at the kinds of things that can improve market stability," UPMC's Holder said. "When insurance markets are stable or more stable, it allows (insurers) to plan more effectively." |
Why Public Health Insurance Could Help, Even if You Don’t Want It | It is anyone’s guess whether Democrats will unite around the goal of creating a single-payer health care system or even take a less ambitious approach — introducing a public health insurance option.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/business/economy/public-health-insurance.html | 2017-10-02 09:10:00.710000 | It is anyone’s guess whether Democrats will unite around the goal of creating a single-payer health care system or even take a less ambitious approach — introducing a public health insurance option.
Adding public insurance as an option in the complex American health care system has been treated as a consolation prize for those who really favor single-payer health care, but the lighter approach might pack much more punch than you might think. What’s more, the best way to see that is by looking at the Indian labor market and the Mexican grocery market.
Why should jobs in India or food in Mexico have anything to do with health care in the United States? They are linked by the logic of supply and demand, which applies in the United States and in countries very different from it — countries that the United States doesn’t turn to often enough for policy lessons.
In fact, India’s and Mexico’s experiences offer some of the best evidence on what happens when we add a public option to a marketplace: The private sector is forced to improve its game to retain customers, so more people benefit than just those who directly use the public services. |
Trump couldn’t repeal Obamacare, so he’s trying to destroy it | Here’s a thought exercise. Barack Obama never once considered repealing George W. Bush’s Medicare Part D law, even though it was a drag on the budget. But imagine if he had decided to try.
| https://www.salon.com/2017/09/29/making-health-care-dreadful-again-repeal-failed-so-trump-aims-to-destroy/ | 2017-10-02 09:09:15.723000 | Here’s a thought exercise. Barack Obama never once considered repealing George W. Bush’s Medicare Part D law, even though it was a drag on the budget. But imagine if he had decided to try. Imagine, then, that this hypothetical repeal effort failed three times in a row, despite congressional majorities, and so instead Obama decided to issue executive orders aimed at making it really difficult for seniors to receive the prescription drug benefits in the law? I mean, radically undermining the law might have reduced the deficit and the long-term debt, especially if retirees were simply unaware of the program and didn’t enroll, right? But it would have been a horrifyingly crappy and inhumane thing to do, given that seniors would have been forced to go without life-saving medication or go bankrupt trying to pay for prescriptions.
In truth, Medicare Part D came equipped with a pretty significant problem. It turned out that many seniors were being screwed every year by something called the “doughnut hole.” Simply put, a flaw in Bush’s Medicare Part D manifested itself with a coverage gap, during which recipients had to pay for medicine out of pocket or go without their prescriptions for a period of time each year. Rather than maniacally demanding a repeal of the law, though, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress incorporated language in the health care law of 2009 that incrementally fixed the doughnut hole.
Why? Because that’s the grownup thing to do -- the human thing to do. (Incidentally, repealing Obamacare would’ve meant a re-opening of the doughnut hole. Bad news for all those seniors who inexplicably voted for Trump last year.) Nevertheless, the Affordable Care Act’s fix for Part D is how it’s supposed to work. If one president passes a beneficial law that improves people’s lives, the next president should endeavor to correct any glitches. That's how it went in that case, with a bipartisan effort linking two profoundly different administrations.
But it doesn’t work like that any more, apparently. Now, in the erratic and vulgar age of President Trump, the mission has never been to improve the ACA, which among many positive line items provided 20 million Americans withe affordable health insurance. The solution has been to simply kill it. The most brainless and simplistic solution for a brainless and simplistic regime. It reminds me of one of those viral videos in which a petulant kid starts relentlessly destroying his keyboard because of a computer glitch. Good job, kid.
Likewise, the Republicans got caught up in their own bogus hype from 2010, becoming unable to pull out of a nosedive commitment that they would repeal and replace the ACA. Because it tests well with the conservative base to promise a sucker punch to our first African-American ex-president, they couldn’t change course when it became clear most Americans beyond the loony fringe didn’t want anything to do with the slapdash Republican replacement bills. Hence, three failed attempts (at least) to repeal.
In the face of those failures, the Trump administration has engaged in a secret plan to sabotage the ACA. The goal? Make it really difficult for people to enroll and receive benefits from the law, while also jacking up premiums by resurrecting failed solutions. What exactly are they doing?
On Wednesday, we learned that Tom Price’s Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with implementing the ACA, sent word to all 10 of its regional directors to bail out of promoting this year’s open enrollment period. The goal, quite obviously, is to keep people from enrolling in order to facilitate a decline in participation, creating another excuse for another possible repeal, and perhaps triggering premium hikes to compensate for the lack of customers paying into the system.
Referring to the lack of promotion, the executive director of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, Roy Mitchell, told Vox’s Dylan Scott, “It’s clearly sabotage.” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer agreed: “The Trump administration is deliberately attempting to sabotage our health care system.”
If customers forget to enroll as a result of the sabotage, they’ll be forced to pay a penalty. Many of those lapsed customers will surely become opponents of the law. Mission accomplished. Trump already signed an executive order shortly after his inauguration ordering the IRS not enforce Obamacare's individual mandate -- another trick that is likely to trigger premiums. So far, at least, the administration has failed to implement the order.
Late last month, we also learned that Trump is slashing the ACA’s advertising budget by 90 percent, from $100 million to $10 million. TV ads are being scrapped altogether. The White House’s logic on this is predictably confounding. Officials told reporters that they shouldn’t be obligated to promote something which many Americans don’t know about. Isn’t that the point of advertising -- to inform the uninformed?
Likewise, the network of health care “navigators” tasked with helping Americans buy marketplace insurance plans is seeing its funding cut nearly in half, from $63 million to $36 million. Again, a valuable resource for making it easier to deal with complicated insurance parameters is being subverted. But I’m sure there won’t be any customers flummoxed by the process who will walk away hating the ACA.
Oh, and the open enrollment period has been reduced by six weeks, rolling back the deadline from Jan. 31 to Dec. 15, making the signup process even more harrowing.
The Trump administration has also threatened to stop paying cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments. Briefly put, CSRs are the subsidies that help low-income families pay their monthly insurance premiums. The mere threat of cutting these payments has precipitated a forthcoming 45 percent hike in premiums in Florida alone. Insurers are specifically citing the “political uncertainty” brought on by Trump’s incendiary language, and the looming concern about the possible elimination of CSR payments.
Finally, for some reason that defies explanation, HHS will be shutting down the Healthcare.gov website for 12 hours every Sunday, a day when most Americans are off work and might well have the free time to focus on signing up for insurance. Rather than conducting technical maintenance when it’s needed, HHS is establishing weekly shutdowns with the apparent goal of making sure that fewer people can sign up during the shortened enrollment period -- and that’s if they’re actually aware of open enrollment, given the reduction of the advertising budget.
Ultimately, of course, we’ll continue to hear rhetoric from Trump about how the ACA is collapsing, forcing us to wonder whether his sneaky meddling with the law is causing the system to slowly unwind. The next time Trump screeches to his cosplaying superfans about rising premiums, it might be fair to point out that higher premiums next year and the year after that were essentially designed to happen and are his fault, not the fault of the underlying law. Not only will Democratic lawmakers be tasked with coming up with solutions for the existing glitches in the ACA, they’ll also have to contend with a White House that’s creating a long list of new ones -- deliberately and without remorse, effectively making health care terrible again and screwing over vulnerable Americans by the millions. |
Nursing home use up with cognitive impairment category | Nursing home (NH) use increases with increasing cognitive impairment category, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
| https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-10-nursing-home-cognitive-impairment-category.html | 2017-10-02 09:01:41.653000 | (HealthDay)—Nursing home (NH) use increases with increasing cognitive impairment category, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Jane A. Emerson, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues estimated NH use among 3,545 Mayo Clinic Study of Aging participants (aged 70 to 89 years), assessed as cognitively normal (CN), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), previously unrecognized dementia, or prevalent dementia.
The researchers found that the percentages who died in the year after cognition was assessed were 1, 2.6, 4.2, and 21 percent among those categorized as CN, MCI, previously unrecognized dementia, and prevalent dementia, respectively. The percentages with any NH use were 3.8, 8.7, 19, and 40 percent, respectively, with 27, 38, 120, and 305 median NH days and 7.8, 12, 33, and 100 percent median percentages of NH days/days of observation, respectively. A significantly higher proportion had any NH use for each increase in cognitive impairment category. Individuals with prevalent dementia and any NH use had especially high one-year mortality (30 percent versus 13 percent for those with no NH use). Among those with prevalent dementia, 58 percent of all deaths occurred while an NH resident.
"Reductions in NH use could result from quality alternatives to NH admission, both among persons with MCI and persons with dementia, together with suitable options for end-of-life care among persons with prevalent dementia," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, which partially funded the study.
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. |
Brexit concern, tax increase take toll on UK luxury home values | Tax changes and uncertainty over Brexit have been blamed for wiping millions of pounds off the value of properties in some of the UK’s wealthiest streets, with overall house prices in London reported to have fallen for the first time in eight years. Estate agent Savills said that prime residential prices in central London were 15.2% below their peak three years ago, while Zoopla said homes in Kensington's The Boltons -- the third-most expensive street in the world -- had lost an average of £13m ($17.2m) in the past year. Property website Rightmove described the fall as a “readjustment”.
| https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/02/zoopla-reveals-changing-fortunes-for-britains-wealthy-homeowners | 2017-10-02 08:37:00.860000 | Some of Britain’s wealthiest homeowners have seen as much as £13m wiped off the value of their property in a year as Brexit uncertainty and tax changes continue to wreak havoc in the prime central London market.
According to new research, Kensington Palace Gardens in west London tops the list of the most expensive streets in Britain, with an average property value of £35.7m – although that is £2.5m less than this time last year, when the figure was £38.3m. In July 2015 a typical property in the street was worth £42.6m – which reflects a near-£7m decline in just over two years, said property website Zoopla in its annual Rich List of house prices.
Kensington Palace Gardens is reported to be home to Chelsea football club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, the Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone and the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah.
However, the ultra-wealthy owners of homes in the Boltons, two miles south, have had a much tougher time of it. Zoopla said the average value of a property on the street in South Kensington had plummeted from £33.3m this time last year to just under £20m now. Previous residents of the Boltons include Madonna and actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The Boltons came third in the table of the top 10 most expensive streets, all of which are in London.
A house on the Boltons, where average values have plummeted from £33.3m last year to under £20m. Photograph: Rightmove
Other roads in the area, such as Manresa Road in Chelsea, had smaller falls, and a few increased in value over the year.
Other surveys have also reported sharp falls in some of the capital’s most expensive boroughs. Last month the property site Rightmove said the average asking price of a newly marketed home in Kensington and Chelsea fell by £308,000 between August and September. On Tuesday, upmarket estate agent Savills said prices in central London had fallen by 3.2% in the first nine months of this year, and were 15.2% below their peak three years ago.
On Friday, Nationwide said London house prices had fallen for the first time year on year since the height of the financial crisis eight years ago.
Rightmove described the slump in the high-end central London market as a “readjustment”, and quoted an estate agent saying that, since the introduction of the 3% surcharge on stamp duty paid by investors, along with the uncertainty over how Brexit would pan out, “investors have been standing on the sidelines”.
Zoopla said there were now 14,417 streets in Britain where the average property value is £1m or more – up from 12,418 in 2016. Of those, 5,899 are in Greater London. The Yorkshire and the Humber region has 77 £1m streets, north-east England has 45 and Wales has 11.
In line with this trend, 19 of the 20 towns with the highest number of £1m-plus streets are in southern England. Guildford in Surrey takes the top spot with 204, with Reading in Berkshire in second place with 187.
Zoopla says its website attracts more than 40m visits per month. Asked about the large fall recorded for the Boltons, a spokesman said: “The number of estimates on a given road can vary and can be subject to change throughout the year. In the case of the Boltons, it could be that several estimates have been newly added to listings which previously didn’t have a figure attached, and this may have had the knock-on impact on the street’s average value compared to last year.”
|
Price of cyber attacks is $21.2m for US companies: Accenture | US businesses are paying a high price for the boom in cyber crime, according to a report by Accenture. Incidents have increased by 62% over the past five years, costing US companies around $21.2m last year, the report states. In a survey of security and IT employees across 254 global firms, Accenture found that each attack costs its target up to $2.4m. The financial sector saw the most frequent attacks. Security breaches rose by 27% to 130 per year, according to the study, which called on businesses to innovate to stay ahead of hackers.
| http://www.ciodive.com/news/cybercrime-costs-us-companies-212m-per-year-study-finds/506059/ | 2017-10-02 08:36:27.937000 | Dive Brief:
Cybercrimes increased 62% in the last five years, and global malware attacks were the most expensive, costing companies up to $2.4 million per attack, according to the 2017 Accenture cybercrime cost report. The report surveyed almost 2,200 security and IT professionals in 254 international companies.
Cybercrimes cost businesses about $11.7 million per year, a 23% increase over 2016's $9.5 million. Security breaches increased 27% to 130 incidents annually. Ransomware attacks doubled in frequency and saw an average of 23 days dedicated to "resolve" each attack.
U.S. companies paid the highest cybercrime cost at about $21.22 million. The financial industry was hit the hardest, followed by the utility and energy, defense and technology industries, according to the report.
Dive Insight:
Cybersecurity made a huge impact in 2017. After back-to-back-cyberattacks occurred earlier this year many companies were forced to restructure security strategies. May's WannaCry malware attack infiltrated networks through an outdated software vulnerability, highlighting the need for more vigilant software updates and maintenance.
Nyetya struck soon after WannaCry, and although it was disguised as ransomware, Nyetya was a wiper that destroyed data even after a ransom was paid. Shipping giant Maersk's global operations were temporarily dismantled by the attack, and FedEx lost $300 million in operating income.
Lost information accounts for most costs companies face following a cybercrime or data breach and additional legal costs are also common. Equifax is facing numerous legal and financial ramifications following its data breach of 143 million U.S. consumers.
Savvy hackers are taking advantage of an understaffed security workforce and using trusted applications as an entry point into company networks. A lack of proper companywide security practices often results in phishing schemes and fake CEO emails — which cost companies about $5.3 million in the last three years.
It's up to companies to remain vigilant on cybersecurity efforts in infrastructure and software surveillance and maintenance. Federal agencies also need to reexamine patchwork efforts and potential gains hackers can receive from network intrusion. |
China's Geely buys controlling stakes in Saxo Bank and Lotus | China's Geely is raising its stake in Denmark's Saxo Bank to 51.5% in a deal worth more than $300m. The Chinese car maker believes that the bank's financial technology knowhow could help it expand in Asia. Saxo Bank's income mainly comes from its online trading platforms, which are used by foreign exchange dealers among others. At the same time, Geely has acquired a controlling 51% stake in the Lotus car company, leaving 49% with Malaysia's Etika Automotive. So far, every car firm that Geely has acquired has made a fast financial turnaround and it is hoped additional investment in Lotus will have the same effect.
| http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a12631904/lotus-is-about-to-enter-a-golden-age-with-geely-its-new-chinese-owners/ | 2017-10-02 07:51:37.970000 | What we reported last October has become official today: Geely Holding has acquired a majority 51-percent stake in Lotus. With 49 percent remaining at Etika Automotive, the Malaysian group behind Proton, Mr. Jean-Marc Gales will continue in his role as Lotus CEO, a job he started three years ago.
This is indeed great news. The lack of investment from the Malaysian side held the brand back dearly over the past few years. Meanwhile, every car company recently purchased by Geely's Chairman Li has made an instant turn for the better. Now, Lotus gets its chance.
Lotus
Geely bought Volvo from Ford back in 2010. Not long after, the company evolved into a Swedish success story, with a fresh model line and a separate performance brand that's just about to develop its own electric sports car.
Related Story 2018 Volvo XC40: Here It Is
The Volvo XC40's compact platform is now shared with a new carmaker called Lynk & Co, which is trying to capture your imagination with a completely different sales model, bolder shapes and a lower price point than any Volvo. Lynk & Co might also become the first Chinese manufacturer to succeed in America—its models will be built to global standards, on what's essentially a proven Volvo platform.
Then, there's The London Taxi Company, a factory just a stone's throw away from Lotus. After becoming part of the Geely empire, LTC came up with a brand new electric platform that used not only for the next London cab, but also a wide range of electric commercial vehicles aimed at the European market.
The London Taxi Company
Now, Lotus joins the team, and the brand is already off to a good start. In the first half of 2017, "Lotus has already entered into a positive cash flow situation" with sales rising by 10 percent.
On its quest to survive, the small British brand always knew how to keep up the interest with exciting products like the Evora GT430. But that certainly won't be enough to survive in the long run. So from now on, Lotus will use its engineering know-how to become a global player using Geely's investment. And while we wait for its wide range of authentic performance vehicles to appear, the new Elise can't be here soon enough.
An Elise that they will sell in America. |
China's wealthy young buy up worldwide art | China's young, wealthy elites are increasingly buying artworks from around the world. This younger generation of collectors have been educated overseas, granting a globalised perspective on the art industry and its value, and encouraging them to give up-and-coming artists a chance alongside the classics. "(Chinese art collectors) have become more knowledgeable, sophisticated and ambitious", said Lorenz Helbling, founder of ShanghART Gallery in Shanghai. Auctions remain the marketplace of choice for collectors, prompting auction houses to alter their methods to appeal to Asian buyers.
| http://edition.cnn.com/style/article/chinas-young-art-collectors/index.html | 2017-10-02 07:34:43.717000 | CNN —
Michael Xufu Huang is hard to miss. In March of this year, the Chinese art collector turned heads at a Guggenheim party by showing up in a white leather jumpsuit. A week later, he swept through the VIP opening of Art Basel in Hong Kong in a powder-pink, pajama-style outfit. But it’s not just Huang’s clothes that have art world insiders talking – it’s his age.
At just 23, Huang is part of a new generation of Chinese art collectors. He began collecting art as a 16-year-old high school student in London and then returned home to Beijing, where he co-founded the contemporary arts museum, M Woods.
The gallery’s ambitious exhibitions of both Western and Chinese artists have attracted international attention. But while Huang and his contemporaries clearly have money to spend, their approach to collecting is vastly different from the Chinese billionaires who shook up the art world in the mid-2000s.
Changing tastes
Chinese collectors started making global headlines just over 10 years ago, and they quickly gained a reputation for buying big-ticket items by the best-known Western artists.
Aged just 23, Michael Xufu Huang is already a prominent collector and curator. He co-founded the not-for-profit contemporary art museum M Woods alongside fellow young collectors Lin Han and Wanwan Lei. Courtesy of Michael Xufu Huang
Among this early cohort were Joseph Lau, who bought one of Andy Warhol’s Mao Zedong portraits for $17.4 million in 2006, and Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men, who paid $28.2 million for a Picasso. Billionaire and former taxi driver Liu Yiqian famously paid $170.4 million for an Amedeo Modigliani painting – reportedly using his American Express card.
Western art is still a big draw for Chinese collectors like Huang.
“The younger generation of Chinese collectors have been educated around the world,” he said. “We are global citizens, so works by artists from abroad echo our interests.”
But China’s new collectors aren’t only looking for big names. Heir to a property and jewelry empire, Hong Kong-based Adrian Cheng says that he owns “hundreds” of works by both Chinese and Western artists – many of them up-and-coming.
Adrian Cheng, pictured here being interviewed by CNN Style's Derek Blasberg, is one of the world's youngest billionaires. Having founded the K11 Art Foundation, Cheng is also a prominent art collector. Courtesy of Adrian Cheng
“I travel across the world to view art – at art fairs, biennales, museums, exhibitions and more,” said Cheng, who founded the not-for-profit K11 Art Foundation. “I am fortunate to have come across art that may be of historical importance, representative of its time or simply moving. I am driven to collect these works, regardless of the where the artist comes from.”
Collectors’ understanding of art continues to grow, according to Lorenz Helbling, who founded ShanghART Gallery in Shanghai 21 years ago.
“(Chinese art collectors) have become more knowledgeable, sophisticated and ambitious,” he said.
On the block
Auctions are still the marketplace of choice among China’s art collectors. Nearly 70% of artworks purchased in the country in 2016 went through auction houses, according to a joint report by Art Basel and the banking giant UBS.
Alex Chang, Managing Director of Poly Auction in Hong Kong, thinks auctions provide a level of reassurance for emerging buyers in mainland China. “In an auction, the lots are selected by the specialists and an estimate is made after thorough research,” Chang said.
“Thus the collectors will have sufficient background information to make a decision on placing a reasonable bid.”
Inexperienced collectors might feel less confident in a gallery or at an art fair, where the process for determining prices tends to be more opaque.
But while older, headline-grabbing businessmen seemed to relish the buzz – and publicity – of public sales, younger collectors have good reason for keeping a low profile.
China’s so-called fuerdai (literally “second generation rich”) are regularly criticized in the media for their flashy spending. And with many young collectors at least partly funded by family money, they seem eager to prove that they’re interested in art as more than just a status symbol.
Auction houses are changing tack to cater to them. Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Hong Kong’s Poly Auction all offer private sales that allow for discreet transactions. In the first half of 2017, Sotheby’s reported a significant rise in revenue from private sales – particularly in Asia.
“We have seen a strong upward trend in private sales with mainland Chinese clients in the past five years, and more than a three-fold increase in 2016 compared to the prior year,” a spokesperson said. “In China and Hong Kong, the increase has been more than four-fold.”
Some young collectors like Kylie Ying, co-founder of the ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, eschew auction houses altogether.
Kylie Ying co-founded the ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair with her husband in 2013. She is one of China's most prominent young collectors. Courtesy of Kylie Ying
“So far, I haven’t bought anything (that way),” she said. “I always buy through galleries – that’s my first priority.”
Other young collectors are turning to the Internet to scour the market. With auction houses like Christie’s now using social media to showcase items, Huang says that he can easily browse for international art on Instagram – despite the fact that the platform is technically blocked in Mainland China.
“I use Instagram more than auction catalogues to see what’s on the market,” said Huang, whose own account features pictures taken with the likes of contemporary artist Takashi Murakami and American curator Klaus Biesenbach.
This habit seems fitting for a collector whose portfolio is dominated by artists known for exploring the Internet’s impact on society. Huang’s collection includes digital art that would likely be of little interest to China’s older generation, like Instagram portraits from Amalia Ulman’s “Excellences & Perfections” series.
“The term ‘post-internet’ has almost become passé in the art world, but I think it still manages to encapsulate many of my interests,” Huang said. “I am fascinated with artists who respond to realities and social issues predicated by new technologies and mobile connectivity. I think these investigations reflect the language of today.”
Aspiring patrons
Works bought by China’s earliest band of collectors often remained hidden away their owners’ mansions. The wife of aforementioned billionaire Liu Yiqian admitted that some of the couple’s art was stored in warehouses before they opened a series of private museums around China.
But collectors like Huang, Cheng and Ying seem to be on a mission to share – or at least appear to be sharing – their art with as many people as possible. Through both the K11 Art Foundation and the exhibitions hosted in his family-owned shopping malls, Cheng frequently makes art available to the public.
“We have presented blockbuster shows, such as (our) Monet exhibition, that had audiences lining up around the block,” he claimed. “We have introduced mass audiences to modern and contemporary art, bridging the chasm between the wider public and art.”
Unlike the Cheng’s K11 Art Foundation and Huang’s M Woods, the ART021 fair is an explicitly for-profit business. But Ying also insists that she is motivated by the desire to make art more accessible.
“Public education is also the vision of our fair,” she said. “We have free art talks and speeches during the fair. We are hoping that ART021 can be the first window for art to Chinese public.” |
Coca-Cola’s single-use plastic bottles 110 billion pa: Greenpeace | Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft drinks company, increased production of single-use plastic bottles by over a billion from 2015-2016, according to Greenpeace. Although Coca-Cola does not disclose its plastic packaging output, Greenpeace estimates that the increase means that this now stands at over 110 billion bottles per year. Coca-Cola has confirmed that such bottles constituted 59% of the firm’s global packaging in 2016, up from 58% in the previous year. According to The Guardian, the number of plastic bottles produced globally will reach over half a trillion by 2021. Only a tiny proportion of such bottles are currently recycled. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/02/coca-cola-increased-its-production-of-plastic-bottles-by-a-billion-last-year-say-greenpeace | 2017-10-02 07:32:48.927000 | Coca-Cola increased its production of throwaway plastic bottles last year by well over a billion, according to analysis by Greenpeace.
The world’s biggest soft drinks company does not disclose how much plastic packaging it puts into the market. But analysis by the campaign group Greenpeace reveals what they say is an increase in production of single-use PET bottles from 2015-2016.
The increase puts Coke’s production at more than 110bn bottles each year, according to Greenpeace.
Coca-Cola has confirmed that single-use plastic bottles made up 59% of its global packaging in 2016 compared to 58% in the 12 months before.
The scale of production contributes to a plastic mountain which is growing vastly year on year. Figures obtained by the Guardian reveal that by 2021 the number of plastic drinks bottles produced globally will reach more than half a trillion.
But only a tiny fraction of these bottles are recycled. Fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2016 were collected for recycling and just 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Instead, most plastic bottles produced end up in landfill or in the ocean.
Between 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Louise Edge, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, said: “Coca-Cola talks the talk on sustainability but the astonishing rate at which it is pumping out single-use plastic bottles is still growing.
“We have calculated it produced over 110bn throwaway plastic bottles every year – an astounding 3,400 a second – while refusing to take responsibility for its role in the plastic pollution crisis facing our oceans.
“We would love Coke to provide detailed breakdowns of what it produces – so we would welcome any clarifications they have to offer on our estimates.”
Amid growing concern about marine pollution and increasing evidence that plastic is finding its way into the food chain of fish and humans, Coca-Cola European Partners announced it had changed its mind about plastic bottle deposit schemes.
The company has expressed support for a deposit scheme and told Westminster MPs a new approach was needed to improve the stalled recycling rates in the UK of 57% for PET bottles, and is calling for collaborative efforts from government and industry to improve recycling rates.
Coca-Cola, which operates in more than 200 countries, has said disclosing the volume of plastic packaging it puts on the market annually is “commercially sensitive”.
In July Coca-Cola European Partners announced it would increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles to 50% by 2020.
Greenpeace Canada Oceans campaigner Sarah King with a collection of Coca-Cola bottles and caps found on Freedom Island, Philippines. Photograph: Daniel Müller/Greenpeace
But plastic drinking bottles could be made out of 100% recycled plastic, known as RPet – and campaigners are pressing big drinks companies to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in their bottles.
A spokesperson from Coca-Cola Great Britain said: “Our global PET bottle usage number for 2016 is 59%, an increase of 1% from 58% in 2015. We continue to review and adjust our packaging strategy as part of our overall business plan.
“In the UK, all of our bottles and cans are 100% recyclable and have been since 2012. Our plastic bottles contain 25% recycled material and we have recently pledged to double this amount to 50% by 2020.” |
3D printing used to produce prosthetics at 10% of original cost | An engineering student at the University of Colorado in Boulder has developed a low-cost, customisable prosthetic using 3D printing. Peter Armstrong's Go Prosthetics initiative uses expanding foam to ensure that its 3D-printed prosthetics fit their wearers perfectly. The socket for the limb can be made in around 30 minutes and costs $300, compared to the usual minimum price of $3,000, according to the company. The technology could see use in regions where artificial limbs are in short supply, said Armstrong. | http://www.3ders.org/articles/20171002-go-prosthetics-cu-boulder-student-develops-300-3d-printed-prosthetic-limbs-for-amputees.html | 2017-10-02 07:23:02.877000 | Oct 2, 2017 | By Tess
A mechanical engineering student at the University of Colorado Boulder is putting his knowledge to use through the development of functional and low-cost prosthetics made with the help of 3D printing technology.
What started off as an eighth-grade science project for Peter “Max” Armstrong, the student in question, has grown into a highly promising initiative called Go Prosthetics. After years of research, prototypes, and tinkering, Armstrong believes he has developed a low-cost and customizable prosthetic that could be deployed in parts of the world where medical aids and prosthetics are hard to come by.
On a personal level, Armstrong was inspired to pursue the project by a family friend who suffered a double amputation. After learning how much lower limb prosthetics can cost (upwards of $3,000), the student decided to see if he could do something to make a difference.
Of course, at the time Armstrong was not using 3D printing to make prosthetics, but the interest in developing accessible artificial limbs certainly grew from that point. Impressively, by the time he was in high school, Armstrong had conceived of the prosthetic design he has now printed, tested, and patented.
Armstrong’s Go Prosthetics technology basically consists of a “general shaped” 3D printed prosthetic socket (which come in a variety of sizes), which can be customized to the wearer by injecting expandable foam into the socket until it is a perfect fit.
According to the Go Prosthetics website, a socket fitting only takes about 30 minutes to complete and the prosthetics themselves only cost about $300 to produce—a price that Armstrong says will drop once production increases.
To test his 3D printed prosthetic limb system, Armstrong has worked closely with Brian Sherman, who had his left leg amputated below the knee in 2013. Sherman heard about the CU Boulder student’s work via an amputee support group in Oregon, and quickly got in contact.
Brian Sherman wearing the Go Prosthetics 3D printed limb
"I think it's phenomenal he's had such dedication," Sherman told CU News. "He's had a great idea, and he's run with it.”
Working together, Sherman has given Armstrong vital feedback on his prosthetic design, telling him if and when the socket was uncomfortable and whether it was easy to move with. "The first one he did—it hurt," he explained. "I told him if it hurts, people aren't going to use it. The second one he did is much better. I walked around the room. I had control. I had balance.”
(Images: Go Prosthetics)
Since then, Armstrong says he has tested his design with three below-the-knee amputees and received positive reviews of his 3D printed prosthetic. Currently, the engineering student is trying to find an NGO or nonprofit organization to collaborate with to deploy his 3D printed prosthetics.
Ultimately, the goal of Go Prosthetics is to offer amputees in developing regions of the world better access to prosthetics, effectively giving them their mobility back. Armstrong will also keep working on his design to make it suitable for upper-limp amputees as well.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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James McCrory wrote at 5/16/2019 10:46:17 AM:HI I am a below knee amputee with a back ground in electronics I was an electricain but had to give up work done a degree in electronic, build my own acouistic guitars and mandolins. I have been having trouble getting my prosthesis ,socket to fit. I have had several made and they have all been to small ot to big. I live in Ireland and wonder did you every get your project of the ground. my email is jimmccy@gmail,com I have giben a lot of though about the design the socket and how it could be manufactured I find this web site and realise other out there are not only thinking about it but doning it llets know how you are getting onGilbert Cameron wrote at 11/21/2017 8:08:18 PM:Hi. Would be good to chat. We are running a 3 year project in 3d printing prosthetics in LVDC Musoma, Tanzania. In our 3rd year, starting April 2019 we hope to be printing lower limb sockets.
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Huawei overtakes Apple as the smartphone of choice in China | China's Huawei has taken over from Apple as the smartphone of choice for Chinese consumers, revealing again how Apple is losing ground in the world's biggest market, according an FT Confidential Research poll. The survey found 31.4% of respondents intend to buy a Huawei as their next smartphone, compared with 24.2% choosing Apple's iPhone. When the survey was done for the iPhone 7, 25.8% said it would be their next phone. The survey came as Apple unveiled its iPhone 8 range. So far the products have failed to attract the usual global buzz that follows an iPhone launch. | http://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-10-02/101153068.html | 2017-10-02 07:02:14.260000 | Some 31.4% of respondents to a poll last month in China said they intended to buy a Huawei model for their next smartphone, compared with 24.2% who said they wanted an iPhone. Photo: IC
Surging smartphone maker Huawei Technologies has for the first time surpassed Apple Inc. as the brand of choice for Chinese smartphone buyers, in the latest sign the U.S. giant is losing its luster in the world’s largest market, according to a new survey.
Some 31.4% of respondents to a September poll by FT Confidential Research, a unit of the Financial Times, said they intended to buy a Huawei model for their next smartphone. By comparison, only 24.2% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed said they would buy an iPhone for their next smartphone, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The timing is significant because Apple unveiled its latest models, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, in September and generally gets a boost from excitement around its new launches. The iPhone 8 went on sale in late September, but has failed to attract the usual buzz of previous launches.
The iPhone's 24.2% September showing in terms of consumer preference is down from 25.8% at the time of the iPhone 7 launch last year, the Financial Times said. Among people who said they planned to buy an iPhone in the latest survey, 65.1% said they wanted one of the latest three models. That was down sharply from the 75.7% who said they planned to buy the latest models from the iPhone 7 series around the time of the last product launches.
The survey results mirror a larger trend that has seen Apple steadily lose share in the world's largest smartphone market, as it comes under assault from Huawei and a group of other homegrown brands including Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.
In this year’s second quarter, Apple’s China sales fell 7.6%, as its share of the market dipped 0.6 percentage points to 7.1%, making it the No. 5 player, according to data tracking firm IDC. At the same time, Huawei’s sales surged 22.6% to make it the clear market leader with 21% share, as Chinese consumers increasingly see the brand as offering comparable quality to Apple at far lower prices.
Contact reporter Yang Ge ([email protected]) |
Australian start-up pilots financial 'personal assistant' | Australian fintech Douugh is launching a pilot programme this month aimed at advising clients on their personal finances using a virtual assistant. The assistant, named "Sophie", is expected to provide clients with advice on issues such as credit card debt and bill payments. The firm says its plan is to launch a platform allowing customers access to transaction accounts, debit cards and loans supplied by a licensed bank based on interactions with the virtual assistant. Douugh is hoping to act as a "financial control centre" and provide consumers with loans that are cheaper than credit card debt they may currently be taking on.
| http://www.redlandcitybulletin.com.au/story/4959517/credit-card-debt-targeted-by-douugh-financial-personal-assistant/?src=rss | 2017-10-02 06:58:53.017000 | San Francisco-based Douugh (the extra "u" was to help it secure a domain name) would also be competing with banks, though it will not actually hold a banking licence in Australia. Instead, it aims to team up with an already-licensed bank, to provide a "white label" transaction account to be offered under the fintech's branding. |
US-based robo-adviser Blooom hits $1bn in AUM | US-based robo-adviser Blooom now has more than $1bn in assets under management (AUM). Launched in 2013, the robo-adviser is claiming faster growth than rivals such as Betterment and Wealthfront. At the time of its last funding round, in February this year, the firm had $500m AUM. The firm has a particular focus on the US' 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plan markets.
| https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2017/10/122601-robo-advisor-blooom-now-1-billion-assets-management/ | 2017-10-02 06:56:01.197000 | Robo-Advisor Blooom now manages over $1 billion of retirement accounts for their clients, according to the company blog. Blooom was started in 2013 to “help the traditionally un-helped”. The platform explains that “Wall Street has made a habit of running in the opposite direction of investors with small accounts…maybe we should build something and run towards them.”
Bloom notes their platform has grown faster than virtually any other Robo-Advisor.
Blooom stated;
“We also take pride that this Kansas-based company reached the milestone faster than both Betterment or Wealthfront – while doing so on a fraction of the capital. They’re peers not so much from a comparable service offering but in that they’re a benchmark for other Robo-advisors. In other words, out of the gates, we have grown faster on fewer resources, as one should expect from someone managing their money.”
Today, thousands of people trust Blooom with their 401ks/403bs, thus representing a shift away from costly active management schemes that deliver too little yet cost much more. Blooom thanked their customers for believing in them.
Blooom last raised money in February of 2017 in a $9.15 million Series B financing round. At that time, Blooom held $500 million in assets under management so it would appear the funding has been put to good use as exemplified by this dramatic growth.
Kansas based Blooom charges customers $10 per month, for anyone in the US who has a 401k and 403b and needs help with it — regardless of account balance. Think about it. That is about the same cost of Netflix.
Blooom believes traditional industry participants seek out wealthy investors with multiple tiers of percentage pricing and complicated different service levels. Blooom wants to keep things clear and straightforward and deliver fiduciary advice to millions of hard working Americans who have never had access to help before, at an affordable price. Their recent performance indicates this goal is being met.
[Editors Note: Wealthfront has pointed out that their platform took 2.5 years to reach $1 billion in assets under management] |
BlackRock introduces exponential technology ETF offering | BlackRock's iShares exchange-traded fund division has introduced an offering focusing on exponential technology. The offering will track an index provided by Morningstar and has been developed in partnership with independent financial advisory firm Edelman Financial Services. The ETF invests in global companies seen to be determining trends in technology development. Such themes the fund may invest in include big data and analytics, nanotechnology and bioinformatics.
| https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/en-us/newsroom/press-releases/article/corporate-one/press-releases/ishares-exponential-technologies-etf_US | 2017-10-02 06:54:12.057000 | About BlackRock
BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate |
Instagram users are rushing to connect with brands: COO Levine | Instagram users are reaching out to advertisers, according COO Marne Levine, who said 80% of consumers have voluntarily connected with brands on the platform. Nevertheless, Levine cautioned that the company has a long way to go to make the shopping experience more accessible. Speaking at New York's Advertising Week event, Levine said Instagram was trying to learn and understand "how people shop on the platform", and added that in the past month, the site had seen 180 million interactions between consumers and businesses. "I think there’s so much more that we can do in this area," she said.
| http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/80-of-instagram-users-voluntarily-connect-with-a-brand-on-the-platform/ | 2017-10-02 06:40:24.150000 | Instagram may just be seven years old but the platform is helping to redefine what it means to launch a business and what relationships with consumers look like.
In fact, 80 percent of people on the platform (there are 800 million monthly users) connect to a business voluntarily, according to Instagram’s COO Marne Levine.
“Shrinking the distance between businesses and customers and bringing you closer to the things that matter to you is really something that we’re focused on,” said Levine at Advertising Week in New York on Wednesday. |
Defaults on US student loans rise for first time in four years | The number of people in the US defaulting on their student loans rose this year for the first time in four years, according to the Education Department, raising concerns about whether the country is doing enough to help students who are near to defaulting. Over 8.5 million people are now in default, the highest amount ever, with over half a million defaulting in the first half of 2017 alone.
| https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/the-student-loan-default-rate-rose-for-the-first-time-in?utm_term=.fe1EPKMQG#.jbAqdknNx | 2017-10-02 06:19:49.100000 | The three-year student loan default rate rose in 2017 for the first time in four years, the Education Department said Wednesday, a slight uptick that raised alarm bells about whether the country is doing enough to help student loan borrowers on the margins.
A record 8.5 million people are now in default on their loans, department data showed. More than half a million people defaulted in the first half of this year alone.
The cohort default rate — a measure of how many students default on their student loans within three years of leaving school — rose overall to 11.5% for those leaving school in 2014, up from 11.3% the year before. Though it captures only a small slice of defaulters, the rate is considered the best approximation of how colleges and borrowers are faring on this front.
The government has been pushing plans meant to help student loan borrowers stave off default, like income-based repayment, which allows people to pay 10% of their income toward their loans. On the lowest end of the income scale, borrowers can pay as little as $0 a month and have the balance of their loans forgiven after 20 years; a Trump proposal would move that bar even lower, to 15 years.
That's what makes the default numbers "particularly disheartening," said Debbie Cochrane, the vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit in Washington, DC. "Borrowers have other options besides just defaulting."
The department's data show that income-based repayment hasn't done enough to stave off defaults, Cochrane said, despite increases in people who are enrolled in income-based plans.
Many borrowers simply don't know that income-based repayment plans exist, said Cochrane, either because the companies that service their student loans aren't doing enough to inform them, or because they've lost contact with servicing companies altogether.
"It's really a matter of awareness," she said.
More troublingly, income-based repayment has done little to help borrowers who are already in default, including those who defaulted outside of the three-year window captured by the default rate. The number of borrowers who are stuck in default — which can have devastating consequences on someone's credit, and lead to wages and taxes being garnished — has continued to climb.
For-profit college students made up a disproportionate number of those who had defaulted since 2014, department data showed. A third of defaulting borrowers had attended for-profits, though those colleges enrolled just 9% of all students.
But students at community colleges defaulted at an even higher rate than for-profits. Ten colleges performed so badly — with default rates above 30% — that they were in danger of losing access to federal financial aid money. |
Apple achieves Chinese handwritten symbols recognition in-device | Apple's machine learning research team has announced a system that successfully recognises a set of more than 30,000 handwritten Chinese characters. The deep learning system it used recognises characters in real-time and operates in-device on an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (the last in scribble mode). Handwriting recognition would give Chinese mobile users a significantly improved experience. | https://machinelearning.apple.com/2017/09/12/handwriting.html | 2017-10-02 06:14:08.143000 | Handwriting recognition is more important than ever given the prevalence of mobile phones, tablets, and wearable gear like smartwatches. The large symbol inventory required to support Chinese handwriting recognition on such mobile devices poses unique challenges. This article describes how we met those challenges to achieve real-time performance on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch (in Scribble mode). Our recognition system, based on deep learning, accurately handles a set of up to 30,000 characters. To achieve acceptable accuracy, we paid particular attention to data collection conditions, representativeness of writing styles, and training regimen. We found that, with proper care, even larger inventories are within reach. Our experiments show that accuracy only degrades slowly as the inventory increases, as long as we use training data of sufficient quality and in sufficient quantity.
Introduction
Handwriting recognition can enhance user experience on mobile devices, particularly for Chinese input given the relative complexity of keyboard methods. Chinese handwriting recognition is uniquely challenging, due to the large size of the underlying character inventory. Unlike alphabet-based writing, which typically involves on the order of 100 symbols, the set of Hànzì characters in Chinese National Standard GB18030-2005 contains 27,533 entries, and many additional logographic characters are in use throughout Greater China.
For computational tractability, it is usual to focus on a restricted number of characters, deemed most representative of usage in daily life. Thus, the standard GB2312-80 set includes only 6,763 entries (3,755 and 3,008 characters in the level-1 and level-2 sets, respectively). The closely aligned character set used in the popular CASIA databases, built by the Institute of Automation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, comprises a total of 7,356 entries [6]. The SCUT-COUCH database has similar coverage [8].
These sets tend to reflect commonly used characters across the entire population of Chinese writers. At the individual user level, however, what is “commonly used” typically varies from one person to the next. Most people need at least a handful of characters deemed “infrequently written,” as they occur in, e.g., proper names relevant to them. Thus ideally Chinese handwriting recognition algorithms need to scale up to at least the level of GB18030-2005.
While early recognition algorithms mainly relied on structural methods based on individual stroke analysis, the need to achieve stroke-order independence later sparked interest into statistical methods using holistic shape information [5]. This obviously complicates large-inventory recognition, as correct character classification tends to get harder with the number of categories to disambiguate [3].
On Latin script tasks such as MNIST [4], convolutional neural networks (CNNs) soon emerged as the way to go [11]. Given a sufficient amount of training data, supplemented with synthesized samples as necessary, CNNs decidedly achieved state-of-the-art results [1], [10]. The number of categories in those studies, however, was very small (10).
When we started looking into the large-scale recognition of Chinese characters some time ago, CNNs seemed to be the obvious choice. But that approach required scaling up CNNs to a set of approximately 30,000 characters, while simultaneously maintaining real-time performance on embedded devices. This article focuses on the challenges involved in meeting expectations in terms of accuracy, character coverage, and robustness to writing styles.
System Configuration
We adopt in this work a general CNN architecture similar to that used in previous handwriting recognition experiments on the MNIST task (see, e.g., [1], [10]). The configuration of the overall system is illustrated in Fig. 1.
Figure 1. Typical CNN Architecture (With 2 Consecutive Stages of Convolution and Subsampling)
The input is a medium-resolution image (for performance reasons) of 48x48 pixels representing a Chinese handwritten character. We fed this input to a number of feature extraction layers alternating convolution and subsampling. The last feature extraction layer is connected to the output via a fully connected layer.
From one convolution layer to the next, we chose the size of the kernels and the number of feature maps so as to derive features of increasingly coarser granularity. We subsampled through a max-pooling layer [9] using a 2x2 kernel. The last feature layer typically comprises on the order of 1,000 small feature maps. Finally, the output layer has one node per class, e.g., 3,755 for the Hànzì level-1 subset of GB2312-80, and close to 30,000 when scaled up to the full inventory.
As baseline, we evaluated the previously described CNN implementation on the CASIA benchmark task [6]. While this task only covers Hànzì level-1 characters, there exist numerous reference results for character accuracy in the literature (e.g., in [7] and [14]). We used the same setup based on CASIA-OLHWDB, DB1.0-1.2, split in training and testing datasets [6], [7], yielding about one million training exemplars.
Note that, given our product focus, the goal was not to tune our system for the highest possible accuracy on CASIA. Instead our priorities were model size, evaluation speed, and user experience. We thus opted for a compact system that works real-time, across a wide variety of styles, and with high robustness towards non-standard stroke order. This led to an image-based recognition approach even though we evaluate on online datasets. As in [10], [11], we supplemented actual observations with suitable elastic deformations.
Table 1 shows the results using the CNN of Figure 1, where the abbreviation “Hz-1” refers to the Hànzì level-1 inventory (3,755 characters), and “CR(n)” denotes top-n character recognition accuracy. In addition to the commonly reported top-1 and top-10 accuracies, we also mention top-4 accuracy because, as our user interface was designed to show 4 character candidates, the top-4 accuracy is an important predictor of user experience in our system.
Table 1. Results on CASIA On-line Database, 3,755 Characters. Standard Training, Associated Model Size = 1MB
Inventory Training CR(1) CR(4) CR(10) Hz-1 CASIA 87.4% 94.5% 98.1%
The figures in Table 1 compare with online results in [7] and [14] averaging roughly 93% for top-1 and 98% for top-10 accuracy. Thus, while our top-10 accuracy is in line with the literature, our top-1 accuracy is slightly lower. This has to be balanced, however, against a satisfactory top-4 accuracy, and perhaps even more importantly, a model size (1 MB) smaller than any comparable system in [7] and [14].
The system in Table 1 is trained only on CASIA data, and does not include any other training data. We were also interested in folding in additional training data collected in-house on iOS devices. This data covers a larger variety of styles (cf. next section) and comprises a lot more training instances per character. Table 2 reports our results, on the same test set with a 3,755-character inventory.
Table 2. Results on CASIA On-line Database, 3,755 Characters. Augmented Training, Associated Model Size = 15MB
Inventory Training CR(1) CR(4) CR(10) Hz-1 Augmented 88.4% 96.5% 98.3%
Though the resulting system has a much greater footprint (15 MB), accuracy only improves slightly (about 2% absolute for top-4 accuracy). This suggests that, by and large, most styles of characters appearing in the test set were already well-covered in the CASIA training set. It also indicates that there is no downside in folding more training data: the presence of additional styles is not deleterious to the underlying model.
Scaling Up to 30K Characters
Since the ideal set of “frequently written” characters varies from one user to the next, a large population of users requires an inventory of characters much larger than 3,755. Exactly which ones to select, however, is not entirely straightforward. Simplified Chinese characters defined with GB2312-80 and traditional Chinese characters defined with Big5, Big5E, and CNS 11643-92 cover a wide range (from 3,755 to 48,027 Hànzì characters). More recently came HKSCS-2008 with 4,568 extra characters, and even more with GB18030-2000.
We wanted to make sure that users are able to write their daily correspondence, in both simplified and traditional Chinese, as well as names, poems and other common markings, visual symbols, and emojis. We also wanted to support the Latin script for the occasional product or trade name with no transliteration. We followed Unicode as the prevailing international standard of character encoding, as it encapsulates almost all of the above mentioned standards. (Note that Unicode 7.0 can specify over 70,000 characters in its extensions B-D, with more being considered for inclusion). Our character recognition system thus focused on the Hànzì part of GB18030-2005, HKSCS-2008, Big5E, a core ASCII set, and a set of visual symbols and emojis, for a total of approximately 30,000 characters, which we felt represented the best compromise for most Chinese users.
After selecting the underlying character inventory, it is critical to sample the writing styles that users actually use. While there are formal clues as to what styles to expect (cf. [13]), there exist many regional variations, e.g., (i) the use of the U+2EBF (艹) radical, or (ii) the cursive U+56DB (四) vs. U+306E (の). Rendered fonts can also contribute to confusion as some users expect specific characters to be presented in a specific style. As a speedy input tends to drive toward cursive styles, it tends to increase ambiguity, e.g. between U+738B (王) and U+4E94 (五). Finally, increased internationalization sometimes introduces unexpected collisions: for example, U+4E8C (二), when cursively written, may conflict with the Latin characters “2” and “Z”.
Our rationale was to offer users the whole spectrum of possible input from printed to cursive to unconstrained writing [5]. To cover as many variants as possible, we sought data from writers from several regions in Greater China. We were surprised to find that most users have never seen many of the rarer characters. This unfamiliarity results in hesitations, stroke-order errors, and other distortions which we needed to take into account. We collected data from paid participants across various age groups, gender, and with a variety of educational backgrounds. The resulting handwritten data is unique in many ways: comprising several thousands users, written with a finger, not a stylus, on iOS devices, in small batches of data. One advantage is that the sampling of iOS devices results in a very clear handwritten signal.
We found a wide variety of writing styles. Figures 2-4 show some examples of the “flower” character U+82B1 (花), in printed, cursive, and unconstrained styles.
Figure 2. Printed radical variations of U+82B1 (花)
Figure 3. Cursive radical variations of U+82B1 (花)
Figure 4. Unconstrained variations of U+82B1 (花)
The fact that, in daily life, users often write quickly and unconstrained can lead to cursive variations that have a very dissimilar appearance. Conversely, sometimes it also leads to confusability between different characters. Figures 5-7 show some of the concrete examples we observe in our data. Note that it is especially important to have enough training material to distinguish cursive variations such as in Figure 7.
Figure 5. Variations of U+7684 (的)
Figure 6. Variations of U+4EE5 (以)
Figure 7. Similar shapes of U+738 (王) and U+4E94 (五)
With the guiding principles discussed previously, we were able to collect tens of millions of character instances for our training data. Compare the 3,755-character system in the previous section with the results shows in Table 3, on the same test set, after increasing the number of recognizable characters from 3,755 to approximately 30,000.
Table 3. Results on CASIA On-line Database, 30K Characters
Inventory CR(1) CR(4) CR(10) Model Size 30K 85.6% 95.2% 97.5% 15 MB
Note that the model size remains the same, as the system of Table 2 was simply restricted to the “Hz-1” set of characters, but was otherwise identical. Accuracy drops marginally, which is to be expected, since the vastly increased coverage creates additional confusability of the kind mentioned earlier, for example “二” vs. “Z”.
Compare Tables 1-3 and you’ll see that multiplying coverage by a factor of 10 does not entail 10 times more errors, or 10 times more storage. In fact, as the model size goes up, the number of errors increases much more slowly. Thus, building a high-accuracy Chinese character recognition that covers 30,000 characters, instead of only 3,755, is possible and practical.
To get an idea of how the system performs across the entire set of 30,000 characters, we also evaluated it on a number of different test sets comprising all supported characters written in various styles. Table 4 lists the average results.
Table 4. Average Results on Multiple In-House Test Sets Comprising All Writing Styles, 30,000 Characters
Inventory CR(1) CR(4) Model Size 30K 88.1% 95.1% 15 MB
Of course, the results in Tables 3-4 are not directly comparable, since they were obtained on different test sets. Nonetheless, they show that top-1 and top-4 accuracies are in the same ballpark across the entire inventory of characters. This is a result of the largely balanced training regimen.
Discussion
The total set of CJK characters in Unicode (currently around 75,000 [12]) could increase in the future, as the ideographic rapporteur group (IRG) keeps on suggesting new additions from a variety of sources. Admittedly, these character variants will be rare (e.g., used in historical names or poetry). Nevertheless, this is of high interest to every person whose name happens to contain one of those rare characters.
So, how well do we expect to handle larger inventories of characters in the future? The experiments discussed in this article support learning curves [2] based on training and test error rates with a varying amount of training data. We can therefore extrapolate asymptotic values, regarding both what our accuracy would look like with more training data, and how it would change with more characters to recognize.
For example, given the 10-times larger inventory and corresponding (less than) 2% drop in accuracy between Tables 1 and 3, we can extrapolate that with an inventory of 100,000 characters and a corresponding increase in training data, it would be realistic to achieve top-1 accuracies around 84%, and top-10 accuracies around 97% (with the same type of architecture).
In summary, building a high-accuracy handwriting recognition system which covers a large set of 30,000 Chinese characters is practical even on embedded devices. Furthermore, accuracy only degrades slowly as the inventory goes up, as long as training data of sufficient quality is available in sufficient quantity. This bodes well for the recognition of even larger character inventories in the future.
References
[1] D.C. Ciresan, U. Meier, L.M. Gambardella, and J. Schmidhuber, Convolutional Neural Network Committees For Handwritten Character Classification, in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.
[2] C. Cortes, L.D. Jackel, S.A. Jolla, V. Vapnik, and J.S. Denker, Learning Curves: Asymptotic Values and Rate of Convergence, in Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 1993), Denver, pp. 327–334, Dec. 1993.
[3] G.E. Hinton and K.J. Lang, Shape Recognition and Illusory Conjunctions, in Proc. 9th Int. Joint Conf. Artificial Intelligence, Los Angeles, CA, pp. 252–259, 1985.
[4] Y. LeCun, L. Bottou, Y. Bengio, and P. Haffner, Gradient– based Learning Applied to Document Recognition, Proc. IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 11, pp. 2278–2324, Nov. 1998.
[5] C.-L. Liu, S. Jaeger, and M. Nakagawa, Online Recognition of Chinese Characters: The State-of-the-Art, IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis Machine Intelligence, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 198–213, Feb. 2004.
[6] C.-L. Liu, F. Yin, D.-H. Wang, and Q.-F. Wang, CASIA Online and Offline Chinese Handwriting Databases, in Proc. 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.
[7] C.-L. Liu, F. Yin, Q.-F. Wang, and D.-H.Wang, ICDAR 2011 Chinese Handwriting Recognition Competition,in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.
[8] Y. Li, L. Jin , X. Zhu, T. Long, SCUT-COUCH2008: A Comprehensive Online Unconstrained Chinese Handwriting Dataset (ICFHR 2008), Montreal, pp. 165–170, Aug. 2008.
[9] K. Jarrett, K. Kavukcuoglu, M. Ranzato, and Y. LeCun, What is the Best Multi-stage Architecture for Object Recognition?, in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Computer Vision (ICCV09), Kyoto, Japan, Sept. 2009.
[10] U. Meier, D.C. Ciresan, L.M. Gambardella, and J. Schmidhuber, Better Digit Recognition with a Committee of Simple Neural Nets, in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.
[11] P.Y. Simard, D. Steinkraus, and J.C. Platt, Best Practices for Convolutional Neural Networks Applied to Visual Document Analysis, in 7th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2003), Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 2003.
[12] Unicode, Chinese and Japanese, http://www.unicode.org/faq/han_cjk.html, 2015.
[13] F.F. Wang, Chinese Cursive Script: An Introduction to Handwriting in Chinese, Far Eastern Publications Series, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1958.
[14] F. Yin, Q.-F. Wang, X.-Y. Xhang, and C.-L. Liu, ICDAR2013 Chinese Handwriting Recognition Competition, in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2013), Washington DC, USA, Sept. 2013. |
Hyundai opens first overseas data centre in China | South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has opened a big data centre in China's Gui'an New Area. The centre will process data from self-driving vehicles, aiming to increase connectivity and communications capabilities between systems, cars, and drivers. Hyundai follows in the footsteps of Apple, Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba by locating its data centre in Gui'an, which is fast becoming a technology hub. The data centre is Hyundai's first on foreign soil, and forms part of a planned network of centres worlwide.
| http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-28/275523.shtml | 2017-10-02 06:13:23.817000 | Korean car giant Hyundai Motor has opened its first overseas big data center in the upcoming tech hub of Gui'an New Area, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, as the company looks to move past a year of poor sales figures and regain its crown as one of China's bestselling car brands.
Hyundai has already established its own "car cloud" in South Korea, as it looks to utilize self-driving technology and the Internet of Things to build an interconnected network of vehicles of the future.
According to Xinhua, citing the provincial commerce bureau, the center will provide data support for self-driving cars. The center will also work with China Unicom, one of China's largest telecom operators, to develop Internet-based, intelligent data exchange services tailored to the needs of Chinese customers.
Hyundai in 2016 established its roadmap for the future of car connectivity, with long-term plans that include boosting connectivity between various systems within vehicles, linking those systems to windshields to display information to the driver and eventually to enable high-speed communication between vehicles and their immediate surroundings �C an important step in developing driverless vehicles.
Hyundai is also looking to use big data to allow remote maintenance of its vehicles via software updates, and is working with companies like Apple and Google to develop smartphone technology within its vehicles, moving on from Bluetooth technology to advances like projecting phone screens onto car windshields.
Hyundai's first big data center opened in Uiwang, South Korea, in 2013. But the decision to open its first overseas big data center in China �C part of a planned future global network of centers around the world �C is interesting for several reasons.
Moving beyond THAAD and 2017 struggles
A move to China is in many ways a no-brainer �C the country is one of the world leaders in big data technology, and Hyundai's partnerships with China Unicom as well as Baidu (on in-car navigation and voice recognition technology) put it in good stead to spread its "computer-on-wheels" ethos across its biggest market.
However, Hyundai has struggled in China in 2017, with the effects of South Korea's decision to deploy the controversial THAAD missile system damaging sales for many Korean companies in the country.
Hyundai sales slumped by 65 percent in the second quarter, with the company forced to cut its targets for the year by almost 25 percent. A factory line halt earlier this month came after all four of Beijing Hyundai's production lines stopped operations for several days in late August, after suppliers claimed they had not been paid. Bloomberg also cited Hyundai's "sedan-heavy lineup" in the country and failure to adapt to the popularity of SUVs in the country as another reason for an alarming sales slide.
Men cylce past an advertising billboard for Hyundai cars opposite the plant of Hyundai Motor Co. in Beijing, China, August 30, 2017. /Reuters Photo
The move to modernize via big data in China by establishing a center in Gui'an can be seen as a move to regain Hyundai's previous foothold in the Chinese market �C in 2016, it was the third-biggest car brand in the country. |
Google ends controversial First Click Free policy | Google is abandoning its First Click Free (FCF) policy and replacing it with Flexible Sampling, a model that puts the power to allow free access to paywalled content back in publishers' hands. The move has been welcomed by publishers, who saw their Google Search rankings tumble if they opted out of FCF. Google is also looking to offer "seamless" access to subscriber content across its Newsstand, Search and News tools, and may release user data to help publishers target readers. | https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/2/16395604/first-click-free-policy-flexible-sampling-publishers | 2017-10-02 06:08:32.810000 | Google is ending its controversial First Click Free (FCF) policy that publishers loathed because it required them to allow Google search results access to news articles hidden behind a paywall. The company is replacing the decade-old FCF with Flexible Sampling, which allows publishers instead to decide how many (if any) articles they want to allow potential subscribers to access. Google says it’s also working on a suite of new tools to help publishers reach new audiences and grow revenue.
Via FCF, users could access an article for free but would be prompted to log-in or subscribe if they clicked anywhere else on the page. Publishers were required to allow three free articles per day which Google indexed so that they appeared in searches for a particular topic or keyword. Opting out of the FCF feature was detrimental because it demoted a publisher’s ranking on Google Search and Google News. Google said articles from those publishers were demoted because its search engine didn’t index stories that were locked behind paywalls.
The Wall Street Journal notes that when News Corp (which owns the WSJ) diasabled free access to its articles via Google Search earlier in 2017, its stories were heavily demoted in search rankings. The WSJ says it experienced a 38 percent reduction in traffic from Google Search, and a loss of 89 percent from Google News in August compared to a year earlier. Now, publishers that decide to opt out of Flexible Sampling won’t be demoted in Google search rankings. Google is recommending publishers allow 10 free articles per month as “a good starting point.”
As part of its push, Google is working to make subscibing to publishers easier like single-click sign-ups through Android devices and Google services. It’s also working to allow seamless access to subscriber content across publisher sites, Google Newsstand, Google Search, and Google News. Google also is looking into giving publishers its user data to target potential subscribers.
Google drives 10 billion clicks to publishers’ websites each month. Today’s change comes as a way to bolster Google’s position — the company can’t sell ads if print media fails to move online, so it has to promote the move to digital, not usurp it. “We really recognize the transition to digital for publishers hasn’t been easy,” Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler told the WSJ. "The economics are pretty clear: If publishers aren’t successful, we can’t be successful.” |
An independent Catalan may be bigger headache for EU than Brexit | The recent independence referendum in Catalonia could prove to be a bigger headache for the European Union than the UK's withdrawal from the bloc. The Spanish government said the recent vote was illegal and has previously stated that, should the region achieve independence, it would lobby for it to be refused entry to the EU - leaving the European community on the horns of a political and economic dilemma. | http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/catalonia-catalan-referendum-spain-eu-economic-powerhouse-brexit-european-union-a7975766.html | 2017-10-02 05:21:17.573000 | Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
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It is essentially a political story, but with an economic twist. On Sunday the Catalan people vote on independence from Spain, despite the referendum being ruled illegal by the Spanish courts and despite practical efforts by the authorities to block entry to the polling stations. We don’t know how the day will pan out but we do know that whatever happens there will be consequences not just for Spain but for the European Union.
For most of us, Catalonia is Barcelona, the glittering planned capital, host of the Olympics in 1992, the event that brought the city to the world stage, and home to the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s huge and still unfinished cathedral.
Actually it is much more. The region is an economic powerhouse, in effect subsidising the rest of the country. Its 7.5 million people, some 16 per cent of the population of Spain, generate nearly 20 per cent of the country’s GDP. Were it a country it would rank in economic size somewhere between Denmark and Finland. As for Barcelona itself, its port is the biggest in the Mediterranean, and the fourth largest cruise ship destination in the world. It also has two of the top business schools in the world, ESADE and IESE, and a tradition of business competence.
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Catalonia attracts one third of inward investment into Spain, and produces one third of Spain’s exports.
Without Catalonia, Spain would continue to be the fourth largest economy in the eurozone, after Germany, France and Italy, but it would be much weakened. By contrast Scotland’s share of UK GDP is 7.5 per cent, so in economic terms this is a much bigger deal for Spain than Scottish independence would be for the UK. You can see why they oppose a referendum.
But what about the EU? Here the Spanish government has made it clear that were Catalonia to become independent, it would resist it remaining a member of the EU. This would be most unpopular in Catalonia, which would want, among other things, to retain the euro.
Queen welcomes Spain's King Felipe VI to UK
Legally, Spain would be able to push an independent Catalonia out, but in the real world of European politics it would be hard for the rest of Europe to exclude a country that wanted to remain a member – or to be technically more correct, to rejoin. In economic terms Catalonia will be fully viable and there is no practical reason why it should not continue to use the euro, even if technically it were for a time outside the EU.
The obvious big question really is not so much the outcome of the referendum but whether Spain and Catalonia can rebuild their relationship. If they cannot do so, then Catalonia becomes a threat not just to Spain but to the EU as a whole, in some ways a greater threat than the departure of the UK. One of the lessons of the past couple of years is not just that politics have become unpredictable; it is also the economic consequences of a political event are unpredictable too. By rights the decision or non-decision of 7.5 million people ought not to unsettle Europe. But a week from now it may look very different. |
Iranian renewables market attracts foreign investment | Iran is offering incentives to attract investment into the country's growing renewable power market. Iran currently produces just 420 MW of its 77,000 MW total power generation capacity from renewables, but said it plans to add an additional 1,000 MW each year until at least 2021. Investors include Swiss firm Durion, which recently put $27m into a 20 MW solar farm, and UK company Quercus, which has reportedly signed a deal with Iran's energy ministry for a colossal 600 MW solar plant in the country.
| http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/417210/Renewables-spurring-foreign-investment | 2017-10-02 05:06:11.750000 | Clean energy is under the spotlight in Iran as the oil and gas rich country also enjoys some advantageous geographical and climate condition to benefit from renewable sources of energy.
Iran’s power generation capacity is currently 77,000 megawatts (MW), of which renewables account for just 420 MW and according to the former Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian the figure is planned to reach 600 MW by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2018).
Also, Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian has announced in late September that the country plans to add 1,000 MW of new renewable power capacity every year over the next five years.
Based on the country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021), Iran is aiming to increase its capacity of power generation from renewable sources by 5,000 MW per annum to meet growing domestic demand and also increase its electricity exports.
To meet the set target, the Energy Ministry has taken a new approach toward development of renewable sector and has been offering incentives to both Iranian and foreign investors for cooperation in renewable projects inside the country.
It has led to more contribution of private sector to this industry, and also attraction of foreign investors appreciating Iran’s noticeable resources of solar energy and wind power in addition to its special geopolitical location which makes it one of the best areas for investment in renewables.
Investing $27 million, Switzerland’s DURION AG Company was the main investor of the project to build Iran’s largest solar farm. The 20-MW Mokran Solar Farm in Mahan County in the southeastern Kerman Province was inaugurated on July 27.
In late August, Seyed Moslem Mousavi, the managing director of Iran Renewable Energy Association, announced that foreign companies have submitted proposals for a total of $3.6 billion investment to implement renewable energy projects in Iran.
Companies from Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, China and India have already visited the country to investigate the investment condition in renewable sector.
Raymond Carlsen, the chief executive of Norway’s Scatec Solar, which builds and operates solar farms worldwide, told Reuters on September 15 that his company is in talks to build its first solar farm in Iran. He said that the initial project under discussion would cost $120 million per 100 MW installed which would rise to 500 MW later.
Also on September 20, Financial Times reported that Quercus, a UK green investment company, said it had reached agreement with Iran’s Energy Ministry on plans for a 600 MW solar farm in central Iran that would rival the largest solar projects so far built in China, India and the U.S.
Diego Biasi, Quercus chief executive, said the €500-million deal showed Iran was “open for business” and represented a “huge opportunity” for investors in renewable energy.
All these opportunities to attract foreign investment, not only can help Iran, which is struggling with air pollution in its major cities especially the capital Tehran, reach sustainable clean energy, but can also save the fuels consumed domestically to boost the country’s fuel exports in one way and with a long-term view to conserve fossil fuels for the future generation.
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Green Climate Fund to invest $1bn in Egyptian green energy plan | The UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF) is set to pump $1bn into the Egyptian government's green energy plan, marking its largest investment yet. The GCF, set up to help countries tackle climate change, is establishing the Egypt Renewable Energy Financing Framework to supply the investment, which includes $155m of its own funds and £352m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The remainder of the $1bn total will come from other sponsors and co-financiers. Egypt will use the funding to launch a wave of private renewable energy projects.
| http://www.powermag.com/green-climate-fund-makes-largest-investment-yet/ | 2017-10-02 05:01:29.087000 | In its largest investment to date, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is teaming up with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to contribute $1 billion to the Egyptian Government’s Sustainable Energy Strategy.
Under the sustainable energy strategy, Egypt has set a goal to get 20% of its energy from low emissions renewable by 2022 and 37% by 2035. Currently, only 3% of the nation’s energy is supplied by renewable sources. “Utilising renewable energy is part of a national plan to diversify electricity generation sources to meet growing demand and secure the continuity of the electricity supply. … Egypt has a great, untapped potential to turn into an international renewable energy hub,” Ayman Hamza, a spokesman for Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity, told the United Nations’ Climate Action publication in May 2017.
The GCF funding, called the Egypt Renewable Energy Financing Framework, will “launch the first wave of private renewable energy projects in Egypt, overcoming financial barriers due to uncertainty and high transaction costs, as well as the macroeconomic situation which has resulted in increased cost of capital and limited availability of debt,” according to a GCF fact sheet.
The GCF was developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010 to act as the financial mechanism through which UNFCCC member nations help developing nations fund climate mitigation and adaptation projects. It is the largest global fund aimed at leveraging the private sector in tackling climate change, according to the release.
Under the UNFCCC, developed nations agreed to jointly mobilize $100 billion per year through the GCF by 2020. As of August 2017, the GCF has raised $10.3 billion in pledges from 43 governments. However, this total includes the $3 billion pledge made by the U.S. under the Obama administration. Thus far, the U.S. has paid $1 billion into the fund, but President Trump has made it clear that the U.S. will not be making any payments to the GCF as long as his administration is in power.
To date, the GCF has funded 43 projects, benefiting an estimated 125 million people around the world. Twenty of the projects funded are in Africa, 17 are in the Asia-Pacific region, eight are in Latin America or the Caribbean, and three are in Eastern Europe (some projects are in multiple regions). Projects funded by the GCF fall into three categories: 41% of the funding provided thus far has gone to mitigation-based projects; 27% has been awarded to adaptation-based projects; 32% is funding cross-cutting initiatives.
The new funding in Egypt is the fourth project that the GCF and the EBRD are partnering on. In October 2016, the two announced a co-financed project to scale up private sector climate finance in Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Tunisia. Additionally, the GCF and EBRD are partnering on a water conservation project in Morocco and a hydropower project in Tajikistan.
Funding for the initiative will be provided under a Funded Activity Agreement (FAA) signed by the GCF and EBRD in late August. Under the FAA, the EBRD will provide $352.3 million, GCF will contribute $154.7 million, and funding from additional sponsors and co-financiers will bring the total funding to $1 billion. “This FAA is just the beginning of the potential GCF and EBRD have in combining their financial forces to drive climate action across various parts of the planet,” GCF Executive Director Howard Bamsey said in a release.
The renewable energy financing framework consisted of two components, a technical assistance program, and an effort to scale up investments in the development and construction of renewable energy projects. “This will be done by blending GCF and EBRD financing to leverage debt financing from international and development financial institutions, and at a later stage from commercial banks and private sector investments,” according to the fact sheet.
It is estimated that the once all supported projects are operational, they will generate about 1,400 GWh of electricity each year, avoiding roughly 800,000 tons of CO 2 equivalent annually.
The EBRD is one of 54 entities accredited under the GCF. The GCF operates by working through these entities to channel its resources to projects and programs. Accredited entities can be public or private, non-governmental, sub-national, national, regional or international. “Accredited Entities carry out a range of activities that usually include the development of funding proposals and the management and monitoring of projects and programmes,” the GCF explains.
—Abby L. Harvey is a POWER reporter. |
Indian Energy Exchange IPO to see sale of over six million shares | Indian Energy Exchange will open its initial public offering (IPO) on 9 October, according to drafted documents. The company, based in New Delhi, was founded in 2008 as the country's first exchange for the trade of electricity and renewable power certificates. As part of the IPO, over six million shares will be sold by existing shareholders, including Tata Power and a number of private equity companies. Shares are likely to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
| http://www.livemint.com/Money/Wqki8YG5E4iGSuhFOlcWXN/Indian-Energy-Exchange-IPO-to-open-on-9-October.html | 2017-10-02 04:55:44.123000 | New Delhi: Indian Energy Exchange Ltd’s (IEX’s) initial public offering will be open for subscription from 9 to 11 October, according to a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) dated 26 September.
The IPO will see a sale of 6,065,009 equity shares by existing shareholders including Tata Power Co. Ltd, Aditya Birla Group’s private equity arm , Madison India Capital and Multiples Alternate Asset Management Pvt Ltd. The shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and National Stock Exchange.
The New Delhi-based company filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on 20 June. Axis Capital Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. Ltd and IIFL Holdings Ltd are the managers for the IPO.
Established in 2008, IEX is India’s first power exchange providing automated trading platform for electricity(for physical delivery) and renewable energy certificates.
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Greenko places $2.15bn bid for Mumbai power business | India's largest renewable energy company Greenko has offered $2.15bn for Reliance Infrastructure's Mumbai power business. The proposed acquisition is backed by Singapore investment firm GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The Mumbai business is the country's largest private sector-integrated power utility, with 1800 MW of distribution serving three million customers. Greenko's offer is reported to be time-limited, lapsing if Reliance do not agree to exclusivity in negotiations. A number of other companies are thought to be considering their own bids for the company.
| http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/greenko-makes-2-1-billion-bid-for-reliance-infrastructures-mumbai-power-business/articleshow/60905314.cms | 2017-10-02 04:53:32.050000 | MUMBAI: Greenko, backed by Singapore’s GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, has sought to acquire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure ’s flagship Mumbai electricity business for an enterprise value of Rs 13,000-14,000 crore ($2.15 billion), said people aware of the matter.Torrent and Adani Group as well as Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Group are believed to be circling the same target, long considered an infrastructure crown jewel.The offer is higher than the Rs 12,223.78 crore market cap of Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra).India’s largest renewables company Greenko submitted a “timebound, non-binding offer” recently and is awaiting a response from Reliance to enter into exclusive negotiations.Meanwhile, Gujarat-based Torrent Power and Adani Group have also begun evaluating the target, backed by commitments from lenders such as State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Bank. Feelers have also gone out to Fairfax, and even to the Tata Group , executives said.Greenko’s offer will lapse this week unless both parties agree to exclusivity. But with multiple potential candidates, the situation could soon turn more competitive.“The sellers would try to get the maximum value through a competitive auction-like scenario, but that may also see pullouts by some of the strategic players,” said one of the senior executives mentioned above.The Mumbai business caters to 3 million customers, making it the country’s largest private sector integrated power utility, entailing 1800 mw of distribution along with generation facilities, besides an underground network of over 1,000 km. The distribution franchise is nine decades old with the licence valid till August 2036. Spokespersons for Reliance Infrastructure, Greenko and Fairfax declined comment on what they said was speculation.There was no response to emails, calls and text messages to Torrent Power vice-chairman Samir Mehta on Saturday. A Tata Power spokesperson said the company was not aware of any overture while Adanis did not respond to ET’s detailed questionnaire. ET was the first to report on August 29 about Greenko’s talks with Ambani.In a notification to the exchanges after ET’s report, R-Infra said: “The company is engaged on various initiatives to unlock value in its existing businesses including inter alia the Mumbai power business, roads and transmission and to thereby reduce its overall leverage.”In November 2015, R-Infra entered into a non-binding pact to sell 49% stake in the business to Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) of Canada. Those exclusive negotiations lapsed, following which the company engaged with other potential suitors. PSP is said to have made a brief reappearance later on in the talks.Hong Kong-headquartered CLP also held discussions with Reliance to explore a merger of operations, said a company official on condition of anonymity, but later pulled out.The Mumbai circle licence, along with the generation, transmission and distribution assets, is to be carved out from RInfra’s electrical division and transferred to a subsidiary before being sold, said executives briefed on the matter.For most suitors such as Adani and Greenko, the foray into transmission and distribution is seen as a move to derisk portfolio and control the entire value chain.Adani has a listed power transmission arm, which is one of the largest private sector players, but is not into distribution.Its city gas distribution joint venture operates in Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Thiruvananthapuram and Chandigarh. Privately held Greenko is India’s largest green energy company with an operational wind, hydro and solar portfolio of close to 3 gw. In the past 12 months, it has raised $2 billion in equity and debt.Torrent Power, backed by the Rs 18,500-crore eponymous group, supplies to over 3 million customers in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Dahej SEZ, Bhiwandi and Agra. Its generation portfolio includes 3334 mw of gas-based capacity and 338 mw of underconstruction wind power plants.Watsa’s Fairfax has been investing in marquee infrastructure projects in the country of late, having bought out GVK from the Bengaluru airport.The Tata Group competes with Reliance in power distribution in Mumbai and Delhi, and caters to 2.6 million customers.“This is not an easy asset to digest. The Greenko bid will set a benchmark and assures big-ticket FDI (foreign direct investment), but domestic players will seriously evaluate the prospects before losing out on such a prized asset,” said an investment banking official involved in the matter. |
India's Power Grid Corp enters pact with ICICI Bank | India's state-run power grid operator, Power Grid Corp, has entered a INR3,270 crore ($500m) loan agreement with ICICI Bank to help fund its capital investment programme. The utility company has budgeted for INR25,000 crore ($3.8bn) of investment between 2017 and 2018, and has issued bonds to help finance it. Power Grid Corp has also secured two other long-term loan agreements with Asian Development Bank, totalling $725m.
| http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/power-grid-enters-rs-3270-crore-term-loan-pact-with-icici-bank/articleshow/60884405.cms | 2017-10-02 04:40:03.573000 | NEW DELHI: State-run Power Grid Corp today said it has entered into a term loan facility agreement with ICICI Bank for Rs 3,270 crore.Power Grid Corp, the central power transmission utility, has an ambitious investment plan and has budgeted capital expenditure (CAPEX) including investment in joint venture and subsidiaries of more than Rs 25,000 crore during 2017-18, Power Grid said in a statement today.During the current fiscal, it has mobilised Rs 6,130 crore through issue of bonds under private placement, term loans from domestic commercial banks and has also entered into two long term loan agreements with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $725 million for financing CAPEX. |
ESB considers £400m refinancing of Carrington power facility | The Republic of Ireland's state-owned utility, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is mulling a possible £400m ($533m) refinancing of its UK power station in Carrington, near Manchester, toward the end of the year if market conditions permit. Group finance director Pat Fenlon said ESB was "examining opportunities" and added the company was making a soft launch into the UK market. ESB revenues were up to €173m during H1 2017, compared to €109m during the same period last year. | http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/esb-to-refinance-up-to-453m-of-uk-power-station-debt-36182604.html | 2017-10-02 04:32:37.207000 | Accounts show that operating profit at the ESB's retail Electric Ireland arm tumbled 19.3pc to €46m during the first half of 2017 as it cut prices and lost customers. Stock image
The ESB could refinance as much as £400m (€453m) of debt attached to its Carrington power station in the UK before Christmas if market conditions present an opportunity to do so, according to group finance director Pat Fenlon.
The ESB has about €1bn of debt that matures over the next two years, but is not under time pressure to do any refinancing.
It issued a €500m worth of bonds in January to refinance more expensive debt, and had received more than €1bn in orders for the 12-year bonds. The bonds secured a coupon, or interest rate, of 1.75pc, and were used to retire €300m of debt that fell due this month and which carried a 6.25pc rate.
Mr Fenlon was speaking to the Irish Independent as the ESB reported a 3.5pc fall in operating profit, to €287m, in the first half of the year. The ESB also paid a €60m dividend to the State in the first half of the year.
But the accounts show that operating profit at the ESB’s retail Electric Ireland arm tumbled 19.3pc to €46m during the first half of 2017 as it cut prices and lost customers. The ESB officially opened its €820m gas-powered power plant at Carrington near Manchester earlier this year. There’s about £400m in project finance attached to it.
“The market conditions are still favourable. We have things like Carrington with project finance debt,” said Mr Fenlon. “We are examining opportunities to see, if market conditions are good, could we refinance that earlier.”
He said the refinancing could happen this side of Christmas, or early in the New Year, if conditions are right. The ESB saw profit after tax jump to €173m in the first half of 2017 from €109m in the first six months of 2016. It benefited from the non-recurrence of negative, non-cash fair value of movements of inflation-linked interest rate swaps. Revenue was flat at €1.69bn.
Figures from the Commission for Energy Regulation show that Electric Ireland lost a net 3,913 electricity customers in the first half of 2017. SSE Airtricity lost 1,238 electricity customers while Energia gained 2,594. Bord Gáis Energy, owned by Centrica, gained 982 electricity customers. Mr Fenlon insisted that the market here remains competitive, with another new entrant, Canadian firm Just Energy, having just entered it.
The ESB has also entered the UK retail power market. Mr Fenlon said a full launch there won’t take place until early next year. A ‘soft-launch’ will happen in coming weeks, he added.
The ESB accounts note that it faces challenges in meeting the increase in infrastructure demand in Dublin, with data centres forming a significant part of that. However, Mr Fenlon said no data centre operators have been asked to delay projects because of any infrastructure deficit. ESB said that it invested €303m in energy infrastructure during the first half of the year, which was down from €332m in the first half of 2016.
This week, the broadband joint venture between ESB and Vodafone, called Siro, announced that it had pulled out of the tender process for the Government’s National Broadband Plan. Mr Fenlon declined to comment on what capital expenditure figure the venture had determined would have been required to meet targets under the plan. |
US DOE reaches agreement with Georgia Power over $1.67bn loan | US utility Georgia Power has taken a step closer to securing the expansion of its Vogtle site in Waynesboro, after being granted a conditional loan agreement for $1.67bn by the Department of Energy. The funds will be used to develop Vogtle's nuclear units 3 and 4, the first to be built in the US for over 30 years. The state's public services commission is set to make a final decision regarding the facility's expansion as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring proceeding, while the loan is subject to regulatory approval and completion of due diligence. | http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Georgia-Power-receives-additional-loan-guarantee-commitments-for-new-Vogtle-units-1002863735 | 2017-10-02 04:12:08.847000 | ATLANTA, Sept. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power announced today that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a conditional commitment of approximately $1.67 billion in additional loan guarantees for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Ga.
Georgia Power had previously secured loan guarantees of $3.46 billion for the construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4, the first to be built in the United States in more than 30 years.
With a total of more than $5 billion in anticipated DOE loan guarantees, Georgia Power expects to be able to provide more than $500 million in present-value benefits to its customers.
"We thank the DOE for their support and commitment to the Vogtle 3 and 4 project," said Paul Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. "From the outset, Georgia Power and the project co-owners have worked to minimize the impact of the project on our customers' bills and these additional loan guarantees will help us continue to reduce our financing costs."
"Today's announcement reflects the wide-ranging governmental support for nuclear energy in America," said Bowers. "The administration, Secretary Rick Perry, the entire cabinet and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have been exceedingly helpful with the construction of the Vogtle 3 and 4 project."
Georgia Power owns 45.7 percent of the new units, with the project's other Georgia-based co-owners including Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities. On August 31, Georgia Power filed a recommendation with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to continue construction of the Vogtle nuclear expansion supported by all of the project's other co-owners. The recommendation was based on the results of a comprehensive schedule, cost-to-complete and cancellation assessment launched following the bankruptcy of Westinghouse in March. The Georgia PSC is expected to review the recommendation and make a decision regarding the future of the Vogtle 3 and 4 project as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) proceeding. Read more here.
Final approval and issuance of these additional loan guarantees by the DOE cannot be assured and are subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements, completion of due diligence by the DOE, receipt of any necessary regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of other conditions.
About Georgia Power
Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.5 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power).
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information contained in this communication is forward-looking information based on current expectations and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements concerning future actions related to Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and the expected benefit of the DOE loan guarantees. Georgia Power cautions that there are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information that has been provided. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Georgia Power; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such suggested results will be realized. The following factors, in addition to those discussed in Georgia Power's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and subsequent securities filings, could cause actual results to differ materially from management expectations as suggested by such forward-looking information: the impact of any inability or other failure of Toshiba to perform its obligations under its guarantee; the impact of any failure to extend the in-service deadline for federal production tax credits; the impact of any failure to amend the DOE loan guarantee to allow for additional borrowings; state and federal rate regulations and the impact of pending and future rate cases and negotiations; the impact of recent and future federal and state regulatory changes, as well as changes in application of existing laws and regulations; current and future litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings, or inquiries; available sources and costs of fuels; effects of inflation; the ability to control costs and avoid cost overruns during the development construction and operation of facilities, which include the development and construction of generating facilities with designs that have not been finalized or previously constructed; the ability to construct facilities in accordance with the requirements of permits and licenses, to satisfy any environmental performance standards and the requirements of tax credits and other incentives, and to integrate facilities into the Southern Company system upon completion of construction; advances in technology; legal proceedings and regulatory approvals and actions related to Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, including Georgia Public Service Commission approvals and Nuclear Regulatory Commission actions; interest rate fluctuations and financial market conditions and the results of financing efforts; changes in The Southern Company's or Georgia Power's credit ratings, including impacts on interest rates, access to capital markets, and collateral requirements; the impacts of any sovereign financial issues, including impacts on interest rates, access to capital markets, impacts on foreign currency exchange rates, counterparty performance, and the economy in general, as well as potential impacts on the benefits of DOE loan guarantees; and the effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by standard setting bodies. Georgia Power expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information.
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SOURCE Georgia Power |
EVs the fastest-selling used cars in US this year | Second-hand electric vehicles (EVs) spent an average of 24.6 days on showroom forecourts, making them the fastest-selling used cars in the US. EVs spent 27% less time on sale than their gas-fuelled counterparts, which took an average of 33.4 days to sell, according to data from iSeeCars.com based on 2.1 million one- to three-year old cars sold between January and August. Six of the 10 fastest-selling used-car models in the US were EVs, thanks to government incentives and tax credits making them "even better deals than new models". | https://qz.com/1090343/most-of-the-fastest-selling-used-vehicles-in-the-us-are-now-ev/ | 2017-10-02 03:26:27.477000 | Electric vehicles now account for six of the ten fastest selling used car models in the US. Compared to the 33.4 days that conventional cars sit on the market, electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles now sell within 24.6 days on average, or 27% faster than gasoline cousins, reports automotive research company iSeeCars.com. The firm analyzed the sales of 2.1 million one- to three-year old cars sold between January and August of 2017 to rank the models.
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Although EVs accounts for just 1% of total US new car sales, their low price and rising reputation is leading to a brisk business. The FIAT 500e was the fastest selling used EV this year, in part due to its low average selling price of $9,055 (down from $21,000 before incentives on the lot). At the other end of the spectrum, the price of a used Tesla Model S rose 3.5% to $70,372 from $67,992 last year.
What’s driving all this? First, incentives of $7,500 or more on electrics means used EV prices are quite low relative to their new sticker price, and conventional cars more generally. With federal and state tax credits built in, used EVs are even better deals than new models, explains Electrek. Many new EV models are also hitting the market after the expiration of their three-year leases. Buyers now have their pick of low-mileage, luxury cars at low prices built by the likes of BMW and Tesla. |
Russian companies partner on heterojunction solar tech | Hevel Group, a joint venture between Russian private investment firm GK Renova and state-backed nanotech company Rusano, is set to complete development of a solar power plant in Siberia this month. The 20 MW Maima solar park uses photovoltaic systems, including high-efficiency heterojunction technology, which allows efficient power generation in sub-optimal conditions. Maima is part of Hevel's push to boost its capacity in the area to 90 MW over the next two years. | http://www.powermag.com/heterojunction-solar-technology-being-deployed-at-siberian-site/ | 2017-10-02 02:28:03.260000 | A joint venture of two Russian companies has built a solar power project in southern Siberia based on heterojunction technology (HJT), which is touted as a high-efficiency solar cell concept. Researchers have said photovoltaic (PV) systems using HJT solar modules provide higher energy output than other PV systems, lowering the cost of producing solar power.
Hevel Group, a joint venture of GK Renova and Rusnano, is in charge of the new solar park (Figure 1), located in Gorno-Altaysk in the Republic of Altai. GK Renova is a private business group that includes management companies that invest in energy, mining, metals, chemical, and other sectors in Russia and globally. Rusnano is a government-owned, Moscow-based company that finances commercial developments in nanotechnology.
1. A highly efficient solar array. The solar installation built by Hevel Group in Gorno-Altaysk, capital of the Republic of Altai in Russia, is designed with heterojunction technology, which works well in lower light conditions. Courtesy: Hevel Group
Anastasiya Berdnikova, a spokesperson for Hevel Group, told POWER in late August that construction of the Maima solar power plant began in May 2017, and the plant was placed into service on September 19, 2017. Solar modules for the 20-MW project were produced at Hevel’s manufacturing facility in Novocheboksarsk, about 600 kilometers east of Moscow, in Chuvash Republic.
“Earlier in March this year Hevel Group completed upgrade of its thin-film Fab line and converted it to heterojunction technology production. This technology guarantees efficient operation of solar modules at high and low temperatures, as well as under shading and diffused light, thereby significantly expanding the geographical potential of solar power installations,” Berdnikova said.
Hevel Group Director General Igor Shakhrai in late August told Russian media the project’s cost is estimated at 2 billion rubles ($33.9 million).
According to Meyer Burger, a German global technology company specializing in solar, HJT “combines the advantages of mono crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells with the good absorption and the superior passivation characteristics of amorphous silicon (a-Si) known from a-Si thin film technology using readily available materials.” HJT was first mass produced by Sanyo (now Panasonic) more than a decade ago, but the basic technology patent was discontinued in 2010, opening the systems to more widespread research.
Heterojunction solar modules perform better than other PV technologies in low and dispersed light conditions, and also do well in both high and low air temperature environments.
Hevel already operates three networked solar power stations in the region, each with a 5-MW capacity. It plans to increase its total regional solar generating capacity to 90 MW over the next two years. Hevel earlier put a 100-kW solar diesel hybrid power station in service in the area in 2013, providing electricity to Yaylyu in the Altai Republic, on Lake Teletskoye.
Hevel Group has doubled the annual production capacity of its plant in Novocheboksarsk in Chuvash Republic to 160 MW of solar modules, which it says is enough to cover half of the annual demand in the Russian solar energy market. Shakhrai told media the company’s production ramp-up is “opening up broad prospects in terms of large-scale projects in Russia and abroad.”
—Darrell Proctor is a POWER associate editor. |
EU pledges $1bn to marine conservation | The European Union is set to pledge €1bn ($1.18bn) towards the protection of marine life. The announcement will be made during this year’s Our Ocean conference in Malta. The conference, which was launched in 2014 and which brings together policy makers and environmental experts in order to tackle issues including climate change and plastic pollution, has accumulated $10.2bn since its inception.
| https://ourocean2017.org/eu-leads-way-ambitious-action-cleaner-and-safer-seas | 2017-10-01 22:00:00 | EU leads the way with ambitious action for cleaner and safer seas
The international Our Ocean Conference, co-hosted by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, is currently taking place in Malta, on 5 and 6 October. This morning, High Representative Mogherini on behalf of the European Union, announced an ambitious package of 36 EU-initiatives to foster healthier, cleaner, safer and more secure seas.
In her opening speech, High Representative Mogherini said: "The sea is a global common. It is Our Ocean because it belongs to humanity, to each and every human being. We all have a responsibility to preserve what's common – to preserve it as a treasure and avoid that it turns into a threat." She added: "The European Union believes that a globalised world needs a more cooperative global governance. We believe in the power of diplomacy, we invest in it, we believe and invest in the power of common rules and international institutions. And it is difficult, actually impossible, to imagine a global governance without a cooperative oceans' governance." Amounting to over €550 million and launching complementary activities worldwide, the announcement underscores the EU's determination to improve the situation of the seas. At the same time, as hosts, the EU seeks from the outset of the conference to set an example and send a strong message of encouragement to the rest of the world to step up and take action in the face of growing ocean challenges such as plastic pollution, protection of marine life, impact of climate change and criminal activities at sea. Over the comings days, the international community – governments and private sector alike - will come together to deliver on this objective. A live stream of the Our Ocean Conference and the press conference (at 12:00 CET) are available here. High Representative Mogherini's speech and Commissioner Vella's speech are available online.
List of 36 EU commitments
Other language versions of the 36 commitments available here. |
Apple to bring augmented reality to Major League Baseball | Apple is developing an app that blends augmented reality and one of the most watched sports in the US: baseball. The tech giant is tinkering with Major League Baseball's hugely popular At Bat app, enabling it to offer users a wealth of additional information – from player stats to play-by-play breakdowns – all by simply holding up their mobile or tablet in front of a live game. It is understood the updated app will be launched next year.
| https://www.cnet.com/news/baseball-apple-pitches-augmented-reality-to-catch-fans-mlb-apple/ | 2017-10-01 21:43:26.747000 | During Apple's iPhone launch two weeks ago, I spotted a 10-second augmented reality demo that could potentially change the way we watch baseball.
"What the [expletive] is that?" I said, as Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller teased a new AR feature in Major League Baseball's popular At Bat mobile app. He demonstrated how fans at a game could see special stats, including how hard a ball was hit, how far it was thrown or how fast a player runs in real time, simply by pointing their iPhone toward the action on the field.
Also watching the demo, my colleague Claudia Cruz yelled my name across the office to make sure we both saw the same thing. I emailed MLB spokesman Matthew Gould. "Let me get back to you," he replied.
A week later, Claudia and I found ourselves jockeying with other reporters in a crowded suite at AT&T Park in San Francisco, about a 45-minute drive north of Apple's spaceship campus in Silicon Valley. We were promised a peek at the new AR capabilities during an actual game between the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies. What we saw was an internal prototype. The goal is to debut the updated app in 2018.
It's no secret Apple wants its augmented reality developer kit, announced in May, to be used to create apps for the iPhone and iPad that will prove more enduring than last year's Pokemon Go phenomenon. Now the tech giant is experimenting with At Bat, the most popular sports league app, to give diehard baseball fans like Claudia and me more data than we probably can consume. The AR feature may also get MLB teams looking to cheat -- er, um, gain an advantage -- to use their iPads during games.
Enlarge Image Apple's Phil Schiller teases the company's plans to add an AR feature to Major League Baseball's At Bat app. Apple
"We want this to be fun for fans in the stands, to tell them something new about the game they can't see on the scoreboard or have to search hard for," said Chad Evans, a mobile product executive with MLB Advanced Media, baseball's interactive arm. "Everything is in play."
For non-sports fans, Claudia and I compare this AR feature to those Omnioculars used to watch Quidditch matches in the Harry Potter movies. "They will provide the user with a play-by-play breakdown if desired, showing the names of the manoeuvres performed by players," according to the Harry Potter Wiki page.
And that's sort of what the AR feature in the MLB At Bat app does. On Wednesday, Evans and Greg Cain, MLBAM's senior data director, pulled out iPad Pros and showed us how, by clicking on a player's augmented image, you can get his data from Statcast. The Statcast tool uses HD cameras, a Doppler radar and machine learning to track every move on the field.
Statcast gives teams, broadcasters and fans an array of metrics and trivia, including that New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge's 495-foot home run is the longest this season. Or how his teammate, Aroldis Chapman, has thrown the season's fastest pitch at 105 miles per hour, with the ball spinning a dizzying 2,600 times after it left his hand.
During the Giants-Rockies game, we grilled Evans and Cain on what stats are available. Could they tell us how hard Rockies star and National League MVP candidate Charlie Blackmon hits a baseball? It's around 86 mph (his exit velocity), compared with Judge's shots, which can reach around 117 mph. We also learned that Rockies catcher Jonathan Lucroy has a 28 "sprint speed," which means he's too slow to steal a base.
Too inside baseball? Developers are trying to strike a balance with the data: They don't want to overwhelm casual fans, but they also don't want to bore stats freaks.
"We're going to try to create the right information at the right time. We just need to figure out how to do it," Evans said. "There's all of these data stories we are going to try to tell."
The demo left us hankering for more. Claudia wants to see instant replays in AR, as well as the weight, height and strength comparisons of players on the field. She also wants the app to anticipate when a record could be broken.
I'd like the feature to show me what a hitter's batting average is when he has two strikes and the bases are loaded. Maybe it could also tell me the probability of him hitting either a triple or a double in that same situation.
We could be asking too much, but they tell us being able to marry data with the world is the promise of AR.
"This is not a static product," Cain said. "We will continue to grow and build it out over time."
Solving for XX: The industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."
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Ireland's AI sector is booming, finds survey | The Republic of Ireland has a burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) industry, with more than 65 firms operating, 86% of which have a live product, according to figures from TechIreland, a database relating to the country's start-up sector. The data revealed nearly 2,500 people are employed in the AI sector, while seven home-grown firms had raised more than €10m ($13m) each in funding. "The pedigree that Ireland has from a technology perspective has… its origins in the impact that companies such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM and Dell have had on the country," said Ken Finnegan, the CTO of inward investment promotion agency IDA Ireland.
| https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/thriving-ai-ecosystem-developing-in-ireland-figures-show-1.3235768 | 2017-10-01 21:40:58.190000 | Tech Ireland said there are at least 66 companies working in the AI sector, employing almost 2,500 people. Photograph: iStock/Askold Romanov, Mlenny & Tricia Seibold
Plans are afoot to establish the first dedicated masters in artificial intelligence (AI) programme in the country as IDA Ireland continues with moves to establish the Republic as a leading hub for the technology.
The news comes as figures provided by TechIreland show there are at least 66 companies working in the space locally, employing almost 2,500 people.
The Ibec-affiliated Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet recently issued a request for tender notice for the development and delivery of the masters programme, following discussions with IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and industry bodies.
The MSc, which is to be fully funded and managed by Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, is intended to be an industry-led programme to be collaboratively created by ICT-related companies and higher-education institutions.
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The masters will initially be targeted at those working in software engineering, data science, electronics engineering and business intelligence and will cover topics such as analytics, and machine and deep learning.
Vibrant
The objective is to begin recruitment of participants later this year with the first full-time one-year programme commencing in 2018. A two-year part-time masters is also envisaged.
Newly published figures from TechIreland, the public database aimed at providing a detailed portrait of Ireland’s start-up scene, shows the Republic is home to a vibrant open AI ecosystem.
The sector is also seen to be growing strongly with 61 per cent of companies working in the space having received funding, while 86 per cent have a live product.
The snapshot shows Irish AI companies, which include the likes of Artomatix, Voysis, Nuritas, SoapBox Labs, Movidius and Aylien, have raised €354 million in total. Seven Irish companies have achieved funding of more than €10 million apiece.
The majority of firms in the space are working in the area of enterprise solutions with health/medical, travel and industrial solutions also popular.
AI revolution
IDA Ireland has been at the forefront of moves to place Ireland at the centre of the AI revolution in recent years. Its chief technology officer Ken Finnegan told The Irish Times that the latest figures show a thriving community.
"It is really important to look to the past to understand where we are now. The pedigree that Ireland has from a technology perspective has derived over a long time and has its origins in the impact that companies such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM and Dell have had on the country. Many of these companies might not have been focusing on cutting-edge technology initially but over the years this has changed and so as a country we are well prepared in terms of core competencies," said Mr Finnegan.
“This is really an evolution. We have an opportunity to do exceptionally well in artificial intelligence and the proposed masters programme will definitely help us in terms of adding to our credentials,” he added. |
Facebook, Google criticised for fake news covering Vegas shooting | Facebook and Google have been accused of promoting fraudulent news stories about the gunman who killed over 50 people in Las Vegas on Sunday. Stories claiming the shooter was a Democrat, opposed to President Trump, initially appeared on right-wing message board 4chan and conspiracy blog Gateway Pundit. Facebook’s “Safety Check”, designed to help people make contact with loved ones during crises, widely promoted one such story, while Google users were directed to the false claims on 4chan. Meanwhile, conservative Twitter users speculated that left-wing social media accounts falsely represented the gunman, Stephen Paddock, as right-wing. | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/02/las-vegas-shooting-facebook-google-fake-news-shooter | 2017-10-01 21:00:00 | Facebook and Google promoted false news stories claiming that the shooter who killed more than 50 people in Las Vegas was a Democrat who opposed Donald Trump. The misidentification spread rapidly from dark corners of the internet to mainstream platforms just hours after hundreds were injured at a festival near the Mandalay Bay casino, the latest example of fake news polluting social media amid a breaking news story.
The flow of misinformation on Monday illustrated a particularly grim trend that has increasingly dominated viral online propaganda during US mass shootings – hyper-partisan trolls battling to blame the tragedy on opposing political ideologies.
Police have identified Stephen Paddock as the suspect who opened fire from a high-rise hotel room, killing scores and injuring hundreds more. But before authorities named the 64-year-old Nevada man, some on the far right falsely identified the man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history as Geary Danley. It’s unclear where exactly the hoax originated, but rightwing users aggressively promoted his name, seizing on evidence that he was a liberal.
On 4chan, the anonymous message board and a favorite platform of the “alt-right”, some noted that Danley was a registered Democrat. Soon after, Gateway Pundit, a conspiracy-laden blog that earned White House credentials under Trump, published an evidence-free story headlined, “Las Vegas Shooter Reportedly a Democrat Who Liked Rachel Maddow, MoveOn.org and Associated with Anti-Trump Army”. The piece was based on a review of Facebook “likes”.
01:55 ‘People started dropping around us’: Las Vegas shooting told by witnesses - video report
Despite the fact that the claims were unproven and coming from non-credible sources, Facebook’s “Safety Check” page, which is supposed to help people connect with loved ones during the crisis, ended up briefly promoting a story that said the shooter had “Trump-hating” views, along with links to a number of other hoaxes and scams, according to screenshots. At the same time, Google users who searched Geary Danley’s name were at one point directed to the 4chan thread filled with false claims.
The rightwing users’ successful manipulation of social media algorithms to politicize a tragedy speaks to a relatively new pattern of online abuse. While users of Twitter and Reddit memorably misidentified the suspect behind the Boston marathon bombing in 2013, fake news during global tragedies and terrorist attacks over the last year has increasingly gone beyond careless reporting and retweeting to overt exploitation and targeted disinformation campaigns.
“It’s getting more polarized. There’s this mad scramble to paint the guy as a Democrat or a Republican, so they can cheer,” Brooke Binkowski, managing editor of fact-checking website Snopes.com, said in an interview. “A lot of this is pushed by trolls deliberately to muddy the conversation.”
False content can quickly move from social media to legitimate news sources, she added: “People are putting out crap information on purpose … It’s really easy to get shit into the news cycle by being on Twitter.”
While authorities have struggled to identify the possible motives of Paddock, the suspect who police believe killed himself, some far-right users and conspiracy theorists have, without any proof, attempted to link him to anti-fascist groups and the leftist Antifa movement. Infowars, the hyper-partisan site known for propaganda, claimed on Monday that Paddock was found with “antifa literature”. At the same time, a sham Facebook page pretending to be Antifa claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the goal of the shooter was to murder “Trump supporting fascist dogs”.
A YouTube user also pushed an unsubstantiated rumor that the suspect was a Hillary Clinton supporter.
On the flipside, some conservatives on Twitter have theorized that leftwing social media users have attempted to falsely paint Paddock as a rightwing individual. Some have speculated that liberals are posing as white nationalists and Trump supporters and following a Twitter account that has the same name as the suspect, in hopes of proving he is a conservative.
In reality, the suspect had no known “affiliations” that could explain the massacre, according to one of his brothers, who spoke out on Monday.
Donald Trump makes remarks at the White House on the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock
Google, Facebook and Twitter have faced repeated accusations that they allow propaganda to spread on their sites and reach large audiences, and in the wake of embarrassing stories of promoting fake news and offensive content, the tech corporations have typically blamed their algorithms and offered vague pledges of improvement.
The Mandalay Bay shooting was no exception. Google said in a statement: “Unfortunately, early this morning we were briefly surfacing an inaccurate 4chan website in our Search results for a small number of queries. Within hours, the 4chan story was algorithmically replaced by relevant results. This should not have appeared for any queries, and we’ll continue to make algorithmic improvements to prevent this from happening in the future.”
Facebook attempted to downplay its role in promoting false stories, saying in a statement: “Our Global Security Operations Center spotted these posts this morning and we have removed them. However, their removal was delayed, allowing them to be screen captured and circulated online. We are working to fix the issue that allowed this to happen in the first place and deeply regret the confusion this caused.”
Binkowski noted that the online debates about possible political affiliations of the suspect distract from meaningful policy discussions about gun control.
“People would rather debate whether the mass shooter is a Republican or Democrat … than address structural issues,” she said.
Beyond the politically charged fake news, a wide range of hoaxes and irresponsible reporting clouded social media on Monday. A number of viral tweets posted fake accounts of missing victims, according to BuzzFeed.
Some celebrities were also quick to spread unverified claims before police had offered any official confirmation of the basic facts of the shooting. Sia, a pop singer and songwriter with 3.2 million followers on Twitter, posted that 20 people were dead before police had released details on the number of casualties, adding, “take cover there are multiple shooters on the loose”.
Police have said there were no other suspects. |
US tax changes could boost oil production | Tax changes outlined by the US Republican Party last week could undermine climate change targets, according to research by the Stockholm Environment Institute. The study found that, of the 800 newly discovered US oil fields not yet in operation, half would never go into production without existing subsidies. The proposals, which would lower the corporate tax rate to 20%, give no indication that a 2009 G20 commitment to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies will be maintained. Current subsidies would see new wells producing up to 17 billion barrels of oil, generating six gigatons of CO2, within decades. | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0009-8 | 2017-10-01 19:00:00 | Leaders’ Statement: The Pittsburgh Summit (G20, 2009); https://www.g20.org/Content/DE/StatischeSeiten/Breg/G7G20/Anlagen/G20-erklaerungpittsburgh-2009-en.pdf?blob=publicationFile
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Coral’s reproductive capacity used to repair damaged reefs | Damaged coral reefs in the Philippines have been successfully repaired by scientists utilising the marine invertebrates' reproductive potential. Researchers from Australia’s Southern Cross University grew millions of coral larvae in tanks, then transferred them to reefs that had been degraded by blast fishing. The experiment, the first of its kind in the world, proved that the larvae could settle and reach sexual maturity within three years. Coral reefs are central to the survival of approximately one million marine species and hundreds of millions of people who rely on them for food and survival.
| http://scu.edu.au/news/media.php?item_id=16841&action=show_item&type=M | 2017-09-30 22:00:00 | International Day of the Midwife on 5 May celebrates the critical work of midwives around the world, but stress in the profession is an ongoing challenge, says Southern Cross Midwifery graduate Georgina Haver. Thanks to a scholarship, Georgina is now researching stress and burnout in the profession as part of an Honours degree. She believes that formal support networks could help retain skilled and resilient midwives. |
Over 50% of leading US fast food chains reduce antibiotic use | Over 50% of the 25 largest US fast food chains have adopted policies that limit or eliminate the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry they use, according to the latest version of an annual report by groups including Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council. This year’s list includes 14 restaurants, representing two-thirds of all fast food sector revenue, that have pledged to reduce antibiotic use. All improvements this year arose from changes to chicken policies. “No-antibiotic” beef and pork in fast food chains remains extremely limited. Panera Bread and Chipotle topped the list. | https://www.nrdc.org/resources/chain-reaction-how-top-restaurants-rate-reducing-antibiotics-their-meat-supply | 2017-09-30 22:00:00 | NRDC and our allies—Consumer Reports, Food Animal Concerns Trust, U.S. Public Research Interest Group Education Fund, Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the George Washington University School of Public Health, and the Center for Food Safety—annually review and grade the largest fast-food and -casual U.S. restaurant chains on their policies regarding the use of antibiotics in the meat they serve. We also look at how these policies are being implemented and whether companies are transparent about their progress in reducing antibiotic use. The results are published in a report called Chain Reaction.
When top restaurant chains voluntarily commit to ending the routine use of antibiotics in their supply networks, they can ignite broader change in practices across the meat industry. Ending routine antibiotics use can help slow the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and keep these critical medicines working to treat infections in people and animals. Restaurant chains were instrumental in helping to transform antibiotic use practices in the chicken industry in recent years. Unfortunately, when it comes to beef and pork, we’ve seen little in the way of meaningful change.
The 2021 Chain Reaction report focuses specifically on how top restaurant chains are or are not addressing antibiotic use in their beef supplies, highlighting the need for action in this sector.
Commitments from companies are a critical part of the solution to the antibiotics resistance crisis. But the market alone will not solve the problem. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration must also regulate antibiotics across the livestock sector by banning the routine use of these drugs for disease prevention—not just growth promotion—and by setting a national goal for concrete reductions in livestock antibiotics use. |
Over 50% of leading US fast food chains reduce antibiotic use | Over 50% of the 25 largest US fast food chains have adopted policies that limit or eliminate the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry they use, according to the latest version of an annual report by groups including Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council. This year’s list includes 14 restaurants, representing two-thirds of all fast food sector revenue, that have pledged to reduce antibiotic use. All improvements this year arose from changes to chicken policies. “No-antibiotic” beef and pork in fast food chains remains extremely limited. Panera Bread and Chipotle topped the list. | http://www.businessinsider.com/more-fast-food-restaurants-are-moving-to-limit-antibiotics-in-meat-2017-9?IR=T | 2017-09-30 22:00:00 | David Silverman/Getty Images
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.
More than half of the largest 25 fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the U.S. now have policies in place that either limit or eliminate the use of antibiotics in the production of the meat and/or poultry they serve, according to a new report out today.
“Chain Reaction III: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply” (PDF) was produced by Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Food Safety, Food Animal Concerns Trust, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports.
“Fast food restaurants are major purchasers of meat and poultry,” says Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union. “When they switch to meat and poultry raised without antibiotics, it can affect the entire supply chain.”
The 14 restaurants on this year’s list that have made commitments to reduce antibiotic use represent two-thirds of all fast food industry revenue.
Among the restaurants that made improvements this year, changes in chicken policies were responsible for all of the progress. The availability of “no-antibiotic” beef and pork at fast food chains is still very limited, according to the report.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
For decades, antibiotics have been given to healthy food animals to help prevent the diseases they might contract in crowded, unsanitary factory conditions. This practice significantly contributes to antibiotic resistance, in which the bacteria that can cause illness don’t respond to drugs, rendering them ineffective.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers report being extremely or very concerned that giving antibiotics to animals raised for food can create new bacteria that cause illnesses that antibiotics can’t cure, according to a 2016 CR nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 people.
“In the U.S., more than 70 percent of antibiotics that are important for human medicine are sold for use on animals, not people; and most of those are routinely given to animals that aren’t sick,” says Lena Brook, M.E.S., a food policy advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the co-authors of the report. “When you use antibiotics in this routine way, resistance happens, and that resistant bacteria can then escape from farms and find their way into communities.”
“Consumers have enormous influence over the behavior of companies,” says Brad Spellberg, M.D., chief medical officer at the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center. “If consumers demand 'no-antibiotic' meat, this will lead to reduced antibiotic usage in agricultural settings, which will slow the spread of antibiotic resistance.”
How the restaurants scored
The six consumer, environmental, and health organizations mentioned above have produced the Chain Reaction Report as well as the accompanying Scorecard on Antibiotic Policies and Practices (see below) annually since 2015. The goal of the report is to encourage companies to adopt good policies that prohibit routine antibiotic use in healthy animals across all the meats they serve.
The 25 companies were sent a survey, and their responses—along with public statements by the companies either in the press or on their websites—were used to calculate the grade on the scorecard.
Several factors are part of the grade. Forty percent of the score is based on a company’s antibiotic use policy and having a timeline for implementing it. Implementation accounts for 32 percent of the grade. The remaining 28 percent of the score is based on transparency (using outside inspectors to verify that they’re using and adhering to their policy and keeping consumers regularly apprised of progress) and responding to the survey, which 16 of the 25 companies did this year.
The number of fast food and casual chains that received passing grades this year was triple the number in 2015, the first year of the report.
Panera Bread and Chipotle lead the pack with A grades, for the third year in a row. Nearly all their meat and poultry are raised without any antibiotics. Subway upped last year’s B to a B+ after converting all chicken it serves to “no antibiotic.” It plans to do the same for turkey by 2019 and beef and pork by 2025.
Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s earned B’s and C’s for their strong antibiotic policies in chicken. McDonald’s recently announced that it wouldn’t serve chicken raised with antibiotics most valuable to human medicine in restaurants worldwide by 2027. (It currently does not sell chicken raised on antibiotics important in human medicine in the U.S.)
KFC notably upped last year’s score from an F to a B- after committing to only serve chicken raised without medically important antibiotics by the end of 2018.
Some smaller chains not represented on the scorecard are also making progress. For example, all of the chicken served at Dickey’s BBQ is no-antibiotic, as is all of the beef, pork, and poultry served at Cheesecake Factory.
Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jack in the Box, and Starbucks were upgraded from last year’s F to a D, joining the likes of Papa Johns and Pizza Hut. These chains received a “D” grade for having limited policies on antibiotics, or for not fully implementing them yet.
Applebee’s, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili’s, Cracker Barrel, Dairy Queen, Domino’s Pizza, IHOP, Little Caesars, Olive Garden, and Sonic earned “F” grades for having absolutely no antibiotics policies in place at all.
We reached out to the National Restaurant Association for comment and will update this story with any response.
Charging ahead on chicken
Techniques for raising chickens without antibiotics are better developed than those for beef or pork, says Halloran, and the chicken industry has made great strides toward eliminating the routine use of the drugs. According to the report, half of the chicken in the U.S. today is either produced under an antibiotics stewardship program or will be before 2020.
Panera Bread and Chipotle are the only chains to limit antibiotic in beef and pork as well as chicken. Subway is the only other company that has made a public commitment to source “no antibiotic” beef and pork. McDonald’s recently said it plans to reduce antibiotics in beef and pork worldwide but didn’t provide details or set a timeline for achieving this goal.
“We know that when big buyers like the McDonald’s, Subways, and even the KFCs of the world step up, it sends a really clear message to producers that not only is the demand for responsibly producing meat and poultry there,” says Brook, “but also that the changes are meaningful to health.”
If being able to more easily purchase meat and poultry raised without antibiotics is important to you, Halloran has this advice: “Wherever you eat, ask restaurant managers about their meat sourcing policies and practices and make sure they know that you’re looking for options that are healthier not only for you but for the animals and the environment, too—including meat produced without the routine use of antibiotics.” |
EasyJet to increase drone inspections across UK airports in 2018 | Budget airline easyJet will use drones to carry out safety inspections of its planes at Luton and London Gatwick airports from next year. The launch follows trials with the Civil Aviation Authority, and if all goes well in the UK, easyJet said the drone system could be expanded to cover its bases at airports in Berlin, Geneva and Milan. Additionally, London Gatwick's operator expects to roll out its own drone-backed runway inspections initiative during H1 2018.
| https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/easyjet-to-roll-out-drone-inspections-from-2018-441652/ | 2017-09-29 13:47:16.307000 | London Gatwick airport could in 2018 see a flurry of drone activity, with both the facility's operator and low-cost carrier EasyJet looking to employ unmanned air vehicles for inspection tasks.
EasyJet has for several years been trialling the use of UAVs, in conjunction with UK firm Blue Bear Systems, to perform aircraft inspections to check for damage following events such as lightning strikes.
Gary Smith, head of engineering at the UK carrier, says the technology has been "successfully tested".
In 2018 it will roll out the system to its two UK maintenance hangars at London airports Gatwick and Luton, he says, following initial trials conducted with the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
"Ultimately this may well become a service that is scalable worldwide," he says. "We are pushing it forward."
If the roll-out in the UK proves successful, it will look to adopt the system at its three other in-house facilities at Geneva, Milan Malpensa and Berlin Schoenefeld.
Lufthansa Technik carries out heavy maintenance tasks for EasyJet at sites in Malta in Budapest, and, notes Smith "it is in our interest that it is adopted by suppliers as well".
EasyJet has also been using 3D-scanning technology to permit more accurate damage assessments, and it hopes to be able to this capability to the UAVs as well, says Smith.
Meanwhile, London Gatwick's operator is to begin trials of UAVs designed to perform runway inspections in the first half of 2018.
Cathal Corcoran, the airport's chief information officer, says the drones will replace manual inspections for damage or foreign object debris.
"They can perform inspections better than any human eye," he says. "Drones are exciting for us."
Gatwick will use the tests, which will take place on a private road, to determine whether UAVs or autonomous ground vehicles provide the most accurate images, he says.
He stresses that any future drone operations would only take place at night when the runway is not in use.
The airport operator also will investigate the use of UAVs to secure the site's perimeter.
Source: Cirium Dashboard |
Shares in video-streamer Roku soar after its IPO raises $219m | Shares in Roku rocketed last Thursday after the company's initial public offering raised $219m. The California firm makes sticks and boxes that enable users to watch Netflix, Hulu and other streaming-video options on their TVs. Roku has the biggest share of the streaming-gadget market, despite competition from Amazon, Google and Apple. Shares were initially priced at $14 – the top of the company's expected range – valuing it at $1.3bn but rose to over $21 in afternoon trading. The company makes most of its revenue from selling streaming players; however, it is not profitable, having made $244m of losses since 2002.
| http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/streaming-device-maker-roku-s-stocks-soar-after-ipo-raises-us-219m-1.3610610 | 2017-09-29 12:55:48.247000 | NEW YORK -- Shares of Roku, an early player in streaming-video gadgets, soared Thursday after its initial public offering of stock raised US$219 million.
The shares priced at $14 each, the top of the company's expected range, suggesting strong demand from investors and valuing the company at $1.3 billion. The shares rocketed to more than $21 in Thursday afternoon trading, a gain of over 50 per cent.
The Los Gatos, California, company is known for its boxes and sticks that let users watch Netflix, Hulu and the growing universe of streaming-video options on their TVs. It has the biggest share of the streaming-gadget market, but has deep-pocketed competitors in Amazon, Google and Apple.
Most of Roku's revenue comes from sales of its streaming players, but it's seeking to capitalize on its "platform" by building its business of showing ads to users, whether on its home screen or inside video apps.
The company is unprofitable and has amassed $244 million in losses since it was founded in 2002. |
Drone flying banned near US landmarks such as Statue of Liberty | Drone flights within 400 feet of major US landmarks are to be banned "at the request of national security and law enforcement agencies", the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said. The FAA will enforce the new regulation from 5 October at sites such as Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty and the Hoover Dam. Drones are already banned near airports, government buildings, sport stadiums, prisons and army bases.
| https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/drone-flights-banned-at-us-landmarks/ | 2017-09-29 12:51:56.180000 | Nailing awesome drone shots of your favorite U.S. landmarks is set to become more difficult as new flight bans come into effect soon at several locations across the country.
On Thursday, September 28, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced new regulations banning drone flights within 400 feet of a number of famous tourist sites, among them the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and the Hoover Dam.
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The FAA said it was introducing the new restrictions “at the request of U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies.” The regulations will come into force on October 5, 2017.
Here’s the full list of sites:
• Statue of Liberty National Monument; New York
• Boston National Historical Park (U.S.S. Constitution); Boston
• Independence National Historical Park; Philadelphia
• Folsom Dam; Folsom, California
• Glen Canyon Dam; Lake Powell, Arizona
• Grand Coulee Dam; Grand Coulee, Washington
• Hoover Dam; Boulder City, Nevada
• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial; St. Louis, Missouri
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial; Keystone, South Dakota
• Shasta Dam; Shasta Lake, California
“Operators who violate the airspace restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges,” the FAA said in a statement on its website.
The agency added that information on the new measures will be included in its free B4UFly app (iOS and Android), which offers drone pilots tips on safe flying, as well as information on restrictions and requirements relating to drone flights in the specific area they want to operate.
The FAA noted that the new regulations mark the first time that it has taken such measures over Department of the Interior landmarks, though it’s true to say that some of these locations are already included in a ban on drone flights in national parks that was introduced by the National Park Service in 2014.
Other out-of-bounds sites for drone pilots include airports, government buildings, prisons, and sports stadiums.
Best not to fly your drone near army bases, too. In August, the Pentagon greenlit a policy that allows the U.S. military to blow your bird out of the sky if it spots it flying close to one of 133 military installations across the country. You could also be hit with jail time for your efforts.
And be sure to keep your flying machine well away from wildfires, as it could make flying conditions hazardous for manned aircraft tackling the blaze.
For more information on drone flight restrictions in the U.S., take a moment to check out the FAA’s webpage on the subject or explore the aforementioned B4UFly app.
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Toshiba to sell NAND chip unit in $18bn deal | Toshiba has signed an $18bn agreement to sell its NAND chip unit in a bid to raise funds. The unit was auctioned off after a nine-month process to a consortium led by Bain Capital and including Apple. The unit is the second largest producer of NAND chips globally. Toshiba is also reinvesting in the unit, alongside medical tech firm Hoya. Japanese firms in the consortium will own over 50% of the business. The company hopes to close the deal before the end of the Japanese financial year in March, and so end the year with positive net worth.
| https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/28/toshiba-signs-18-billion-chip-unit-sale/ | 2017-09-29 12:44:23.980000 | Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.
(Reuters) — Japan’s Toshiba said on Thursday it had signed an $18 billion deal to sell its chip unit to a consortium led by Bain Capital LP, overcoming a key — albeit not its last — hurdle as it scrambles for funds to stave off a potential delisting.
The sale of the unit — the world’s second biggest producer of NAND chips — was agreed last week after a tortuous auction process but the signing was delayed because consortium member Apple demanded new terms on chip supply, sources familiar with the matter have said.
The deal will see Toshiba reinvest in the unit and together with Hoya, a medical technology firm that also makes parts for chip devices, Japanese firms will hold more than 50 percent of the business — a keen wish of the Japanese government.
A Japanese state-backed fund and bank have also expressed their interest in investing in the future subject to certain conditions, Toshiba said in a statement.
“With this deal, a lot of risks for Toshiba have disappeared. It can go back to being a normal company,” said Hideki Yasuda at Ace Research Institute.
Pressure from the Japanese government, changing alliances among suitors and a slew of revised bids has drawn out the auction over nine months — heightening the risk that the deal may not close before the end of Japan’s financial year in March as regulatory reviews usually take at least six months.
If the deal does not close before then, Toshiba — hurt by liabilities at its now bankrupt nuclear unit Westinghouse — is likely to end a second consecutive year in negative net worth, putting pressure on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to strip it of its listing status.
The sale also faces legal challenges from Western Digital, Toshiba’s chip venture partner and rejected suitor, which is seeking an injunction to block any deal that does not have its consent.
Western Digital, one of world’s leading makers of hard disk drives, paid some $16 billion last year to acquire SanDisk, Toshiba’s chip joint venture partner since 2000. It sees chips as a key pillar of growth and is desperate to keep the business out of the hands of rival chipmakers.
In addition to Apple, Bain’s consortium includes South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, as well as Dell, Seagate Technology, and Kingston Technology.
Under the deal, Toshiba will hold 40.2 percent of voting rights in the chip unit and Hoya will own 9.9 percent, while other members will hold a combined 49.9 percent, according to SK Hynix.
In a move to address anti-trust concerns that may come up in a regulatory review. Toshiba said SK Hynix would be firewalled from accessing proprietary information that belonged to the chip unit and would not be permitted to own more than 15 percent of voting rights for 10 years.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Additional reporting by Kentaro Hamada and Taro Fuse; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) |
Advertisers now have ability to target Facebook Messenger ads | As part of Facebook’s plans to give retargeting ads a makeover, advertisers will now have the ability to target Messenger ads to optimise for replies and conversations, opening the door to ongoing engagement with customers. The new advertising products will include ads that click directly into Messenger conversations and sponsored messages that retarget users and bring them back into existing chats. David Marcus, Facebook’s VP of messaging products, commented that when brands make the effort to build relationships with their customers and provide helpful customer service within Messenger, it gives them “the right to actually push new products”. | https://adexchanger.com/mobile/facebook-messenger-wants-give-retargeting-makeover/ | 2017-09-29 11:53:02.343000 | Retargeting is largely associated with product ads that stalk users across the internet.
But Facebook sees retargeting as a tactic that can open the door to ongoing engagement within Messenger.
Ted Helwick, the Facebook product manager leading monetization efforts on Messenger, told AdExchanger that “the KPI advertisers tell us they care about most right now is getting users to reply and engage in messages.”
Starting this week, advertisers have the ability to target Messenger ads, which Facebook began testing in July, to optimize for replies and conversations.
Targeting by objective fits with Facebook’s plan to insinuate Messenger into more of the customer journey, from awareness and acquisition to customer service and re-engagement.
In addition to Messenger ads that click directly into conversations, Messenger’s expanding suite of advertising products includes sponsored messages that retarget users and bring them back into existing chats.
But brands also are starting to look at Messenger as a channel for transactions.
American Eagle Outfitters, which created two bots to drum up awareness and sales during the back-to-school and holiday seasons, for example, was mostly focused on generating engagement within Messenger.
The hope now is to move on from the “softer sell” and start driving actual sales, said Kristen D’Arcy, head of performance digital marketing at American Eagle Outfitters.
That’s why the Messenger monetization team is particularly “bullish” on sponsored messages, Helwick said. Brands like American Eagle can start to capitalize on the equity and engagement they’ve built with their audience on Messenger over time.
When brands make the effort to build relationships with their customers and provide helpful customer service within Messenger, it gives them “the right to actually push new products,” said David Marcus, Facebook’s VP of messaging products.
Because it’s one thing to open a conversation with consumers on Messenger, and it’s another thing to keep that conversation going, Marcus said.
Which is where retargeting comes in.
Retargeting is “a way to get your business objective delivered to you,” Marcus said. “You can talk to your customer until you get to the finish line.” |
Central Bank of Nigeria changes view of cryptocurrencies | The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it is considering introducing a cryptocurrency. The bank's head of payments, Musa Jimoh, has said the CBN "cannot stop the tide of waves generated by the blockchain technology and its derivatives". The CBN has been wary of cryptocurrencies so far, given its previous findings found "decentralised cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation". However, the bank now acknowledges the security advantages conferred by blockchain technology and also recognises it can be used for land registration and on a stock exchange.
| https://guardian.ng/business-services/cbn-mulls-digital-currency/ | 2017-09-29 11:28:41.860000 | Following cautious considerations, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has commenced arrangement to introduce a digital currency in a move to key into the global adoption of Crypto currency initiative.
The Deputy Director/Head, Payments System Policy and Oversight, CBN, Musa Jimoh, disclosed this at the Crypto currency conference recently held in Lagos.
Crypto currency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency, and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.
Jimoh said the Apex bank “cannot stop the tide of waves generated by the blockchain technology and its derivatives. Currently, we have taken measures to create four departments in the institution that are looking forward to harmonise the white paper on Crypto currency.”
Before now, the CBN had been wary to adopting digital currency until it had concluded assessment on its transaction methodology, especially as it has been said that “decentralised crypto currencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation.”
Speaking on the development, the President, Information Security Society of Nigeria (ISSAN), Dr. David Isiawe, said: “The reality that is before us today, particularly in Nigeria, is that the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), blockchain and Crypto currency are facts that we must face, whether we like it or not. We cannot wish this reality away. It is made worse when we realise that we are still grappling with current challenges of e-commerce and other electronic payment systems but technology development and advancements are not waiting.
“The impact of the emergence of blockchain and Crypto currency will be felt in the nation just as in the global community. Nigerian must be proactive rather than reactive by considering how these technologies would affect and influence our lifestyles and business operations and channel, and thus fashion our rules of engagement for their adoption.”
Isiawe also admonished prospective investors to be careful investing in Crypto currencies, as every investment has its share of risks.The conference tagged: “Learning to Glow with the Flow,” also served as the debut of a new coin, Corion.
Highlighting the coin, the President, Corion Platform, Ida Frauda, said: “Crypto currency is a currency that allows parties to exchange value. Unlike gold, paper money and other means of payments, Crypto currency is digital and decentralised granting transactions to be made without intermediaries and giving the transactors control over their money.
“With the Corion, users have daily payments and value storage with a staple price, fair distribution of benefits, keys to the challenges to engage the majority in using Crypto currency on a daily basis, an ecosystem to get the financial benefits from merely being a user. They make transaction in multiple currencies, peer-to-peer exchange in a limitless market in the global market; make money from the daily coin release from the increasing number of users instead of speculation.”
For the conference organiser, Chimezie Chuta, Nigeria should create learning institutions to educate and engage the youths and make them relevant in this space.
He urged the youths to equip themselves with learning blockchain, as it is the technology of the future. “Any sector can be on it like the Internet, which will lead to a skill shortage. People should read online, and research as many firms are going to be requiring blockchain experts in their sphere. The blockchain technology can be used across boards like smart contract, e-voting, identity management, healthcare. We should not be sole users rather; we should harness our numerical strength in his space,” said.
The Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Digital Encode, Oluseyi Akindeinde, said crypto currency is the currency of the future. “This currency cannot be monopolized by any government or company. It allows transparency; the velocity of transactions can be monitored with the blockchain, as it cuts across borders of accounts with the use of Applications.”
Highlighting the use of blockchain for transactions, Akindeinde said: “The technology is not only used for Crypto currency, although, the naira can be on the blockchain just like some other countries, so instead of spending bitcoin, everyone can spend the naira and transfer from peer to peer without going to financial institutions. Nonetheless, it can be used for land registration, stock exchange. Everything that has value can be used on the blockchain.”
Speaking on the security of the blockchain, he said: “If the CBN places the naira on it, then they are securing it with the hashing power of the blockchain. Presently based on the design which has been in existence since 2009, the blockchain is hack-proof due to the encryption and cryptography technology.
“The reasons banks are prone to hack is because they are centralised. Blockchain is decentralised. It is located everywhere there is Internet, so except someone hacks the entire Internet, then they can hack the blockchain system.” |
Whole Foods hack may have exposed payment details | Amazon-owned grocery chain Whole Foods has warned customers who frequented one of its bars or restaurants recently to "closely monitor their payment card statements and report any unauthorised charges to the issuing bank" following a cyber attack. The company said the hack did not affect its main checkout lines as Amazon's payment system is separate from that used in its bars and restaurants. It is not clear how many outlets were affected and Whole Foods declined to provide figures on the potential number of customers at risk or which locations were affected, but said it was investigating the attack.
| https://www.cnet.com/news/whole-foods-hit-by-credit-card-data-hack-at-several-stores/ | 2017-09-29 10:03:58.257000 | Shopping at Whole Foods might have cost customers more than just overpriced avocados.
The popular grocery chain, which Amazon bought for $13.7 billion in June, warned customers Thursday that thieves stole payment card information at several of its stores. The cyberattack hit Whole Foods' taprooms and restaurants, not stores' primary checkout lines, the company said.
These in-store taprooms and restaurants use a different payments system than the regular Whole Foods checkout. The hack didn't spread to Amazon's payment servers because they're not connected to Whole Foods' stores, the company said.
Point-of-sales attacks often target popular chains. Fast food joints like Chipotle and Wendy's have been hit in the past, with hackers stealing customer credit card information. Cybercriminals often look for easy targets to make quick cash, and restaurants have shown they're simple to hack.
Whole Foods has 449 stores in the US and more than 40 sell beer on tap. It's unclear how many restaurants Whole Foods has.
Watch this: How Amazon tech can be tied into Whole Foods 01:55
"While most Whole Foods Market stores do not have these taprooms and restaurants, Whole Foods Market encourages its customers to closely monitor their payment card statements and report any unauthorized charges to the issuing bank," the company said in a statement.
Whole Foods declined to comment on how many people are affected and which stores were hacked.
The grocery chain said it's working with a cybersecurity forensics firm and law enforcement to investigate who is behind the attack.
First published Sept. 29, 6:25 a.m. PT.
Update at 8:14 a.m. PT: With Whole Foods declining to comment.
It's Complicated: This is dating in the age of apps. Having fun yet?
Tech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility. |
Disney Digital Network goes after bigger slice of ad budgets | Disney is seeking to improve low advertising revenues at its consumer products and interactive division with a concerted push into digital. Advertising accounted for just 2% of the division's revenues in 2016. Using its Disney Digital Network, an ad network that combines all Disney's online assets, the firm aims to position itself as a trusted, premium alternative to Facebook and Google. Robbie Douek, vice-president of digital partnerships in EMEA, said initial campaigns would be "contextual" and that the company was looking at "specific audiences that are associated with specific franchises". | https://digiday.com/media/disney-using-brand-safety-concerns-push-family-friendly-media/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170929 | 2017-09-29 10:03:17.113000 | Disney owns some of the most premium online content to advertise on, but it hasn’t tried to fully capitalize on it until now. After restructuring its sales team, trimming its Maker Studios influencer business and launching its own ad network in recent months, the media conglomerate is making its biggest push yet for digital ad budgets.
Disney’s commercial executives are pitching advertisers and agencies the Disney Digital Network, a combination of all its online assets that can be bought either on its own ad network, influencer partnerships or branded-content deals. Meetings have happened since DDN launched in May, as the company looks to grow a small but lucrative part of its consumer products and interactive business. Advertising accounted for just 2 percent — $130 million — of the division’s total revenues last year.
The creation of Disney’s own ad network is arguably the clearest indicator of how the company will attempt to win ad budgets. Similar to publisher alliances like Pangaea, Disney wants marketers to see it as a premium, more transparent alternative to the scale of Google and Facebook.
By running its own ad network, Disney can control its own data and reduce its reliance on third parties and, more important, third-party fees. It functions like a traditional ad network, handling the placement, optimization and reporting on ads once Disney and the buyer have negotiated a fee. Much of what is sold via the network is ads on its apps and pre-roll video before its content on social networks, particularly on YouTube. The Google-owned video site represents a sizable part of the 400 million monetizable video views that Robbie Douek, vp of digital partnerships for Disney in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the DDN can generate for brands. Display, however, is a “small portion” of what gets sold, he added.
Targeting audiences online will be “contextual” rather than hypertargeted for Disney’s advertisers, said Douek, meaning the ads Disney sells, at least initially, will be targeted based on relevancy to page content. Douek said he could revisit sharper targeting at a later stage, however. Some media observers say the company has been too cautious, which they feel its lack of data targeting underscores. For now, Douek said the commercial team is focused on “looking at specific audiences that are associated with specific franchises” when helping advertisers plan campaigns.
In-house technology, however, is not always a panacea for transparency, said Bill Swanson, vp for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at PubMatic, a company that makes money from working with publishers that can’t afford to build their own in-house technology. “[Marketers] may relieve their anxieties about appearing next to inappropriate content, but what about fraud?” he said. “Even the most premium publishers today are victims of domain spoofing, something that can be alleviated by using verification technologies.”
Disney also expects its influencers to woo advertisers, though Douek acknowledged the difficulties of building an influencer business in a crowded market. The company has struggled to grow Maker Studios since acquiring it in 2014 for more than $500 million. Earlier this year, Disney streamlined Maker Studios, then pulled it into its consumer products and interactive division. Turning Maker Studios from a standalone unit into part of a broader pitch for digital budgets is expected to help Disney recoup some of the money it undoubtedly lost. In addition to pitching those influencers to brands, Disney will offer opportunities for Maker Studios creators to appear in its TV shows, as well as join the rebooted online version of its “Mickey Mouse Club” series.
Disney’s move into online advertising has been a long time coming. After struggling to get its online business started since acquiring Maker Studios, the media outlet is hopeful the brand-safety crisis can help cement its position as a trusted publisher.
“Brand safety comes up a lot when we’re talking to advertisers,” Douek said. “That’s why in the world we’re living in today, the players that are going to shine through are those who sit on the content.” |
Essex Uni joins with Kaplan for pathway college | Kaplan and the University of Essex will partner to open a pathway college to prepare international students for degree studies. The college will open its doors next year to 450 international students, offering foundation courses and pre-masters programmes at the University’s Colchester campus. Kaplan Online Learning has been delivering the University of Essex’s online distance learning courses for 10 years, receiving a PIEoneer award for the partnership.
| https://thepienews.com/news/kaplan-partners-university-essex/ | 2017-09-29 09:55:33.600000 | The college, which will open in September, will be based at the university’s campus in Colchester, and will have the capacity for 450 international students.
In addition to teaching study skills, the college will offer a variety of courses, including foundation certificates and pre-masters for humanities, science and health, and social sciences.
Pre-sessional English will be taught from the summer of 2019,
It will also offer International Year One for business and economies.
And pre-sessional English will be taught from the summer of 2019, for direct entry to university programs.
This is not the first time that Kaplan and the University of Essex have had worked together, having had a joint venture in the online learning space for the past 10 years.
Kaplan Online Learning delivers the University of Essex Online distance learning courses, and was awarded The PIEoneer Award for public / private partnership of the year.
The Kaplan Higher Education Academy also offers degree programs from the University of Essex in Singapore.
Linda Cowan, managing director, Kaplan International Pathways, said: “The high levels of academic provision and student support that we provide for our online students are the best foundation on which to develop this new on-campus pathway college to prepare international students for university study at one of the UK’s most innovative and exciting universities.”
The University of Essex is spread across three campuses in Colchester, Southend and Loughton.
This marks Kaplan’s 10th pathway partnership in the UK, in addition to its colleges in the US, Australia, China and Japan. |
Drive.ai raises $15m for autonomous vehicle development | Self-driving vehicle start-up Drive.ai has secured $15m of investment in a funding round led by southeast Asia-based ride-hailing and mobile payments business Grab. The funds will be used to expand the Silicon Valley-based company’s leadership team, develop its technology and find new business partnerships. Drive.ai also aims to open its first international office in Singapore, where the firm will work with the government and local businesses to develop opportunities for its self-driving vehicle technology. The latest funds build on Drive.ai’s $50m series B funding round last June.
| https://www.therobotreport.com/self-driving-startup-drive-ai-raises-15m/ | 2017-09-29 09:40:04.563000 | Autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai secured $15 million in funding to help the company expand its leadership team, develop its technology, grow business partnerships and open its first international office in Singapore.
The financing was led by Southeast Asia transportation and mobile payments platform Grab, though others participated as well. The funds build on Drive.ai’s June series B funding round which raised $50 million.
“Self-driving is the global space race of our time, so we’ve had our eyes set on international deployment since the start. This focus is reflected in our investor base, with investors from around the world, and now with Grab,” CEO Sameep Tandon said in a press release. “Grab is an early adopter of autonomous vehicle technology in Singapore, and we are excited to have their support as we open our Singapore office.”
By opening an office in Singapore, the company plans to work with the government and local businesses on development opportunities as well as possibly deploying vehicles in the country. Grab also plans to help Drive.ai with its Asia operations and the evaluation of the local market for its products.
“We look at Singapore as a country, it’s been a technological juggernaut. When innovations happen in the region, basically they start in Singapore and then move out to other places within the region, whether it’s Indonesia, Vietnam or China,” Tandon told Tech Crunch. “What’s also really interesting to us about Singapore is they have this sort of existential problem here – for them autonomous driving is not a matter of ‘if,’ it’s a matter of ‘when.’ They have this high population density in a very small physical area, and the extra challenges that go along with that.”
Drive.ai offers a self-driving software that allows autonomous vehicles to learn new driving scenarios and routes through a deep learning-first approach. It is partnering with other businesses to deploy its technology, such as in its recent partnership with Lyft to provide autonomous ridesharing services. |
Imagining A Single-Payer Health System In California | With the crumbling of the latest GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many Americans seem more willing to discuss what a single-payer system might look like and whether it is desirable — or even possible.
| http://californiahealthline.org/news/imagining-a-single-payer-health-system-in-california/ | 2017-09-29 09:26:14.127000 | About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.
With the crumbling of the latest GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many Americans seem more willing to discuss what a single-payer system might look like and whether it is desirable — or even possible.
Use Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently introduced a Medicare-for-All Act, which would gradually expand the government-financed system to the general population while eliminating private insurance companies and consumer cost sharing, such as copays and deductibles. Although the bill is backed by 16 Democratic senators, including California’s Kamala Harris, observers predict it has no chance of moving through a Republican-controlled Congress.
California lawmakers took a fresh look at single-payer health care this year through SB562, a proposal to create one government-financed program that covers all Californians. That bill stalled, but debate will continue this fall in legislative hearings. A grass-roots campaign is underway to put a plan to finance such a system before voters.
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“It is time to have those discussions [as] to how we actually get everyone covered, and get them covered in a way that they can afford to pay for care when they need it,” said Jen Flory, policy advocate with Western Center on Law & Poverty, a group that supported the single-payer bill in concept.
But Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, expressed concerns about the enormous costs of building such as system, saying “the numbers matter.” He said a government-financed health care system for all cannot be allowed to endanger funding for other public services — like education and public safety — which ensure a high quality of life in California.
Flory and Lapsley were among the consumer advocates and industry players who last week sat side by side in Sacramento to debate the merits and challenges of universal health care coverage, whether through a single payer or other means.
The discussion occurred during a conference in Sacramento last week called “Health Care In Crisis,” organized by Capitol Weekly and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. California Healthline/Kaiser Health News Sacramento correspondent Pauline Bartolone moderated the discussion.
Other panelists included Dr. Paul Song, co-chair of the Campaign for a Healthy California, a coalition that formed to support California’s single-payer effort, and Mark Sektnan, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies. |
More Than 150 Seniors Get Free Hepatitis A Vaccine Amid Outbreak in San Diego | More than 150 seniors received free Hepatitis A vaccines at a clinic in East Village Thursday, amid one of the worst outbreaks in San Diego County history.
| http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Serving-Seniors-Offers-Free-Hepatitis-A-Vaccines-to-Seniors-in-East-Village-448537623.html | 2017-09-29 09:25:29.750000 | More than 150 seniors received free Hepatitis A vaccines at a clinic in East Village Thursday, amid one of the worst outbreaks in San Diego County history.
The local nonprofit, Serving Seniors, offered the vaccines to seniors at no charge, following warnings from health experts that the outbreak may continue for up to six months and claim more victims.
Thursday morning, the Serving Seniors' center located on 525 14th Street provided the free shots between 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. According to Serving Seniors, they received overwhelming demand from seniors to get the shot after their first free vaccination event a few weeks ago.
They plan to offer the second part of the vaccination to seniors at no cost in spring 2018, Serving Seniors officials said. Protection from the disease kicks in within a couple weeks after receiving the vaccine. Immunity lasts for 20 years to life following the second dose.
Serving Senior officials said seniors should take the vaccine very seriously because they are a high-risk group. Hepatitis A is extremely transferable and potentially deadly to seniors and others with compromised immune systems.
The nonprofit will continue serving seniors with ongoing education, internal protocols, vaccines and sanitization stations.
San Diego County health officials declared a local public health emergency on Sept. 1. As of Sept. 26, seventeen people have died and 461 cases of Hepatitis A have been confirmed in San Diego County. There were 315 hospitalizations out of those cases.
Health care providers have given more than 42,000 hepatitis vaccinations as of Sept. 23, according to the organization. That marks an increase from nearly 23,000 about a week ago.
The most common ways to get Hepatitis A are close contact with an infected person, exposure to contaminated food or drink or eating shellfish harvested from sewage-infested water.
It takes two to seven weeks for the illness to start showing symptoms after exposure, organization officials said. The vaccines were offered in collaboration with the County of San Diego. |
The High Price of Failing America’s Costliest Patients | Even patients with whom I have the best rapport would probably rather not see me so often. Sometimes I readmit a patient I cared for just weeks before in the hospital. “Nice to see you again,” I offer with a smile. The usual response, loosely paraphrased: I’d rather be anywhere else.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/upshot/the-high-price-of-failing-americas-costliest-patients.html | 2017-09-29 09:21:43.713000 | Even patients with whom I have the best rapport would probably rather not see me so often.
Sometimes I readmit a patient I cared for just weeks before in the hospital. “Nice to see you again,” I offer with a smile. The usual response, loosely paraphrased: I’d rather be anywhere else.
This reflects not some deep deficiency in my bedside manner (I think), but rather an essential truth about medicine: People want health, not health care. And those who require the most health care and get the least health — high-need, high-cost patients with multiple or severe medical conditions — feel this most acutely.
Leaving aside the moral compulsion to improve the quality and efficiency of their care, there is an overwhelming financial imperative to do so. It’s well known that the country’s staggering health care costs are not evenly distributed. Just 1 percent of patients account for 20 percent of costs, and 5 percent of the population accounts for nearly half the nation’s health care spending.
But exactly who these patients are — and how we can better meet their needs — is less clear.
Misaligned Financial Incentives
One emerging definition, based on research, focuses on people with three or more chronic conditions who have a functional limitation, such as difficulty dressing, bathing, feeding themselves, walking, taking medications or using transportation. |
Dems see 2018 gains in repeated Obamacare repeal tries | To the Republicans vowing to keep their Obamacare repeal drive alive for as long as it takes, Democrats say: Please, and thank you.
| http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/28/obamacare-repeal-democrats-house-2018-243226 | 2017-09-29 09:20:58 | “I think they are falling into an enormous trap of their own making. And have at it,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). “I think they’re going to pay a very heavy price for this.”
Obamacare also has proven a uniquely unifying issue for Democrats, from the red-state Joe Manchin wing to the liberal Bernie Sanders end of the party. Activist groups that are otherwise prone to occasional clashes with party leaders have also linked arms to help Democrats defeat repeated Republican repeal efforts, and any fresh repeal attempt close to the midterms would likely spark another kumbaya moment.
“Everybody, from the most progressive to the most moderate, would be glad to vote to retain the progress we’ve made on health care and to prevent people’s lives from being thrown into chaos,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee homed in on the anti-repeal message after the Senate’s latest push sputtered earlier this week, blasting out a reminder that all but 20 House Republicans backed the GOP’s repeal plan in May.
DCCC spokesman Tyler Law declared that no matter what happens to the GOP’s drive to uproot Obamacare, Democrats would work hard to hang the unpopular House-passed repeal bill around their rivals’ necks.
“This issue is going to remain front and center because it’s so personal,” Law said. “And I would also add it’s going to be front and center because Republicans are stubbornly saying, ‘We are going to continue over and over again to try and take your health care away.’”
That commitment from Republicans who are still openly entertaining a return to the repeal debate before 2019 has deep roots, however. GOP donors and conservative activists who have propelled the party’s seven-year push to dismantle Obamacare are not content to declare it dead for good, particularly when Trump’s party is only in the early stages of its tax reform efforts.
Republicans dismissed the idea that Democrats can capitalize on Obamacare repeal.
“House Democrats have made bold claims about their electoral prospects before only to fail miserably — this is no different,” Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement. “Their embrace of single-payer health care has ensured that their unabashed loyalty to the progressive base, at the expense of working class families, will be the defining issue of this cycle.”
Waiting until next year, Republicans wager, will give them more time to shape a more successful “replace” element for their Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan.
“Democrats have been able to use the issue, mostly because the messaging on our side hasn’t been great, but the fact is that health care in the U.S. — everyone, Democrats, Republicans, recognize something needs to change. Obamacare isn’t working,” one GOP strategist said. “With more time, Republicans are going to be able to craft a plan that more folks can agree on within the caucus, and it will give them more time to sell it to the general public.”
There’s also the problem that continued failure by Republicans on their years-long campaign pledge could keep base voters home next Election Day. Proponents of the latest repeal bill were open about anger among GOP donors and the grass roots.
But after watching Republicans reap the political gains of campaigning against Obamacare, Democrats are convinced the tables have turned. Connolly singled out Rep. Darrell Issa and other politically imperiled California Republicans as particularly at risk if the GOP attempts to bring back Obamacare repeal next year. The 14 California House Republicans who voted for their party’s repeal bill “went off the cliff for solidarity, irrespective of the impact on their constituents,” he said.
Democrats need to pick up 24 seats to take back the House. They’re eyeing 23 Republican seats in districts Hillary Clinton won and argue at least 50 more GOP seats could be competitive in the right environment.
Voters rated health care and the economy as the two most important issues when picking their member of Congress in the latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, released this week.
The overarching theme — vote for Democrats or Republicans will keep trying to take away your health care — could also help mask some of the party’s own divisions over health care, Democratic strategists say.
Progressives, including multiple 2020 presidential contenders and 60 percent of House Democrats, have in recent weeks rallied around the Medicare-for-All push from Sanders (I-Vt.). But Democratic leaders and several vulnerable House Democrats have shied away from the proposal, wary of alienating centrist voters in districts that will be critical in the push to win back the lower chamber next year.
Republicans raced to play up the internal Democratic divide after Sanders’ splashy rollout earlier this month, aiming to turn it into a campaign-trail albatross for the minority. But a broader message focused on GOP repeal efforts could help deflect the spotlight away from some of those differences and force Republicans to go on defense.
Indeed, progressive organizers who have not hesitated to criticize Democratic leaders say their grass roots won’t be caught off guard again by another repeal push.
“We don’t want to see this come back, but our groups have said time and time again that every time Republicans have put forward an attempt to repeal, they would step up,” said Angel Padilla, policy director at the liberal group Indivisible. “We don’t think that’s going to change. And we think it’s going to affect who controls Congress.”
Democrats also argue that bipartisan Senate talks to stabilize Obamacare will only help their case heading into the midterms. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) resumed talks Wednesday to try to salvage their bipartisan health care plan, an effort that was quashed by GOP leadership when the repeal plan seemed to have legs.
But Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has already rejected the talks, saying any bill they come up with would never pass in the House. Democrats say that stonewalling only strengthens their case to voters in the coming months.
“The politics for us is really clear and really simple,” Schatz said. “In the end, they’ve got to do what they think is right, but Round Seven [of repeal] doesn’t seem like the right slogan for 2018.” |
Medicare chronic care bill passes in Senate: 4 things to know | The Senate passed a bipartisan bill Tuesday night to improve care coordination for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
| https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/medicare-chronic-care-bill-passes-in-senate-4-things-to-know.html | 2017-09-29 09:14:18.577000 | The Senate passed a bipartisan bill Tuesday night to improve care coordination for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
The bill, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017, aims to improve at-home care, increase Medicare Advantage flexibility, give ACOs more options and expands telehealth capabilities.
"This bill provides new options and tools for seniors and their doctors to coordinate care and makes it less burdensome to stay healthy," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement.
Here are four things to know about how the CHRONIC Care Act would reform Medicare.
1. It extends the ACA's Independent at Home program. This program was started in 2012 under the ACA as a demonstration to allow primary care teams to provide at-home care for 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries with complex chronic conditions. Due to the success of the demonstration, the CHRONIC Care Act would extend the program for two more years and increase the number of participating beneficiaries to 15,000.
2. The bill expands flexibility for Medicare Advantage. Specifically, the bill would allow MA plans in all states to participate in the Value-based Insurance Design model, which allows MA plans to tailor benefits to specific patient groups, particularly those with chronic conditions. Currently MA plans must offer uniform benefits. The CHRONIC Care Act would also allow MA plans to offer a greater range of supplemental benefits for services that address the underlying causes of illness, such as fitness, counseling or alternative therapies. Additionally, the bill would permanently authorize MA Special Needs Plans for patients who are institutionalized, dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid or who have severe chronic illness.
3. The bill loosens ACO regulations. Under the legislation, ACOs would be allowed to provide incentive payments to beneficiaries for certain primary care services; it would allow for prospective, rather than retrospective, beneficiary assignment for Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs; and it would give Pioneer ACOs and MSSP Tracks 2 and 3 ACOs more options to provide telehealth and receive reimbursement for those services.
4. Lastly, the CHRONIC Care Act would broaden telehealth options for Medicare and MA plans. In addition to adding more pathways for telehealth reimbursement for ACOs, the bill would allow MA plans to include more telehealth options, and it would expand telestroke care and telemedicine for dialysis care. Under the bill, dialysis patients could conduct e-visits from home in lieu of an in-person monthly appointment, so long as they visit their provider face-to-face once every three months.
Now that the Senate has passed the bill, the House will take up discussion of the CHRONIC Care Act.
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Aging as a gift instead of a burden requires attitude change | When I saw the program Aging is the Only Way to Live at The Community House, I headed over. The title intrigued me: it seemed both banal and fresh.
| http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/news/ct-dhd-column-clarkson-tl-1005-20170928-story.html | 2017-09-29 09:13:29.150000 | Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.
When I saw the program Aging is the Only Way to Live at The Community House, I headed over. The title intrigued me: it seemed both banal and fresh.
I absolutely agree that aging gets a bad rap in our culture, that our effort to appear youthful, to color our hair, smooth our wrinkles and feature fit physiques can be a full-time job. Some of us are obsessed with living longer and healthier, yet to be aged is not necessarily to be venerated and celebrated.
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Here are some of the things I found out. First, and most importantly, the program was part of the Active Adults offerings from The Community House, which offers quite a bit of programming to that group including a computer club, card groups, book clubs, trips and tours and other gatherings.
It also offers this regular monthly roundtable discussion held the fourth Wednesday of every month with coffee and doughnuts at 9:30 a.m. and a speaker or discussion at 10 a.m. The program I attended was one of those.
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The day I went, more than 20 people showed up ready to participate, and while they may not have all known one another they were welcoming and friendly. I sat with Tom Paulick of Oak Brook and Jim Gordon of Hinsdale. Kate Vogts, director of the Active Adults opened the talk.
Our speaker was Dr. Richard W. Bimler, a gentleman who had spent many years as a Lutheran minister, and who has three children and seven grandchildren. He also has written several books — maybe as many as 17 — including one entitled "Joyful Aging." He is also known as an "AHHA man," which stands for Ambassador of Health, Hope & Aging.
"It is always good to celebrate aging," he said, and here was a perspective the program gave me: aging is a gift. We all need to learn to "celebrate God's gift of aging." Death happens all around us, he said, and death is part of life. So, yes, while one day we will all die, today we can live.
Proclaiming his age as 77 and 1/12th, Bimler said our culture sees aging as a burden. He asked people in the room to share their ages: 77, 89, 93, 84, 74. There was a certain amount of pride in those numbers, but ask someone a little farther down the scale, and she might be more reticent about producing the number (ahem).
With our society aging rapidly — he estimated that 10,000 people were to turn 65 years old that day alone — we need to change our attitude about growing older. There are also numerous opportunities for various professions to serve those growing older. If aging is not a blessing, "Whatever your faith — if it is not a blessing, then where do you go with that?"
Another point I came away with was that it's not just the young who need to change their attitudes.
"Don't pretend everything is fine," Bimler said.
Some days your body aches, you don't move as quickly, some parts are deteriorating, but that doesn't mean there is no hope. Laugh. Laugh at yourself, take joy and pride in the process. Accept limitations with grace.
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Think about those people who mentored you, who impressed and affected you, and try and be that person in the lives of others, he advised.
Last, I liked Bimler's ideas about retirement. He doesn't call the "end" of one's career or profession "retirement." Rather, he calls that state "re-positioning." Those who have identified so closely and carefully with what they do may find the end of work hard, and may have to move to a new phase of life. We are human beings, he said, not human doings.
"I have been a do-er all my life," he said. "I gotta keep doing stuff." We have to learn to "be" for others. We don't always have to "do" for them.
Never in the history of the world have there been this many older adults. Bimler sees that as a blessing.
There is a certain amount of wisdom and joy in this population, and I hope we can capture it. Bimler referenced a Japanese saying to illustrate this point: The setting sun is no less beautiful than the rising sun. |
HRL Labs devises high-strength aluminium 3D printing process | Researchers from California’s HRL Laboratories claim to have developed a new and more efficient method of 3D printing high-strength aluminium. Through a process they call “nanofunctionalisation”, powders are fed to a 3D printer in thin layers and then heated by a laser to solidify into a three-dimensional object. The new process enables the structures to maintain their full alloy strength. This new method may result in faster, cheaper and more detailed manufacturing using high-strength metals and alloys. | https://futurism.com/engineers-have-found-a-way-to-3d-print-super-strong-aluminum/ | 2017-09-29 08:52:17.080000 | Working with Metal
For the longest time, metal-based manufacturing has been difficult and costly. High-strength aluminum alloys are difficult materials to work with for additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. Now, researchers from HRL Laboratories have developed a new method that allowed them to 3D print high-strength aluminum and weld previously unweldable material.
"We're using a 70-year-old nucleation theory to solve a 100-year-old problem with a 21st century machine," Hunter Martin, a PhD student at the University of California, Santa Barbara and engineer at HRL's Sensors and Materials Laboratory, said in a press release.
The HRL researchers came up with a method they've called nanofunctionalization, where nano-functionalized powders are fed to a 3D printer. This is applied in thin layers which are heated by a laser to solidify into a three-dimensional object. During melting and solidification, the structures produced using this method don't crack and are able to maintain their full alloy strength, thanks to the nanoparticles acting as nucleation sites for the intended alloy microstructure.
"Our first goal was figuring out how to eliminate the hot cracking altogether. We sought to control microstructure and the solution should be something that naturally happens with the way this material solidifies," Martin said.
Finer and Stronger Structures
High-strength alloys like aluminum — including types like Al7075 and Al6061 — are currently used in engineering aircraft and automobile parts, like in airplane fuselages. However, current methods are largely expensive and are unable to allow finer manipulation of these materials. Click to View Full Infographic
Now, with this HRL's new nanofunctionalization technique that's easily scalable, it's possible to 3D print these high-strength alloys in all shapes and sizes. This allows faster, cheaper, and more detailed manufacturing using high-strength materials. Furthermore, because melting and solidification in 3D printing is akin to welding, their technique makes it possible to weld previously unweldable alloys.
To determine which particles had the properties they needed, the HRL team asked help from Citrine Informatics. "The point of using informatics software was to do a selective approach to the nucleation theory we knew to find the materials with the exact properties we needed," HRL's Brennan Yahata explained. "Once we told them what to look for, their big data analysis narrowed the field of available materials from hundreds of thousands to a select few. We went from a haystack to a handful of possible needles." |
Vanguard Group plans expansion into China | US-based mutual fund giant Vanguard Group is planning on selling products to mainland Chinese clients as the country eases up to foreign operators. The asset manager is also planning onshore products in China as part of this push. The Chinese fund market is reportedly worth $1.5tn, but is already saturated with more than 20,000 asset managers operating. Vanguard's US fund rival Fidelity Investment already operates an onshore bond fund in China, which it launched in May. The fund is, to-date, the only onshore offering in China operated by a foreign asset manager. | http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2113061/vanguard-knocks-chinas-door-join-crowded-wealth-management-market | 2017-09-29 08:51:32.397000 | People on the Bund in Shanghai look across to the financial district. China’s private fund market was worth US$1.53 trillion at the end of August but the process for foreign companies to enter the fray will not be easy. Photo: AFP |
Palliative care telehealth firm Iris Plans raises $5.1m to expand | Texan palliative care start-up Iris Plans has raised $5.1m in its first funding round, led by Activate Venture Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners, with participation from Better Ventures. Iris Plans' videoconferencing platform helps connect patients facing serious illness with trained professionals; it also enables patients to share thoughts and plans with doctors, health systems and loved ones. The funding will be used to improve the technology and for hiring as the company looks to grow its footprint and expand national partnerships. | https://homehealthcarenews.com/2017/09/telehealth-startup-raises-5-1-million/ | 2017-09-29 08:47:23.503000 | A telehealth startup that helps patients with palliative care and advance care planning is expanding after raising $5.1 million. Palliative care is a type of care focused on lessening the symptoms and stress caused by a serious illness.
Austin, Texas-based Iris Plans uses videoconferencing technology to connect people facing serious illnesses with trained facilitators who provide disease-specific education, help with decision-making and assist in completing and distributing advance health care directives. A patient’s thoughts and plans are documented and shared with their loved ones, physicians, the hospital system they use, and are also available online.
The financing round was led by New York City-based Activate Venture Partners and Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners, both of which invest in digital health care companies. Oakland, California-based Better Ventures also joined the round. This was the company’s first round of financing.
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Iris Plans’ service is delivered through partnerships with national health care providers and insurance companies, who cover all of the cost for their members. Iris Plans currently serves a customer network of health plans and systems, accountable care organizations and nursing facilities, including senior living and home health care provider Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) and Humana. The startup also last year teamed up with University of Utah Health Plans, which has more than 155,000 members.
Iris Plans will use the new funding to improve and streamline its technology platform and hire more developers, marketers, IT staffers and other employees.
The startup will also expand its national partnerships with health care providers and payers, according to Dr. Stephen Bekanich, co-founder and chief medical officer of Iris Plans.
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“We are in advanced discussions with a variety of health plans and health care providers spanning across the country and expect to be growing our footprint from coast to coast in the coming months,” Bekanich tells Home Health Care News.
Written by Tim Regan |
UK online broker introduces chatbot for business customers | ConstructaQuote, a UK-based online insurance broker, has introduced a chatbot to aid with client interactions. The chatbot is predominantly aimed at SME clients searching for insurance for their businesses. The goal is to speed up the time potential clients take in finding insurance policies which fit their needs. | https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/technology/3149021/insurtech-futures-constructaquote-launches-chatbot | 2017-09-29 08:39:42.847000 | Broker says aim is to provide faster and simpler service for customers.
Online broker ConstructaQuote has developed an interactive chatbot for potential customers searching for information on business insurance.
The Caerphilly-based broker, which specialises in offering business insurance to SMEs across the UK, said the aim was to provide current and potential customers with a faster and simpler way to request information on insurance policies.
A Chatbot is a computer program that simulates how a human would behave when having a chat, and the broker noted that the |
DOE looks to compensate baseload generators | The US Department of Energy (DOE) has suggested a radical overhaul of the country's competitive energy markets by filing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), calling for an increase in compensation for energy generators providing baseload power supplies. The NOPR proposes "recovery of costs and a return on equity" for plants that have “a 90-day fuel supply on site", which they argue would enable the plants “to operate during an emergency, extreme weather conditions, or a natural or man-made disaster.” | http://www.utilitydive.com/news/breaking-doe-proposes-cost-recovery-for-baseload-generators-in-new-ferc-ru/506137/ | 2017-09-29 08:30:14.380000 | Dive Brief:
The Department of Energy pushed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday to boost compensation for generators providing baseload power supplies, proposing the most significant overhaul in the nation's competitive power markets in over a decade.
DOE filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) under the Federal Power Act to enhance grid resilience, directing FERC to "accurately price generation resources necessary to maintain reliability and resiliency." The rule would provide for "recovery of costs of fuel-secure generation units frequently relied upon to make our grid reliable and resilient."
The filing comes after the completion of a grid reliability study from DOE that urged federal regulators to explore boosting compensation for baseload generators. The NOPR directs FERC to act within 60 days.
Dive Insight:
Released at the end of August, the Department of Energy's grid study concluded that the reliability of the bulk power system is strong today, but changes in the resource mix could present challenges in the future. The report urged federal regulators to begin examining how to better compensate generators for the services they provide for reliability and resilience if it finds reliability is threatened.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) stresses that the grid is not at risk today, with its CEO telling Congress this month that reliability measures are strong and improving.
Even so, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has been beating the reliability drum in recent days, describing resilience from outages as a national security issue, saying his agency could act to preserve the diversity of the fuel mix and ensure that baseload generation stays online. Coal and nuclear plants across the country are under threat of retirement in the face of competition from cheaper natural gas and renewables.
On Friday, the DOE took a significant step toward those goals, outlining what would be the biggest overhaul in competitive energy markets since their establishment in the late 1990s.
Under the NOPR, generating units in wholesale power markets that have a 90-day fuel supply onsite would be eligible for "full recovery of costs." The plants must be able to provide ancillary and reliability services, be compliant with environmental regulations, and not be subject to cost-of-service recovery by a state.
The rule requires power market operators to "establish just and reasonable rate tariffs for the recovery of costs and a fair rate of return."
The NOPR does not detail precisely how the generators would be compensated or who would pay, but its general structure would give immediate assistance to coal, nuclear and hydroelectric generators, which all have multi-day fuel supplies onsite.
DOE draws on themes from the grid study to justify the rule, saying it is necessary to protect from "energy outages expected to result from the loss of this fuel-secure generation" and because of "recognition that organized markets do not pay generators for all the attributes they provide."
FERC regulators, who must implement the NOPR, have expressed support for revising plant compensation for resilience attributes. Acting Chairman Neil Chatterjee has said repeatedly that coal plants are not rewarded properly for their attributes today, and told lawmakers this month that the issue is a top priority for the commission. Pending FERC nominees have also expressed support for reforms based on generation attributes.
FERC, however, is an independent agency, and is not required to implement any specific provision of the DOE NOPR. Former commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, a Democrat, stressed that "FERC doesn't have to do anything."
"I would set [the NOPR] over to the side someplace under a pile of papers because it would be something that I wouldn’t even consider or entertain," he said on a phone call.
The new NOPR is likely to please operators of coal and nuclear plants. Earlier this year, the CEO of Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear generator, urged DOE and FERC to boost baseload compensation in an interview with Utility Dive.
“[Nuclear] provides more benefits than just megawatts," CEO Chris Crane said. "The resiliency, fuel diversity — it's important that is factored into price formation.”
The NOPR presses FERC to act within 60 days, but Chatterjee and other commissioners have stressed the agency's independence, and the acting chairman indicated during FERC's monthly meeting that he does not want to move forward on major issues until the final two vacancies at the agency are filled.
When FERC does act, it will need to build a regulatory record with input on how generation attributes should be valued. Already, some energy lawyers have expressed skepticism that the agency can finalize a new rule using the DOE's directives as a framework.
"I would say this is not a proposed rule that could form the basis of a final rule," said Ari Peskoe, senior fellow in electricity law at Harvard Law School's Environmental Policy Initiative. "Usually proposed rules have far more detail that would provide a basis for comments on specific aspects of the proposal and that's not really here."
The vagueness of DOE's proposal will mean FERC will "essentially need to start over" to frame a workable rule, he added.
"I think if FERC is serious about doing this it can't possibly meet the timeline outlined by DOE," Peskoe said. "It will essentially have to use this as a prompt for comments and then from that actually develop a proposed rule." |
Insurers see investments as increasingly important: BlackRock | Insurers are increasingly looking to rely on their portfolio returns for profitability, according to a survey from BlackRock. The survey, which questioned 300 global insurance executives, saw 66% of respondents say a reassessment of their investment portfolio was vital for future profitability. As a result, insurers are embracing the private markets with 84% of respondents noting they are looking to make an allocation to these types of investments. | http://www.pionline.com/article/20170928/ONLINE/170929830/insurers-see-portfolios-as-larger-profit-source-blackrock-survey-finds?newsletter=daily&issue=20170928#utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletters&utm_campaign=pi-daily-money-manager-20170928&CSAuthResp=1506672342210%3A0%3A366323%3A391%3A24%3Asuccess%3AD12DDDED3C4D2AD512F5A1E67BE8B258 | 2017-09-29 08:26:03.050000 | More insurers are turning to their investment portfolios as a larger source of profitability, according to the results of a survey commissioned by BlackRock.
BlackRock's sixth annual global survey of 300 senior insurance executives found that two-thirds of insurers believe that rethinking their investment portfolios will be essential to improving or even just maintaining the future profitability of their business. Meanwhile, 41% of respondents are facing growing pressure to generate a greater contribution from investments to their overall profitability.
The survey, conducted in July, shows that 66% of insurers believe that reassessing their investment portfolios will be vital to improving future profitability. Historically, only 28% of respondents have made generating higher investment returns their top priority.
Most respondents — 84% — said embracing private market or alternative assets will be a key component in improving investment returns, while nearly 70% see "significant room" to improve their management of portfolio risk and capital efficiency.
Insurers are moving toward private market assets, including illiquid assets, with 39% saying they are looking to increase their allocation to private market assets, up from just 16% in 2016.
Meanwhile, 34% of respondents plan to increase their allocations to commercial real estate equity, which scores the highest of all private market asset classes, followed by infrastructure equity and private equity, both at 33%.
Changes to asset allocation have already played a role. More than half of respondents — 57% — said the most effective investment action they have taken to increase profitability was to increase their exposure to private or alternative assets.
Asset allocation trends also signal a move away from fixed income. Just 9% of respondents intend to increase allocations to government bonds, compared to 47% in 2016, while the proportion intending to reduce exposure has risen to 31%, from 3% last year. Respondents' appetite for municipal bonds is also much weaker, with just 9% planning to increase allocations, compared to 42% last year. |
London mayor calls for ban on polluting wood burners | London mayor Sadiq Khan may ban wood-burning stoves parts of London to tackle air pollution. Khan has requested additional powers to improve the air quality in the city from environment secretary Michael Gove. The mayor’s proposals include the imposition of emissions standards for boats and ships on London's waterways, and for heavy construction machinery, as well as the possible stove ban. Between a quarter and a third of the capital’s fine-particle pollution comes from domestic wood burning. Approximately 1.5 million wood-burning stoves have been sold in the UK, with 16% of households in south-east England owning one, compared to 5% nationally.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/29/air-pollution-sadiq-khan-calls-for-ban-on-wood-burning-stoves | 2017-09-29 07:57:10.317000 | Wood-burning stoves could be banned in some areas to combat air pollution under proposals by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Khan has written to Michael Gove, the environment secretary, to request extra powers to improve air quality in the capital, including measures to tackle solid-fuel burning and construction pollution. The proposed measures include minimum emissions standards for vessels on London’s waterways and heavy construction machinery like diggers and bulldozers.
Wood-burning stoves, which would be banned under the proposals for urban areas with poor air quality, are increasingly popular – 1.5m have been sold across Britain. They are most popular in south-east England, where 16% of households have them, compared with 5% nationally.
It is estimated that between a quarter and a third of all of London’s fine-particle pollution comes from domestic wood burning. In January, during a period of very high air pollution, it contributed half the toxic emissions in some areas of the capital, according to King’s College London research.
Khan said: “Non-transport sources contribute half of the deadly emissions in London, so we need a hard-hitting plan of action to combat them similar to moves I am taking to reduce pollution from road vehicles.
“With more than 400 schools located in areas exceeding legal pollution levels, and such significant health impacts on our most vulnerable communities, we cannot wait any longer, and I am calling on government to provide the capital with the necessary powers to effectively tackle harmful emissions from a variety of sources.”
The mayor has asked the environment department to amend the Clean Air Act to allow for the creation of zero-emission zones where the burning of solid fuel is not allowed from 2025 onwards.
When asked to comment on Khan’s letter, a Defra spokesperson told the Guardian: “We are determined to improve air quality and have put in place a £3bn plan to reduce roadside emissions.
“Next year we will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will address all sources of air pollution. We are also raising consumer awareness about the impact of burning wood on health and working with industry to help reduce harmful emissions.”
The mayor’s proposals come after he triggered London’s emergency air quality alert on Wednesday for the seventh time in thirteen months. Polluted air from the continent combined with toxic air in London to create dangerous levels of pollution. |
Twitter links nearly 200 accounts to Russian propaganda | Twitter has confirmed it has identified nearly 200 accounts that promoted Russian propaganda during the US presidential election, with the social platform garnering $274,100 in advertising revenue from three accounts associated with Russia Today. Twitter said it has taken action against accounts found in violation of its policies, which were discovered following Facebook's revelation of propaganda accounts linked to Twitter handles.
| https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/29/twitter_also_amplified_russian_messaging/ | 2017-09-29 06:52:58.293000 | Like Facebook before it, Twitter has acknowledged that, during the US presidential elections, it collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for ads supporting Russian media messaging, and that it has identified Twitter accounts tied to Facebook profiles known for promoting pro-Russia views.
Or another way of putting it: Twitter made a load of cash from groups seeking to swing the White House race to suit their agenda.
In a post to its public policy blog on Thursday, Twitter said three accounts associated with Russia Today (RT), spent $274,100 in US ads in 2016. The ads, it said, mostly promoted RT tweets about its news stories. RT is strongly linked to the Russian government, and is seen as a relatively influential mouthpiece for the Kremlin.
The troll haven and bot bastion also said it found that out of 450 Facebook profiles identified by that company, 22 also had Twitter accounts. Twitter said it suspended those accounts not already banned for rules violations.
It also said it identified 179 additional related or linked accounts and took action against those found to have violated terms of service rules.
Allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election have been a contentious issue since the vote count. Facebook's recent disclosure that it accepted over $100,000 in divisive ads has alarmed US lawmakers and forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to confront an issue he dismissed in November.
Thus it was that Twitter public policy veep Colin Crowell spoke before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Thursday about fake news, potential election interference and Twitter's attempts to mitigate manipulation.
'Enormous lack of understanding'
News reports suggest Crowell's performance was poorly received. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) is said to have expressed disappointment with Twitter's presentation.
According to CBS, Warner said, "The notion that their work was basically derivative, based upon accounts that Facebook had identified, showed [an] enormous lack of understanding from the Twitter team of how serious this issue is – the threat it poses to democratic institutions – and again begs many more questions than they offered."
Via Twitter, Warner said he was working with Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar to draft legislation to make the source of election ads more evident.
For Facebook, ignorance is the business model: Social net is shocked – SHOCKED – that people behave badly READ MORE
Twitter enumerated the various measures it takes to fight spam, bots, and assorted forms of abuse, noting that its automated systems catch 3.2 million suspicious accounts globally each week – more than twice the amount detected last year. At the same time, the company all but acknowledged it can no longer manage miscreants on its own, by welcoming regulatory intervention.
Its stance is all the more surprising given the digital ad industry's persistent insistence that self-regulation is enough.
"We note recent calls for increased public disclosure with respect to political advertisements on social media, including Twitter," the company said in its post. "Twitter supports making political advertising more transparent to our users and the public."
Lawmakers appear to need no encouragement, at least among Democrats. In a letter sent a week ago to the head of the Federal Elections Commission, 20 Democratic senators ask for rules [PDF] to prevent illicit foreign spending to influence US elections. ® |
ProShares applies to launch long and short bitcoin ETFs | US-based exchange traded fund shop ProShares has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer two ETFs offering long and short positions in bitcoin. The ETFs will track bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) and will be traded on NYSE Arca in Chicago. CBOE has said it intends to offer bitcoin futures late in 2017 or early next year.
| https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/28/proshares-files-for-bitcoin-etf-and-one-to-bet-against-it.html | 2017-09-29 06:52:54.873000 | One of the largest sellers of exchange-traded funds has filed for two bitcoin ETFs.
ProShares, which has about $29 billion in assets under management, filed Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a ProShares Bitcoin ETF and ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF.
The two ETFs plan to track bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange and will trade on NYSE Arca, according to the filing. However, those futures products aren't available yet.
In early August, the Chicago Board Options Exchange said it plans to offer bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter or early next year, pending review by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
CBOE confirmed with CNBC Thursday that is still the case.
The absence of the CBOE's bitcoin futures product has proved a stumbling block for another major ETF company, VanEck, in its attempt to create a similar bitcoin futures ETF. VanEck, which ranks 9th in the ETF industry, according to ETF.com, filed a letter Wednesday with the SEC to withdraw its application for a bitcoin ETF.
According to the letter, SEC staff told VanEck Vectors ETF Trust on a September 20 call that the commission's policy is to not review a registration statement for a fund whose underlying instruments are not yet available.
The SEC staff then requested VanEck withdraw its August 11 application for the bitcoin ETF "until such time as the underlying instruments in which the Fund intends to primarily invest (i.e., bitcoin futures contracts) become available for investment," the letter said.
The SEC declined to comment to CNBC.
ProShares had no comment and referred CNBC to the public filing.
ProShares, which ranks 10th in the ETF industry, according to ETF.com, is known for selling specialized funds that bet on both the long and short side of the trade.
Bitcoin surged this year from below $1,000 to briefly above $5,000 as investors bet the digital currency will gain greater acceptance globally as a store of value, attracting the attention of many on Wall Street.
The digital currency traded above $4,100 Thursday, still up more than four times in price for the year, according to CoinDesk.
However, the digital currency can be quite volatile. Bitcoin dropped more than 30 percent in March after the SEC rejected the Winklevoss brothers' application for a bitcoin ETF, and SolidX Partners' application for a bitcoin exchange-traded product.
The SEC said in April it is reviewing its rejection of the Winklevoss brothers' application, and bitcoin has since more than recovered from that plunge. |
Hedge fund Acadian ends social media experiment with Bing | US-based quantitative hedge fund Acadian has ended a partnership with Microsoft's Bing Predicts after failing to yield meaningful macro signals to use in its investment process. The firm had been working with Bing to process online and social media data with the hope of finding useful signals to use in algorithms. The asset manager now says it prefers more traditional methods of data collection and processing. | http://www.risk.net/asset-management/5336356/acadian-ends-social-media-data-partnership-with-microsoft-bing | 2017-09-29 06:49:45.430000 | Quant firm Acadian Asset Management has wound down the partnership it formed in March with Microsoft’s Bing Predicts. The $91 billion US asset manager says it has not found a way to turn social media data into useful signals for a medium-term investment algorithm.
Acadian was hoping to use macroeconomic signals generated by Bing Predicts’ social media and internet search, such as US retail sales and consumer sentiment, in its macro models in particular, while Bing Predicts had intended to use |
Disability robotics firm Kinova eyes expansion after raising $20m | Canada's Kinova Robotics has raised $20m to finance the further development of its robotic aids for the disabled and expand into Asia and the US. The funds were invested by Fonds Manufacturier Québécois, the KTB Network, BDC Capital and Foxconn. Kinova said it will use the proceeds to develop collaborative robotic devices for inspections and pick-and-place operations, manipulator robots for mobile platforms, and robots for medical research and treatment. | https://www.therobotreport.com/kinova-robotics-raises-25m-product-market-expansion/ | 2017-09-29 06:38:23.760000 | Kinova Robotics, a Canadian provider of robotics for the disabled, raised $20 million USD ($25 million CAD) that will fund product development, market expansion and production optimization. The financing came from Fonds Manufacturier Québécois, the KTB Network, Foxconn and BDC Capital.
“We want our users to achieve the extraordinary with our robots — creating more value for themselves and our society,” CEO Charles Deguire said in a statement. “The financial support, broad expertise and geographic coverage of our experienced partners gives us additional resources to accelerate our growth, quickly and strategically establish our presence in new markets, develop an extended line of breakthrough products and propel our advanced manufacturing capabilities.”
Specifically, the company plans to use the funds to transition into three new areas of service robotics: collaborative robots for inspection and pick and place operations, manipulators for mobile platforms and medical robots for research and therapies.
“We firmly believe that our technology and expertise can help improve patient care,” Deguire said. “We are looking to build partnerships with hospitals, governments and other players in the industry so that our products contribute to the healing of patients.”
In addition, Kinova aims to open offices outside Canada, namely in Asia and the U.S., to better supply its customers with the technology. Earlier this year, the company opened an office in Germany, and it is also looking to increase its production efficiency through automation.
“We are proud to support Kinova, a highly innovative Canadian company with a mission to provide life-changing service robots to people,” Jean-Philippe Poissant, director of growth and transition capital at investor BDC Capital, said in the release. “Our financial support will enable this young and dynamic team to continue investments in research and development, all while enabling them to realize their ambitious growth plan.” |
Timex incorporates Barclaycard bPay chip in watch | Watchmaker Timex is to launch the Timex Fairfield watch, which can complete contactless payments with the aid of a Barclaycard bPay chip inserted into the leather watch strap. The watch will cost £159 ($211) and will enable contactless purchases of £30 and under at more than 490,000 UK locations. Owners will be able to monitor spending, add more funds and control their payments using the bPay app and website. Barclaycard has already teamed up with DS Automobiles to offer a contactless payment car key with DS Automobiles and with Tappy and DCK to offer bPay-enabled jewellery and watches. | https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31126/timex-embeds-bpay-contactless-chip-into-watchstrap?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=finextrafeed | 2017-09-29 06:06:46.647000 | Timex is to release a watch capable of making contactless payments by incorporating the Barclaycard bPay chip into the leather watchstrap.
The Timex Fairfield watch comes with a £159 price tag and enables users to make tap-and-go purchases of £30 and under at over 490,000 locations across the UK. Wearers will also be able to track their spending, top up their balance, and take control of their contactless payments using the dedicated bPay app or website.
Duncan Harris, Timex UK sales and marketing director, says: “We are excited at the possibilities this technology offers consumers in payment solutions and will continue to work with our partners in bringing this to more of our collection."
The release of the smart timepiece follows a range of contactless innovations from Barclaycard including: launching the world’s first contactless car key with DS Automobiles earlier this month, partnerships with Tappy and DCK that embedded bPay into jewellery and watches, and a payments fashion accessories range with Topshop.
Tami Hargreaves, director of innovation and partnerships at Barclaycard Mobile Payments comments: “September marks the 10th anniversary of Barclaycard introducing contactless payments to the UK and our partnership with Timex represents another exciting way ‘touch and go’ technology can be simply and stylishly integrated into fashion and accessories.” |
National Australia Bank links payments process to SWIFT tracker | National Australia Bank (NAB) has linked into the SWIFT global payments innovation (dpi) system, enabling same-day payment settlement with real-time tracking. The bank hopes to provide greater payments transparency for its customers through the link. An application programming interface (API) provides a bridge between the SWIFT gpi Tracker database and the bank’s systems, client portals and other applications. | https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/70922/nab-connects-to-swift-gpi-payments-tracker-via-api?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=finextrafeed | 2017-09-29 06:02:23.450000 | Source: NAB
In a global first, National Australia Bank has implemented connectivity to the new SWIFT gpi Payments Tracker via Application Programming Interface (API).
Over 100 of the world’s largest transaction banks have now all signed on to the SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi) initiative, which provides same-day settlement with real-time payments tracking.
NAB General Manager of Payments, Paul Franklin, said the introduction of SWIFT gpi means NAB can provide greater transparency to customers, and certainty of the status of their payment.
“We are continually looking for opportunities to deliver better customer experiences, and key to this is collaborating with like-minded organisations and leveraging API technology in a safe and secure environment,” Mr Franklin said.
“We went live with our SWIFT gpi using API connectivity earlier this month, and it’s already delivering real benefits.”
“We’re providing our international partner banks with real time updates when their payments are credited to NAB customer accounts, and our customers will soon have direct access to tracking of their international payments - and many more features.”
“NAB is making bold changes to its cross-border payments to significantly improve the customer experience, and leading the way with the adoption of API’s in an effort to address and exceed customer expectations.”
The API links the SWIFT gpi Tracker database with the bank’s systems, and subsequently integrates the tracking information to their client portals and applications.
“Adopting SWIFT gpi will fundamentally transform the way customers and financial institutions do cross-border payments, and NAB is proud to be a global leader in this initiative,” Mr Franklin said.
SWIFT Head of Payments Markets APAC, Michael Moon, said APIs have become core to banking infrastructure to meet customer needs.
“We’re delighted NAB is the first bank worldwide to adopt API technology to access the SWIFT gpi Tracker. They’re clearly committed to building a rich source of APIs to leverage SWIFT gpi capabilities on top of their SWIFT rails.”
“We look forward to building our ecosystem with NAB to enable opportunities for innovation and improved experiences for their customers,” Mr Moon said. |
South African insurer adds Facebook chatbot | South African life insurer Simply Financial Services has introduced a chatbot, which its customers can use via Facebook. The bot uses information from the firm's quoting engine and is aimed at providing clients with instant quotes. It can also be used by customers to get more information about their policies. | http://it-online.co.za/2017/09/29/simply-financial-services-adds-a-chatbot/ | 2017-09-29 06:02:08.370000 | Simply Financial Services adds a chatbot
Recent entrant, selling into SA’s life insurance market, Simply Financial Services is a new entrant to the South African life insurance market.
Part of the company’s aim to shake up the market is its chatbot, Sam, developed from its quoting engine and allowing customers to get a quick quote via Facebook messenger in a matter of seconds.
The chatbot has been used for over 600 messages and quotes already. People also use the chatbot to ask questions about their policies or ask for callbacks at specific times.
“As a disruptive fintech company, we love to explore conversational commerce opportunities,” says Anthony Miller, CEO of Simply Financial Services. “We believe in meeting the customer where they are – and Facebook is increasingly that place, where people play, learn, and buy products that they need.”
The Simply chatbot is one of several ways that customers can get in touch — intentionally designed so that people can use the channel that works best for them. Simply’s website, for example, has a live chat functionality, which is well utilised – people ask all sorts of questions here – about the products, company, the details of cover and more.
“While we are not allowed to sell life insurance via Facebook yet, we use our chatbot to demonstrate the incredible value that customers can get – if they click through to our website,” Miller says.
“Simply’s chatbot is a continuation of our brand value and company philosophy, to offer easily accessible and affordable life insurance products and to simplify our touch points with our customer,” he adds.
Forrester Research, in its report “Bots aren’t ready to be Bankers — August 31, 2016”, cautions that, although chat bots are developing rapidly, customer experience is not; and that many fail to effectively meet users’ needs due to poor infrastructure and lack of fundamental understanding of artificial intelligence (AI).
Miller, however, remains bullish about the chatbot and its role within the business both now and going forward.
“Futurologists reckon we’ll need less of the human touch as we develop algorithms to enable “robo advice” — improving service and reducing fees in the process,” he says.
“We believe our value proposition, in terms of the products and the nature of the market we are targeting, is synergistic with the chatbot and the services it can deliver to our customers.” |
Toyota, Mazda and Denso to create EV company | Japanese car manufacturers Toyota and Mazda along with car parts maker Denso, are to form a new entity called EV Common Architecture Spirit. The company will develop a wide range of electric vehicles (EVs), from smaller cars to light trucks. Toyota will take a controlling 90% stake, while Mazda and Denso will each hold a 5% share. Toyota bought a 5% stake in Mazda last month, when the two firms announced their intention to collaborate on affordable EVs. | https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/27/toyota-mazda-denso-to-form-joint-venture-to-develop-electric-vehicles.html | 2017-09-29 05:24:07.330000 | Toyota President Akio Toyoda nd Mazda President and CEO Masamichi Kogai at a joint press conference on August 4, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan.
Toyota is establishing a new venture to develop electric vehicle technology with partner Mazda , seeking to catch up with rivals in an increasingly frenetic race to produce more battery-powered cars.
Policymakers in key markets like China are aggressively pushing a shift to electric cars over the next two to three decades, pressuring traditional automakers to crank up their electric vehicle (EV) plans — just as declining battery costs enable more power to be packed into cars.
Toyota said in a statement the new company will develop technology for a range of electric cars, including minivehicles, passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks.
Toyota will take a 90 percent stake in the joint venture, called EV Common Architecture Spirit, while Mazda and Denso , Toyota's biggest supplier, will each take a 5 percent stake.
The plans build on a partnership announced in August when Japan's biggest automaker agreed to take a 5 percent stake in Mazda and two said they would jointly develop affordable electric vehicle technologies. |
Toyota, Mazda and Denso to create EV company | Japanese car manufacturers Toyota and Mazda along with car parts maker Denso, are to form a new entity called EV Common Architecture Spirit. The company will develop a wide range of electric vehicles (EVs), from smaller cars to light trucks. Toyota will take a controlling 90% stake, while Mazda and Denso will each hold a 5% share. Toyota bought a 5% stake in Mazda last month, when the two firms announced their intention to collaborate on affordable EVs. | https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/28/16379394/mazda-toyota-new-electric-car-company | 2017-09-29 05:24:07.330000 | More automakers are partnering in preparation for an electric car future. Mazda and Toyota are next, joining with Denso Corporation to form a new company that will develop electric vehicle technologies.
The deal, announced today, comes about a month after Toyota said it would take a 5 percent stake in Mazda and that the two would pursue electric vehicles and necessary research and development, along with other automotive strategies together. The new company is called EV Common Architecture Spirit Co Ltd., and Toyota will own 90 percent, while Mazda and Denso will each have a 5 percent share. Vehicles produced through the new company will also use Toyota’s modular platform architecture that’s being used in models such as the Prius and 2018 Camry. Everything from small cars to SUVs are planned, according to the news release.
Electric vehicles of all sizes are planned
While Toyota has been a gas-electric hybrid pioneer for two decades now, one of the world’s largest automakers has been surpassed by smaller rivals introducing fully electric vehicles for mass production. Its plug-in hybrid Prius Prime has just 22 miles of range on a full charge, roughly half of a Chevrolet Volt’s electric-only range.
Mazda has also pledged an allegiance to the internal combustion engine with its SkyActiv-X gasoline engines — promising diesel-like fuel economy with significantly reduced emissions — set to appear in their production cars over the next few years. But it needs a plug-in to comply with California’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate, as well as looming federal fuel economy average target. Mazda has said it will start selling an electric vehicle of some kind in 2019. |
Wanda Commercial rating cut to junk by S&P after asset sales | Dalian Wanda's subsidiary – Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties – has had its credit rating cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings. The downgrade could make it more expensive for the company to borrow money overseas just as it is struggling with heightened regulatory scrutiny. Its score is now BB, which is two steps below investment grade. This followed Wanda agreeing to sell a majority of its theme parks and hotel assets to Sunac China Holdings and Guangzhou R&F Properties. One Singapore-based analyst commented: "We agree with S&P－there are too many uncertainties in relation to Wanda's strategic change." | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2017-09/29/content_32627776.htm | 2017-09-29 05:17:13.287000 | Dalian Wanda Group Co's biggest unit had its credit rating cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings, raising the risk of higher borrowing costs overseas just as the Chinese conglomerate grapples with greater regulatory scrutiny.
S&P lowered its score on Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co to BB, two steps below investment grade, from BBB. The move comes after Wanda agreed in July to sell the bulk of its theme parks and hotel assets to Sunac China Holdings Ltd and Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Wanda Commercial's dollar bonds due in 2024 dropped the most in a month.
"We expect Wanda Commercial's market position in its property development segment to weaken following the transition," S&P said. Wanda Commercial delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange in September 2016, with the aim of eventually relisting on mainland. "The prospects of the company's Ashare listing are unclear, and information risks have heightened."
The downgrade, which could make it costlier for Wanda to borrow money overseas, is the latest setback for billionaire Wang Jianlin. His companies have been selling assets, delaying or shelving deals amid scrutiny from Chinese authorities, who are clamping down on capital outflows. In the past couple of months, Wang agreed to sell most of Wanda's hotels and themepark assets for 63.75 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) and scrapped plans to buy a plot of land in central London.
Wanda Commercial couldn't immediately comment when contacted by phone about the downgrade.
Dalian Wanda Group－the parent of the property subsidiary－has faced increased scrutiny from the Chinese government on their overseas investments, as authorities try to slow capital outflows to prevent the yuan from weakening.
"We agree with S&P－there are too many uncertainties in relation to Wanda's strategic change and no clear picture of its future plan," said Chuanyi Zhou, a credit analyst in Singapore at Lucror Analytics. "Not to mention the possible nonbusiness risks. The borrowing cost is likely to be higher."
The company's offshore bonds have suffered, as analysts at banks including BNP Paribas SA have said investors should exit them. The 2024 notes issued by Wanda Properties International, a unit of Wanda Commercial, have lost 2.9 percent this year, the worst performer among high-yield dollar bonds from Chinese issuers in Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes.
The price of the securities slid 0.5 cent on the dollar, set for the sharpest decline since Aug 28, to 99.9 cents as of 12:08 pm in Hong Kong, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg |
Ikea buys on-demand labour services platform TaskRabbit | IKEA has acquired TaskRabbit, a mobile labour marketplace, to offer services that complement its products. The move comes in response to the rise of digital shopping and increasing urbanisation, according to Jesper Brodin, chief executive at IKEA. TaskRabbit links consumers with tradespeople for performing ad-hoc tasks, such as furniture assembly and deliveries. IKEA trialled the platform across some of its London locations in 2016, with successful results. TaskRabbit will operate independently under IKEA's ownership. | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/28/ikea-buys-taskrabbit-gig-economy-tradespeople | 2017-09-29 05:02:33.620000 | Ikea has bought the gig economy odd-jobs company TaskRabbit, becoming the latest retailer to move into offering services alongside products.
Jesper Brodin, the president and chief executive of Ikea Group, said the Swedish homeware chain was responding to increasing urbanisation and a shift to digital shopping that challenged traditional retail.
“We need to develop the business faster and in a more flexible way. An acquisition of TaskRabbit would be an exciting leap in this transformation,” he said.
TaskRabbit, based in San Francisco and set up in 2008, operates in 40 cities in the US and the UK, connecting customers through its app with home maintenance tradespeople who can handle furniture assembly, decorating, cleaning and deliveries.
Users flag jobs they want doing, and taskers, as the company refers to them, can select work nearby, apparently choosing the rate at which they will be paid.
TaskRabbit will continue to operate as an independent company within the Ikea Group and link up with other retailers. The value of the deal was undisclosed.
Ikea joins the likes of John Lewis and Debenhams in seeing services as a route to growth.
John Lewis launched its Home Solutions service this month after signing up 150 independent tradespeople, all of whom were vetted by the department store. After being tested in Milton Keynes, the service is being extended to Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Taunton.
Brodin said: “We will be able to learn from TaskRabbit’s digital expertise, while also providing Ikea customers additional ways to access flexible and affordable service solutions.”
The acquisition takes Ikea into the gig economy, with TaskRabbit workers classed as independent contractors who work when they want, where they want and at rates they set, but are not necessarily entitled to a minimum wage or holiday pay.
Other gig economy employers, including Uber and Deliveroo, have faced court action over the treatment of their workers, some of whom say they are not independent contractors and should receive holiday pay.
The buyout comes after Ikea tested recommending TaskRabbit workers to assemble furniture for customers late last year at some of its London stores.
TaskRabbit was founded by the former IBM software engineer Leah Busque. The company has struggled to expand and partnered up to offer its services via Amazon last year. |
Lidl commits to removing products containing microbeads | Supermarket Lidl has removed all products containing microbeads, tiny pieces of plastic added to cosmetic products, from its UK stores. Last September, the UK government committed to banning microbeads, which contribute to marine pollution, from cosmetics and cleaning products by the end of 2017. Other supermarkets, including Tesco and Waitrose, have already pledged to remove the beads from their stock. Lidl, which stopped selling single-use plastic bags in July, has also committed to replacing plastic cotton buds with biodegradable alternatives by the end of the year. | https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/channels/discounters/lidl/lidl-removes-microbeads-from-all-products/558234.article | 2017-09-28 22:00:00 | Lidl has removed all products containing microbeads from its UK stores as it clamps down on plastic pollutants across its own label and branded ranges.
“Plastic pollution is one of the most serious threats to the health of our oceans and an issue we are taking very seriously,” said Lidl UK corporate responsibility manager Mark Newbold.
“For us, eradicating microbeads from all our products is a small but important step in our journey to continually reduce our plastic footprint and the wider environmental impact of our products.”
Last September the government pledged to ban microbeads from cosmetics and cleaning products by the end of this year. According to Greenpeace, 663 species of marine wildlife are affected by plastic pollution.
The discounter joins other retailers including Tesco and Waitrose in committing to remove microbeads.
Lidl also plans to phase out plastic-stemmed cotton buds and replace them with new biodegradable stems by the end of the year.
In July, Lidl stopped selling single use carrier bags and introduced a new 5p reusable bag.. |
Livestock methane emissions underestimated | Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that has 28 times the “global warming potential” of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, produced by global livestock were 11% higher in 2011 than estimates from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change predicted, according to a new study. Two-thirds of methane results from human activity, primarily the production and transport of coal, oil and gas, livestock flatulence and the decay of organic waste in landfills. Changing livestock numbers, breeding and management have resulted in higher emissions. The sharpest changes have been seen in Africa, Asia and Latin America. | https://cbmjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13021-017-0084-y | 2017-09-28 22:00:00 | Revision of annual, per-animal CH 4 emissions factors and other livestock C fluxes
The 2006 IPCC CH 4 emissions factors were revised by (1) collecting updated regional input information (Tables 1, 2) and (2) following the Tier 2 equations for enteric fermentation and manure management CH 4 emissions [4] with the updated inputs. This resulted in new emissions factors suitable for Tier 1 bottom-up inventory based estimates. To revise enteric fermentation emissions factors for lactating dairy cows, for example, Equations 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.6, 10.8, 10.11, 10.13, 10.14, 10.16, 10.18b, and 10.21 were used with input from Tables 10.2, 10.4, 10.5, 10.8, 10.12, 10.A.1 [4] (Table 1). To revise manure CH 4 emissions factors for dairy cows, meat/other cattle, and swine, Equations 10.23 and 10.24 were used with input from Tables 10.17, 10A-4, 10A-5, 10A-7, and 10A-8 [4] (Table 2). Some information on total dry matter intake and/or gross energy intake and manure production are also provided by IPCC; these quantities were also updated and used to create complete livestock C budgets (see below). Manure production for cattle was estimated from updated regional animal body weights, assuming that dairy cattle produce 2205 kg manure dry matter per animal unit per year, and meat/other cattle produce 1510 kg manure dry matter per animal unit per year [29]. Manure production for swine was estimated using IPCC 1996 regional swine body weight and manure production information [3] along with revised (recent) regional body weights, based on the approximation that intake scales with a three-fourths fractional exponent of body mass [30]:
Table 1 Dairy cow enteric fermentation emissions factor inputs Full size table
Table 2 Cattle and swine manure management emissions input factors used for this study, as compared with those used/published by IPCC Full size table
$${\text{manure}}\text{-}{\text{production}}_{\text{revised}} = {\text{ manure}}\text{-}{\text{production}}_{{ 1 9 9 6 {\text{IPCC}}}} \times \, \left[ {{\text{weight}}_{\text{revised}} /{\text{weight}}_{{ 1 9 9 6 {\text{IPCC}}}} } \right]^{0. 7 5}$$ (1)
To evaluate our bottom-up approach to estimating C stocks and fluxes, the equations and default inputs were first used to recalculate the IPCC 2006 CH 4 emissions factors. Literature search results were then used to revise inputs and recalculate these equations.
For dairy cow enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions factors, revisions focused on changes in mature animal weight, percent of animals that are stall fed as opposed to grazing/ranging for feed, annual milk productivity, changes in total feed intake, and on reported values of Y m (the CH 4 conversion factors for feed energy intake during enteric fermentation). For these calculations, we assumed that mature lactating dairy cows do not gain or lose weight, so that net energy for growth takes a value of zero. For enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions from meat/other cattle, we use recently reported emissions factors from national UNFSCCC reports where available, and where such information was not available, we calculated revised factors based on changes in animal body weight only. This approach was taken due to the complexity and variability in important management factors for meat cattle, particularly in industrialized systems (e.g. type of diet provided, timing of placement from pasture to feedlot, slaughter age and weight).
For manure management CH 4 emissions factors, revisions focused on changes in animal weight at slaughter, changes in total feed intake and feed digestibility, and changes in the percentage of manure managed in various manure management systems (e.g. deposited on pasture, drylot storage, short-term pit storage, long-term anaerobic lagoon treatment), and MCFs (methane conversion factors, the CH 4 conversion factors for manure volatile solids during manure storage and/or treatment) for different manure management systems at various temperatures. Because of the difficulty in obtaining recent information for all regions of the world, we did not revise B o (the amount of CH 4 produced per quantity of manure volatile solids). Manure management CH 4 emissions factors were revised for (1) lactating dairy cattle; (2) meat/other cattle (encompassing meat and dairy calves and heifers and all other cohorts of non-lactating cattle grown for slaughter, replacement, breeding, or other purposes, weighted using mean weights and reported population cohorts), and (3) swine (encompassing farrowing sows, nursing piglets, and feeders, weighted using mean weights and reported population cohorts). For meat/other cattle in the US, where in recent years animals weighed 27–45 kg at birth [31], were weaned at ~260 kg [31], were placed on feedlots at ~317 kg [32], and were slaughtered at ~610 kg [33], the amounts of manure managed on pasture and on feedlot were weighted by average cohort masses accordingly.
Uncertainty analysis
We employed IPCC 2006 Uncertainty Approach I: Propagation of Error [34] to arithmetically combine the uncertainties associated with livestock carbon fluxes of interest:
Where uncertain quantities are to be combined by multiplication, the standard deviation of the sum will be the square root of the sum of the squares of the standard deviations of the quantities that are added, with the standard deviations all expressed as coefficients of variation, which are the ratios of the standard deviations to the appropriate mean values…Where uncertain quantities are to be combined by addition or subtraction, the standard deviation of the sum will be the square root of the sum of the squares of the standard deviations of the quantities that are added with the standard deviations all expressed in absolute terms … [34]
When the uncertainties being combined can be considered independent, their standard deviations or coefficients of variation are added in quadrature (i.e. the square root of the sum of the squares of each standard deviation or coefficient of variation) [35]. This has the effect of reducing overall propagated uncertainty. We added in quadrature when propagating uncertainties within a livestock type, because we independently assembled separate estimates of the various carbon fluxes and their uncertainties (e.g. intake, manure production, milk production, CH 4 emissions) except for CO 2 , which is calculated by subtraction. We then used these uncertainties to calculate fractional standard deviations (equal to the coefficient of variation, the standard deviation divided by the mean value) for each per-animal carbon flux quantity in each global region. However, when combining uncertainties across livestock types within a nation or from multiple nations to the regional or global level, the uncertainties were simply added (not in quadrature), because these estimates are not independent [35]—i.e. the livestock in all nations within a region share the same carbon flux estimates, emissions coefficients, and uncertainties, and all livestock within a nation share many regional attributes. Using the arithmetic sum, as opposed to adding in quadrature, results in larger uncertainties, which may be considered more conservative.
Uncertainty on all non-CH 4 quantities is derived from the coefficients of variation (the standard deviation/mean value of the quantity) that we calculated for these quantities in previous work [2]. Uncertainty on IPCC livestock CH 4 emissions factors is given as ±30% [4], and is defined as representing ±1.96 times the standard deviation of the mean [34]. In order to be combined mathematically [34, 35] with our estimates of uncertainty on other C fluxes, we used 15.3% (30% divided by 1.96) as the uncertainty for all calculated CH 4 quantities.
Derivation of annual livestock C fluxes, including emissions of CO 2 and CH 4
We assumed a linear transition from IPCC 2006 emissions to revised emissions factors during the years 1990–2012:
$${\text{f}}_{\text{yeari}} = {\text{f}}_{\text{IPCC}} + \, \left( {{\text{ f}}_{\text{revised}} - {\text{f}}_{\text{IPCC}} } \right) \cdot \left( {{\text{Y}}/ 2 2 { }} \right)$$ (2)
where f yeari is the flux of CH 4 , feed, or other C containing quantity per animal in the year of interest; f IPCC is the flux of CH 4 , feed, or other C quantity per animal given or calculated from data provided by 2006 IPCC guidelines [4]; f revised is the revised flux of CH 4 , feed, or other C quantity per animal (resulting from this work); and Y is equal to 0 for years before 1990, to (year—1990) for 1990–2012; and to 22 for years after 2012.
Livestock carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions associated with respiration were estimated as the deficit between the C contained in annual livestock feed intake and the sum enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions, production of milk or eggs, and manure production. Similarly, CO 2 emissions associated with manure management were estimated as the difference between total manure C production and manure management CH 4 emissions, assuming that all manure C is emitted as either CH 4 or CO 2 within one year of production.
Livestock populations
Annual national livestock populations of meat and milk-producing cattle, meat and milk-producing buffaloes, meat and egg-laying chickens, swine, sheep, turkeys, ducks, geese and guinea fowl, goats, horses, mules, asses, camels, and other camelids (i.e. llamas and alpacas) were compiled for years 1961–2013 from FAOSTAT [36]. Annual producing populations of egg-laying chickens and milk-producing cattle and buffalo were subtracted from conspecific total populations to estimate populations raised for meat production. For all calculations made here, the dairy cattle livestock populations include only milk-producing mature dairy cows; calves, heifers, breeding steers, and any other dairy cattle ‘replacements’ are categorized with meat/other cattle. For nine large countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and the Russian Federation), state- or province-level livestock population data were compiled for available years between 2000 and 2011 [37, 38], and used to improve the spatial distribution of inventory data. For the United States, livestock populations were refined to the county level using National Agricultural Statistical Service Census and Survey data [39]. Livestock in all other nations of the world are constrained at the national level only.
Livestock C fluxes and CH 4 emissions
Accounting of livestock C fluxes was conducted as described in Wolf et al. [2]. Annual per-animal dry weight feed intake, dry weight manure production, manure C content, milk and egg production C, and manure management and enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions are from IPCC [4] or were estimated from existing literature. Livestock dry matter intakes were assumed to be 44% C by weight. The difference between total livestock feed intake C and total C produced or emitted by live animals (i.e. the sum of C contained in manure, enteric fermentation CH 4 , and milk and eggs) approximates the amount of C respired in the form of CO 2 over a given year, excluding C stored in livestock biomass. Although herd sizes do change over time, C stored in livestock biomass is assumed constant in this effort. Similarly, the difference between total manure C content and manure management CH 4 provides an estimate of CO 2 released by livestock manure management, all of which is assumed to be emitted in the same year of manure production.
Estimating livestock consumption of fodder and forage
For purposes of tracking the use of all harvested crop C and estimating amounts of livestock forage, total livestock feed was disaggregated into fodder (i.e. biomass harvested by humans from croplands) and forage (i.e. biomass grazed or scavenged by livestock from non-cropland sources) [2]. Fodder was further subdivided into (a) market feed items derived from primary harvests (e.g., grains, brans, crop by-product feeds), derived from FAO [36] (food balance: commodity balances, crops primary equivalent, feed category), (b) hay and fodder crops (e.g., harvested quantities of alfalfa, clovers, grasses, corn and sorghum silage) derived from FAO [36] (production: crops, crops primary list), including maize, alfalfa, and other grains, grasses, legumes, roots, and vegetables denoted as produced for forage and/or silage; category no longer available), and (c) crop residue feed, consisting of crop residue collected from the field for livestock feed, estimated from annual production of several utilized crops [2]. Annual national quantities of all market feed items and hay crops available were converted into units of C using fractional item-specific dry weights and C contents [2]. The crop residue feed quantities were estimated by applying crop-specific regional percentages of residues collected for feed [40] to the crop- and country-specific estimates of annual residue production. Total annual available fodder per nation is the sum of market feeds, hay and fodder crop production, and crop residues collected for feed. At the national level, annual available fodder was subtracted from total livestock feed intake requirement (calculated from national annual populations and per-animal feed intake values) to approximate national livestock forage intake, including grazing and scavenging. Because national quantities of market feeds and hay crops were not available for years after 2011 at the time of download, fodder and forage intake for 2012 and 2013 were estimated using average available quantities for each country over 2005–2011.
Downscaling and spatial distribution of C fluxes
Livestock C fluxes were downscaled and spatially distributed to 0.05 × 0.05 degree resolution using the MODIS Land Cover Type 5 data product for year 2005, following methods documented by West et al. [41] and Wolf et al. [2]. Downscaling started with the reconciling of land class areas between satellite-based land cover in 2005 and crop harvest area inventory data in each year from 2000 to 2011. Cropland area in 2005, based on MODIS, was compared to the sum of area inventoried for harvest per geopolitical region. The MODIS cropland areas were then adjusted to equal the sum of harvested areas for respective geopolitical regions and years. Cropland area was expanded or contracted as necessary, using a global kernel density representing the combined density of cropland and distance of each grid-cell to the nearest cropland region. Based on reconciled land cover information within each nation, state or province, or county, a separate amount of area was allocated to livestock. The livestock area requirement per nation, state/province, or county was derived from the livestock population therein, along with estimated area per animal required for each livestock type, for housed and free-ranging animals, and regional estimates of the proportion of animals that are free-ranging. Livestock were spatially distributed to grasslands, based on the livestock area requirement, per nation, state/province, or county. If there was insufficient grassland area, livestock were then distributed to shrubland areas. If grassland and shrubland areas together were smaller than the estimated required livestock area, the livestock area requirement was reduced to a smaller housed-animal area requirement value, thereby increasing livestock density. Respective carbon fluxes were subsequently applied to spatial livestock distributions. |
Livestock methane emissions underestimated | Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that has 28 times the “global warming potential” of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, produced by global livestock were 11% higher in 2011 than estimates from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change predicted, according to a new study. Two-thirds of methane results from human activity, primarily the production and transport of coal, oil and gas, livestock flatulence and the decay of organic waste in landfills. Changing livestock numbers, breeding and management have resulted in higher emissions. The sharpest changes have been seen in Africa, Asia and Latin America. | http://www.france24.com/en/20170929-planet-warming-methane-livestock-underestimated-study | 2017-09-28 22:00:00 | Paris (AFP) –
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Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from livestock are larger than previously thought, posing an additional challenge in the fight to curb global warming, scientists said Friday.
Revised calculations of methane produced per head of cattle show that global livestock emissions in 2011 were 11 percent higher than estimates based on data from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change.
Periodic reports by the IPCC, drawing from thousands of scientists, help leaders take action on climate change, which has begun to wreak weather havoc around the globe.
"In many regions, livestock numbers are changing, and breeding has resulted in larger animals with higher intakes of food," said Julie Wolf, a researcher in the US Department of Agriculture and lead author of a study in the journal Carbon Balance and Management.
"This, along with changes in livestock management, can lead to higher methane emissions."
Earlier estimates, she added in a statement, were based on "out-of-date data".
After rising slowly from 2000 to 2006, the concentration of methane in the air has climbed 10 times more quickly in the last decade, according to earlier research.
Besides natural sources such as peatland, wetlands and termites, methane from human activity -- approximately two-thirds of the total -- is produced in two ways.
The odourless and colourless gas leaks during the production and transport of coal, oil and especially natural gas.
In roughly equal measure, it also comes from the flatulence of ruminants such as cattle and sheep, as well as the decay of organic waste, notably in landfills.
- 'Hidden climate change cost' -
Methane accounted for about 16 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, according to the IPCC.
Carbon dioxide -- produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels -- accounts for more than three-quarters of planet-warming emissions.
"As our diets become more meat and dairy-rich, so the hidden climate cost of our food tends to mount up," said University of Edinburgh professor Dave Reay, reacting to the study.
"Cows belching less methane may not be as eye-catching as wind turbines and solar panels, but they are just as vital for addressing climate change."
The new study boosts the "estimate of human-induced emissions of methane from all sources by about four percent," said University of Leeds professor Piers Forster, who was not involved in the research.
Methane is far more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, capturing more of the Sun's radiative force. But it persists for less time in the atmosphere.
Taking that into account, scientists calculate that over a 100-year period the "global warming potential" of the gas is 28 times greater than for carbon dioxide.
The study noted that methane emissions from livestock have risen most sharply in the rapidly developing regions of Asia, Latin America and Africa.
By contrast, the increase has slowed sharply in the United States and Canada. In Europe, emissions of the gas have declined.
A sharp rise in methane pollution could jeopardise the goal -- enshrined in the 196-nation Paris climate pact -- of capping global warming below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a consortium of 81 scientists warned in December.
"Such a target will become increasingly difficult if reductions in methane emissions are not also addressed strongly and rapidly," they wrote in an open letter.
© 2017 AFP |
Amazon’s Echo Show loses YouTube in public row with Google | Google has pulled YouTube from Amazon’s Echo Show device following a dispute over user experience and terms of service. The Echo Show is a voice-activated device featuring a screen, launched by Amazon in June as part of its Echo range. Google claimed that the Echo Show did not offer the full range of YouTube functionality, with video recommendations and channel subscription options missing from the service, and called the user experience "broken". Google has said it hopes to resolve the dispute shortly. | http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/27/google-pulls-youtube-amazon-s-echo-show-competitive-spirit-turns-nasty | 2017-09-28 14:31:08.717000 | Google has abruptly pulled its YouTube app from Amazon’s Echo Show device as part of a broiling feud which has now gone public.
Google pulls YouTube from Amazon’s Echo Show as competitive spirit turns nasty
The root issue is a long running spat between the technology giants after Google accused Amazon of ‘violating its terms of service’ leading to a ‘broken user experience’ which has yet to be resolved despite exhaustive negotiations. |
Insurance to be shaped by drones, AI, blockchain: Capgemini | Blockchain-based computing, drones and artificial intelligence are among the technologies that will reshape the insurance industry, according to a report from global consulting firm Capgemini. The adoption of these technologies will allow insurance companies to better streamline their back-end operations, the report noted. In particular, AI can be used to provide a more personalised client experience while also speeding up underwriting decisions, while blockchain can help with security and fraud prevention.
| https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/drones-blockchain-and-ai-are-future-of-insurance-industry-capgemini/396652 | 2017-09-28 14:11:58.530000 | We’ve had fintech, edtech, regtech and medtech. Now, it’s time for insurtech, according to Capgemini. The consulting firm’s report on how insurance firms will use technology paints a futuristic picture incorporating drones, artificial intelligence and big data analytics.
For its 2017 World Insurance Report, the company interviewed over 8,000 customers and 100 subject matter experts worldwide. It found that the insurance industry faces similar trends to the broader financial sector, with a less loyal, tech-savvy younger customer base looking for more digital interactions.
“Customers are seeking digital touchpoints. They are seeking three main things, which are convenience, agility, and personalization,” said Chirag Thakral, deputy head of the analysis group at CapGemini. “Younger customers are the most challenging in terms of their expectations and demands, and they are the most difficult to retain.”
Customers that Capgemini describes as “tech savvy” are looking for features such as online or via mobile devices according to the report, along with fast updates on claims status via similar channels. Digital policy renewal and cancellation, automatic connections with third parties to help with emergencies, and reward and incentive programs also top the list.
Incumbent vs incoming
This report – the company’s 10th on the topic – distinguishes incumbent insurance firms from insurance technology players that can bridge this gap by providing new customer experiences.
Each group has its advantages, the report said. Incumbent insurers offer brand identity and enjoy a higher level of trust among customers. Conversely, insurtech firms offer better value for money and efficient service. The two must work together, explains Thakral.
Capgemini’s research highlights several technologies that it said will change the game for insurance firms. Among them is blockchain-based computing, which it said will transform the exchange of information and improve fraud management. Artificial intelligence will also help to provide the personalized experience that customers crave, it said.
New technology will help insurance companies to streamline their back-end processes by reducing the human input necessary to process insurance contracts, Thakral suggested.
“Right now, for the simple cases it is easy to do that, and a lot of firms have already automated the process for making the underwriting decisions,” he said, adding that more complex use cases are emerging.
“Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, a lot of companies are still testing the proof of concepts,” he added. “For some of the more complex cases, they are using AI and robotic process automation to reduce the time for underwriting decisions.”
The report provides some examples of incumbent insurers that have been busy bolstering their technology story. Asian insurer AIA created an accelerator program to expose it to insurtech startups, in a similar move to others in the financial services sector such as CIBC and Scotiabank.
The report comes at a troubling time for the insurance market, with hurricanes Harvey and Irma having caused billions of dollars in damage in America’s southeastern states, and with forest fires ravaging Canada’s western provinces. How can insurance companies use technology to help cope with increasingly frequent and more violent natural disasters?
“Using predictive analytics, they are trying to make sure that the product availability and pricing is done in the right way,” he said.
He also sees technology making claims processing easier for insurance companies. “They don’t need to send somebody manually into these areas where it can be really dangerous with floods and fires,” he said. “They can send drones to survey the area, especially for these aggregated claims.”
The use of new technology such as IoT sensors will raise some interesting questions for the insurance sector in the future, though, he concludes. For example, he wonders who will be insured as driverless cars hit the roads.
“The whole point of insuring the driver goes away. I think it’s the car that gets insured, and do we need insurance for that if a large company like Google insures themselves?” Collaborations between insurance companies and the incoming insurtech firms will help to answer those questions, he predicts. |
CO2 emissions static in 2016 | Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions remained static in 2016, according to data released on Thursday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. With the exception of India, all the world’s major emitting powers saw emissions fall or remain level due to a reduction in coal burning and the increased use of renewables. Many developing nations still saw CO2 emissions rise, however, and near-static emission levels were also recorded in 2014 and 2015. Emission levels for methane, another large contributor to global warming, continued to rise. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/28/global-carbon-emissions-stood-still-in-2016-offering-climate-hope | 2017-09-28 13:23:56.547000 | Global emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide remained static in 2016, a welcome sign that the world is making at least some progress in the battle against global warming by halting the long-term rising trend.
All of the world’s biggest emitting nations, except India, saw falling or static carbon emissions due to less coal burning and increasing renewable energy, according to data published on Thursday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NEAA). However other mainly developing nations, including Indonesia, still have rising rates of CO2 emissions.
Stalled global emissions still means huge amounts of CO2 are being added to the atmosphere every year – more than 35bn tonnes in 2016 – driving up global temperatures and increasing the risk of damaging, extreme weather. Furthermore, other heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly methane from cattle and leaks from oil and gas exploration, are still rising and went up by 1% in 2016.
“These results are a welcome indication that we are nearing the peak in global annual emissions of greenhouse gases,” said climate economist Prof Lord Nicholas Stern at the London School of Economics and president of the British Academy.
“To realise the goals of the Paris agreement and hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2C, we must reach peak emissions as soon as possible and then achieve a rapid decline soon afterwards,” Stern said. “These results from the Dutch government show that there is a real opportunity to get on track.”
Jos Olivier, the chief researcher for the NEAA report, sounded a note of caution: “There is no guarantee that CO2 emissions will from now on be flat or descending.” He said, for example, a rise in gas prices could see more coal burning resume in the US.
The flat CO2 emissions in 2016 follow similar near-standstills in 2014 and 2015. This lack of growth is unprecedented in a time when the global economy is growing. As the number of years of flat emissions grows, scientists are more confident a peak has been reached, rather than a temporary halt. In July 2016, senior economists said China’s huge coal burning had peaked, marking a historic turning point in efforts to tame climate change.
Stern said many of the big emitting nations had achieved significant reductions in 2016: “However, all countries have to accelerate their emissions reductions if the Paris goals are to be met.” He said this could also drive development in poorer nations: “We can now see clearly that the transition to a low-carbon economy is at the heart of the story of poverty reduction and of the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
The new Dutch report shows CO2 emissions from China, the world’s biggest emitter, fell 0.3% in 2016. US CO2 emissions fell 2.0% and Russia’s by 2.1%, with the EU flat, although UK emissions tumbled by 6.4%, as coal burning plunged.
Of the top five emitters, only India’s CO2 emissions rose, by 4.7%. Significant increases were also seen in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey and Ukraine.
However, over a quarter of the warming effect seen by the world comes from non-CO2 greenhouse gases, with methane by far the most significant. Cattle belch the gas and are responsible for 23% of global methane emissions, and this source rose by 0.4% in 2016. Scientists have warned that the growing global appetite for meat, especially beef, cannot continue if climate change is to be kept under 2C.
Another quarter of methane emissions come from fossil fuel production and leaks in gas distribution pipes. Since 2000, emissions from coal and gas production have grown by more than 65%.
Carbon emissions from forest destruction and other land use changes were not included in the main analysis as they are more difficult to estimate and vary strongly from year to year. |
Global drug supply risk due to hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico | There is a risk of a global drug shortage due to the damage caused by Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. As of last year, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing on the island was a $14.5bn industry that made up over 72% of Puerto Rico's total exports and was the largest exporter of pharmaceuticals of all the US states. Around 50 pharmaceutical manufacturing plants based in Puerto Rico are facing months of problems without reliable electrical power. Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Amgen have all had to shut down manufacturing at their plants. | http://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2017/puerto-rico-prescription-drug-shortage-fd.html | 2017-09-28 13:00:27.727000 | If Congress includes a provision to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs in the major budget bill it's working on, Part D premiums could decline 15 percent by the end of the decade, according to a new analysis.
A report by the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) shows that, according to Medicare's actuaries, if the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were given the authority to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies, consumers would save a total of $14 billion in Part D premiums by 2029. This savings "translates into estimated per capita savings for Part D enrollees who pay premiums of $39 annually in 2023, increasing to $85 in 2029," the report says.
The proposals being debated in the House of Representatives and the Senate as part of a sweeping $3.5 trillion budget bill would allow price negotiations for some high-priced brand-name drugs, both under Part D prescription drug plans and for medications administered under Part B in doctors' offices.
"The biggest benefit of negotiation is that it would lower costs in particular for medications with no competition," says Tricia Neuman, senior vice president at KFF and coauthor of the report. When it comes to the pricing for these noncompetitive drugs, she adds, "the government's hands are tied, meaning the government has no ability or leverage to negotiate to bring down prices. And that puts a burden on patients and adds significant costs to the federal government."
Neuman says that while the KFF report specifically looks at the effects negotiations would have on premiums, if the government could successfully negotiate prices, that would bring down other out-of-pocket costs for all consumers in addition to producing savings for the Medicare program. The Biden administration has endorsed proposals that would apply the lower prescription drug prices resulting from negotiations to all those who buy such medications. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that allowing Medicare to negotiate prices would save government health plans more than $450 billion over 10 years. |
Drone health monitors may help boost developing-world infant care | Researchers from the University of South Australia have successfully tested the use of drones to remotely measure heart and breathing rates in humans aged between two and 40. The technology is being developed to reduce disease transmission resulting from the reuse of topical neonatal health-monitoring equipment in developing countries. The drones use a stabilised Go-Pro camera to detect heart and breathing rates. Footage is then sent to a sophisticated image-processing system for assessment. Other possible applications include detecting vital signs of people in war zones, those trapped by natural disasters or monitoring people who live in remote locations. | https://phys.org/news/2017-09-drones-babies-neonatal.html | 2017-09-28 12:59:57.133000 | Credit: The Lead
Drone technology is being developed to perform routine health checks remotely in a bid to reduce infection spread in neonatal care.
Researchers from the University of South Australia have successfully trialed the use of drones to remotely measure heart and breathing rates in humans aged between two and 40 using advanced image-processing systems.
Sensory Systems Professor Javaan Chahl said the breakthrough drone system initially began as a reflex response to fatalities resulting from problems with electrode instruments or shortages of instrumentation in developing countries.
"The norm is to stick electrodes on children to measure heart rates. Without any ill-intention, sometimes doctors in developing countries would re-use these electrodes due to a shortage of instruments," Professor Chahl, the project's supervisor said.
"This has lead to an infection control problem, where you may move skin infections from one child to the next. So, you can see a need for having a non-contact sensor."
Other possible applications include monitoring the vital signs of residents in aged care facilities.
"The drones don't need to capture what you're doing. The image processing system can simply produce the variables of heart and breathing rate without having to see patients at all or invade their privacy," he said.
"There may also be situations in clinical settings where you wouldn't really think it's worth having electrodes and instruments to monitor patients, but if you can just have a camera do it, you may be able to put instrumentation where you wouldn't normally put it."
The drone technology detects heart and breathing rates as accurately as standard heart monitors using a stabilised Go-Pro camera. Sophisticated image-processing systems then assess the video footage collected on the device and extract the heart and respiratory rates of the person without difficulty.
The technology is also being developed to detect vital signs of people in war zones, trapped by natural disasters or stranded in difficult to reach locations
"The research has been going for about three years, but it still has another year to go. It's moving so quickly and we're really trying to explore all the possible options."
Professor Chahl said although the drone technologies were capable of monitoring several people in uncontrolled environments, the first goal was to pursue the initial aim of eliminating infection in neonatal subjects.
"The work with the neonatal subjects is something we are just going through the process of now," he said.
"It is quite involved and there's quite a lot of ethics to consider with filming and measuring information from babies, but there are a lot of potential benefits for neonatal care worldwide. Our current challenge is to get the original plan of neonatal instrumentation working well."
Provided by The Lead |
Ryanair subject to “enforcement action” by CAA over cancellations | Ryanair is facing “enforcement action” by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for “persistently misleading passengers”. The authority has said that Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, was incorrect when he told passengers that his airline did not have to arrange new flights for them with rival companies following cancellations due to errors in scheduling pilots’ leave. Ryanair, which recently announced that it would cancel 18,000 flights on 34 routes between November and March, has said that it “will comply fully” with the CAA’s requirements. Ryanair pilots have warned that the airline could face further disruption due to anger about working conditions. | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/27/ryanair-cancel-flights-passengers-stansted-edinburgh | 2017-09-28 12:33:17.653000 | The Civil Aviation Authority has launched enforcement action against Ryanair for “persistently misleading passengers” about their rights, piling more woe on the airline as it announced a second wave of flight cancellations affecting 400,000 people.
In a letter to the Dublin-based carrier, the CAA said Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, was wrong to tell passengers last week that it did not have to arrange new flights for them, after an initial batch of cancellations was announced.
The airline regulator said Ryanair had further transgressed when it notified people of fresh disruption on Wednesday, by failing to tell passengers they could be rerouted with other airlines if there were no suitable alternative on one of its planes.
It added that Ryanair should correct any misleading statements and invited the airline to discuss the matter, warning that legal action could follow if the carrier is found to be in breach of consumer protection laws.
The CAA chief executive, Andrew Haines, said: “There are clear laws in place, which are intended to assist passengers in the event of a cancellation ... We have made this crystal clear to Ryanair, who are well aware of their legal obligations.”
Ryanair said on Thursday: “We will be meeting with the CAA and will comply fully with whatever requirements they ask us to.”
The regulator issued the warning as the airline said it would scrap 18,000 flights on 34 routes between November and March, and said it has emailed affected customers to offer a refund or an alternative flight.
Passengers will also receive a travel voucher for a £40 one-way or £80 return journey that can be used to book a Ryanair flight for travel between October 2017 and March 2018. Affected routes include London Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow, Gatwick to Belfast, Newcastle to Faro, and Glasgow to Las Palmas.
News of the cancellations came a week after Ryanair announced plans to scrap up to 50 flights a day until 31 October, citing a “mess-up” in how it schedules time off for pilots, affecting 315,000 customers. At the time, Ryanair dismissed a Guardian report that the disruption may not be over, saying: “There will be no further cancellations as a result of this rostering failure.”
List of the 34 routes suspended by Ryainair List of the 34 routes suspended by Ryainair
Announcing the latest cancellations, O’Leary apologised to customers for a second time, but defended the changes. “We sincerely apologise to those customers who have been affected by last week’s flight cancellations, or these sensible schedule changes announced today,” he said.
“From today, there will be no more rostering-related flight cancellations this winter or in summer 2018. Slower growth this winter will create lots of spare aircraft and crews, which will allow us to manage the exceptional volumes of annual leave we committed to delivering in the nine months to December 2017.
“We will start a new 12-month leave period on 1 January 2018 in full compliance with EU regulations and the IAA’s [Irish Aviation Authority] requirements.”
The airline said cancelling thousands of flights over winter would eliminate all risk of further flight cancellations.
But former and current Ryanair pilots, among them several who warned last week of further cancellations, said anger about working conditions could lead to more problems.
“It all depends if we manage to unionise,” said one current Ryanair pilot. He added that he and colleagues may “work to rule”, meaning they would stop doing things they are not obliged to contractually that help the airline manage its tight schedule.
This includes turning up for work early to ensure punctuality and fielding telephone calls from the company during days off.
“That would cause significant delays and some cancellations,” he said. “Striking is only a last resort, as we don’t want to harm the passengers. We only want Ryanair to reason with us and give similar contracts compared with other airlines, easyJet for example, so ultimately it’s up to Ryanair, and I’m sure they will not listen until we take collective action.”
One former pilot, who is in touch with their ex-colleagues, said: “They cannot rule it [fresh cancellations] out.” Both spoke on condition of anonymity in case their job prospects were affected.
Ryanair estimated that the total cost of its cancellations would be less than €50m (£44m), but said this would not change its prediction of annual net profit of between €1.4bn and €1.45bn.
But the airline admitted that the cancellations would slow its rapid growth, with 6 million fewer passengers due to fly with the airline by 2019 than otherwise would have done. It will also reduce fares in an effort to prevent further damage to its reputation.
The blunder has also forced Ryanair to pull out of its plans to bid for Alitalia, Italy’s bankrupt flag carrier. The Irish airline said it wanted to “eliminate all management distractions”.
Hannah Maundrell, the editor-in-chief of money.co.uk, said the latest flight cancellations were frustrating for customers. “It’s so disappointing for Ryanair passengers whose flights have been cancelled; even with more notice this time, it’s still seriously frustrating,” she said.
Twitter users reported problems rebooking and speaking to customer service representatives on Ryanair’s website as they tried to rescue holiday plans and make alternative arrangements for business trips.
@Ryanair good luck rebooking. The online flight change service doesn't work - i can only change one leg — marcus threadgold (@threadm) September 27, 2017
Ryanair dismissed suggestions that its scheduling problems have been exacerbated by an overall shortage of pilots, insisting it has recruited 186 since the problem began and has a long waiting list of applicants. But the airline declined to say how many of the pilots on its waiting list have the number of flying hours required to be a captain.
A former Ryanair pilot said: “There will be a large waiting list at what I call cadet level. The problem is that when experienced people leave, you can’t replace them with inexperienced people. You can’t replace a captain with one of those cadets.
“The flying Ryanair does can be more challenging than long-haul. It’s a different challenge. You’re operating at small airports with very little air traffic control and different procedures. You need experience.”
Ryanair also said reports from the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association that more than 700 of its pilots have quit in the past year were exaggerated, insisting only 260 have left.
Many of Ryanair’s 4,200 pilots fly for the airline on a temporary contract basis, rather than as full employees, a situation that has been a bone of contention for some. In letters that have been circulated among Ryanair pilots at dozens of bases across Europe, some have demanded that the airline ditch the contract model in favour of local employment contracts.
Pilots and cabin crew have been turning to trade unions for advice and in some cases applying for membership in an attempt to secure improved conditions.
But Ryanair said it would not meet unions and would only meet “directly” with its “people”. |
Coca-Cola sponsors fictional footballer in video game | Coca-Cola's newest ambassador will be a virtual athlete in the football video game Fifa 18, the first such partnership of its kind. Alex Hunter, the fictional protagonist of the game’s story mode, will endorse Coca-Cola Zero Sugar as the player follows him through his career. The advertising campaign references Coca-Cola’s 1979 “Mean Joe” TV spot, in which a player drinks a bottle of Coca-Cola after a match. The ad is due to play across social media channels and on Coca-Cola's 3D TImes Square installation. | http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/22/coca-cola-nets-its-first-ever-virtual-athlete-fifa-18-s-rising-star-alex-hunter | 2017-09-28 12:26:03.887000 | Coca-Cola has snapped up an unusual ambassador in the protagonist from EA Sport’s football simulator video game, Fifa 18, marking the first time it has snapped up a virtual athlete to ply its wares.
Fifa 17 was the first title in the series to introduce narrative-driven mode, The Journey, in which players take up the guise of young football prodigy Alex Hunter and rise through the ranks of English football. The mode looked to encapsulate many aspects of modern football, including brand endorsements, as such, Hunter actually starred in the Adidas First Never Follows campaign, both in the game and in real life. |
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