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German container ship cuts emissions with dual-fuel retrofit | German manufacturer MAN Diesel & Turbo has converted a container ship to use liquified natural gas (LNG) as well as diesel. The conversion means the Wes Amelie, owned by Germany's Wessels Reederei, has reduced SOx emissions by 99%, NOx by 90% and CO2 by 20%, enabling it to meet the high environmental standards and strict emissions limits of the Baltic and Nordic seas in which it operates. "We trust this will mark the beginning of a trend towards the adoption of LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel within the maritime sector," said Stefan Eefting, head of MAN PrimeServ in Augsburg.
| http://www.scandoil.com/moxie-bm2/news/successful-conclusion-to-worlds-first-conversion-o.shtml | 2017-09-21 03:47:55.297000 | Edit page New page Hide edit links
The Wes Amelie (photo: Wessels Reederei)
At a recent event at the Hamburg offices of MAN Diesel & Turbo, Dr Uwe Lauber – CEO of MAN Diesel & Turbo – presented Gerd Wessels, Managing Owner of Wessels Reederei with a take-over certificate marking the formal conclusion of the Wes Amelie LNG conversion project.
Gerd Wessels says, “This pioneering project marks a milestone in the European container feeder market, and MAN has impressively proven that existing engines can be converted to LNG operation with a tremendous effect on exhaust emissions and the environment.”
The project involved the retrofitting of the 1,036-teu feeder container ship’s MAN 8L48/60B main engine to a multi-fuel, four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit that enables dual-fuel operation – the first such conversion of its type the world has ever seen.
Christian Hoepfner, General Manager of Wessels Reederei, says, “The Wes Amelie operates in the highly regulated Nordic and Baltic Seas. Since they are both within Emission Control Areas, the ship needs to meet the highest environmental standards and strictest limits for emissions. By converting to a low emission fuel, we are safeguarding the future of this container ship as well as our own competitiveness in the market.”
Stefan Eefting – Head of MAN PrimeServ in Augsburg – also attended the ceremony and says, “We are very happy to have successfully completed this project with the great cooperation of our partner, Wessels Reederei. In doing so, we trust that the dramatic reduction in emissions will mark the beginning of a trend towards the adoption of LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel within the maritime sector.”
“By providing customers with the technology to retrofit their existing fleet, we are driving what we call the maritime energy transition”, adds Dr Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Diesel & Turbo. “There are roughly 40,000 cargo vessels in operation worldwide. If we are serious about decarbonisation and want the shipping industry to be climate neutral by 2050, we need to take action today.”
The dual-fuel conversion has enabled the Wes Amelie to significantly reduce its SOx emissions by >99%, NOx by approximately 90%, and CO 2 by up to
20%. The vessel now meets both the Tier II and Tier III emission requirements set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Works were carried out at German Dry Docks in Bremerhaven in cooperation with gas-specialist, TGE Marine Engineering, who provided tank and LNG components. Bureau Veritas, the international classification society based in France, classed the conversion.
Wessels and MAN Diesel & Turbo originally signed the retrofit contract with MAN Diesel & Turbo at the Europort exhibition for maritime technology in November 2015. The ‘Wes Amelie’ was constructed in 2011 and has already re-entered service on its usual route between the North and Baltic Seas.
When selecting a suitable vessel for conversion, special attention was paid to the scalability of the engineering services as well as the development costs, reducing significantly the costs for follow-up projects. In this respect, the Wes Amelie has 23 sister ships, 16 of them structurally identical, which would allow follow-up projects to be easily implemented. This ship therefore facilitates a multiplier effect, with multiple, other, ‘conversion-capable’ vessels also found around the European continent. |
UK banks to search accounts for illegal immigrants | UK banks and building societies will conduct immigration checks on 70 million current accounts from January 2018, as part of Prime Minister Theresa May’s efforts to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in the country. The Home Office anticipates that it will identify 6,000 individuals within the first year who have overstayed their visas, failed in their asylum applications, or who face deportation. Checks, which will be conducted quarterly, will enable accounts to be closed or frozen. Banks are not required to contact account holders during the check.
| https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/21/uk-banks-to-check-70m-bank-accounts-in-search-for-illegal-immigrants | 2017-09-20 22:00:00 | Banks and building societies are to carry out immigration checks on 70m current accounts from January in the biggest extension of Theresa May’s plans to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in Britain, the Guardian has learned.
The Home Office expects to identify 6,000 visa overstayers, failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders facing deportation in the first year of the checks, which are to be carried out quarterly.
The accounts of those identified will be closed down or frozen “to make it harder for them to establish or maintain a settled life in the UK”. Officials say freezing accounts that hold significant sums “will create a powerful incentive [for those involved] to agree to voluntary departure” so they can secure their money once they have left the country.
Immigration welfare campaigners warned that the Home Office’s recent record meant it could not be trusted to implement this new system without errors and that migrants with every right to be in Britain were likely to be hit by mistakes in the imposition of the checks.
Satbir Singh, the chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, criticised the move: “The government’s own record shows it cannot be trusted even to implement this system properly. Immigration status is very complex, and the Home Office consistently gives out incorrect information and guidance.
“Migrants and ethnic minorities with every right to be here will be affected by the imposition of these new checks.”.
Banks have been told to adopt a default position of telling customers to take up the matter with the Home Office if a mistake has been made, even if they provide a passport or biometric residence permit showing they are lawfully present in Britain.
The Guardian confirmed with the Home Office the January implementation date for the bank checks after being alerted by a reader who is a European national resident in Britain. Her husband spotted a reference to “changes to how we check your eligibility to bank with us based on your immigration status” in an email from Barclays detailing their latest changes in their banking terms of conditions.
Dominique Welbank said: “As a French national having lived here since 1991, and having been denied permanent residence because I do not have comprehensive sickness insurance, I have no confidence the Home Office will not extend this scheme to EU citizens like myself because of Brexit.”
Status checks are required by anyone opening a new bank or building society account under the Immigration Act 2014, but no measure has previously required checks on the scale of every current account in Britain.
The new legislation requires the banks to check the identity of every current account holder against a Home Office supplied database held by an anti-fraud organisation, Cifas. It includes details of those whom the Home Office regard as liable for removal or deportation because they are overstayers, failed asylum seekers or those who have absconded from immigration detention.
Safeguards are included to prevent the closure of a bank account which would leave the account holder without the subsistence means to live. Account closure can also be delayed to recover debts or deal with complex joint accounts.
An official Home Office impact assessment acknowledged “the proposed measures may have the potential to impact on the appetite of firms to offer banking services to legal migrants who do not have permanent leave to remain in the UK” and promises to monitor the situation. Officials add that the banking laws ban discrimination against legally resident customers.
The January implementation of the quarterly checks on the current accounts operated by every bank and building society in Britain are part of Immigration Act 2016 measures to create a hostile environment for illegal migrants. Other measures include “right to rent” checks with heavy fines for landlords who let homes to illegal migrants, checks on driving licences and tougher measures against illegal working.
An official Home Office impact assessment acknowledges that rather than encouraging illegal migrants to go home it could simply drive them even further into the “hidden economy”, but says this will not be a significant issue because they are already breaking the law.
“This policy is not expected to exacerbate the situation but to contribute to the hostile environment, encouraging illegal immigrants to leave the UK on a voluntary basis,” it says.
Banks have also been told there is no requirement on them to contact account holders or require additional documentary evidence as part of the check.
A Home Office spokesperson defended the introduction of the checks saying: “We are developing an immigration system which is fair to people who are here legally, but firm with those who break the rules. Everyone in society can play their part in tackling illegal migration.
“As approved by parliament in December 2016, from January banks and building societies will be required to carry out regular checks on the immigration status of all current account holders against the details of known illegal migrants to establish whether their customers are known to be in the UK unlawfully. This is part of our ongoing work to tackle illegal migration. People who are here legally will be unaffected.”
A Barclays spokesperson said the bank was simply complying with the Immigration Act 2016 and the checks impacted on all customers regardless of nationality. |
Broker RHSB promotes personal risk expert Buchanan to VP | Personal risk insurance specialist Keleigh Buchanan has been promoted to vice president at RHSB, an independent broker. The 16-year professional will work in the company's Private Client Group, which concentrates on the needs of high net-worth clients, offering services such as kidnap and ransom insurance and aircraft, yacht and jewellery coverage. RHSB is part of the risk management and insurance brokerage group Assurex Global and is based in Dallas. | http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2017/09/15/464487.htm | 2017-09-20 15:07:57.947000 | Keleigh Buchanan was recently promoted to vice president at Dallas-based independent insurance broker, RHSB.
She has been with RHSB for five years and has 16 years of experience in the insurance industry. Buchanan is a licensed insurance professional working with families and individuals to manage their personal risk by finding the best insurance solutions while maximizing value.
She is part of RHSB’s Private Client Group — a concierge type service that specializes in the distinctive needs of high net worth clients with unique assets like aircraft, yachts, wine collections, vintage cars, fine art and jewelry. These clients often have extraordinary needs including coverage for domestic help, kidnap and ransom, worldwide travel and medical coverage. Buchanan’s consultative approach helps these clients find coverage to protect their assets and lifestyle.
Buchanan holds the Certified Personal Risk Manager designation.
RHSB, a member of the privately held risk management and insurance brokerage group Assurex Global, has offices in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
Source: RHSB |
NY insurer has negligence charges against US Navy reinstated | New York-based insurer Ironshore Specialty has had negligence charges it filed against the US government reinstated by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The insurer had previously filed the charges against American Overseas Marine Company and the US following a 2010 oil spill. The spill cost Boston Ship Repair $3m. The original charges were filed under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. | http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20170918/NEWS06/912315907/Ironshore-negligence-charges-against-Navy-in-pollution-case-reinstated | 2017-09-20 13:01:59.120000 | A federal appeals court has reinstated negligence charges filed by Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co. against the U.S. government in connection with a Navy ship’s oil spill.
New York-based Ironshore Specialty filed suit against Wollaston, Massachusetts-based American Overseas Marine Company L.L.C. and the United States under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, general admiralty and maritime law in connection with a 2010 oil spill that occurred at a Boston dock owned by its policyholder, Boston-based Northeast Ship Repair Inc., according to Friday’s ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston in Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co. et al. v. United States of America; American Overseas Marine Corp.
American Overseas had a contract with the Navy under which it had agreed to crew, maintain and make routine repairs to the Fisher, a transport vessel and vehicle cargo ship, according to the ruling.
Northeast unit Boston Ship Repair incurred nearly $3 million in costs associated with cleaning up the more than 11,000 gallons of fuel that were spilled, according to the ruling.
Ironshore filed suit against the United States and American Marine as Boston Ship Repair’s subrogee. The U.S. District Court in Boston dismissed all charges against the defendants.
On appeal, a three-judge appeals court panel unanimously reinstated the negligence charges against the United States. The panel agreed with the District Court that the ship was a public vessel and therefore exempt from liability under the Oil Pollution Act.
However, it says a subsection of the law states that it does not affect admiralty and maritime law. “Hence, because public vessels lie outside the sweep of OPA liability, any pre-existing admiralty and maritime law that applied to public vessels before the OPA’s passage survives its enactment.
“The District Court erroneously dismissed Ironshore’s negligence claims against the United States,” said the ruling, in reinstating the negligence charges.
The case was remanded for further proceedings. |
Scottish farmers call for weaker pesticide rules after Brexit | The UK should ease regulations including those on pesticide use after Brexit, according to the Scottish National Farmers’ Union. The union’s proposals would “significantly ease” what some farmers view as the “regulatory burden” on their sector. Proposals also include removing the European Union’s “three-crop rule” which requires Scottish farmers to grow three different crops in an attempt to benefit the environment in exchange for subsidies. | https://www.farminguk.com/news/Scottish-farmers-call-for-regulatory-burden-of-EU-laws-to-ease-after-Brexit_47445.html | 2017-09-20 12:25:20.010000 | The UK should use Brexit as an opportunity to streamline regulation and ease curbs on issues such as pesticide use, a farming union has urged.
NFU Scotland has mapped out the priorities for legislative change that would "significantly ease" what some farmers call the "regulatory burden" on Scottish agricultural industry.
Launching its document ‘Post-Brexit Priorities for Legislative Change’, the union identified elements of legislation that could be removed or improved during the period between the UK exiting the EU, and before the implementation of any new UK and Scottish agricultural policies.
The union is calling for changes that would help protect supply chain integrity and agriculture’s profitability, introduce proportionality in penalties, mapping and record-keeping requirements and see decisions on legislation based on risk rather than perceived ‘hazard’.
It has also called for curbs on pesticides to be eased after Brexit.
On profitability, one example includes tackling ‘greening’ and removing Europe’s ‘three-crop rule’ which requires Scottish farmers to grow three different crops if they want to secure the greening element of support.
The union said in a statement: "That would end a blunt EU requirement that does little for the environment, impacts on farm businesses, restricts the ability to grow for real markets and can be replaced with smarter environmental alternatives."
'Yellow card'
NFU Scotland has also called some EU laws as "draconian and disproportionate" for its penalty systems.
It said these should be replaced with a ‘yellow card’ warning system for minor breaches allowing time for unintentional errors to be rectified.
Scottish farmers are eager to re-write the rulebook to introduce what they see as more common sense approaches in how farmers secure environmental and animal welfare standards and traceability.
NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick said: “Brexit must allow us to replace elements of EU agricultural regulation that are bureaucratic, ineffective or ill-tailored to farming conditions in the UK and Scotland. I firmly believe that elements can be redesigned or implemented in a better way.
“Regulation should always be appropriate, proportionate, evidence-based and as light-touch as possible. A successful approach to delivering regulation would involve more carrot and less stick, a yellow card warning system for unintentional breaches and encouragement farmers to do what they do best – provide a safe and affordable supply of food.”
'Power grab'
The way in which powers repatriated from Brussels will be shared out is still a matter of fierce dispute.
Agriculture is among areas devolved to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, but both countries have said the UK government is trying a 'naked power grab' by repatriating powers to Westminster.
Scott Walker, NFUS chief executive, said the Scottish government is best placed to understand local farmers’ needs and that all of the UK’s devolved nations should have equal say in future policy.
“If the UK agricultural policy is basically set by Defra, then you don’t have a UK agricultural policy, what you have is an English policy being imposed on Scotland, Wales and Ulster,” Mr Walker explained. |
Biofuels pushing up global food prices: NGOs | Global food prices are rising due to the demand for biofuels made from food crops, including palm and rapeseed oil, according to an analysis by NGOs BirdLife and Transport & Environment. Since the early 2000s, biofuels production in Europe and the US has increased dramatically due to attempts to reduce fossil fuel use. In 2015, the European Union capped the use of food-based biofuels at 7% to counter deforestation, and it is now considering reducing this further after 2021. Last week, the UK capped its use of such biofuels at 4%, falling to 2% by 2032.
| https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/sep/20/demand-for-biofuels-is-increasing-global-food-prices-says-study | 2017-09-20 11:46:25.377000 | Demand for biofuels made from food crops, such as palm and rapeseed oil, has led to an increase in global food prices and needs to be curbed, according to a new analysis.
There has been a surge in the production of biofuels in Europe and the US since the early 2000s, backed by policies designed to cut use of fossil fuels, such as the first EU biofuel directive in 2003.
In the face of criticism about biofuels’ link to rising food prices and deforestation, the EU agreed to cap the use of food-based biofuels at 7% in 2015.
The EU is now debating whether to keep this at 7% after 2021 or cut it further, as a number of NGOs are calling for. Last week, the UK agreed to cap its use of food-based biofuels at 4% of UK road fuel next year, dropping to 2% by 2032.
The new analysis – commissioned by the NGOs BirdLife and Transport & Environment – backed those calling for an end to the use of food-based biofuels. If the EU cut use of them to zero, it concludes, then global vegetable oils, including palm oil, would be 8% cheaper and global cereal prices 0.6% cheaper by 2030.
While concluding that “only a fraction of the feedstock used for biofuel production would find its way to poor food consumers if biofuel mandates were cancelled tomorrow”, report author Dr Chris Malins from the consultancy Cerulogy said: “Reducing demand in Europe for food-based biofuels would take pressure off food commodity markets, resulting, in the short to medium term, in modest reductions in food prices and global poverty rates, and in net global welfare improvements.”
Vegetable oil is currently the main feedstock used to produce biofuels within the EU, with palm oil accounting for an estimated 12% of that total. Use of palm oil for biodiesel is also on the rise with 46% of the crop imported into the EU used for biodiesel in 2015.
The environmental benefit of using vegetable oils, such as palm and rapeseed oil to produce biodiesel, is also being questioned. A report published in July by The Royal Academy of Engineering said some biofuels, such as diesel made from food crops, have led to more emissions than those produced by the fossil fuels they were meant to replace.
Responding to the new analysis, WWF said it only supported biofuels that avoid these types of impacts such as those made from wastes or residues instead of crops. “But we would advocate for their use in hard-to-treat sectors, such as aviation, rather than road transport, which can be and is increasingly rapidly becoming electrified,” a spokesperson said.
The EU Commission declined to comment, but continues to dispute the impact of its biofuels policies on global food prices. In its most recent update report on its renewable energy policy it said: ‘Concerning food prices, it should be noted that between 2012 and 2015, prices of agricultural commodities decreased. In 2015, the price of vegetable oils reached its lowest level since 2005… Lower biofuel demand for vegetable oils was among the factors contributing to the fall in oils/fats prices.’
However, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, said biofuels were “having a huge impact on accessibility of food because of price increase, especially in developing countries. Moreover, in developing countries biofuel production is connected with the land grabbing and heavy pesticides use”. |
NRT Technology to merge with Sightline Payments | Canadian integrated ticket redemption and payment services provider NRT Technology is set to merge with Sightline Payments, the firm behind the disruptive Play+ platform, to create one of the world's biggest casino payment technology companies. Subject to closure, the new firm will be named NRT Sightline, have an equity value of more than $300m and will see Kirk Sanford appointed as CEO.
| https://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/9912207-nrt-technology-corp-and-gaming-payments-innovator-sightline-payments-announce-merger | 2017-09-20 11:17:04.233000 | Following the closing of the transaction and subject to regulatory approvals, Sightline's CEO and Founder, Kirk Sanford, will assume the role of President and CEO of NRT Sightline. NRT's current Founder, President and CEO, John Dominelli, will become Chairman of NRT Sightline and will remain active in leading the overall company strategy with a keen focus on driving the technology roadmap.
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NRT Technology Corp. ("NRT") a leading provider of integrated ticket redemption and payment services to global casino operators, and Sightline Payments ("Sightline"), developers of the disruptive Play+ platform that's powering the next generation of cashless and mobile gaming payment solutions, announced today an agreement to merge. The company on closing will be named NRT Sightline and will form one of the largest pure play gaming payment technology companies in the world with an equity value of over $300 million.
Combination Will Accelerate Innovation in Mobile, Data, Cashless Payments, and Provisional Credit Solutions to the Worldwide Integrated Resort Casino Industry
"Sightline is a perfect fit with NRT," said NRT President and Founder John Dominelli. "Kirk Sanford and his team add complementary talent and technology that we believe will help accelerate NRT's global leadership in casino payments. Together, we expect that NRT and Sightline also will accelerate our leadership in delivering innovative solutions for next generation commerce, mobile, and big data."
Sightline's cloud-based Play+ payment platform powers industry innovators such as Caesars, MGM Resorts International, Mohegan Sun, Station Casinos, Golden Nugget, William Hill, PokerStars and BetFair, which are creating compelling new consumer experiences and disrupting traditional cash-based ecosystem models.
Sightline's Founder and CEO Kirk Sanford said: "Sightline's growth has skyrocketed over the past several years and the alignment with NRT will continue to push the boundaries of innovation while expanding its customer base with increased speed and support from the extensive resources of the NRT infrastructure. John and I have a shared vision for the global gaming industry, which we intend to rapidly transform with many technological advancements that we already have in the works."
Play+, Sightline's award winning technology gives patrons a convenient and cost effective alternative to obtaining cash from current methods by allowing them to pay for their gaming experience using only their mobile devices or directly at gaming devices and POS using only their casino loyalty card. NRT already has a strong presence in gaming with payment volumes of more than $15 billion a year.
About NRT Sightline
On closing, NRT Sightline(TM) is a global leader in the design and development of enterprise platforms for the casino industry. Every year we enable more than 1 billion physical and digital commerce experiences at over 600 casino properties worldwide. By seamlessly combining technological innovation with strategic partnerships, we create the most convenient, reliable, and secure omni-channel payment ecosystem for casino operators and their guests. NRT Sightline has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including the coveted "Most Innovative Gaming Technology Product of the Year" for our Play+(TM) cloud-based cashless funding platform. Our solutions are used by casinos, lotteries, race and sports, banking & retailers around the world. We operate across 7 countries and have corporate offices in Las Vegas, Toronto, Macau, and Singapore.
For further information please contact Michael Dominelli, NRT Sightline's Chief Marketing Officer [email protected] 1(866) 646-5232 x4248
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: NRT Sightline via Globenewswire
|
The Body Shop introduces digital wallet | Ethical cosmetics and skin care retailer The Body Shop has partnered with mobile tech company Urban Airship to develop a mobile wallet. The wallet will raise awareness as part of a wider campaign against animal testing, but the company hopes it will also become a personalised means of one-to-one interaction with consumers. "A mobile wallet gives us an opportunity to deliver interesting, concise snippets of content to an audience we know is already engaged", said Russell Longley, senior manager of customer relationship management and digital development.
| https://adexchanger.com/mobile/body-shop-freshens-engagement-strategy-mobile-wallet/ | 2017-09-20 11:14:12.670000 | The Body Shop is tapping into mobile wallet as more than just a way to pay.
The cosmetics and skin care retailer will use mobile wallet to raise awareness and generate engagement for a campaign launched Wednesday as part of an effort to lobby the United Nations against product testing on animals.
The brand hopes to leverage the mobile wallet tool beyond the campaign for more personalized one-to-one communications.
For the UN campaign, the goal is to collect around 8 million signatures for the petition calling on the global organization to end product testing on animals. The petition is a joint effort between The Body Shop and animal advocacy group Cruelty Free International.
The Body Shop is hoping for a network effect. Consumers who sign the petition are brought to a landing page where they can download the “Forever Against Animal Testing” pass to their mobile wallet and easily share it with other potential supporters. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Through a partnership with mobile tech company Urban Airship, the brand will regularly update the mobile wallet pass with signature counts for the petition and news related to the fight against animal testing.
But The Body Shop’s ultimate plan is for the mobile wallet pass to endure beyond the campaign as a gateway to future and ongoing engagement. Down the line, The Body Shop will create mobile wallet passes for its loyalty program and gift cards.
Beyond eliminating the need to carry around branded plastic cards, which fits into The Body Shop’s corporate social responsibility mandate to be environmentally friendly, the passes are a sticky built-in marketing tool. Mobile wallet comes baked into a user’s device by default through Apple Pay or Android Pay.
“If we have permission, we’re able to use these passes to serve more content relevant to the campaign and also connect consumers with our other initiatives,” said Russell Longley, The Body Shop’s senior manager of CRM and digital development.
“Everyone is constantly being bombarded with so much information,” Longley said. “What mobile wallet gives us is an opportunity to deliver interesting, concise snippets of content to an audience we know is already engaged.”
Users only rarely delete a pass once they’ve downloaded it to their mobile wallet. The retention rate for passes stands between 85% and 95%, according to Urban Airship.
“Overall globally, we have more than half, about 52%, of our visits coming via mobile,” said Leona De-Graft, global head of ecommerce marketing at The Body Shop. “That obviously presents a massive opportunity for our communications when customers take the step to download our pass to their wallet.”
Consumers are also more likely to engage with content surfaced through a notification from their mobile wallet than with an ad.
“Display ads and programmatic ads are about broad reach and anonymous users,” said Judy Chan, director of product marketing for mobile at Urban Airship. “But mobile wallet is a more intimate format, and when a pass is downloaded onto a consumer’s device, a brand can start thinking about a nurture program and going from an anonymized place to a more personalized place.”
That’s The Body Shop’s intention going forward.
“We see mobile wallet as an opportunity for us to open up our communication channels with consumers and have more of a one-to-one interaction,” Longley said. “Everything we do is about deep engagement, and this is another way for us to put the customer at the center of what we do.” |
Fino Payments targets India's underbanked with mobile banking app | Mumbai-based Fino Payments Bank has launched mobile banking app BPay, an extension of its existing mobile wallet rolled out last December. The app enables customers to make bill payments, recharges, fund transfers and buy insurance, with a single login and interface offering access to both the wallet or the bank account. The mobile banking app is aimed squarely at India's underbanked, rural population, among whom Fino said mobile internet usage is growing at 26% year-on-year. | http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/fino-payments-bank-launches-mobile-banking-app/article9866114.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication | 2017-09-20 11:11:38.440000 | In a bid to help develop the fintech ecosystem in India, Fino Payments Bank has launched its mobile banking app called BPay.
Fino, which started its banking operations in July with 410 branches and 25,000 access points, aims to make banking easy for millions of under banked people in India.
BPay is also an extension of its already existing wallet in the same name that was launched in December last year. The upgraded BPay app, available on Android at present, is now much more than just a wallet. The mobile banking app enables simple, paperless and convenient banking that allows customers to make bill payments, recharges, fund transfers and buy insurance either through wallet or bank account.
An interesting feature of the mobile app is that it allows customers to seamlessly access wallet as well as savings account, with a single login and interface, Fino said in a statement.
Rishi Gupta, MD & CEO, Fino Payments Bank, said, “Over a decade ago we pioneered digital banking in rural India through biometric solutions. Going forward we believe rural India or Bharat, where mobile internet usage is growing at 26 per cent year-on-year, will drive mobile banking adoption. BPay app will play a critical role in our endeavour to bring banking closer to 50 million customers in 5 years, largely driven by tech savvy rural youth.”
“BPay is an extension of our phygital strategy, wherein customers have the options to choose the medium of engagement with us. They can come to our branches, banking points, get doorstep banking or simply do mobile banking by downloading BPay app,” he Gupta.
In addition to single login access that allows anytime, anywhere payments and banking, people can even open Fino bank account from BPay mobile app without the need to step inside a branch or calling a representative. Going forward, Fino Payments Bank plans to add more customer-centric offerings and services to the mobile banking app, it added.
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Touch-sensitive robots can detect gender and personality | French scientists are developing humanoid robots that are sensitive to touch, allowing them to detect a person's gender and personality by shaking hands with them. The researchers, from the University of Paris-Saclay, have designed the robots to display different emotions depending on situation and context, which they claim could lead to the next generation of robots being more "empathetic", and even developing a sense of humour. The research is also being used to help people with autism become more sociable. | http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/'emotional'-robots-can-tell-your-gender-from-a-handshake | 2017-09-20 11:09:40.927000 | Engineering news
Researchers in Paris are developing touch-sensitive robots that can infer someone’s gender and personality by shaking hands with them.
Adriana Tapus and colleagues at Université Paris-Saclay are developing humanoid robots that are sensitive to tactile stimulation, and hope their technology can benefit the elderly and those with autism.
“Giving robots a personality is the only way our relationship with artificial intelligence will survive,” said Tapus. “If we can simulate a human-like emotional response from a robot we can ensure a two-way relationship, benefiting the most vulnerable and isolated members of our society. Our research will help the next generation of social robots to be polite, empathetic, and maybe have their own sense of humour.”
The team has also developed robots that can display different emotions depending on the situation and context – adapting their arm stiffness depending on who they’re shaking hands with, for example.
Another strand of research hopes to help people with autism become more social, by investigating how they interpret emotions displayed by robots as compared to humans.
“It’s a tool to aid the human worker,” said Gilbert Tang, a robotics researcher at Cranfield University, who was not involved in the research. “It’s something that’s available all the time,” he told Professional Engineering.
Tang said that this kind of technology could transfer into the industrial space to make collaborative robots on the factory floor more human. “There’s more room for error,” he said. “If you look at industrial robots, they’re designed to make things quickly and as fast as possible, whereas in a domestic environment robots tend to be closer to people. In the factory, although a cobot is within reach, it’s not as huggable.” |
FedEx profits suffer in aftermath of cyber attack | American courier FexEx has reported a cut in profits, blaming the effects of a cyber attack on its subsidiary TNT Express, along with disruption caused by Hurricane Harvey. The company acquired Dutch shipping company TNT Express last year, providing them with a delivery network in Europe. The cyber attack in June was caused by a virus in tax software used in the Ukraine, forcing TNT to process some transactions manually. FedEx had no insurance to cover the attack, which they say has caused "significant operational challenges".
| http://www.fin24.com/Tech/Companies/fedex-cuts-profit-outlook-on-300m-blow-from-cyberattack-20170920 | 2017-09-20 11:04:38.007000 | Dallas - FedEx cut its annual profit forecast, citing the $300m cost of a June cyberattack on its TNT Express unit.
The courier now expects to earn no more than $12.80 a share in the fiscal year ending in May after excluding certain items, FedEx said in a statement on Tuesday. That’s down from an original projection of as much as $14 and less than the $13.10 average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The global cyberattack in late June struck as the company was stepping up spending to handle more packages from the expansion of online shopping. FedEx also said results at its ground-shipment unit weighed on results, as did Hurricane Harvey, which caused flooding along the US Gulf Coast.
“The first quarter posed significant operational challenges due to the TNT Express cyberattack and Hurricane Harvey,” CEO Fred Smith said in the statement.
FedEx had no insurance to cover the attack, which forced TNT to manually process some transactions.
Shares drop
FedEx fell 2% to $211.61 after the close of regular trading in New York.
Global operations outside the TNT unit weren’t affected by the virus, which entered the unit’s systems through tax software used in the Ukraine. FedEx said it found no evidence of a data breach or information lost to third parties.
The shipper also was among companies hit by the WannaCry ransomware in May, although it said that attack didn’t cause a material disruption to its systems or raise operating costs. Companies around the world struggled to retake control of their networks after the intrusions, which cost them hundreds of millions in potential revenue.
FedEx acquired Dutch shipping company TNT Express for $4.8bn last year to gain an extensive parcel delivery system in Europe to compete with United Parcel Service and Deutsche Post’s DHL. The just-completed quarter was the first in which FedEx reported TNT results as part of its Express division. TNT primarily serves industrial, automotive, high-tech and health-care industries.
FedEx already had planned a 16% expansion in capital spending this year to $5.9bn, after delaying some projects at FedEx Ground to help it process more of the growing number of e-commerce shipments and to boost margins. Deliveries to homes generally have lower yields than to businesses because fewer items are delivered at each stop.
The shipper also said its first quarter profit fell to $2.51 a share, compared with analysts’ average expectation of $3. Sales in the period ended August 31 rose 4% to $15.3bn, compared with the average estimate of $15.35bn.
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Virgin Trains auctions first-class seats through app | Virgin Trains is auctioning empty first-class seats on its East Coast services through a smartphone app. There will be a two-hour window to bid on the seats, which closes half an hour prior to departure, with prices starting from £5. First-class travel includes free refreshments, Wi-Fi and reclining seats. The service will launch on certain weekday trains from London King’s Cross, with more to come in future. First-class tickets for travel between London and Edinburgh can cost as much as £90 more than standard fares.
| https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/20/virgin-east-coast-auction-first-class-seats-bid-upgrade-price | 2017-09-20 10:49:10.490000 | Rail passengers unhappy at the prospect of a journey in standard class can now bid for an upgrade.
Empty first-class seats on selected Virgin Trains East Coast services are being auctioned through a smartphone app shortly before departure.
Prices start from £5 for a seat in first-class carriages featuring complimentary food and drink, free Wi-Fi, reclining leather seats and extra legroom.
Upgrades are initially available on some weekday services from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle and York, with more routes expected to be added soon.
Regular walk-up first-class fares for London to Edinburgh journeys can cost almost £90 more than standard class tickets.
Each auction opens approximately two and a half hours in advance and closes about half an hour before the train departs.
Suzanne Donnelly, commercial director at Virgin Trains East Coast, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with Seatfrog to offer customers more opportunities to experience first class.
“Passengers can get upgrades from as little as £5 and there are real deals to be had. The live bidding element means you can decide at the last minute if you fancy treating yourself.”
The Seatfrog chief executive, Iain Griffin, said people wanting to guarantee first-class travel should buy a regular ticket, as auctions would not be held for all trains.
“For passengers who travel standard class and maybe want to experience first class now and again, or be a little spontaneous on the day, then Seatfrog is the perfect platform,” he said. “We give them the chance to get a really good deal.”
Griffin said he was in discussions about rolling out the service with a number of other travel firms. “I’d be really interested in working with any train service in the UK,” he added.
“I see this working perfectly for a business like Eurostar. We’re already talking to rail operators in mainland Europe. Outside of rail, we’ve also got a big airline capability.”
Passengers who want to use the system for a first-class upgrade enter their booking reference into the app and start bidding. Successful participants are instantly sent a new ticket direct to their smartphone or tablet. |
Google, Bertelsmann offer 75,000 online tech study scholarships | Google and German media company Bertelsmann are partnering with online education provider Udacity to provide 75,000 online scholarships in web development and data science. The scholarship programme is an expansion of a similar scheme run last year that was seven-times oversubscribed. Applications will be invited from Europe and neighbouring countries. The top 6,000 students from the Google-funded Android and web-development courses will be offered the chance to earn a scholarship for further study with Udacity.
| https://thepienews.com/news/google-bertelsmann-to-fund-75000-mooc-scholarships/ | 2017-09-20 10:33:57.723000 | These scholarships mark the next step in an existing partnership which the companies describe as aiming to “prepare new European talent for the digital future”.
Google will fund 60,000 scholarships to Udacity’s Android and web development courses, which last three months. The top 6,000 students from that program will then be offered the chance to earn a scholarship for one of Udacity’s ‘nanodegree’ programs.
“Experienced developers and passionate beginners can take their skills to the next level”
Bertelsmann will fund a further 15,000 scholarships for Udacity’s data science programs.
The scholarships will be open to students around the EU, and in nations on the borders of Europe and the Mediterranean, such as Egypt, Israel, Russia and Turkey.
It follows on from a successful similar program in 2016, for which 70,000 people applied for just 10,000 scholarships.
Google is clearly no stranger to technology, but also has experience of providing education and funding in the digital realm. It has trained over three million people across the EU in the past few years, through its Growth Engine program.
Matt Brittin, president of business and operations in EMEA for Google, said the firm took the step to increase its funding, in order to benefit both beginners and those who want to develop their existing skills.
“We’re announcing the 60,000 Scholarships Challenge for Udacity Android & web dev courses… so that experienced developers and passionate beginners can take their skills to the next level and create new opportunities of their own,” he said.
Bertelsmann also has experience in the education sector, having given their worldwide employees free access to more than 10,000 online learning courses. It also run the Bertelsmann University, which offers corporate progression course, on strategy and leadership, as well as technology. |
Cyber crime boosted by low cost of hacking tools | The low cost of hacking tools being sold online is making cyber crime easier and more affordable, according to a report by the SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit. Information-stealing malware and spam botnets are readily available, and stolen credit card information is being traded for as little as $10, the research found. In other findings it highlighted the development of an underground cyber crime jobs market, with security experts being courted by hackers. It also suggested online crime led to losses of around $1.3bn in the US last year.
| http://www.zdnet.com/article/low-cost-tools-making-cybercrime-more-accessible-secureworks/ | 2017-09-20 10:18:06.577000 | Malware as a service, along with the affordability of spam botnets, is providing criminals with a low barrier of entry into the cybercrime space, a report from SecureWorks has said.
In 2017 State of Cybercrime: Exposing the threats techniques and markets that fuel the economy of cybercriminals, the SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit explained that less experienced hackers are able to purchase information-stealing malware for reasonably low prices, and, as a result, this has increased who can conduct malicious activity online.
"The internet underground is thriving with ready-to-purchase malware. In underground forums, inexperienced or less-skilled cybercriminals are able to purchase information-stealing malware for reasonably low prices, typically in the form of pre-compiled binaries or premium builder kits that enable attackers to custom configure their own binaries," the report explains.
Similarly, spam botnets, labelled the most frequently used method for the distribution of all "wares" by SecureWorks, are readily available for a low cost to budding cybercriminals.
"Today, cybercriminals can tap into large botnets to increase the spread of their spam exponentially, a product that can be thought of as 'spam as a service'," the report says.
As one example, the report says one large spam botnet known as Kelihos was charged at as little as $200 per million emails sent for pharmaceutical and counterfeit goods-type messages.
Personal information remains a popular commodity, SecureWorks said, with tested and verified credit card data available in some cases for as little as $10, and highly detailed personal information records also offered for as low as $10.
In total, the report details 11 key findings based on the company's research. However, in addition to the malware and ransomware explosion that was WannaCry and Petya, as well as the business email compromise (BEC) threat that accounted for $5 billion in losses globally between October 2013 and December 2016, SecureWorks highlighted that online crime is a market economy of its own.
The global financial toll of cybercrime is difficult to quantify, but pointing to a report from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), SecureWorks said internet crime led to losses in excess of $1.3 billion [PDF] in 2016.
The report from SecureWorks labelled the online criminal landscape as one that is complex and composed of actors with a diverse range of capabilities.
As defined by SecureWorks, the underground internet is the collection of forums, digital shop fronts, and chat rooms that cybercriminals use to form alliances, trade tools, and techniques, and sell compromised data that can include banking details and personally identifiable information, as well as anything else.
However, SecureWorks concedes that the full extent of cybercrime is not visible solely through this window.
"Lucrative online criminality is run like a business, controlled by organised crime groups who are focused on minimising risk and maximising profit," the report says. "Such groups have considerable reach, will often be active in other areas of more traditional criminality, and, when necessary, will employ the services of other professional criminals who specialise in certain areas, such as moving money or goods around the world."
With money in tow, cybercrime organisations are often able to scoop up security talent before the good guys can employ them. This has created an underground job market that SecureWorks said mainly requires skills in malware writing, inject writing, data processing, network and sysadmin, and network exploitation, as well as vendors to perform exploit kit loading.
Money muling, where a "middleman" takes the data and passes it on -- knowingly or unknowingly -- to the cybercriminal, also continues to be a valuable component of the online criminal landscape, the report explained.
SecureWorks also said the perceived gap between criminality and nation states, in terms of both actors and capabilities, will continue to shrink, pointing to the $81 million Bangladesh heist -- and the criminals' links with North Korea -- as its example. |
Coinfirm and SEI to work on blockchain pilot for asset transfer | SEI has entered into a partnership with London-based blockchain company Coinfirm to develop a system for asset transfer using blockchain. The goal of the partnership is to make asset transfer more efficient, with it currently representing, "one of the most expensive and error-prone parts of the asset management value chain", according to Brett Williams, managing director for SEI Wealth Platform. The two firms intend to begin the initiative with a pilot programme for one of SEI's existing clients. A full offering is expected next year.
| https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/innovation/blockchain-regtech-company-coinfirm-partners-sei-asset-transfers/ | 2017-09-20 10:12:55.863000 | London-based Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term regtech company Coinfirm has signed a strategic partnership with SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC), which manages, advises and administers $809 billion in hedge, private equity and mutual funds, and pooled and separately managed assets.
Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!
The companies say that their initiative is aimed at providing a solution that will significantly reshape the UK’s asset transfer market, and create a new digital industry standard.
Brett Williams, Managing Director, SEI Wealth Platform, UK Private Banking, said: “While there is a lot of talk across the industry about blockchain’s potential, this new initiative is a tangible example of how its power can be used to provide practical innovation to the industry. This solution could potentially transform the asset transfer market in the U.K -- significantly improving efficiency, service, and control, while simultaneously reducing costs and risk.”
“The asset transfer market is widely regarded as one of the most expensive and error-prone parts of the asset management value chain, with much of it still involving a great deal of manual procedures. The work we are doing with Coinfirm will help redefine asset transfers processing, with a view to setting a new standard by which all U.K. wealth and asset managers can evaluate their own systems and processes.”
Pawel Kuskowski, co-founder and CEO, Coinfirm, added: “What Coinfirm and SEI are doing together through our blockchain solution is not only a legitimate, living example of how this technology is helping solve core problems, but also setting a new standard for the industry as a whole. SEI has really placed itself at the forefront with this initiative, and we are happy to add a company of this calibre to the growing list of financial players with which we work.”
SEI and Coinfirm intend to embark on a pilot programme with one of SEI’s existing UK clients before rolling out the offering to other clients and the wider market in 2018. |
John Lewis embraces 360-degree Facebook ads for new campaign | John Lewis has become the first retailer to try out a new ad format on Facebook. The 360-degree ads let shoppers see products from a number of different angles and can direct users to the website with one click to make purchases. John Lewis’s early adoption of the format enables the retailer to fine-tune it before the busy Christmas shopping season.
| http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/19/john-lewis-becomes-the-first-uk-retailer-trial-facebook-360-collections-ads | 2017-09-20 10:11:43.313000 | John Lewis has set its flag in a new Facebook ad format, it is the first UK retailer to trial 360 degree Facebook ads that enable shoppers to fully check out select goods from every angle.
John Lewis' 360 shoppable ad
Becoming the first retailer to embrace the ad format gives John Lewis an advantage in getting its autumn advertising campaign ready. Furthermore, it can work out the kinks in the run up to its inevitable big spend during the holiday period in winter. |
Second Sight developing vision-restoring brain implant | Californian medical company Second Sight has been granted conditional approval by the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct small clinical trial of its new device, the Orion, which could restore some vision to patients with retinitis pigmentosa. The Orion borrows much of its technology from Second Sight's previous model, the Argus II, but also includes electrodes implanted directly into the brain to bypass the eye and the optic nerve. The company said people who are blind due to other illnesses could "hypothetically" use the Orion.
| https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608844/blind-patients-to-test-bionic-eye-brain-implants/ | 2017-09-20 10:09:56.613000 | The device, called the Orion, is a modified version of the company’s current Argus II bionic eye, which involves a pair of glasses outfitted with a camera and an external processor. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the company a conditional approval for a small study involving five patients at two sites, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles. Second Sight still needs to conduct further testing of the device and answer certain questions before starting the trial but hopes to begin enrolling patients in October and do its first implant by the end of the year.
Second Sight first won approval in Europe in 2011 for the Argus II, followed by an FDA approval in 2013 (see “Bionic Eye Implant Approved for U.S. Patients”). In Europe, two more retinal prosthetics have since been approved—one is marketed by French company Pixium Vision and another by German firm Retina Implant.
Also known as a bionic eye, all three devices are intended to bring back some vision in patients with a genetic eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa. The disease causes gradual vision loss when light-sensing cells called photoreceptors break down in the retina—the tissue membrane that coats the back of the eye. An estimated 1.5 million people worldwide, including about 100,000 people in the U.S., have retinitis pigmentosa. That is a small percentage of the 39 million people worldwide who are blind, according to the World Health Organization.
A rendering of Second Sight’s Orion device, a brain implant that uses most of the technology from the company’s existing device, the Argus II.
But Robert Greenberg, Second Sight’s board chair, says the company has only sold about 250 of the Argus II devices, a number lower than he expected. The device costs about $150,000 and restores minimal vision. Only 15 centers in the U.S. offer the technology, and with competition abroad, Second Sight is hoping its new brain implant could be used by far more pople.
Second Sight’s Argus II uses a camera mounted on a pair of glasses to capture images. The images are sent to a small, patient-worn processor, which uses special software to convert the images into a set of instructions that are sent to the implanted chip near the retina. Those instructions are then transmitted as a series of electrical pulses to an array of electrodes, also implanted around the eye.
People with retinitis pigmentosa are able to benefit from the device because the disease destroys only specialized photoreceptors while leaving the retina’s remaining cells intact. These retinal cells are able to transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain, producing patterns of light in a patient’s field of view.
The new device, the Orion, borrows about 90 percent of its technology from the Argus II but bypasses the eye. Instead, an array of electrodes is placed on the surface of the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes visual information. Delivering electrical pulses here should tell the brain to perceive patterns of light.
“In some types of blindness, the optic nerve is damaged so you have to go downstream. With the Orion, we’re essentially replacing the eye and the optic nerve completely,” Greenberg says. With this approach, “anyone who had vision but has lost it from almost any cause could potentially be helped by the Orion technology.” |
DOE enzyme discovery could make biofuels more economic to produce | Scientists at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered an enzyme that could help make the production of biofuels more economic. The enzyme, CelA, has proved faster than existing catalysts at breaking down complex crystalline structures in plant cells, which has proved a challenge in the past. However, in experiments, CeIA stopped working when it encountered lignin, a component of cells, and the researchers are now looking at ways to prevent this occurring.
| https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2017/enzymes_wort_to_biofuels_shown_in_latest_nrel_research.html | 2017-09-20 10:06:01.183000 | News Release: Enzyme’s Worth to Biofuels Shown in Latest NREL Research
An enzyme discovered at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) proves adept at breaking down cellulose fibers regardless of whether their crystalline structure is simple or highly complex. No other enzyme has shown that ability.
The enzyme, called CelA, comes from Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, and NREL scientists reported three years ago, in the journal Science, how it can convert biomass to sugars faster than competing catalysts in commercial enzyme preparations. The follow-up study, detailed in the new Scientific Reports paper, The Multi Domain Caldicellulosiruptor bescii CelA Cellulase Excels at the Hydrolysis of Crystalline Cellulose, points to how the enzyme could help remove one of the technical and economic barriers preventing cellulosic biofuels from becoming a commercial reality.
The crystalline structure of cellulose fiber in plant cell walls generally poses a problem for cellulases, the enzymes that work to break down cellulose. The more crystalline the structure, the stronger the fibers are. Fungal enzymes tested to date cannot easily break down fibers with high crystalline content so that the material can be converted into a biofuel. CelA, however, is agnostic to the level of crystalline content.
“CelA is able to break down cellulose with high crystallinity the same as low crystallinity, which has never been shown for any other cellulase,” said Yannick Bomble, a senior research scientist at NREL and the senior author of the paper. “The better the cellulase is, the quicker you can convert biomass to simple sugars so the cheaper the process will get.”
Bomble’s co-authors from NREL are Roman Brunecky, Bryon Donohoe, John Yarbrough, Ashutosh Mittal, Larry Taylor, Daehwan Chung, and Michael Himmel. Other co-authors were Brian Scott, Hanshu Ding, Sarah Teter from Novozymes, and Jordan Russell and Janet Westpheling from the University of Georgia. Their research looked at how CelA performed in breaking down and interacting with the components of cell walls in corn stover: glucan, xylan, and lignin. Chemical pretreatments were used on corn stover and silky fibers called cotton linters, leaving behind various amounts of the components and varying degrees of crystallinity, respectively. The experiments showed the degree of crystallinity didn’t affect how well the enzyme performed.
The sticking point came when CelA encountered lignin, the component that provides rigidity to cell walls. With some pretreatment conditions, some lignin remained, and that stopped the enzyme. “If it binds to lignin, it’s just stuck. It can’t process or break down biomass any longer,” Bomble said. “When that happens, you lose the enzyme. The more enzymes you lose to non-productive binding, the less efficient the conversion. That’s usually the problem. This is why we’re working on strategies to prevent CelA’s binding to lignin but retain the vital affinity to cellulose.”
The latest research was funded by DOE’s BioEnergy Science Center.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. |
Cisco, Bosch among founders of alliance backing IoT blockchain | Global companies including Bosch, Gemalto and Cisco have formed the Trusted IoT Alliance, an open-source working group that aims to create a "blockchain-enabled, trusted IoT" ecosystem. The alliance has already published a common API for registering IoT-enabled devices, or "things", to the Enterprise Ethereum and Hyperledger blockchains, while the decentralised network will eventually hold cryptographic registration, thing identities and metadata. "At this early stage we think it's vitally important to establish an inclusive framework that ensures openness, trust, and interoperability," said Ryan Orr, CEO of alliance member Chronicled. | http://www.zdnet.com/article/new-alliance-promotes-the-blockchain-to-improve-iot-security-trust/ | 2017-09-20 10:01:15.590000 | File Photo
Cisco, Bosch, Gemalto and other business giants have announced the launch of the "Trusted IoT Alliance" as part of an effort to promote the use of the blockchain to secure IoT devices worldwide.
On Tuesday, the group of companies said the Trusted IoT Alliance will "further a blockchain-based Internet of Things (IoT) open-source working group" that will create a "blockchain-enabled, trusted IoT" ecosystem with improved security and trust protocols.
To reach this goal, the alliance intends to create an open-source blockchain protocol to "support IoT technology in major industries worldwide."
The blockchain is usually associated with cryptocurrency, but its uses go further than as a means to trade in Bitcoin. The distributed, decentralized electronic ledger can also be used to underpin everything from voting records to legal documents, and with the same information distributed across different systems, tampering, falsification, or compromise is difficult to achieve.
Bosch, BNY Mellon, Cisco, Gemalto, US Bank along with Bitse, Chronicled, ConsenSys, Ledger, Skuchain, Slock.it, HCM International of Foxconn Group, IOTA, Oaken Innovations, Qtum, Chain of Things, and Big Chain DB are the first batch of companies to sign up to the alliance.
However, it is hoped membership will expand membership by targeting Fortune 5000 enterprise companies.
The group has already published a common API for registering IoT "things" to the Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum blockchain and plans to issue grants to support the development of additional open-source blockchain technologies.
"Proprietary technology and competing interests made a truly open network difficult to develop," the alliance says. "Open-source is widely recognized as the solution to the development of robust IoT standards. However, organizing consortia between major industry players is complex."
The alliance says that the groups' open-source tools and property will help the enterprise register IoT devices and create event logs on decentralized systems, which in turn will lead to a trusted IoT ecosystem which links cryptographic registration, "thing" identities, and metadata.
This will give users the equivalent of "birth certificates" for devices connected to a network -- as well as means to track any aberrations in behavior. In addition, the group says the aim is to increase interoperability and interworking, and so blockchain agnosticism will be maintained.
Co-founder of Skuchain, Zaki Manian, has been named the executive director of the alliance, with figures from Bosch, Chronicled, Cisco, and Gemalto holding board member roles.
"The world is beginning to recognize the potential of blockchain technology to fundamentally reshape the way business is done globally - and we're still just scratching the surface," said Ryan Orr, CEO of Chronicled. "At this early stage we think it's vitally important to establish an inclusive framework that ensures openness, trust, and interoperability among the many parties, in both the public and private sectors, that we believe will begin to adopt blockchain technology over the next several years."
See also: Yes, Blockchain could reverse the course of civilization and upend the world's most powerful companies
There are many companies exploring how the blockchain can be used not only for security purposes, but to improve business protocols, transactions, and supply chain management.
Microsoft, for example, is promoting its Blockchain-as-a-Service offering in the world of smart contracts, while the UK government wants to use the technology to track benefits spending.
Previous and related coverage |
Adblock Plus makes browser available for App Store on iOS | The Apple-sanctioned Adblock Browser for iOS 2.0, developed by browser extension Adblock Plus, is available to buy on the App store. The updated version, which the company has dubbed a "milestone update for the browser" includes many additional features, including Ghost Mode, which enables anonymous web browsing, while Adblock Plus said the intuitive interface and easy-to-use controls ensure a frictionless user experience. | http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/19/adblock-plus-releases-its-latest-browser-iphone-users | 2017-09-20 09:45:13.133000 | Browser extension Adblock Plus, which says it wants to rid the Internet of “annoying and intrusive online advertising,” announced its Adblock Browser for iOS 2.0 is available at the App Store.
Adblock Plus has a new iOS browser.
Calling it a “milestone update for the browser,” Adblock Plus said the product includes an intuitive interface and easy-to-use controls, and it will also keep data costs down, save battery life and protect personal data on the mobile web. |
Latest Obamacare repeal bill would hit California hard | If Congress passes the latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, California could face a loss of nearly $58 billion in 2027, according to the only analysis of the legislation so far.
| https://www.scpr.org/news/2017/09/19/75787/latest-obamacare-repeal-bill-would-hit-california/ | 2017-09-20 09:44:32.443000 | If Congress passes the latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, California stands to lose tens of billions of dollars over the next 10 years, according to separate analyses of the legislation.
The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was the first to crunch the numbers on the bill sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana). It determined that the state would lose nearly $58 billion in 2027. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimates California would lose nearly $46 billion that year, and nearly $62 billion from 2020-26.
The Congressional Budget Office says it doesn't have enough time to conduct a complete analysis of the bill by the time the U.S. Senate must vote on it next week.
The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that the chamber only has until Sept. 30 to try to pass the legislation with 51 votes under budget reconciliation rules. After that, Republicans would need 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster.
The legislation would roll back funding for expanded Medi-Cal and the subsidies that help people buy private individual insurance policies through Covered California. Those dollars would be replaced with block grants to states. Graham and Cassidy argue that states are better positioned than the federal government to decide how best to serve their populations' health care needs.
Switching to block grants would be a boon to states that never expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. It would mean a financial hit for those that did, like California. In the Golden State, that could amount to a loss of more than $1,500 a person, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Analysts say the loss of funding could force the state to make deep cuts to Medi-Cal, which covers one out of every three Californians.
The UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education estimates that 6.7 million Californians could lose coverage in 2027, based on a scenario in which the state cut Medi-Cal eligibility or capped enrollment for certain groups.
"The biggest group would be the people in the Medi-Cal expansion, but also people with covered California subsidies would lose those subsidies, and children, and seniors, and individuals with disabilities in Medi-Cal are also at risk of coverage losses," said Laurel Lucia, director of the Center’s Health Care Program.
Health organizations with a majority of their patients on Medi-Cal expect to be hit hard if the Republican bill becomes law.
"When states get block-granted they have to make really tough choices," said Louise McCarthy, president of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County. "They either cut the eligibility, they cut the services, or they cut the payments. Or they cut all three."
Those cuts would mean health care providers would, in turn, be making their own tough decisions on where to tighten their belts, meaning fewer services and potentially fewer jobs, she said.
"At this point in the Affordable Care Act debate, it feels like we are in hurricane season," said McCarthy. "We’ve been dodging hurricane after hurricane of repeal attempts. Now with Graham-Cassidy, we are right back where we started fighting a storm that is even worse than those that preceded it."
This story has been updated. |
Hep A outbreak: 'more lives are going to be at risk' | With case counts continuing to rise, San Diego leaders made their largest show of solidarity Tuesday morning in the fight against hepatitis A, gathering to ask the public for help in getting control of the outbreak that does not appear to be going away any time soon.
| http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/sd-me-faulconer-hepatitis-20170919-story.html | 2017-09-20 09:44:00.530000 | In its strongest public outreach to date, city and county leaders urged the public to do everything they can to help end the region’s historic hepatitis A outbreak.
With case counts continuing to rise, San Diego leaders made their largest show of solidarity Tuesday morning in the fight against hepatitis A, gathering to ask the public for help in getting control of the outbreak that does not appear to be going away any time soon.
Even though efforts to contain the outbreak started in March, officials do not expect an immediate halt to unprecedented public health threat.
“Frankly, this outbreak could last for at least another six months, and unfortunately there are going to be more lives that are going to be at risk,” Dr. Nick Yphantides, the county’s chief medical officer, said at a news conference in from of the County Administration Center.
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As they have every Tuesday for the last few months, officials gave an update on the outbreak’s toll which has had its strongest impact on San Diego’s homeless population. While the death count remains 16 as it was last week, there are two more deaths currently under investigation. For 15 of the 16 deaths confirmed so far, Yphantides said, each has been homeless and/or an illicit drug user. All have had underlying health conditions such as a concurrent hepatitis C infection.
The total number of confirmed cases linked to the outbreak jumped to 444 from 421 last week, and there are another 44 suspected cases currently under investigation. The number of people hospitalized due to infections from the specific strains associated with the outbreak climbed to 305 this week from 292 last week.
The steady increase in these numbers is causing growing anxiety in the region, pushing further into the mainstream late last week with a public warning to all patrons of a Pacific Beach restaurant after a person associated with the establishment was infected.
There was also news Tuesday of a new outbreak declared by public health officials in Los Angeles County. Two infections that occurred locally, officials said, are in addition to eight previous cases linked to ongoing outbreaks in San Diego and Santa Cruz counties.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, note the outbreak is small by comparison. Nevertheless, she said the department is ramping up prevention efforts locally so more people don’t get sick. San Diego’s outbreak has already spread to Santa Cruz, where 69 people have been diagnosed.
Another San Diego-linked case case surfaced in Imperial County over the weekend, according to health officials there.
“Within our investigations we have learned that the individual did not contract the infection here in the valley, here in Imperial Valley. He is currently still being treated at one of our local facilities,” Karla Lopez, Epidemiologist with Imperial County Public Health Department, told television station KYMA.
The person was described as middle aged homeless man living in downtown San Diego before arriving in Imperial County last week.
The San Diego outbreak was first recognized by the county health department in March, and the response has come under criticism in recent weeks for being somewhat fragmented.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer took pains Tuesday to signal that the government response has crystallized around the three main themes of vaccination, sanitation and education.
Hepatitis A: frequently asked questions
“There are lives at stake. Every person affected has a family, has friends. This is personal. This is our community. We will protect it,” Faulconer said at the news conference, the largest show of unity among public officials in the hepatitis fight.
The mayor and others urged the public to do its part primarily through attention to hygiene — frequent and thorough hand-washing — and getting vaccinated if warranted.
In addition to the county’s regular Tuesday update on the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with the outbreak, officials also said that 22,966 people have received the hepatitis A vaccine through a wide range of outreach events from inoculation clinics to foot teams working with the homeless in remote locations.
Yphantides stressed that vaccination is recommended only for a “high-risk group” of people across the county. There is no reason why those who do not fall into that group need to run out and get a hepatitis A vaccination even if they work in downtown San Diego where the largest number of cases have occurred, he said. On the other hand, he added, those who fear exposure to the virus should not be shy.
“If, however, there are individuals who have a felt need that they may have had exposure to the virus and want to have access to the vaccine, it is perfectly reasonable for you to make that request to your medical provider,” Yphantides said.
The main high-risk group the medical director referred to includes: homeless people, intravenous and illicit drug users, gay men, anyone who has has sexual contact with a person who has a hepatitis A infection, people with chronic liver disease and anyone with a clotting factor disease.
On Tuesday morning, the health department also defined a second job-based vaccination category. It includes: fire and emergency workers, law enforcement personnel, food handlers, health care personnel, homeless outreach and service workers, substance abuse treatment workers and public transportation workers.
Anyone who wants to find a nearby vaccination clinic can call 2-1-1 for more information.
The city is also conducting a free vaccination clinic in front of the San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
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IBM gives UC San Diego $10 million to find better ways to detect memory loss | IBM has given UC San Diego a $10 million contract to search for ways to preserve people’s ability to think and remember things clearly to help seniors live in their own homes late into life, perhaps until they die.
| http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-ucsd-ibm-20170914-story.html | 2017-09-20 09:42:23.540000 | IBM has given UC San Diego a $10 million contract to search for ways to preserve people’s ability to think and remember things clearly to help seniors live in their own homes late into life, perhaps until they die.
The money is aimed at a problem that trips up many older adults — mild cognitive impairment, a condition that can make it difficult to remember simple things like a name, and how do basic tasks like balance a checkbook.
UC San Diego will try to make it easier to detect MCI, whose symptoms can be hard to distinguish from the natural declines in thinking and memory that are a part of aging.
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Scientists also are focusing on MCI because the condition can lead to serious forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“If you can detect it in time, there are ways to dramatically slow MCI down,” said Tajana Šimunić Rosing, a UC San Diego computer scientist who will help lead a five year study of the matter.
“The bad news is that by the time most people go see a doctor they’re already experiencing more severe stages of cognitive decline.”
Scientists say the future looks promising due to the rise of web-connected sensors that can observe people with great precision and the availability of computer systems like IBM Watson, which crunch huge sets of health data in search of patterns and meaning.
There’s also a growing sense of urgency about the need to help older adults stay healthy. People are living longer. They want to stay in a home of their choice. And the nation’s population is aging rapidly, a change that involves great cost.
Medicaid spends about $150 billion a year to provide services and support to older Americans.
Much of the $10 million contract that UC San Diego will get from IBM will be used to study about 50 people who are 65 and older.
Ten of those people will have their homes outfitted with a variety of sensors and electronic devices that will monitor their daily habits and behavior, which provide clues to how clearly people are thinking and remembering things.
The sensors could be placed in everything from cellphones to phone outlets.
“We want to use the home environment to learn what’s going on with people,” Rosing said.
This part of the study also will involve scientists who can help identify cognitive decline by examining subtle changes in behavior, such as a person inexplicably repeating something or taking longer pauses when they speak.
Like the 40 other participants, the ten people also will undergo more classical study. The university’s Center for Healthy Aging will evaluate such things as a person’s general physical health, cognitive function and quality of their social life.
Dilip Jeste, the center’s director, doesn’t expect to have trouble finding participants, noting, “Most older people want to avoid going into assisted living, let alone nursing homes. Everyone wants to live independently as long as possible.”
× UC San Diego will try to make it easier to detectmild cognitive impairment, whose symptoms can be hard to distinguish from the natural declines in thinking and memory that are a part of aging.
The project also involves studying people’s microbiomes — or the genetic make-up of the micro-organisms that live in and on a person’s body, notably in the gut. Scientists believe that a person’s ever changing microbiome directly affects their health. The affects on memory and thinking are unclear, but need to be studied, say researchers.
UC San Diego is going to feed IBM Watson a large body of published data about the microbiome, along with readings from the upcoming study.
The university plans to draw study participants from a variety of places, including the Paradise Valley Retirement Community in National City. Researchers are looking for people like Louise Oberlin, one of the community’s residents.
Oberlin is an optimistic soul who nonetheless describes the indignities of aging in frank terms.
“I’ve noticed that I don’t pick things up as quickly,” the 73 year-old Oberlin said Friday. “I may have to read a page twice to get the whole thing. It’s a slowly moving stream of diminishment.”
The problems include sometimes forgetting people’s names.
“I’ll look at people I’ve known forever and can’t think of their name,” said Oberlin. “My first thought is that I’m embarrassing myself. My second thought is I get to use (the excuse), ‘I’m older, I’m a senior.’ That’s natural.
“The other part is that it feels bad to not feel competent in my own environment.”
On balance, though, she is thriving, saying, “I’m happy. My life is good. The things that have happened to me have made me be able to love the life that I’m in today.”
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Court allows farm hit by bird flu to claim for premises pollution | A US judge has allowed a poultry farm to proceed with part of a $7m claim against its insurer. The claim arose from the destruction of millions of birds amid an outbreak of bird flu in 2015. Rembrandt Enterprises made the claim under its premises pollution policy after the cull, but Illinois Union Insurance balked at paying $2m for remediation costs, which Rembrandt said were incurred in bringing the farm back to working order. Illinois Union's argument that the need for remediation had been caused by the disease, and not the destruction of the birds, was shot down by the federal court.
| https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9610dd02-c07a-4d7a-b26d-d63201725b82 | 2017-09-20 09:39:17.570000 | A federal district court judge has dismissed one of a poultry farm’s claims for “remediation costs” against its insurer with prejudice, but allowed the other to proceed. In Rembrandt Enterprises, Inc. v. Illinois Union Insurance Company, Rembrandt brought suit against its insurer for losses it sustained after a bird flu epidemic broke out at its farms in 2015. Regulators ultimately ordered Rembrandt to quarantine its facilities and put down millions of birds, forcing Rembrandt to spend millions of dollars to purchase new chicks to repopulate its farms.
Rembrandt submitted a claim to Illinois Union for the entire $7 million limit under its Premises Pollution Liability Insurance Policy: $5 million for business-interruption losses and $2 million for remediation expenses. The parties agreed to split the matter and address liability first and damages second. United States District Judge Paul A. Magnuson denied Rembrandt’s and Illinois Union’s cross-motions for summary judgment on liability, holding that genuine issues of material fact remained for the jury to decide whether (1) bird flu had “dispersed, released, migrated, or seeped” onto or into Rembrandt’s farms, and (2) the virus had spread due to human activity, which would trigger a policy exclusion.
Regarding the damages issue, Illinois National moved for partial summary judgment, arguing that Rembrandt could not recover the $2 million it sought for “remediation costs.” The policy defined “remediation costs” as “reasonable expenses required to restore, repair, or replace real or personal property to substantially the same condition it was in prior to being damaged during the course of responding to a pollution condition.” The key issue was whether Rembrandt’s property was “damaged during the course of responding to a pollution condition.”
Illinois National did not dispute that the diseased birds were Rembrandt’s “personal property,” or that bird flu was a “pollution condition.” Instead, Illinois National tried to hatch another argument: that the “pollution condition” itself – bird flu –and not the response to that “pollution condition,” caused Rembrandt to incur the remediation costs. In Illinois National’s view, all of Rembrandt’s poultry became damaged the instant that bird flu arrived at Rembrandt’s farms, and as a result, the birds were already damaged when the remediation commenced. By the insurer’s logic, therefore, none of the birds could have been damaged “during the course of responding to [the] pollution condition.”
Judge Magnuson clipped that argument. First, he noted that it appeared “undisputed that at least some of Rembrandt’s birds were not infected with [bird flu] when government officials ordered – and Rembrandt completed – the entire flock’s euthanization.” As a result, at least some of the birds were not at all damaged by the “pollution condition” itself (the bird flu), but instead were “damaged during the course of responding to” the pollution condition (i.e., when Rembrandt was forced to put down all of the fowl after the bird flu epidemic had begun).
Rembrandt also sought coverage for “remediation costs” in the form of $800,000 it spent to heat its barns after it put down all of its birds. Normally, Rembrandt’s farms hold hundreds of thousands of birds, from which the body heat alone is enough to heat Rembrandt’s barns. But with its flock euthanized, there were no birds to heat the barns, so Rembrandt incurred costs in supplying heat for its barns, without which additional damage would have been sustained.
Judge Magnuson cooled on this argument, holding that Rembrandt’s barns sustained no “damage […] [prior to or] during the course of responding to [the] pollution condition” (emphasis added). This was plainly distinguishable from Rembrandt’s birds, which did sustain damage (they were destroyed) when Rembrandt responded to the bird flu. According to the language of Rembrandt’s policy, coverage was not afforded for the prospective heating costs that Rembrandt incurred to prevent damage from occurring to its barns. Rather, coverage extended only to retroactive costs incurred to “restore, repair, or replace” property “damaged during the course of responding to a pollution condition.” As a result, Judge Magnuson dismissed with prejudice Rembrandt’s claim to recover barn-heating expenses as “remediation costs,” but allowed Rembrandt’s claim for the euthanized birds to go forward.
You can read Judge Magnuson’s order here. |
While Premiums Soar Under Obamacare, Costs of Employer-Based Plans Are Stable | In sharp contrast to the soaring health insurance premiums in many Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the cost of coverage for the vast numbers of people who get insurance through their jobs rose relatively little this year, continuing a period of remarkable stability in the employer market, according to a national survey released Tuesday.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/health/health-insurance-premiums-employer.html | 2017-09-20 09:38:51.687000 | In sharp contrast to the soaring health insurance premiums in many Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the cost of coverage for the vast numbers of people who get insurance through their jobs rose relatively little this year, continuing a period of remarkable stability in the employer market, according to a national survey released Tuesday.
The annual premium for family coverage rose an average of 3 percent to $18,764 this year, according the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit group, which conducted the annual survey of employers. That is the sixth straight year that employer-provided policies have increased by well under 5 percent, according to the survey. Employers paid the bulk of the costs, the survey found, with workers shouldering an average of $5,714, a year for a family policy.
About 151 million people are covered through an employer, and the insurance environment for many of those companies is characterized by “a remarkable stubborn stability,” said Craig Garthwaite, a health economist at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
The exception is the smallest companies, which are still finding it challenging to afford insurance for their workers. In recent years, a growing number of smaller companies have stopped providing health benefits, according to the Kaiser data. Over the last five years, the percentage of businesses with under 50 workers offering coverage has fallen from 59 percent to 50 percent. In 2001, two thirds of those employers offered benefits. |
Five New Grants Totaling Over $3.6 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees at September 2017 Meeting | The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved five new grants totaling $3.6 million in September 2017 to accelerate the move to age-friendly health systems, support family caregivers, and improve serious illness and end-of-life care.
| https://www.johnahartford.org/newsroom/view/five-new-grants-totaling-over-3.6-million-approved-by-jahf-board-of-trustee/ | 2017-09-20 09:31:23.703000 | Five New Grants Totaling Over $3.6 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved five new grants totaling $3.6 million in September 2017 to accelerate the move to age-friendly health systems, support family caregivers, and improve serious illness and end-of-life care.
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA): Demonstration of Person-Driven Outcomes Measures for an Age-Friendly Health System ($1,494,992 for 3 years)
There is broad agreement that people’s priorities and health goals should guide their care, and yet, existing health care quality measures do not effectively evaluate what is most important to individuals, particularly older adults with complex care needs. This grant to NCQA will improve the lives of older people by developing quality measures to assess how well health systems maintain or improve the health goals of older adults. The project will develop goal-based quality measures suitable for use in value-based payment arrangements in order to align care with what matters most to older people and their families.
AARP Foundation: Supporting Family Caregivers Providing Complex Care ($1,372,242 for 30 months)
Nearly half of the 18 million family caregivers in the U.S. who assist older adults perform complex medical/nursing tasks with very little training or support, as revealed in the 2012 AARP/United Hospital Fund Home Alone study, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation. This project with the AARP-led Home Alone Alliance will help health systems better serve these family caregivers by completing a national scan and sharing best practices in implementing the CARE Act, a law passed in 39 states that requires hospitals to identify and educate patients’ family caregivers before discharge. Home Alone Alliance members will create educational materials and conduct training for nurses and other health professionals to better work with family caregivers. The Home Alone study will also be updated, with a focus on diverse populations.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: Implementation of Rehabilitation at Home ($500,000 for 27 months)
This project will refine the Rehabilitation at Home care model and propose a new payment mechanism within Medicare to enable more older adults to receive post-acute rehabilitation services at home, improving quality and cost outcomes. The Rehabilitation at Home care model grew out of the Hospital at Home program, developed with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation. The model provides safe, high-quality rehabilitative and medical care in the home, the setting patients often prefer.
American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education: Advancing Legal and Medical Collaboration in Advance Care Planning ($151,997 for 1 year)
Advance care planning for the end of life is an essential component of person and family-centered care. However, legal and health care professionals are not well-aligned in advance care planning processes and this often results in legal documents that are not actionable in clinical settings. This project intends to bridge the chasm between lawyers and clinicians so that advance care planning will support patients’ goals of care being understood, documented, and honored in health care decision-making. The American Bar Association will convene, in collaboration with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, experts and stakeholders and produce National Recommendations and Best Practice Guidelines with actionable tools for medical-legal collaboration in effective advance care planning.
Columbia University: The John A. Hartford Foundation State Aging Index ($109,528 for 1 year)
This one-year project will extend the recently released international John A. Hartford Foundation Aging Society Index to the domestic state level and examine the impact of state programs and policies on the status and well-being of older adults. The project will begin by establishing measures in several relevant domains: social, economic, intergenerational, and health-related. Data analysis will include the calculation of state (or census region where appropriate) performance using the measures and an analysis of how state-based policies and programs are correlated with key state characteristics. The investigators, members of the Research Network on an Aging Society, will publish and present the findings, including to local, state, and federal policy makers. |
Insufficient new antibiotics in development: WHO | There is a serious lack of new antibiotics in development to combat the growing risk of antimicrobial resistance, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The report states that most of the drugs currently being worked on are modifications of existing forms of antibiotics, which offer only short-term solutions. The WHO has identified 12 categories of priority pathogens that urgently require new treatments. Although 51 new antibiotics and biologicals are in development to treat such pathogens, just eight are considered innovative treatments that will expand the field.
| http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/running-out-antibiotics/en/ | 2017-09-20 09:16:19.080000 | A report, Antibacterial agents in clinical development – an analysis of the antibacterial clinical development pipeline, including tuberculosis, launched today by WHO shows a serious lack of new antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Most of the drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are only short-term solutions. The report found very few potential treatment options for those antibiotic-resistant infections identified by WHO as posing the greatest threat to health, including drug-resistant tuberculosis which kills around 250 000 people each year.
"Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardize progress in modern medicine," says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. "There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery."
In addition to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, WHO has identified 12 classes of priority pathogens – some of them causing common infections such as pneumonia or urinary tract infections – that are increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics and urgently in need of new treatments.
The report identifies 51 new antibiotics and biologicals in clinical development to treat priority antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as well as tuberculosis and the sometimes deadly diarrhoeal infection
.
Among all these candidate medicines, however, only 8 are classed by WHO as innovative treatments that will add value to the current antibiotic treatment arsenal.
There is a serious lack of treatment options for multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis and gram-negative pathogens, including
and
(such as
and
) which can cause severe and often deadly infections that pose a particular threat in hospitals and nursing homes.
There are also very few oral antibiotics in the pipeline, yet these are essential formulations for treating infections outside hospitals or in resource-limited settings.
"Pharmaceutical companies and researchers must urgently focus on new antibiotics against certain types of extremely serious infections that can kill patients in a matter of days because we have no line of defence," says Dr Suzanne Hill, Director of the Department of Essential Medicines at WHO.
To counter this threat, WHO and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) set up the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (known as GARDP). On 4 September 2017, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Wellcome Trust pledged more than €56 million for this work.
"Research for tuberculosis is seriously underfunded, with only two new antibiotics for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis having reached the market in over 70 years," says Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme. "If we are to end tuberculosis, more than US$ 800 million per year is urgently needed to fund research for new antituberculosis medicines".
New treatments alone, however, will not be sufficient to combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance. WHO works with countries and partners to improve infection prevention and control and to foster appropriate use of existing and future antibiotics. WHO is also developing guidance for the responsible use of antibiotics in the human, animal and agricultural sectors.
Note to editors
Clostridium difficileAcinetobacterEnterobacteriaceaeKlebsiellaE.coli
For more information, download the following reports:
The clinical pipeline analysis data can be explored in an interactive way through: |
Chinese engineers announce world's first large transport drone | A team of Chinese engineers and designers has created the world's first large transport drone for commercial use. The team modified a utility plane to create the drone, replacing the traditional instruments with ground-control and automated flight devices. The drone has a one-tonne capacity and a flight range of more than 2,000km. SF Express, China's second largest courier company, is behind the project. The drone is currently undergoing ground tests, with its maiden flight scheduled for early October. | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-09/20/content_32252882.htm | 2017-09-20 09:08:26.360000 | The world’s first large transport drone for SF Express. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Chinese engineers have converted a utility plane into the world's first large transport drone for an express delivery company.
The drone — a refitted PAC P-750 XSTOL turboprop built by New Zealand's Pacific Aerospace — is undergoing ground tests, according to a senior designer involved in the project.
"If all goes well, the plane will make its maiden flight in early October," said Chen Xiang, director of unmanned aircraft vehicle guidance at the Xi'an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute.
"Once flight-tests are finished, the aircraft will be the world's first large transport drone for commercial use."
Designers and engineers from several Chinese institutes took part in the refit, including Chen's institute, which is part of Aviation Industry Corp of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.
The cargo drone is being produced for SF Express, the nation's second-largest courier after China Post. It will initially be used for technical demonstrations and by civil aviation authorities before going into commercial use, according to promotional materials from Chen's institute.
Amazon and DHL already use drones for delivery services and are developing new models. However, Chen said all the drones in service or in development are small and cannot compete with Chinese models for speed and capacity.
"The reason we lead in this field is because China is leading in e-commerce, thus needs such drones more urgently," he said on Monday on the sidelines of a civil-military integration development expo in Beijing.
To carry out the refit, he said engineers removed the pilot's instruments in the cockpit and installed ground-control and automated flight devices, the most important apparatus on a drone.
The plane now has a maximum takeoff weight of 3.4 metric tons, a capacity of 1 ton and a flight range of more than 2,000 kilometers.
Compared with manned cargo planes, a freight drone will spend about 30 percent less in terms of operational cost, according to Chen, who said they can be used for short-haul deliveries of time-sensitive goods, such as fresh food and medical supplies. |
High-speed internet still unavailable to six million US students | The US Federal Communications Commission needs to prioritise "far removed and resource-strapped" schools if it is to meet its goal of providing every US student with high-speed internet, according to an annual report from EducationSuperHighway. The non-profit organisation revealed that despite having made great progress - with more than five million US students gaining access to the internet in 2016 alone - 6.5 million children, in rural regions such as California, Texas and Illinois, were still unconnected. | http://edscoop.com/over-6-million-students-still-lack-high-speed-internet-access-report-finds | 2017-09-20 08:24:26.833000 | More than 5 million students in the United States gained access to high-speed internet in the last year alone, leaving just 6.5 million students to go, according to new data released by EducationSuperHighway on Tuesday.
In its third annual State of the States report, the nonprofit applauds the progress states have made toward closing the digital divide. Today, about 39.2 million students, 2.6 million teachers and 74,000 schools have access to digital learning opportunities, and 94 percent of districts across the country meet the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum goal of 100 kilobits (kbps) per second per student.
“We’re seeing a lot of excellent progress,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway, which was founded in 2012 to support America’s public schools in obtaining and upgrading broadband access. “For us, the goal has always been to have everybody connected by the start of the school year in 2020. I feel like we’re continuing to make great progress and be on track for that goal — maybe even ahead of schedule.”
Since last year’s State of the States report was published, the number of students who don’t have high-speed internet access has decreased by 45 percent, and Marwell said he’s “very optimistic” about coming through for the 6.5 million kids who remain unconnected.
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Most of the districts that have not reached the FCC’s 100 kbps per student minimum can obtain that high-speed broadband through a package already being offered to a comparable district in their state, he said. These districts tend to be located in urban and suburban areas.
The districts that lack fiber infrastructure, on the other hand, are mostly rural, and they’re concentrated in some of the largest states, like California, Texas and Illinois.
The challenge for rural schools, Marwell said, is that they are typically far removed and resource-strapped, making it difficult to come up with the $100,000 needed to get a fiber connection.
“For most rural school districts, that’s really beyond their means,” he told EdScoop. “I’m less optimistic about bringing fiber to [them].”
This is an area that the FCC needs to prioritize, Marwell said. He hopes that Chairman Ajit Pai will follow through on his promises to close the digital divide and to reduce the bureaucracy of the E-rate program, which helps schools and libraries afford broadband. “That, hopefully, means faster approval for fiber projects,” Marwell said.
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Efforts to connect students to high-speed internet have emerged from every level — local, state and federal — but governors especially have been “stepping up and putting up funding” in recent years.
Forty-five governors have committed to supporting “21st century” educations in their states, and together they have allocated almost $200 million in state matching funds for broadband.
Nine states now boast that 100 percent of their students are connected to high-speed broadband, the most recent being Arkansas earlier this summer. Others include Hawaii, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
States like Texas, Massachusetts, Montana and New Hampshire are not far behind, Marwell said. New Mexico, too, has recently made significant gains.
“We’re really proud of New Mexico,” Marwell said. “The fact that they, in what is a very rural state, have gotten fiber to 99 percent of their schools is truly remarkable.”
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“Some of these states started so low and they have some of the hardest schools to connect, and they’re just chipping away at it and making progress.”
The progress is aided by the fact that, since 2013, the cost of broadband has declined by 78 percent — from $22 per Mbps in 2013 to $4.90 per Mbps in 2017.
“We have to highlight the role service providers have played” in helping schools access high-speed internet, Marwell said. “They have been really key in driving down the cost of bandwidth for schools. We’re really excited at the way service providers have said, ‘hey, we have a responsibility in this.’”
The website hosting the report allows visitors to see state-by-state comparisons, including notable milestones and areas for improvement. |
WHO warns of lack of new antibiotics for resistant infections | There is an alarming lack of antibiotics under development to deal with the rising global drug resistance crisis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned. Among its concerns is the fast-spreading, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. WHO's Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned: "There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.” | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/19/too-few-antibiotics-in-pipeline-to-tackle-global-drug-resistance-crisis-who-warns | 2017-09-20 07:20:50.907000 | Too few antibiotics are in the pipeline to tackle the global crisis of drug resistance, which is responsible for the rise of almost untreatable infections around the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns.
Among the alarming diseases that are increasing and spreading is multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB), which requires treatment lasting between nine and 20 months. There are 250,000 deaths a year from drug-resistant TB and only 52% of patients globally are successfully treated. But only two new antibiotics for the disease have reached the market in 70 years.
The new WHO report, showing the paucity of new antibiotics being developed, lists 12 other pathogens that are serious dangers to health because we are running out of drugs to treat the infections they cause. Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacteriaceae that have become resistant to the carbapenem class of antibiotic are all on the critical priority list. They are what are known as gram-negative bacteria, capable of causing a range of life-threatening infections such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis.
Hospital infections such as C. difficile and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are also of major concern. They are a particular danger to patients who are already sick and have fragile immune systems.
“Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardise progress in modern medicine,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO. “There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.”
Ed Whiting, director of policy at the Wellcome Trust agreed and said: “There is no doubt of the urgency – the world is running out of effective antibiotics and drug-resistant infections already kill 700,000 people a year globally. We’ve made good progress in getting this on the political agenda. But now, a year on from a major UN agreement, we must see concerted action – to reinvigorate the antibiotic pipeline, ensure responsible use of existing antibiotics, and address this threat across human, animal and environmental health.”
The report’s authors have found 51 new antibiotics and biologicals currently in development that may be able to treat the diseases caused by these resistant bugs. But that will not be anywhere near enough because of the length of time it takes to get drugs approved and onto the market, and because inevitably some of the drugs will not work.
“Given the average success rates and development times in the past, the current pipeline of antibiotics and biologicals could lead to around 10 new approvals over the next five years,” says the report. “However, these new treatments will add little to the already existing arsenal and will not be sufficient to tackle the impending antimicrobial resistance threat.”
More investment is needed in basic science, drug discovery and clinical development, it says, especially for those pathogens on the WHO’s critical priority list. Gram-negative bacteria are getting less research attention because they are harder to find drugs against.
Among all these candidate medicines, only eight are classed by the WHO as innovative treatments that will add value to the current antibiotic treatment arsenal. The rest are just modifications of drugs that already exist and may already be compromised.
“Pharmaceutical companies and researchers must urgently focus on new antibiotics against certain types of extremely serious infections that can kill patients in a matter of days because we have no line of defence,” says Dr Suzanne Hill, director of the department of essential medicines at the WHO which produced the report.
There is serious concern over the spread of first multi-drug-resistant TB and then extremely drug-resistant TB worldwide. Drug-resistant TB has been found all over the globe.
“Research for tuberculosis is seriously underfunded,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Global TB Programme. “If we are to end TB, more than $800m per year is urgently needed to fund research.”
But new drugs will not be enough, says the WHO. Unless they are sparingly used, resistance will build to the new drugs as well. The WHO says it is working with countries and partners to improve infection prevention and control and to foster appropriate use of existing and future antibiotics. It is also developing guidance for the responsible use of antibiotics in the human, animal and agricultural sectors. |
Female-focused robo Ellevest adds human advisers after $34m round | Ellevest, a robo-adviser focusing on female investors, has raised $34m in its latest funding round. The funding will allow the robo-adviser to add human advisers to its platform, a move aimed at luring in older, more sceptical clients. Ellevest focuses on investing with women's particular needs in mind, addressing factors like a longer life expectancy than men and earnings peaking earlier than male counterparts, with the ultimate aim of closing the gender pay gap. | http://mashable.com/2017/09/19/ellevest-34-million-funding/#nTI13JvegaqY | 2017-09-20 06:55:11.960000 | Investing tailored to women is turning out to be big business. Ellevest, the platform for investing for women, just raised $34 million.
Investing for women sounds like it could be an insulting idea—don't women understand investing the normal way?—but that's not what Ellevest is doing. The platform tailors investments to the realities of women's careers: they face a gender pay gap, they live longer, and their salaries peak earlier than men's. That means they need to save for retirement differently.
Ellevest is hoping to beat out some of the roboadvising competition—and close the gender savings gap at the same time.
Rethink Impact, a venture capital firm that looks for companies run by women, led the funding round. PSP Growth, Salesforce Ventures, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, LH Holdings also participated, as did Ellevest's returning investors.
With this funding round, Ellevest will add human financial planners as an option to complement its roboadvising services. That's something other investing startups like Betterment have also added recently. Those changes have helped roboadvisors tap slightly older customers who are more comfortable using a roboadvisor when there's also someone they can talk through their finances with.
“I’m thrilled these global leaders—who are female 'firsts' and technology innovators—are joining Ellevest’s mission to end the gender gap in investing and personal finance,” Ellevest CEO and Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck said in a press release. “We will use this new funding to build on the momentum in our digital offering, and develop solutions with women in our community who are asking us for human interaction and financial planning services.” |
Contactless payments growing strongly in Sri Lanka, says Visa | Sri Lankan consumers have embraced contactless payments since their deployment began in September 2016, according to Visa Group country manager for India and south Asia, TR Ramachandran. He said the company expects to have 30% of terminals enabled for contactless payment by the end of the year, and said the ease with which the system had been adopted would speed up the Sri Lankan government's drive towards creating a cashless society.
| http://www.dailynews.lk/2017/09/20/business/128701/%E2%80%98contactless-payments-growing-rapidly-sl%E2%80%99 | 2017-09-20 06:52:55.773000 | Contactless payments are rapidly growing in popularity across the world and in Sri Lanka too this segment is showing growth, said Visa Group Country Manager for India and South Asia, T.R. Ramachandran.
Speaking to Daily News Business, he said that in Sri Lanka, contactless payments only began rolling out in September 2016 and so far growth numbers across the first 12 months are growing rapidly.
“Visa has already begun deploying contactless payment technology in Sri Lanka and expects to have 30% of the total number of terminals contactless enabled by the end of 2017.”
“The creative disruption brought about by digitalization of point-of-sales, tokenisation of transaction gateways and diversification of IoT-enabled payments will revolutionize the everyday buying and selling in Sri Lanka,” Ramachandran said. He said that Visa will continue to expand contactless payment acceptance and facilitate new ways to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere. “The swift adaptation by Sri Lankans to contactless payments will also help to speed up governments drive towards creating a cashless society.”
Contactless payments are designed to replace the use of cash in busy retail environments where speed and convenience are important, such as supermarkets, convenience stores, petrol stations and quick-service restaurants. He said that in India too this there has been a significant increase in digital payments penetration post demonetization. “In the overall context, we look at what is known as personal consumption expenditure (PCE). The current penetration of digital payments of these expenditures is around 7 to 9%.”
“We are seeing a shift towards digital payments, quite dramatically, particularly in non-discretionary categories such as fuel and groceries, not only from metros and urban areas but also from tier II and tier III markets. Consumers are slowly but steadily embracing digital payments.”
“It’s fair to say that post demonetization, India has perhaps leapfrogged three to four years and achieved what otherwise could have happened in 2020.” In comparison with China, where 45% of China is already digitized, only 8% of India is digitized, which presents a huge potential to grow, Ramachandran said. Singapore is embracing contactless technology, with around one in every four transactions being made through this channel.
“Hence India represents perhaps the single largest cash displacement opportunity in the planet.”
Nearly 20-25 billion devices across the world by 2020 in some form of fashion will be connected and will be smart devices. India and Sri Lanka are countries where there is a level playing field with a domestic scheme and international schemes.
The size of the challenge and the opportunity in India is too large for one player to take on itself, whether it is Visa, RuPay, MasterCard, or any other firm. |
Former MP warns of 'housing catastrophe' for UK's millennials | The UK is heading towards a "housing catastrophe", according to former Conservative MP David Willetts. Millennials now spend three times more of their post-tax income on housing than their grandparents, often for worse accommodation, found a study commissioned by Willetts. The study also reported that 30-year-olds today are only half as likely to own a house as their parents were at the same age. “This is the biggest problem facing the younger generation. It depresses their living standards and quality of life", said Willetts. | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/20/millennials-spend-three-times-more-of-income-on-housing-than-grandparents | 2017-09-20 06:28:16.993000 | Millennials are spending three times more of their income on housing than their grandparents yet are often living in worse accommodation, says a study launched by former Conservative minister David Willetts that warns of a “housing catastrophe”.
The generation currently aged 18-36 are typically spending over a third of their post-tax income on rent or about 12% on mortgages, compared with 5%-10% of income spent by their grandparents in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite spending more, young people today are more likely to live in overcrowded and smaller spaces, and face longer journeys to work – commuting for the equivalent of three days a year more than their parents.
The research by Willetts’ intergenerational commission at the Resolution Foundation thinktank also reveals that today’s 30-year-olds are only half as likely to own their own home as their baby boomer parents. They are four times as likely to rent privately than two generations ago, a sector which has the worst record for housing quality, the report claims.
The report’s authors argue that the housing crisis is a huge part of public anxiety about the country’s direction, a factor in the result of the EU referendum last year and in the general election in June.
A young family today has to save for 19 years on average to afford a typical deposit compared with three years for the previous generation, the report states.
“This is the biggest problem facing the younger generation,” said Willetts. “It depresses their living standards and quality of life. It is very important for the Tory party to open up the route to home ownership again. A lot of twentysomethings also have horror stories of bad landlords and we need to help them as well.”
By highlighting intergenerational inequality, Willetts hopes to break down public opposition to mass housebuilding – not least from parents who despair at the difficulty their children face in finding good housing. He is arguing for a new towns programme in which the government buys land that does not have planning consent to create large new communities of homes for sale.
The report came as the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, also announced a wholesale review of social housing policy in the wake of the fatal fire at Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey block in north Kensington which combined council housing and a small number of private rented homes.
Speaking to the National Housing Federation conference in Birmingham, Javid said: “In one of the richest, most privileged corners of the UK – the world, even – would a fire like this have happened in a privately owned block of luxury flats? If you believe that the answer is no, even if you think it was simply less likely, then it’s clear that we need a fundamental rethink of social housing in this country.”
He said a social housing green paper would propose reforms to the overall quality of social homes, the rights of tenants and will address what can be done to ensure their complaints are taken seriously and dealt with properly.
Grenfell residents claim they raised concerns about fire safety at the block on several occasions but were not heeded. The Resolution Foundation report found that almost a third of 25-to-34-year-olds living in private rented flats live in properties which fail the decent homes standard.
Responding to the Resolution Foundation report, Dan Wilson Craw, director of campaign group Generation Rent, said: “Young adults have been hit with a double whammy of rising house prices which make ownership unaffordable, and rising rents which they cannot escape. The chorus of demands on the government to act decisively is getting louder, but it’s important not to neglect the growing numbers of older renters. Because getting a mortgage becomes harder beyond the age of 40, many face a lifetime of renting.
“Millions of people, young and old, are stuck renting for the foreseeable future and they need much greater security than the market currently provides, with protection from eviction and rising rents.” |
Regus Regus offers free business lounge access in Berkshire for World Car Free Day | Flexible workspace provider Regus is marking World Car Free Day by offering free business lounge access at its centres in Berkshire. The average UK commute has increased from 27 to 29 minutes between 2011 and 2016, according to research, and World Car Day encourages drivers to give up their wheels for a day. "We’re asking business owners … to consider whether the fixed workspace model is necessary in today’s connected age, especially as flexible alternatives exist in nearly every town throughout the UK," said Richard Morris, the UK CEO of Regus. The Berkshire sites include workspaces in Bracknell, Maidenhead, Reading and Slough.
| http://www.businessmag.co.uk/berkshire-regus-offers-free-workspace-world-car-free-day/ | 2017-09-20 06:02:23.353000 | Workspace provider Regus is offering free business lounge access at its centres throughout Berkshire, including Reading, Slough, Bracknell and Maidenhead, for World Car Free Day on Friday September 22. The initiative is designed to help professionals avoid a car journey into work, and instead work from a professional environment within walking or cycling distance from home.
World Car Free Day encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day in favour of walking, cycling or using public transport and hundreds of cities and towns across the globe are expected to mark the occasion.
Unnecessary carbon emissions, wasted time and loss of productivity are just a few of the negatives associated with a lengthy car journey to the office. According to the latest research, the average UK commute increased from 27 to 29 minutes between 2011 and 2016, adding a total of 14 hours of commuting time for drivers each year[1].
The Regus business lounges in Berkshire are ergonomically designed and equipped with high-speed connectivity to enable workers to turn-up, plug-in and be productive rather than battle through the rush-hour crowds.
Richard Morris, UK CEO, Regus, commented: “This World Car Free Day, we’re encouraging people to do their bit for the environment by reconsidering whether they really need to drive to the office every day. We are offering them the opportunity of working for free at their local Regus centre so they can try out a greener, healthier way of working.
“Lengthy car journeys to work are expensive, tiring and have devastating effects on the environment. We’re asking business owners and senior managers to consider whether the fixed workspace model is still necessary in today’s connected age, especially as flexible workspace alternatives exist in nearly every town throughout the UK.”
The Regus centres in Reading are located at: Davidson House at Forbury Square, Atlantic House on Imperial Way, Duke Street, Green Park and Thames Valley Retail Park. |
Fotech launches Livepipe II fibre-optic pipeline monitoring tool | Fotech Solutions, a UK information technology and services company, has launched Livepipe II, which it calls the world's most fully automated fibre-optic sensing tool for pipelines. Livepipe II offers dual-channel technology, delivers a monitoring range of up to 100 km with no loss of detection accuracy or sensitivity. In addition, it comes with Fotech's enhanced data and acoustic management technology, allowing operators to listen to activity at a specified location. Chris Shannon, the CEO of Fotech Solutions, said Livepipe II was a "major step forward" in preventing pipeline theft, accidental and environmental damage, and in bringing down the cost of monitoring pipelines. | https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/offshore-and-subsea/20092017/fotech-achieves-world-first-with-new-pipeline-monitoring-solution/ | 2017-09-20 05:59:47.240000 | As oil and gas operators around the world continue to face increasing pressure to enhance their pipeline monitoring and security measures, Fotech has launched LivePIPE II – enhancing the world’s most reliable real time pipeline protection technology.
Crucially LivePIPE II’s dual channel technology delivers a monitoring range up to 100 km from each individual module, with no multiplexing, just continuous monitoring, and no loss of detection accuracy or sensitivity at any point. As a world first capability, this significantly simplifies and lowers the cost of deploying a Distributed Fibre Optic (DFO) sensing solution on a pipeline. Detecting leaks and third-party intrusions over vast distances has just become a lot easier with LivePIPE II.
The next generation of LivePIPE also introduces Fotech’s EDAM (Enhanced Data and Acoustic Management) technology, giving operators enhanced insight to their pipeline’s integrity. EDAM allows operators to listen to activity at a specified location on the installed fibre in real-time – offering new assistance in identifying the exact nature of potential threats. EDAM can also identify and record segments of data that can be stored for up to three months, replayed, listened to, and used to analyse and enhance LivePIPE’s event detection algorithms.
These new features make LivePIPE II the most advanced fully-automated fibre optic sensing solution in the world.
Chris Shannon, CEO, Fotech Solutions, said: “Fibre optic sensing technologies are increasingly vital to operators’ security strategies and are no longer seen as just a ‘nice to have’. Issues of pipeline theft, accidental damage, and the environmental damage both scenarios can cause, are not going away. LivePIPE II offers operators a major step forward in being able to prevent and mitigate the financial and environmental consequences of such integrity incidents.
“With LivePIPE II Fotech is demonstrating its technological leadership by pushing the boundaries of DFO solutions and this next generation product represents a significant breakthrough for pipeline operators.” |
National Pig Association to help craft future migration policy | UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to seek opinions from across the UK economy regarding the country's immigration system and how it "should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy". Among the industries being asked for their opinions is the National Pig Association (NPA), which expressed concern about recently leaked government plans to limit numbers of unskilled workers coming from the European Union. NPA senior policy advisor Ed Barker said migrant labour was "integral" to the pig farming industry, and that many were highly skilled contributors to the UK economy. | https://www.farminguk.com/news/British-pig-industry-to-help-Government-with-post-Brexit-labour-policy_47442.html | 2017-09-20 05:53:35.047000 | The British pig industry has asked farmers to fill in a survey to help inform the Government about post-Brexit immigration and labour policy - an issue of critical importance to the pig sector.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise the Government on how the UK’s immigration system 'should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy'.
The MAC is now seeking views from across the UK economy on various issues, including the extent of EU labour employed and the type of work performed, the benefits and disadvantages of EU labour and the likely impact of changes to its availability in future.
It is also seeking views on the relationship between EU and domestic labour and the issues around employing domestic labour, including skill levels and the provision of training by our educational establishments.
The National Pig Association (NPA) has been asked for its opinion, and this will help inform Government policy on post-Brexit migrant labour.
Earlier this month, the pig industry expressed concern following the publication of a leaked document giving an insight into the Government’s current thinking on post-Brexit immigration policy.
The document, leaked to The Guardian, shows the Government intends to be tough on immigration, ending the free movement of labour as soon as the UK leaves the EU.
Of particular concern for the pig sector, according to the NPA, are plans to curb so-called ‘unskilled’ workers from the EU by, for example, introducing a cap on numbers and a salary and skills threshold.
'Alarmed'
NPA senior policy advisor Ed Barker said the pig industry is "alarmed" by the Home Office’s suggestion that migrant labour from the EU should be severely restricted, particularly those who fall under the ‘unskilled’ definition.
He said: “Many workers in the pig sector fall into this category but are in fact highly skilled and make a significant contribution to the economy.
“We have made our position clear that migrant labour is integral to the businesses of NPA members; 58% of members indicated to the NPA’s migrant labour survey that they employed at least one migrant labourer, with 20% indicating they would struggle to survive without it.
“Whilst the paper refers to the ongoing work of the Migratory Advisory Committee, it is vital that the Committee is able to report its findings quickly, so that it can adequately shape Government policy.
“We note that the paper recognises the need for a sector by sector approach to business needs on migrant labour, and the NPA would urge that the pig sector should be able to state its unique case for continued access to migrant labour for permanent, ‘unskilled’ roles.” |
UK must focus on solar and wind energy rather than biomass: NRDC | The UK government needs to plough its renewable-energy finances into solar and wind power, rather than biomass, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has said. Biomass power produced from burning wood chips isn't a zero-carbon operation and will cost more than solar and onshore wind generation in a decade, the New York-based environmental advocacy group said. That means subsidies offered for coal-to-biomass power plant conversions are a waste of taxpayer money, it said, adding that the plunging cost of solar and wind energy makes them more "economically viable long-term" choices.
| https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/09/19/u-k-not-doing-enough-for-climate-at-expense-of-renewables-says-nrdc/ | 2017-09-20 05:37:45.227000 | The Drax Power Station near Selby, North Yorkshire, is the single largest CO2 emitter in the U.K. Its owner plans to replace the coal-fired units with gas power and a 200 MW battery.
The U.K. government has decided to keep generating electricity from biomass, which involves burning wood pellets, to meet its climate and renewable energy targets. However, biomass will still be more expensive than solar and onshore wind by the end of the decade, the NRDC says in a new study it recently conducted in cooperation with Vivid Economics.
“In reality, burning biomass for electricity not only undermines the United Kingdom’s climate change goals, it does so at huge taxpayer expense while diverting resources from cleaner and smarter investments,” the New York-based environmental advocacy group says.
Biomass plants rely on millions of tons of wood pellets imported from the southeastern U.S. and elsewhere for fuel. Developers of such projects also receive billions in subsidies, based on the assumption that biomass is a zero-carbon source of electricity, which the NRDC disputes. But by 2020, all forms of renewable energy will be more cost effective than carbon-emitting energy sources, it says.
Furthermore, biomass will be more expensive than all forms of wind and solar by 2025. If more coal-fired plants are converted to biomass installations, they could become obsolete and uneconomic within a decade, the NRDC says. And the U.K. government risks wasting millions of pounds per year by continuing to subsidize coal-to-biomass conversions.
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As an example, energy provider Drax has decided to convert its coal-fired plant in North Yorkshire – the largest emitter of CO2 in the U.K. — to biomass. However, if it focused its attention on a more economically viable long-term solution involving clean energy, notably solar and wind power, it would be a more cost-effective business plan, as well as a more environmentally friendly one.
The NRDC urges U.K. policymakers to cut subsidies for biomass projects in favour of investments in renewable sources such as solar and wind. The non-profit environmental advocacy group argues that a reliable, coal-free electricity grid is not only a possibility for the British government, but also the more economically viable long-term choice, given how the price of renewables has plummeted in the past few years.
Author: Frederic Brown |
Rolls-Royce plans to build robot ships with 3,500-mile range | UK engineering firm Rolls-Royce is developing an autonomous ship with a range of 3,500 nautical miles, according to a company statement. The 700-ton vessel will be able to reach at least 25 knots and can operate beyond the horizon for more than three months, and will be used for "patrol and surveillance, mine detection or fleet screening". Rolls-Royce added it had developed what it believed was the "world’s first intelligent awareness system combining multiple sensors with artificial intelligence".
| https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2017/09/19/now-rolls-royce-is-building-robot-ships/ | 2017-09-20 05:32:35.383000 | British firm Rolls-Royce has announced plans to develop an autonomous robot naval vessel with a range of 3,500 nautical miles.
“The vessel concept is capable of operating beyond the horizon for over 100 days, will displace 700 tons and reach speeds above 25 knots,” according to a Rolls-Royce news release. “The 60-meter [197 feet]-long vessel is designed to perform a range of single-role missions, for example, patrol and surveillance, mine detection or fleet screening.”
The ship sounds conceptually similar to DARPA’s Sea Hunter robot sub-chaser. The design may feature a full-electric propulsion system with two Rolls-Royce MTU 4000 Series gensets, or small gas turbines. Thrusters will make the vessel highly maneuverable, and solar panels will provide backup energy.
“Rolls-Royce has created what it believes to be the world’s first intelligent awareness system combining multiple sensors with artificial intelligence, to help commercial vessels operate more safely and efficiently,” the company said. “Significant analysis of potential cyber risks is also being undertaken to ensure end-to-end security.” |
Wages and inflation to rise post-Brexit: BoE | Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England has warned inflation and interest rates could rise following Brexit, but suggested wages may increase too. In a speech at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, Carney said a significant drop in migration following the UK's departure from the bloc could "contribute more materially to inflationary pressures", and warned it could take up to four years for the fall in sterling's value to impact on domestic prices. More positively, Carney said the Phillips Curve could steepen as a result of Brexit, leading to faster-rising wages in the UK. | http://news.sky.com/story/brexit-to-bring-weaker-economy-and-higher-inflation-bank-of-england-warns-11042599 | 2017-09-20 04:41:23.500000 | The Governor of the Bank of England has warned that the major economic impact of Brexit has yet to be felt, but it was likely to spell a weaker economy, higher inflation and higher interest rates in the coming years.
In his latest attack on Brexit, Mark Carney said that it should be seen as a prime example of "de-globalisation", adding that it was likely to dampen UK growth, and that any fall in migration numbers could also push up inflation and force the bank to raise borrowing costs.
However, in a speech at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, the Governor surprised those expecting more detail on when and by how much the Bank was likely to raise interest rates, and instead focused on the economic fallout of Britain's departure from the EU.
Mr Carney said Brexit was "an example of de-globalisation not globalisation".
He added: "It will proceed rapidly not slowly. Its effects will not build by stealth but can be anticipated."
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:11 May on 'significant' post-Brexit trade deal with Canada
The Governor said any fall in migration following Britain's departure could push up prices in the UK, saying: "Abrupt decreases in migration could result in shortages in some sectors that have become reliant on migrant labour, and contribute more materially to inflationary pressures."
Mr Carney also said that while economic growth remained relatively resilient so far, it could take many years for the full impact of the transition to be felt by the UK economy, pointing out that any fall in the value of the currency could take as long as four years to feed into domestic prices.
However, he said that there was only so much the Bank could do with interest rates: "It is critical to recognise that Brexit represents a real shock about which monetary policy can do little.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:18 Johnson: PM's the only Brexit 'driver'
"Monetary policy cannot prevent the weaker real incomes likely to accompany the move to new trading arrangements with the EU, but it can influence how this hit to incomes is distributed between job losses and price rises.
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"And it can support UK households and businesses as they adjust to such profound change."
However, Mr Carney's speech also suggested that wages could rise faster if the UK left the EU, suggesting the Phillips Curve - a measure of the trade-off between inflation and employment - could steepen as a result.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:03 Could Brexit raise cost of a Guinness?
His speech did not add much detail to the news last week that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is now more open to the notion of an interest rate increase.
He said: "If the economy continues to follow a path consistent with the prospect of a continued erosion of slack and a gradual rise in underlying inflationary pressure then, with the further lessening in the trade-off that this would imply, some withdrawal of monetary stimulus is likely to be appropriate over the coming months in order to return inflation sustainably to target.
"Any prospective increases in bank rate would be expected to be at a gradual pace and to a limited extent, and to be consistent with monetary policy continuing to provide substantial support to the economy." |
Siemens and PAS announce industrial cybersecurity partnership | Siemens is partnering with industrial control system cybersecurity solutions provider PAS Global, to offer real-time monitoring for control systems in the oil and gas industry. The Siemens-PAS joint venture enables customers to guard against cyber attacks and unauthorised engineering changes by securing proprietary systems in multi-vendor environments. More than 60% of organisations' industrial control systems protection and security is inadequate, according to a survey by Ponemon Institute. | http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2017/09/siemens-pas-announce-partnership-to-provide-industrial-control-system-cybersecurity | 2017-09-20 04:32:51.713000 | Siemens, PAS announce partnership to provide industrial control system cybersecurity
Siemens and PAS Global, a provider of industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity solutions, announced an agreement to provide fleet-wide, real time monitoring for control systems. By leveraging the unique capabilities of both companies, this partnership will provide customers with deep analytics required to identify and inventory proprietary assets; and visibility to detect and respond effectively to attacks across the operating environment.
According to recent research conducted by Ponemon Institute on the state of cybersecurity in the US oil and gas industry, deployment of cybersecurity measures in the industry isn’t keeping pace with the growth of digitalization in oil and gas operations. Just 35% of survey respondents rate their organization’s OT cyber readiness as high. Sixty-eight percent of respondents say their organization experienced at least one cyber compromise, while 61% say their organization’s industrial control systems protection and security is not adequate.
The Siemens-PAS global strategic partnership bridges the visibility gap for distributed, legacy control assets to provide a comprehensive view into fleet security. Focused on gathering detailed configuration data down to the sensor, the Siemens-PAS partnership will enable customers to secure proprietary systems in multi-vendor environments—guarding against cyber attacks as well as unauthorized engineering changes.
As an industrial technology provider for more than 165 yr, Siemens has an inherent and holistic understanding of how to manage cyber risk in complex operating environments. A leader in the OT industry, Siemens brings to the partnership deep domain know-how and solutions for OT cyber, including security program design, security lifecycle management, plant security monitoring, and incident response.
For more than two decades, PAS has solved operational and security challenges for leading chemical, refining and power companies across the globe. Its best-in-class Cyber Integrity solution provides foundational inventory management that covers all the major cyber assets found in plants today. The solution detects new or missing devices, aggregates configuration data at the asset level, baselines security-related data to monitor for change, and captures system interdependencies.
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Japanese childcare robots aim to ease burden of staff shortages | Tokyo-based childcare and nursing start-up Global Bridge Holdings has teamed up with researchers at Gunma University to develop Vevo, a bear-like robot aimed at helping to address the chronic shortage of child care staff. The robot uses facial recognition technology to identify children, as well as sensors that monitor their heart rate and movements while they sleep. Vevo is being tested at one of Global Bridge Holdings' Tokyo facilities. The company hopes to sell the system for around JPY4m ($35,728) from next April. | https://netmag.pk/japan-introduced-care-bear-robots/ | 2017-09-20 04:27:00.637000 | Japan introduced Care bear robots to relieve staff shortages in child care centres
Japanese designed Robots to look after children in child care centres to come up with the challenge of nation’s acute shortage of childcare staff.
This initiative is taken by a Tokyo-based childcare and nursing start-up named “Global Bridge Holdings” in collaboration with Gunma University academics to build up a new system by means of robots and sensors to keep an eye on children.
The core gadget presented by the startup is a robot called “Vevo” having a bear-shaped head and humanoid body, which is capable to recognize and welcome children as well as could record their body temperatures by a thermograph.
There is separate built-in sensors system in robots through which they can monitor the heart rate and movement of children during their sleep time in their cots, and if they find any abnormalities the alarms would trigger.
The new incorporated scheme of robots is currently being trialled at a Tokyo nursery, which is among one of 27 countrywide child care centres run by Global Bridge Holdings. They have planned to introduce it in a second facility in Gunma Prefecture in the coming months.
Now the company is hoping to commercialize and put up for sale the system for approximately four million yen (£28,000) from next April.
The creation of the robots was need of the hour for Japan’s crisis-hit childcare industry, which is suffering a national scale staff shortage due to the long working hours and low wages that go hand in hand with working in nurseries.
According to the Japanese health, labour and welfare ministry “ 26,081 children were on waiting lists for daycare facilities on April 1at the start of this academic year –getting higher by 2,528 compared to last year.
Yuji Takashima, a spokesperson for Social Solutions, the Global Bridge Holdings subsidiary behind the childcare robotics project, said,
“We believe that by supporting childcare education with this robot, we can contribute to resolving the shortage of nursery teacher and improving the quality of education.”
Robotics are increasingly being utilised in Japan to counter human labour shortages, as the nation struggles with a rapidly ageing population.
In Japan, robots are replacing human staff rapidly and implementing the theory of robotics technology to alleviate staff shortages and implementing the cost-cutting cut strategy.
According to recent reports, One Japanese Company has even trained a robot as a Buddhist priest-for-hire, line up it to read scriptures, chant prayers and tap drums to take part in funeral ceremonies. |
UKEF to offer political risk coverage for overseas investors | UK Export Finance, the country's export credit agency, is set to extend a greater degree of protection to British exporters. The agency is broadening the reach of insurance it offers to include political risk. The new policy would offer cover for civil war, revolution or nationalisation of an exporter-owned entity. The government-backed policy has been established to satisfy demand from exporters who have difficulty finding private-sector solutions to their needs. | https://www.law360.com/articles/965481/uk-offers-overseas-investment-insurance-for-political-risk | 2017-09-20 03:46:05.087000 | By Richard Crump (September 19, 2017, 12:52 PM EDT) -- Britain's export credit agency is to offer U.K. businesses wider access to government-backed insurance to protect firms investing abroad against political risk, the government's international trade minister said on Tuesday....
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British Columbia ferry company to convert largest vessels to LNG | Canadian firm BC Ferries has revealed its Spirit of British Columbia vessel will be converted to operate on liquified natural gas (LNG) as part of a mid-life upgrade, followed by sister ship Spirit of Vancouver Island. The company spent $100m on diesel fuel during the last fiscal year, with more than 15% consumed by the Spirit class vessels. "LNG costs significantly less than marine diesel. The conversion of the two largest ships in the fleet… will go a long way to help both our environmental footprint and fare affordability for our customers," said Mark Wilson, BC Ferries’ vice-president of engineering. | https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/08092017/spirit-of-british-columbia-to-be-converted-to-lng/ | 2017-09-20 02:52:14.390000 | BC Ferries has announced that the Spirit of British Columbia has been removed from service to undergo a mid-life upgrade, which will include converting the vessel to operate on LNG.
The vessel will transit to the company’s fleet maintenance unit in Richmond, before departing to Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A. of Gdansk, Poland, to complete the mid-life upgrade. Whilst at the fleet maintenance unit, a number of preparations will be carried out. These will include the installation of a wave break on the main car deck forward section, marine pilot access arrangements and voyage logistical provisions. In addition to this, safety inspections will be carried out, and vessel equipment not required during the transit or at the shipyard will be de-stored. BC Ferries claims that the transit should take approximately 42 days, depending on the weather.
Last year, the company awarded a contract to Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A. to conduct the Spirit Class mid-life upgrades. These include the conversion of both vessels to dual-fuel, allowing them to operate on either LNG or ultra-low sulfur marine diesel.
Mark Wilson, BC Ferries’ Vice President of Engineering, said: “Last fiscal year, we spent approximately $100.2 million on diesel fuel of which the two Spirit Class vessels consumed approximately 15.5%.
“LNG costs significantly less than marine diesel. The conversion of the two largest ships in the fleet along with the three new dual-fuel Salish Class vessels that all entered service this year will go a long way to help both our environmental footprint and with fare affordability for our customers.”
As well as the conversion to LNG, the vessel’s passenger areas will also be upgraded. This will include new carpeting, refurbished washrooms, an expanded gift shop, and an additional washroom on Deck 5, as well as a new coffee bar on Deck 6. Upgrades to the passenger elevators include renewal of mechanical and electrical drive components, emergency communication system and electrical and control systems.
As part of the upgrade, the navigation equipment and air conditioning equipment will also be renewed, as will the propulsion equipment components, including: rudders; steering system; bow thrusters; propeller blades; and LED lighting.
The vessel will be the first ship to undergo its mid-life upgrade and conversion. The upgrade will be completed from Autumn 2017 through the Spring of next year. The Spirit of Vancouver Island will follow, commencing in the Autumn of 2018 through the spring of 2019. This schedule will allow both vessels to be back in operation during the summer months, when traffic is at its highest. |
First LNG ship-to-ship bunkering takes place off Danish coast | Norwegian firm Skangas's state-of-the-art vessel Coralius bunkered liquified natural gas (LNG) for the first time to a receiving vessel, oil and chemical tanker Fure West. The transfer took place in international waters between Frederikshavn in Denmark and Gothenburg in Sweden. Skangas expects demand for LNG, the cleanest available marine fuel, to increase rapidly in the coming years. | https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/19092017/first-lng-bunkering-ship-to-ship-by-coralius-to-fure-west/ | 2017-09-20 02:38:19.923000 | For the first time the Skangas’ Coralius bunkered LNG to a vessel.
The operation took place on international waters, Northern Kattegat, in the middle of the sea between Frederikshavn, Denmark and Gothenburg, Sweden.
“The bunkering of Fure West confirmed that Coralius delivers in accordance with what she is built for”, says Kimmo Rahkamo, CEO of Skangas. “This is a key milestone in our history of developing the LNG availability. We are happy working together with our customer Furetank for this first of several upcoming ship-to-ship (STS) bunkerings.”
The receiving vessel, Fure West, is an oil and chemical tanker with a length of 144 m. She operates mainly in the Baltic and Kattegat area. In 2015 the Furetank Rederi retrofitted the tanker pioneering the use of LNG as marine fuel in Europe. An LNG fueled vessel needs the equivalent service as with conventional fuel by swift and safe operation and fast fuel transfer at sea, not only at the port. Coralius is built with state-of-the-art bunkering equipment to meet exactly this increasing demand for STS LNG bunkering.
LNG is the cleanest available marine fuel, one that is rapidly becoming more commonly viewed – and used - as a cost-effective alternative. LNG is suitable for all vessel types, including ferries, passenger ships, tankers, bulk, supply and containerships. LNG offers several benefits by reducing local pollution and the global environment. Switching to LNG completely removes SO X and particles, and reduces NO X emissions by up to 85%. In addition, LNG reduces CO 2 emissions by at least 20%. Use of LNG as marine fuel also results in compliance with current and forthcoming IMO and EU regulations.
Skangas expects the LNG demand for ships to increase significantly in next few years as responsible shipping companies are seeking cleaner fuel alternatives. |
Gender roles imposed in early adolescence worldwide | Children around the world are forced into restrictive gender roles at a young age, according to The Global Early Adolescent Study. The study, which interviewed children and parents in 15 countries, found remarkably similar trends across the globe. As adolescence approaches, girls are deemed “vulnerable”, while boys are encouraged to explore. Such stereotypes put girls at greater risk of leaving school early, suffering violence, early marriage, young pregnancy and contracting sexually transmitted infections. Boys, by contrast, are more prone to violence, substance abuse and suicide. The study calls for earlier interventions to challenge stereotyping.
| https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/20/children-are-straitjacketed-into-gender-roles-in-early-adolescence-says-study | 2017-09-19 22:00:00 | Across the world, from Beijing to Baltimore, children are straitjacketed into gender roles in early adolescence, with the world expanding for boys and closing in for girls, according to new research.
The Global Early Adolescent Study breaks new ground by talking to children and their parents in 15 countries around the world and finding a remarkably similar story. Girls approaching adolescence are considered vulnerable and protected, while boys are set free to roam and explore. That has consequences for their behaviour and expectations throughout their life.
“We found children at a very early age – from the most conservative to the most liberal societies – quickly internalise this myth that girls are vulnerable and boys are strong and independent,” said Robert Blum, director of the Global Early Adolescent Study, based at Johns Hopkins University. “And this message is being constantly reinforced at almost every turn, by siblings, classmates, teachers, parents, guardians, relatives, clergy and coaches.”
Over four years, the researchers talked to 450 children aged 10 to 14 with a parent or guardian, from low-income families in Bolivia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam for the research produced with the World Health Organisation.
The researchers found that gender-based restrictions rationalised as “protecting” girls actually made them more vulnerable by emphasising subservience and implicitly sanctioning even physical abuse as punishment for violating norms. They say that in many parts of the world these stereotypes leave girls at greater risk of dropping out of school or suffering physical and sexual violence, child marriage, early pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Boys in both New Delhi and Shanghai, for instance, talked about being encouraged to spend time outside of the home in unsupervised exploration of their environment, while girls said they were told to stay home and do chores. Shaming and beatings for those who sought to cross the divide was reported by girls and boys in both cities.
Some parents accepted that boys were not always strong and independent. But, says the report, “even in sites where parents acknowledged the vulnerability of their sons, they focus on protecting their daughters.”
Much of it is about girls’ sexuality. “Around the world pubertal boys are viewed as predators and girls as potential targets and victims. Messages such as ‘do not sit like that, do not wear that, do not talk to him, boys will ruin your future’ support the gender division of power … In some places, girls come to internalise these norms to even a greater extent than boys,” says one of the papers in the study published in a special supplement of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Girls’ mobility is restricted. “A girl cannot go out as she wishes because she is a girl and if a girl came home late her parents would shout at her, but it is okay for a guy,” said a girl in Assuit, Egypt.
Both girls and boys were saddened that their early easy relationship with the opposite sex was no longer allowed. “They played together as children and were friends, but now with puberty, those friendships are no longer legitimate,” says the report.
Even in wealthier parts of the world, the gender norms were still apparent. Edinburgh in Scotland was the only city where boys and girls did not think the boy must always take the initiative in a relationship. In every country, young girls talked of a constant emphasis on their physical appearance and had been taught that their bodies were their key asset.
“In New Delhi, the girls talked about their bodies as a big risk that needs to be covered up, while in Baltimore girls told us their primary asset was their bodies and that they need to look appealing – but not too appealing,” said Kristin Mmari, associate professor and the study’s lead researcher for the qualitative research.
Boys are not unscathed, says the report. Because of these gender norms, “they engage in and are the victims of physical violence to a much greater extent than girls; they die more frequently from unintentional injuries, are more prone to substance abuse and suicide; and as adults their life expectancy is shorter than that of women. Such differences are socially not biologically determined.”
One paper compared young people’s attitudes in China, India, Belgium and the United States. It was more acceptable for girls to push against the gender boundary than it was for boys.
In all four countries, it appeared to be increasingly acceptable for girls to engage in certain stereotypically male behaviours, like wearing trousers, playing sports and pursuing careers. But “boys who challenge gender norms by their dress or behaviour were by many respondents seen as socially inferior,” said the researchers. Both boys and girls said the consequences for boys who were perceived as adopting feminine behaviour, like painting their nails, ranged from being bullied and teased to being physically assaulted.
The authors say interventions to change gender stereotyping need to happen at a much earlier age. By the age of 10, it can be too late. “Adolescent health risks are shaped by behaviours rooted in gender roles that can be well established in kids by the time they are 10 or 11 years old,” said Mmari.
“Yet we see billions of dollars around the world invested in adolescent health programs that don’t kick in until they are 15, and by then it’s probably too late to make a big difference.” |
Arctic sea ice summer minimum continues downward trend | The summer minimum extent of Arctic sea ice for 2017 is the eighth lowest in satellite records dating from 1978, according to figures from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). On 13 September, the smallest extent of ice for the year was measured at 4.64m sq km, or 1.58m sq km below the 1981-2010 average. The record low, of 3.39m sq km, occurred in 2012. A scientist from the NSIDC stated that the measurements indicated the downward trend to sea ice falling below 5m sq km, first recorded in 2007, was continuing. | https://www.carbonbrief.org/arctic-sea-ice-summer-minimum-2017-eighth-lowest-record | 2017-09-19 21:00:00 | Arctic sea ice has dwindled to its summer minimum for 2017, with its smallest extent for the year clocking in at 4.64m square kilometres (sq km) on 13 September.
At 1.58m sq km below the 1981-2010 average, this puts 2017 as the eight lowest summer minimum in the satellite record, according to preliminary figures from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). The record low remains 3.39m sq km, which was set in 2012.
Even though it wasn’t a record low, an NSIDC scientist tells Carbon Brief that the long-term downwards trend has continued with sea ice extent falling below 5m sq km again this year. This had never happened in the satellite record before 2007.
Pinpointing the minimum
Scientists have been tracking the daily changes in Arctic sea ice cover using satellites in a continuous record that stretches back to 1978-79. Notable events, such as the annual minimum and maximum extents, serve as an indicator of how the Arctic is changing as global temperatures rise.
Back in March, Arctic sea ice hit its lowest winter maximum on record for the third year in a row. Since then, Arctic sea ice has been on its annual decline through the melt season of spring and summer.
At the time of the record low winter peak, Carbon Brief asked some polar scientists to put the much-reported findings in context. You can watch the video of their responses here.
Scientists keep a close eye around the time the low is normally reached – usually early-to-mid september – then look for signs of ice accumulating again in order to pinpoint exactly when the summer minimum extent is reached.
This year, that minimum point was on 13 September, when Arctic sea ice extent declined to 4.64m sq km.
That means nine of the 10 lowest summer minima in the satellite record have occurred in the last 10 years, says Prof Julienne Stroeve, a professor of polar observation and modelling at University College London and senior research scientist at the NSIDC. She tells Carbon Brief:
“Even though we didn’t reach a new record low, the extent fell below 5m sq km, something which never happened before 2007.”
The chart below shows how the Arctic sea ice extent (sq km) has changed from May to September over the past five years. Years shown include 2017 (blue line), 2016 (green), 2015 (orange), 2014 (brown), 2013 (purple), and 2012 (dashed brown).
The map below shows the Arctic sea ice extent for 13 September alongside the 1981-2010 average extent for that day (orange line). The ice edge has continued to retreat in the Chukchi, East Siberian, and Kara Seas, but it has slightly expanded in the Beaufort and Laptev Seas.
Fluctuations and trends
After a series of record low months earlier in 2017, the summer melt season has been relative sluggish at times.
This year, summer temperatures in the Arctic have been relatively moderate for such high latitudes and have even been cooler than average in some parts.
This shows that even with a record low winter maximum in March, it doesn’t necessarily translate into very low summer extent as well. Short-term fluctuations in weather play a large role in changes from month to month, says Stroeve, on top of the long-term decline. She explains:
“I think this summer shows that despite preconditioning (thin ice, less extent), summer weather conditions largely govern how much ice will be left at the end of summer.”
It is for this reason that the size of the sea ice winter maximum is not necessarily a robust indicator of how the subsequent summer will play out, says Prof Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at the University of Reading. He tells Carbon Brief:
“Changes in summer ice extent are dominated by the long-term downwards trend, but are also strongly influenced by the weather in each particular summer. There are large swings from year-to-year, rather like a ball bouncing down a bumpy hill.”
(You can read more about this “bouncing ball” analogy in Hawkins’ guest post for Carbon Brief from 2015.)
Although the annual minimum has become an iconic barometer of the decline in Arctic sea ice, it’s not the most reliable indicator of how Arctic sea ice is changing, says Hawkins:
“When looking across the seasons, the long-term trend becomes clearer. The lowest annual average ice extent was in 2016, even though the summer minimum was above the dramatic loss of 2012. For the January-August average, 2017 is the second lowest in the satellite era, after 2016.”
You can see this in the chart below, which shows average Arctic sea ice for various indicators over the satellite data record. The January-to-August average is the black line.
The downward trends for September (thick red line) and the summer minimum (thin red line) are quite erratic from one year to the next. In contrast, the trend for March (blue line) shows a smoother decline because the influence of the weather on Arctic sea ice during winter is smaller.
This highlights the need to not over-emphasise the ice extent on a particular day or in a particular month, notes Hawkins:
“Instead, the focus should be on the bigger picture: Arctic sea ice is melting and will continue to do so whilst global temperatures continue to rise.”
Ice elsewhere
At the opposite end of the planet, Antarctica is heading to its maximum yearly sea ice extent, which normally occurs in September or early October. This year’s maximum ice cover is also likely to be among the eight lowest on record.
The map below shows the Antarctic sea ice extent from June to 17 September 2017 (blue line), along with daily ice extent data for four previous years. Years shown include 2016 (green), 2015 (orange), 2014 (dashed brown), and 2013 (purple).
Antarctic sea ice also hit a record low earlier this year.
And elsewhere in the Arctic, the annual melt season for the Greenland ice sheet also recently came to a close. Carbon Brief has a guest post from scientist the Danish Meteorological Institute on how the ice sheet has fared over the past 12 months. |
MIT paper points way for robots to obey human instructions | A team from MIT has published a paper outlining a learning model that allows robots to interpret information about their surroundings and understand spoken instructions. The system, called ComText, was run on a Baxter robot, a machine with two arms that can be used to grab, lift and move objects. ComText allowed the robot to gain experiential knowledge, as well as visual and linguistic context, based on past interactions. During tests, the robot was able to correctly understand and execute commands with 90% accuracy. | https://www.cbinsights.com/research/robot-alexa-voice-human-speech/ | 2017-09-19 19:15:22.150000 | A new innovation from MIT helps robots understand and respond to voice commands – putting us one step closer to an Alexa with arms.
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Though the field of robotics is rapidly advancing, in many ways consumer-ready robotic technologies are still far less sophisticated than AI-powered voice assistants like Siri or Alexa.
Robots can be programmed to execute repetitive tasks or movements, but their usefulness typically stops there. Since most robots (even industrial ones) lack language processing abilities, we’re still far out from a future where we regularly interact with robots in ways that resemble human communication, interaction, or responsiveness.
But a team of computer science researchers just pushed us closer to that reality: A new paper out of MIT presents an Alexa-like system that allows robots to understand a wide range of commands that require contextual knowledge about objects and their surroundings.
The researchers’ “ComText” system takes robot learning further than most advances to date – enabling robots to develop the “episodic memory” necessary to reason, infer meaning, and respond to nuanced commands.
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Traditional approaches to robot learning focus mainly on semantic memory, which is based on general facts such as “the sky is blue.”
Training of semantic memory can allow robots to execute basic commands: With literal understanding of distance and direction, for example, a robot may be able to respond to a request to move two feet to the right or left.
Requests involving contextual knowledge demand a cognitive skill set most robots lack, however. Consider a command like “grab my jacket.” Even if a robot knows what a jacket is, the idea of possession – of retrieving your jacket – demands a more nuanced, human level of understanding than the robot has.
“The main contribution is this idea that robots should have different kinds of memory, just like people,” says research scientist Andrei Barbu.
ComText helps close that “semantic gap” by training robots to develop both semantic and episodic memory. Episodic memory is based on experiences in the past that can inform decisions made in the future.
Possession is one example: A robot with episodic memory that is told, for example, “this jacket is mine,” can retain that information and use it when responding to later commands even in langague constructions that do not follow the same structure as how they were initiatally taught about possession of the jacket.
The new Alexa-like solution makes that kind of cognition possible. Developed by researchers in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), ComText enables robots to understand the world as a collection of objects, people, and abstract concepts (such as position and possession).
Named for “commands in context,” ComText debuted in a research paper developed by MIT researchers Rohan Paul, Andrei Barbu, Sue Felshin, Boris Katz, and Nicholas Roy for the 26th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
The research work helps robots “ground” (aka understand and interpret) natural language instructions. It creates a learning model – referred to as Temporal Grounding Graphs – whereby robots continually acquire “higher-order semantic knowledge” about their environments and the objects within them.
A robot equipped with the ComText system learns as it goes: As commands and responses are exchanged between humans and the robot, the robot retains more and more experiential knowledge – as well as more visual and linguistic context – based on the past commands.
“For robots to understand what we want them to do, they need a much richer representation of what we do and say,” says Paul.
In a video released by the MIT media team, we see Baxter (a two-armed humanoid robot) understanding various items described as “my snack,” and responding to commands to “pick it up” or “pack up my snack.” With ComText, Baxter was successful in executing the right command about 90% of the time.
That kind of cognition may seem simple, but it gets us one step closer toward a world where a robot packs your snacks (or grabs your jacket). As the technology develops further, the ability for a robot to gain greater understanding of placement and possession could mean a robot can help you find your keys, since it could remember where you left them.
That kind of understanding is the researchers’ next step. In the future, the MIT team hopes to enable robots to understand more complicated information – such as multi-step commands, or the intentions behind actions.
If they succeed, the ability to interface with robots more like humans could go well beyond a helpful AlexaBot around the house: In industrial settings, for example, robots will prove far more useful to people if they understand normal voice commands. With ComText, simple instructions like “Go get the last box I put down” could be done by a robot (instead of taking up a person’s time).
The project for “Temporal Grounding Graphs for Language Understanding with Accrued Visual-Linguistic Context” was co-led by research scientist Andrei Barbu, alongside research scientist Sue Felshin, senior research scientist Boris Katz, and Professor Nicholas Roy. They presented the paper at last week’s International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in Australia. Full information is available here.
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XL Group moves European base to Dublin | Global insurance and reinsurance firm XL Group has announced it will relocate its main European insurance company from London to Dublin in response to Brexit. The move follows a meeting between between Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and XL Group CEO Mike McGavick. In a statement, McGavick said: "Since the referendum announcement we have been clear that our top priority is to provide certainty and consistency of service to our clients and brokers. Moving XL Insurance Company SE to Ireland means we deliver on that commitment." | https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/brexit-prompts-xl-group-to-move-european-base-to-dublin-1.3226744 | 2017-09-19 16:58:06.593000 | Insurance Ireland says the XL Group’s decision validates the country’s position as an international insurance hub
The XL Group has announced plans to move its main European insurance company from the UK to Dublin as a "response to Brexit".
Chief executive Mike McGavick said the decision would help it “provide certainty and consistency” to customers in the aftermath of last year’s referendum vote.
While the move will require regulatory approval, the plans follow a meeting between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr McGavick in Dublin on Tuesday.
"At a time many countries have lost their confidence and are unsure about their place in the world, Ireland's firm commitment to being at the heart of Europe, in the euro and being globally engaged, with an open economy and commitment to free trade makes us an excellent place to invest," Mr Varadkar said in a statement.
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“ I look forward to more announcements in the weeks and months ahead.”
Dublin had been home to XL between 2010 and 2016, before its new holding company, XL Group Ltd, was formed in Bermuda following the acquisition of the Catlin Group.
Insurance Ireland said the decision validated the country's position as an international insurance hub.
XL Insurance Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary within the XL Group, providing the main insurance company platform within Europe and Asia.
XL opened its first European insurance company in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in the 1990s, and in 2006 established XL Re Europe which remains an Irish-domiciled reinsurer.
The company operates through an international network of branches, subsidiaries and third-party fronting partners.
Branch network
“Re-domesticating XL Insurance Company SE to Ireland will allow XL Group’s clients and brokers to benefit from continuity of service through its branch network in Europe, which enables it to write business in domestic markets as well as providing the infrastructure for its Global Programs business,” it said in a statement.
In the UK the group will retain Catlin Insurance Company, a UK-regulated insurance company, and its Lloyd's operations.
In making its announcement the company referenced potential disruption to its business by a loss of passporting rights when the UK leaves the EU.
“Since the referendum announcement we have been clear that our top priority is to provide certainty and consistency of service to our clients and brokers. Moving XL Insurance Company SE to Ireland means we deliver on that commitment,” Mr McGavick said.
“Dublin is a natural home for us in Europe. We have a long and established presence in Ireland, and we understand and respect the high-quality business environment, the regulatory environment and the talent of the people here.”
Reinsurance hub
XL Group is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and speciality products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world.
Welcoming the announcement, Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the domestic and international sector, said it validated Ireland’s position as an international insurance and reinsurance hub, particularly in the context of Brexit.
“While we are all aware of the negatives that are presented to the Irish economy by the Brexit decision, we must welcome the opportunities such as the decision taken today by XL Catlin,” chief executive Kevin Thompson said. “Ireland must maintain an open and responsive approach in order to maximise the opportunity over the short term.”
The sentiments were echoed by the IDA whose chief executive Martin Shanahan said it had been encouraging to see “so many high profile banks and insurance firms” endorse Ireland as their destination of choice.
“Post Brexit, nurturing talent, delivering a pro-business ethos and maintaining a consistent track record, must be the priorities if we are to continue to grow the economy at the current rate and remain competitive,” he said. |
Cable to position Lib Dems against hard Brexit | Vince Cable has positioned the Liberal Democrats as the country's anti-Brexit voice during his first keynote address as leader of the UK political party, during its annual conference. Under Cable, the party will continue to pursue a strategy of opposing the implementation of Brexit. He also called for a second referendum following the negotiations with the European Union, saying: "This is not a call for a re-run. This is not a call for a second referendum on Brexit. This is a call for a first referendum on the facts." The former business secretary, who took over leadership of the party following the summer's dismal General Election results, leads just 12 MPs in parliament. | http://news.sky.com/story/sir-vince-cable-issues-rallying-cry-against-hard-brexit-at-lib-dem-conference-11043414 | 2017-09-19 16:46:29.413000 | Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has called on "political grown-ups" from all parties to stop Brexit.
Sir Vince used his first keynote address to the Lib Dem conference as leader to position his party firmly as an anti-Brexit voice.
He called for a new referendum once the terms of Britain's divorce from the European Union are clear.
"At the end of these tortuous divorce negotiations, the British public must be given a vote on the outcome," Sir Vince told delegates in Bournemouth.
"Let me be clear about this. This is not a call for a re-run. This is not a call for a second referendum on Brexit. This is a call for a first referendum on the facts."
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:30 Vince Cable 'has stamina' to be PM
Sir Vince called on moderates from the Labour and Conservative parties to "put aside tribal differences" and join forces.
"What the country now desperately needs is some political adults. There are sensible grown-ups in the Conservative Party, and the Labour Party and the Greens," he said.
"That's you. That's us."
Sir Vince urged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to "refurbish his revolutionary credentials" and join the Lib Dems in the "Anti-Brexit People's Liberation Front".
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The former business secretary took over in July after a disappointing result at the General Election, where the party campaigned on an anti-Brexit platform but failed to capitalise on disappointed Remain voters.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 9:16 Cable: Age is no barrier for me
Sir Vince leads a group of just 12 MPs, but insists he is a "plausible" candidate for prime minister.
At 74, he is the oldest ever Lib Dem leader and the oldest head of a major party since Sir Winston Churchill, who stepped down as Tory leader aged 80.
But Sir Vince has already dismissed suggestions his age might be a problem, saying he has the energy to lead the party.
In his speech, he sought to show that there was more to his party than the anti-Brexit message. He called for wealth taxes and urged a crackdown on property speculators to ease housing problems.
The party is not just a "UKIP in reverse", Sir Vince said. |
Johnson could resign over Brexit strategy dispute with PM | UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson could quit the cabinet if Prime Minister Theresa May pursues a soft Brexit, according to friends of the politician, who outlined his vision of Brexit in a controversial article for the Telegraph. Johnson voiced his objections to a "Swiss-style" deal with the European Union, in which the UK would pay for access to the single market, and said it could limit the country's ability to make trade deals elsewhere. Johnson has denied he will step down, while May said he was "clear about the destination we have as a country." If Johnson were to resign, a leadership election in the Conservative Party could soon follow. | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/19/boris-johnson-could-resign-if-theresa-may-opts-for-swiss-style-brexit | 2017-09-19 15:56:24.200000 | Boris Johnson could resign if Theresa May signals she will pursue a “Swiss-style” Brexit, even though he is publicly denying he will walk away from the cabinet.
The foreign secretary told reporters in New York he would not resign and denied the cabinet was split over Brexit policy, insisting: “We are a nest of singing birds.”
But it is understood that Johnson considers it could be a resigning matter if May veers towards the kind of “soft Brexit” advocated by Philip Hammond, the chancellor, when she makes a key speech in Florence on Friday.
The Telegraph reported on Tuesday that the foreign secretary could even quit the cabinet before the weekend if May signals that she will sign up the UK to paying for access to the single market permanently in an arrangement similar to staying in the European Economic Area (EEA).
This option similar to the arrangements adopted by Switzerland is known by its critics as the “EEA-lite”, but would be a way of preserving the benefits of the single market.
Friends of Johnson told the newspaper he “could not live with” the version of Brexit under consideration, which prompted the publication of his personal blueprint for Brexit in the Telegraph at the weekend.
The foreign secretary – who appears to have the backing of other pro-leave ministers, including Michael Gove – was unhappy about some of the wording in early drafts of the speech.
He was concerned the prime minister was preparing to send a public signal that she would like to see a close long-term relationship with the rest of the EU along the lines of Norway, or Switzerland – with more leeway over freedom of movement.
Johnson and others fear that would limit the UK’s ability to do deals with other countries; and require the UK to mirror EU regulations too closely. Saturday’s controversial Daily Telegraph article was aimed at sending a signal he could not support such a relationship.
00:43 Ken Clarke: 'Johnson would be sacked by now, normally' – video
One source close to Johnson said the Telegraph’s claims that a resignation could be imminent were nonsense and “totally made-up”. However, his article was widely regarded as a warning shot to the prime minister as she prepares to deliver her major Brexit speech on Friday.
Johnson was piqued that a meeting of other senior ministers involved in Brexit was held last week when he was inspecting hurricane damage in the Caribbean.
May is also in New York, attending the UN general assembly. Asked whether she still backed the foreign secretary, she told Sky: “Boris Johnson has been here at the United Nations doing important work yesterday in a meeting on Burma.
“I will be seeing Boris at various stages during our time here, but of course we have got very busy programmes.”
May will convene a special meeting of her cabinet on Thursday, to consult colleagues about her speech. A Number 10 source said: “The PM has said consistently that she values the contribution of people from across the cabinet, and clearly this is a significant moment in terms of our progress, and in terms of our relationship with Europe.”
May’s spokesman also underlined the fact that May plans to use the speech to discuss not just transitional arrangements, but Britain’s ongoing partnership with the rest of the EU. “She will talk about the future relationship going forward, as well as the progress on the talks so far,” he said.
Asked if she was confident of getting consensus on her Brexit strategy at Thursday’s meeting, May said: “Yes, the cabinet is absolutely clear about the destination we are aiming for in relation to our European negotiations.
“We want to make sure we get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom as we leave the European Union. What we want to do is to ensure not just a good deal on trade, but also on our future security and relationship on law enforcement and criminal justice.”
Asked what she wanted Johnson to do, in the light of reports he may resign, May said: “What I want the government to do is what the government is doing, Boris and others, all very clear about the destination we have as a country and that is getting that deep and special relationship with the EU when we leave, but a partnership that still leaves us as the UK free to make trade deals around the world. and free to take control of our laws, our borders and our money.”
Asked if she had “got her mojo back”, May said: “I’m doing what I always do, which is getting on with the job and, you know what, I think that’s what the British people expect their prime minister to do.”
Speculation about the foreign secretary’s future has been rife since the article was published, as some senior Conservatives believe he should have been sacked for departing from collective responsibility. Ken Clarke, the former chancellor, said he would undoubtedly have been dismissed if May was not in such a weak position.
“Sounding off personally in this way is totally unhelpful and he shouldn’t exploit the fact that [Theresa May] hasn’t got a majority in parliament,” Clarke said on Tuesday. “And he knows perfectly well that, normally, a foreign secretary would be sacked instantly for doing that.”
However, May could leave herself vulnerable to a leadership challenge if she sacked Johnson, whose intervention won the backing of hardline eurosceptics and former Vote Leave supporters. |
Call9 raises $24M to replace seniors' ER visits with virtual visits | Emergency room visits remain one of the significant hardships of senior care. Older patients are often the least prepared for the stress and exhaustion of a visit to the emergency room. To tackle these issues, New York-based telehealth startup Call9 offers a virtual health service that connects nursing home patients to its own, trained emergency room doctors by providing nursing homes with mobile devices equipped with preloaded software. As well as an improved doctor experience, Call9 offers a significant cost reduction, with a study by Precision Health Economics demonstrating an annual average reduction of $8 million per year for a nursing home, whilst also preventing a hospital visit 80 percent of the time. Call9 has recently raised $24 million and intends to scale its service following the added investment.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/call9-raises-24m-replace-seniors-er-visits-virtual-visits | 2017-09-19 14:58:19.870000 | Brooklyn-based Call9 has raised $24 million in a new round of funding. Redmile led the round, with additional investments from Index Ventures, Refactor, YCombinator, Western Technology Investments, and other undisclosed investors.
This is the second round of funding for the company, which raised $10 million in January 2016. The new funding will be used to scale Call9’s operations.
Call9's video visits service connects nursing home patients to an emergency room doctor. The company sets up the system in nursing home facilities and provides them with the mobile devices preloaded with their software. When a resident has a concern, the facility's nurse brings the tablet to them to make a call to a doctor on Call9’s system.
The company was predicated on the idea that nursing home residents are some of the most frequent emergency room visitors, but those patients are among the least well equipped for a stressful emergency room visit.
“Our most vulnerable patients experience hardships related to real-time access to care they urgently need and get shuffled across disparate care ecosystems and emergency settings, unnecessarily,” Dr. Timothy Peck, Call9’s founder, said in a statement. “The system was ripe for disruption and so we re-invented the 911 experience for nursing homes, improving care for this elderly patient population, while dramatically lowering costs.”
The company also prides itself on combining high tech with high touch, as the hands on work of the telemedicine doctor is performed by onsite care specialists trained by Call9.
“Many new healthcare companies are applying technology to aggressively streamline care, but at the same time, they’re removing the human touch required for personalized medicine, making the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care virtually impossible,” Peck said. “Our motto as a company has always been ‘do right by the patient and all else will fall into place.’ This is only possible through new collaboration paradigms that couple technology and data with trusted care specialists who are on site and available to hold their patient’s hands.”
Call9 has seen significant cost savings from its efforts, with a Precision Health Economics study showing that the intervention prevented a hospital visit 80 percent of the time, saving the average 200-bed nursing facility $8 million per year, according to the company. |
Auto-insurtech firm The Zebra raises $40m in financing | US-based motor-insurance-focused insurtech firm The Zebra has raised $40m in its latest funding round, which was led by Palo Alto-based Accel Partners. The Zebra aims to provide a comparison service to consumers seeking auto insurance. It plans to use the funds to recruit more staff and add new lines of insurance. The company is also planning improvements to the functionality of its existing service. | https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2017/09/122002-insurtech-zebra-receives-40-million-series-b/ | 2017-09-19 13:53:42.293000 | The Zebra, an auto insurance comparison marketplace, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners. Simultaneously, the Zebra introduced Keith Melnick, former president of travel metasearch engine KAYAK as Chief Executive Officer, joining the company as it expands to reach new users and markets.
KAYAK of Insurance
“From day one we set out to make insurance ‘black and white,’ and our team is making a huge impact in driving this industry forward,” commented founder and Chairman Adam Lyons. “There is no shortage of interest in the insurance space right now, and we felt Accel was the right partner and aligned with our vision of creating something big. When we met Keith, we knew instantly that we found the talent to help take this company to new heights.”
Melnick believes insurance is where travel was ten years ago and it is need of improvement. His company seeks to provide a consumer friendly, easy to use, comparison site to drive competition and improve options for individuals searching for insurance.
“It sounds simple, but it definitely is not, and it can revolutionize the industry. The Zebra gets that, I get that, and we share a vision and a plan to get it done,” said Melnick.
The Zebra’s Series B round is said to be one of Accel’s first investments in Insurtech in the U.S., as well as its largest investment in tech hub Austin, Texas. Accel Partners has backed other well known consumer brands including Facebook, Dropbox, Spotify, Venmo, and KAYAK.
John Locke, Partner with Accel, believes there is a huge opportunity to provide a comparison shopping environment just like KAYAK did for travel.
“The Zebra team has the product-first DNA and momentum to pull this off, and we’re thrilled to partner with Keith Melnick – who we worked with on KAYAK for over a decade – and the whole The Zebra team to help make this vision a reality.”
The Zebra’s Series B brings total funding to $61.5 million. Additional investors include Silverton Partners, Floodgate, Ballast Point Ventures, Mark Cuban, Daher Capital, and Birchmere Labs.The company reports it has grown revenue more than 80% year over year and has established itself as a leader in the growing insurtech space. The Zebra claims to be the most visited car insurance comparison site in the U.S., providing millions of insurance quotes every month. It searches more than 200 auto insurance companies in seconds to give consumers the choice and simplicity they need to find the right coverage at the right price.
The Zebra said it would be expanding product functionality, adding new lines of insurance, growing both staff and partnerships to expand its reach, and making substantial investments in brand-building with the additional funding. |
London lobbyist Terrapin behind $4.1bn of Lendlease deals: Vice | Terrapin Communications has helped win nearly £3bn ($4.1bn) of contracts for Australian developer Lendlease, according a Vice News article that focuses on the lobbying company's role in securing development contracts across London. Author Andy Jones writes that the Lendlease contracts had been awarded after meetings between Terrapin chief Peter Bingle and senior officials within tendering boroughs. Also, the report said Bingle has hired key decision-making professionals from within tendering boroughs and orchestrated preferential meetings with council chiefs. Some councillors he wined and dined declared no meetings with other bidders in contracts that Lendlease eventually won, Vice reports. The author points out that Lendlease has consistently failed to provide expected amounts of social and affordable housing in previous developments.
| https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/43avj3/the-london-lobbyist-with-ties-to-billions-of-pounds-of-gentrification | 2017-09-19 13:17:56.497000 | Peter Bingle is one of London's most prolific lobbyists. He spends his days schmoozing local councillors in the capital's finest restaurants in a bid to get his clients picked for big deals, picking up enough tabs for him to tweet that he's "trying to end austerity singlehandedly".
In the last four years, Mr Bingle has arranged at least 25 private meetings with councillors from Haringey, Kensington, Wandsworth and Southwark. All these councils were on the cusp of awarding huge development contracts, including for the demolition and regeneration of thousands of Londoners' homes. The councillors often didn't declare any other meetings with any other developers, or anyone else except Bingle. In total, the meetings precede nearly £3 billion of contracts, all of which went to one developer: Lendlease.
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Mr Bingle has been employed by Lendlease (although, mysteriously, any mention of them has slipped from his website), a huge Australian development corporation which has been involved in many gentrifying projects over recent years.
It is Lendlease that building around 3,000 new homes on the former Heygate Estate, only 25 percent of them "affordable" – costing over £400,000 for a one bed flat – after the council initially promised residents "100 percent reprovision" of the 1,000 council homes. Lendlease will build 82 socially rented homes at some point during the controversial redevelopment. As VICE revealed, a large number of the remaining units were flogged to offshore foreign investors off-plan two years before they were offered to UK buyers.
Bingle's company is called Terrapin Communications. His head pops up often in recent coverage of the Haringey Development Vehicle – the biggest suburban redevelopment in history, a 50:50 partnership between the Labour-led borough of Haringey and the developer Lendlease. This will threaten 4,468 homes (around 3,500 of them on council estates), including sites like Broadwater Farm, Stella House and Northumberland Park Estate. All those homes and lives potentially changed forever, and a £2 billion collected pot to be meted out – a mix of public and private money, as well as the transfer of public assets into a fund.
WATCH: What It Costs to Live in London
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From the moment Haringey announced it was knocking down half of its borough, Bingle was arranging meetings between local councillors and his client, Lendlease. Before long, Haringey councillors were coming under fire from local paper the Ham and High for dining out with Terrapin Communications 13 times, enjoying hospitality worth £770.
Amazingly, Bingle also employed Haringey council's chief whip – the guy who pressures councillors to vote on big issues, i.e. housing – Adam Jogee as a "consultant" for his firm Terrapin Comms. Bingle even calls supposedly neutral Jogee his "baby terrapin" publicly on social media. When Jogee came under scrutiny for this, he wrote a letter to his Labour comrades, chastising them for bringing it up and causing "media scrutiny and a great deal of public attention".
Just as well, then, that when faced with allegations of favouritism, Haringey council appointed an independent legal advisor to oversee everything. Pinsent Masons were paid £499,999 by the council to be the legal adjudicator for the bid – the most "economically advantageous bid", according to the council. But far from being independent, Pinsent Masons have acted as legal representatives for Lendlease since 2005. Completing the circle, Pinsent Masons were also one of Terrapin Communications' first ever clients.
In September of 2014, Alan Strickland – Haringey's cabinet member for Housing Regeneration and Planning – took Lendlease's "Head of Residential" Richard Cook on a "tour of Tottenham" to show him what was up for grabs. None of the 11 other bidders for the HDV contract had this privilege. Why all the favours? Why the obsession with working with a company that previously broke their promises on social housing, letting down a London borough?
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At the end of all the developer jostling, Lendlease – who, VICE are told, were only the third highest value bidder in the process – won out. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Lendlease are acting as referee, linesman and both managers of a match that resulted in them winning a £2 billion contract that redesigns Haringey forever.
WATCH: The War to Live in London – Regeneration Game
Lendlease split their profits across more than 300 separate global companies worldwide), including 65 in the UK.
Many, like "Lendlease Elephant and Castle", make surprisingly little taxable profit. This company returned a worrying £914 profit in 2014, but did make a whole £1 more in 2015. Southwark Council is entitled to half this meagre return, having signed a 50/50 profits split with Lendlease for the Elephant and Castle site it sold.
By 2016, Southwark had clawed back around £12 million from the deal, including a £6 million one-off payment from Lendlease for not building the social homes they promised. That year, Lendlease Corporation – a separate Lendlease company – still returned a £214 million profit globally, citing "strong sales in Elephant and Castle".
Haringey, whose redevelopment plans remain opaque, say their 50:50 power share is supposed to stop Lendlease wriggling out of any affordable housing promises and ensure they do all repairs on all commercial buildings in the area. After a similar deal with New York City, Lendlease was fined over £40 million for overcharging for repairs, a scam that had been running for decades.
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Like the residents of Haringey, when I put questions to councillors I was met with zero response. I did, however, have a call completely out of the blue from Lendlease asking me what my concerns were. At this point, I hadn't yet contacted Lendlease. Haringey then admitted they are passing phone calls to Lendlease for them to answer, including calls about their relationship. Lendlease didn't deny that Pinsent Masons regularly worked for them.
Peter Bingle didn't respond to questions either. Mysteriously, Lendlease and another firm – Starwood Capital, which also bid in the HDV process – have vanished from Bingle's company's website after its links to the HDV came under the spotlight.
Peter Bingle (right) in simpler times, as director of the "Hands Off Reading" campaign. Here, Peter and his friend "Vatman" are delivering a letter to the Treasury explaining the arguments against the imposition of VAT on the printed word. (Jim James/PA Archive/PA Images)
Bingle also arranged seven Terrapin meetings with Kensington councillor Rock Fielding-Mellen, the former Kensington housing chief who oversaw the disastrous Grenfell cladding contract. After the disaster at Grenfell Tower, in which at least 80 people lost their lives, Bingle tweeted that Kensington council is actually "the most paternalist [sic] and caring borough in London".
After each of Bingle's meetings with Fielding-Mellen, Kensington awarded three huge contracts to Lendlease – two of them worth £35 million and £9.1million, one undisclosed. The examples go on and on. Bingle, for instance, met John Cook, Deputy Leader of Wandsworth council, in February of 2016 before a £45 million deal was announced for Lendlease at the Cambium site in Southfields, South-West London, with no affordable housing.
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Mr Bingle also had seven meetings with Southwark's Peter John while Lendlease was busy finalising its £1.5 billion redevelopment on West Grove, where there isn't a single affordable home available or a unit sold under £500,000. Southwark Council then spent £56,000 of taxpayers' money trying to block a legal challenge from residents hoping to discover why Lendlease had failed to deliver all the social homes they promised at Heygate.
John, who averages about 30 declared hospitality meetings per year, called the net loss of 1,800 social homes "a good deal", and it was certainly a good deal for many within Southwark council, with a "well oiled revolving door" ensuring Lendlease have been able to count a number of previous Southwark Council employees among their staff.
Terrapin didn't want to leave anything to chance in the run-up to the £2 billion Haringey deal. They made sure Haringey's officials knew how lucrative it was to work for Lendlease. The agency hosted a double date for Southwark's Peter John and Haringey's Alan Strickland in July of 2015, just seven months before the HDV bidding began. Terrapin Communications then hosted another dinner, this time inviting only Haringey's Strickland (Labour) and Kensington's Fielding-Mellen (Conservative) so they could talk Lendlease, in March of 2016, at Cannes' MIPIM, a large property trade show. By then, Haringey was one month into the tender process for the HDV.
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Strickland declared no other meetings with councillors or Haringey bidders over the following seven-month tendering process, only proven Lendlease fan-boys John and Fielding-Mellen, all on the tab of Lendlease's PR, Terrapin Communications. Lo and behold, Lendlease was duly announced as the winner.
VICE approached Bingle and Pinsent Masons but received no response. After talking to us about their relationship with Pinsent Masons, Lendlease didn't respond to further questions [Lendlease contected VICE following publication – see update below]. Haringey's Alan Strickland didn't respond when asked by VICE for a comment. He has previously said in a letter to the Guardian that "Terrapin isn't involved in any way in the proposed Lendlease joint venture."
If that's so, they've spent a lot of time in meetings, not talking about Bingle's client who would go on to win a £2 billion contract. And a scan around London suggests he's not the only councillor who's been having innocent conversations about the weather, courtesy of Terrapin Communications.
Update – 22 September 2017
Lendlease and Haringey contacted us following publication of this article and we have made the following corrections and clarifications:
Peter Bingle has been employed by Lendlease but is not currently working for them as we previously stated.
We previously stated that no other developers were taken on the tour of Tottenham. We're happy to clarify that no other bidders for the HDV contract were on the tour.
We've clarified how promises made to residents about social housing were broken, and Lendlease's current commitment to delivering 25 percent "affordable" housing.
Previously we stated that Lendlease were the third highest bidder in the process. Lendlease have told us that it had the highest accumulative score of any bidder in the public OJEU procurement process, and was selected as the preferred partner on that basis. |
Wealthsimple eyes UK with robo-advice service | Canadian robo-adviser Wealthsimple is expanding into the UK following a trial period of the firm's platform. The robo-adviser has $1bn in assets under management across 40,000 North American clients. | http://www.bnn.ca/wealthsimple-launches-robo-advisor-service-in-u-k-1.860296 | 2017-09-19 12:22:44.527000 | It looks like you have reached this page in error ...
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Australia ends double tax on bitcoin transactions | The Australian government has introduced a bill to put an end to the double taxation of transactions involving bitcoin. Adopters of digital currencies in Australia have for years been charged for the goods and services tax on both the product and the digital currency itself. The move still requires parliamentary approval, though the local bitcoin and wider cryptocurrency industry is likely to receive a boost as transactions become cheaper.
| https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/australia-finally-introduces-bill-kill-double-taxation-bitcoin/ | 2017-09-19 12:13:49.677000 | The Australian government has delivered on its longstanding promise to remove the double taxation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. For years, digital currency adopters ...
The Australian government has delivered on its longstanding promise to remove the double taxation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
For years, digital currency adopters in Australia were taxed twice for transactions, once for the goods and services tax (GST) on the product and again for the GST levied on the digital currency used for the payment.
“If you pay $4 in bitcoin for a coffee, you will pay 40c GST for the coffee, and 40c again for the bitcoin you used to pay for the coffee,” explained Daniel Alexiuc, CEO of Australian bitcoin startup Living Room of Satoshi, speaking to CCN.com in 2016.
At the time, the Australian government confirmed it was “committed” to removing the double taxation of digital currencies, in March 2016. A year later, bitcoin was still seen as “intangible” property by the Australian Tax Office with no changes in legislation to put an end to the double taxation. The delay was criticized by Australia’s FinTech community as an “outdated” approach to the taxation of digital currencies by the government. “It’s one of the original priorities we put in the reform paper and one they said yes to,” revealed Danielle Szetho, CEO of the industry lobby group and collective FinTech Australia in April this year. “But here we are, 14 months on and still nothing.”
The following month, digital currencies finally gained that tax cut in this year’s federal budget, as a part of Australia’s wider FinTech-friendly agenda.
Now, the Australian government has – at last – introduced a bill to push the necessary legislation to remove the double taxation of digital currencies. A move described by Australia’s treasurer Scott Morrison as an “action that will further cement Australia’s reputation as a global FinTech center”.
In a statement, Morrison wrote:
The Bill will ensure that Australians are no longer charged GST on purchases of digital currency, allowing it to be treated the same way as physical money for GST purposes. The law change will retrospectively apply from 1 July 2017, in line with the 2017 Budget announcement.
As such, the bill would need to go through parliament for approval before being mandated as national law. The government’s announcement reveals no details as to when the bill will be brought up to go through the due process. Nonetheless, the local bitcoin industry and the wider digital currency ecosystem is certain to get a boost as digital currency transactions become cheaper and gain parity with fiat money transactions.
Featured image from Shutterstock. |
Non-profit firm Poseidon to create 'carbon currency' | Non-profit organisation Poseidon has unveiled a project aimed at creating a "carbon currency" using blockchain technology. The digital currency will allow businesses to measure the carbon footprint of every transaction by establishing a universal carbon value for everyday goods across all markets and jurisdictions. The currency gives consumers, investors and employees the ability to demonstrate sustainable practices across supply chains. The project will be hosted on the Stella blockchain, with a fundraising round planned for early 2018.
| https://www.edie.net/news/8/New--carbon-currency--aims-to-simplify-sustainable-transactions/ | 2017-09-19 12:05:56.430000 | Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content
The venture, set to be formally launched by non-profit Poseidon in January 2018, will create a carbon value for everyday products, bringing carbon pricing into the mainstream by allowing customers to participate through every-day micro-transactions.
It will be made possible through the adoption of blockchain – an open source digital ledger that facilitates secure online dealings. The blockchain technology, provided by online platform Stella.org, will provide consistency across jurisdictions and prevent the double counting of carbon, Poseidon claims.
Speaking during New York Climate Week, Poseidon founder Laszlo Giricz said: “There is significant scope for companies to capitalise on the increasing demands of their consumers, investors, and employees to demonstrate sustainability, responsible supply chains, and positive environmental action.
“As momentum builds, Poseidon’s blockchain technology presents an opportunity for early involvement in a transparent, accountable carbon market that can provide both financial and ecological returns, offering a host of benefits to natural ecosystems, and the habitats and livelihoods they support.”
Poseidon aims to enable consumers to purchase ‘climate-positive’ products through smart contracts and a custom token on the Stellar blockchain. The digital ecosystem will also facilitate the transparent measuring and trade of emissions.
A fundraiser will be launched the start of next year before Poseidon begins to source carbon credits through Ecosphere, a venture which finances a range of environmental assets worldwide, including in vulnerable ecological zones such as Brazil, Guatemala and Peru.
Poseidon will then create a mobile app which enables businesses to view the impact their carbon positive purchases are having on the ground.
Chain reaction
Blockchain is viewed as one of the ‘essential eight’ emerging technologies by PwC that will play a crucial role in tackling issues around climate and biodiversity. The technology could facilitate peer-to-peer energy sharing and trading on digital platforms, a market which is reportedly set for take-off.
A host of major firms including Nestlé, Unilever and Walmart recently established a collaboration with tech giant IBM to explore how the global food supply chain can benefit from blockchain technology. The joint programme could enable all participants in the supply chain, including growers, suppliers, retailers and consumers, to quickly trace a contaminated product to its source and stem the spread of illnesses.
George Ogleby |
Number of zero-hours contracts falls to three-year low in UK | The number of people in the UK on zero-hours contracts has fallen to its lowest in over three years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In May, there were an estimated 1.4 million such contracts, down from 1.7 million in the same month the previous year. The figure was the lowest since January 2014. However, despite this fall, the percentage of zero-hours contracts among all employment agreements remains unchanged at 5%. ONS data for the three months to June shows 883,000 people on zero-hours contracts, down from 903,000 for the same period in 2016.
| https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/contractsthatdonotguaranteeaminimumnumberofhours/september2017 | 2017-09-19 11:56:19.550000 | 3. How many no guaranteed hours contracts (NGHCs) are there?
This section looks at the latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the period April to June 2017 and the business survey for May 2017. Estimates from surveys are, due to sampling error, subject to a degree of uncertainty. Where available, an indication of the level of uncertainty is provided in Annex 1.
Labour Force Survey
The LFS samples around 40,000 households a quarter and collects information about people’s employment status. One of the questions on the LFS, asked of people in employment, relates to special working arrangements that vary daily or weekly. Respondents can choose up to three different arrangements from a list of eight options, one of which is “zero-hours contracts” defined as “where a person is not contracted to work a set number of hours, and is only paid for the number of hours that they actually work”.
As the LFS is based on respondents’ views about their working arrangements and counts people rather than contracts, it is likely that any estimate of “zero-hours contracts” from the LFS will be less than an estimate obtained from businesses. The number of people the LFS classes as being on a “zero-hours contract” will be those who:
are employed (have done at least 1 hour of paid work in the week before they were interviewed or reported that they were temporarily away from their job)
report that their working arrangements in their main employment include some form of flexibility
recognise that the flexibility of their working arrangements is a result of being on a “zero-hours contract”
Therefore, the people identified by the LFS as being on a “zero-hours contract” will be those in employment who are aware that their contract allows for them to be offered no hours. This might exclude some people who select another option, such as on-call working, although they have the opportunity to report a “zero-hours contract” as well.
The latest estimate from the LFS shows that 883,000 people reported that they were on a “zero-hours contract” in the period April to June 2017, representing 2.8% of people in employment. This is 2.2% lower than the reported figure from the same period in 2016 (903,000 or 2.9% of people in employment). This fall in the number of people reporting to the LFS that they were on a “zero-hours contract” breaks the upward trend that was observed since 2011. The upward trend that we saw between 2011 and 2016 was likely to have been affected by greater awareness and recognition of the term “zero-hours contract”. Figure 1 shows the number of people in employment on a “zero-hours contract” from 2000 to 2017. Comparisons with 2012 and earlier years are complicated by a large increase between 2012 and 2013 that appeared to be due mainly to increased recognition of “zero-hours contracts”. This change was covered in a previous ONS report published on 30 April 2014.
Figure 1: Number (thousands) of people in employment reporting they are on a zero hours contract, 2000 to 2017 Source: Office for National Statistics Notes: The number of people who are shown as on a zero hours contract at any point in time will be affected by whether people know they are on a zero hours contract and will be affected by how they are aware of the concept. Estimates presented in Figure 1 are non-seasonally adjusted so comparisons of change should be made based on the same period each year. Additionally estimates from surveys are subject to a degree of uncertainty. Download this chart Figure 1: Number (thousands) of people in employment reporting they are on a zero hours contract, 2000 to 2017 Image .csv .xls
When looking at the length of time in current job, the fall in “zero-hours contracts” on the year is driven by a fall in the number of people being in their job for less than 5 years. The fall in the three categories (less than 12 months, 1 year but less than 2 and 2 years but less than 5) comprising people in employment in their job for less than 5 years is only partially offset by increases on the year in the number of people who were in their job over 5 years (5 years but less than 10 years and 10 years or more) (Figure 2). |
Number of zero-hours contracts falls to three-year low in UK | The number of people in the UK on zero-hours contracts has fallen to its lowest in over three years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In May, there were an estimated 1.4 million such contracts, down from 1.7 million in the same month the previous year. The figure was the lowest since January 2014. However, despite this fall, the percentage of zero-hours contracts among all employment agreements remains unchanged at 5%. ONS data for the three months to June shows 883,000 people on zero-hours contracts, down from 903,000 for the same period in 2016.
| https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/19/number-of-workers-on-zero-hours-contracts-drops-to-three-year-low | 2017-09-19 11:56:19.550000 | The number of people on zero-hours contracts in the UK has fallen to its lowest level in more than three years, as companies appear to be moving away from employing staff without guaranteed working hours.
There were an estimated 1.4m contracts that did not guarantee a minimum number of hours in May, down from 1.7m in the same month a year ago, and the lowest since January 2014, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.
While the overall number fell, the percentage of these contracts as a share of all employment agreements remained unchanged at 5%.
David Freeman, a senior labour market statistician at the ONS, said: “It seems possible that the trend towards this type of work has begun to unwind.”
The latest figures show a break in the upward trend for zero-hours contracts, which have drawn the ire of politicians and union leaders. Businesses including Sports Direct have been heavily criticised for using them, while a group of McDonald’s workers in Cambridge and Crayford, south-east London, went on strike over low wages and the use of zero hours contracts.
The Labour party has called for such contracts to be banned. Theresa May’s employment tsar, Matthew Taylor, refused to ban them in his sweeping review of Britain’s labour market published in July, although called for workers on zero hours to be given the right to request a permanent contract.
The ONS found someone on a zero-hours contract works 26 hours a week on average, while more than a quarter want more hours. Most want more hours in their current job, as opposed to seeking extra work with a different employer. By comparison, 7.2% of other people in employment wanted to work more hours.
Large businesses are estimated to be the heaviest users of employment agreements that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours. Administrative support businesses are the heaviest users, followed by accommodation and food services.
Women make up more than half of those saying they have zero-hours contracts, and there are significant numbers of young people and students.
The number of zero-hours contracts is falling, according to ONS data. Photograph: ONS
The latest figures follow ONS data for the three months to June, which found 883,000 people reported that they were on a zero-hours contract, a fall from 903,000 for the same period a year ago. The statistics authority measures data submitted by employees – who are less likely to identify as being on zero hours – and from businesses, where the figures are higher.
Despite the statistics showing falling usage, the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said it was still a “national scandal” that 1.4 million people were employed on zero-hours contracts – “stuck in limbo in insecure work, not knowing how much they’ll earn from week to week, unable to budget for basic necessities and unsure if they can even pay the rent.” |
Nike uses NFC chips to offer sport content via NBA smart jerseys | Sports clothing brand Nike has unveiled a range of connected fan jerseys as part of its partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA). The shirts have a near-field communication sensor on the jock tag which, when tapped with an NBA app-enabled smartphone, opens up a range of personalised content, from pre-game arrival footage to special offers on merchandise to in-game and post-game scores, as well as player statistics.
| https://www.designboom.com/design/nike-nba-connected-jersey-interactive-basketball-uniform-09-18-2017/ | 2017-09-19 11:26:25.427000 | NIKE is celebrating the beginning of its partnership with the NBA by revealing that its new fan jerseys will include an interactive element, designed to bring the sport’s followers closer to its biggest stars. billed as ‘the future of fan apparel’, each of the connected basketball jerseys features a unique NFC chip — the same technology used in metro cards, or for apple pay — built into its jock tag. using NIKEconnect, fans will then be able to access real-time, personalized experiences through their smartphone.
NIKE unveiled its new NBA jerseys for the 2017-18 season at an exclusive event in los angeles where designboom was in attendance. to learn more about the technology, designboom spoke with NIKE innovation’s michael hailey, and took a closer look at some of the uniforms and apparel that will grace the NBA hardwood for the upcoming season.
NIKE unveiled its new NBA jerseys for the 2017-18 season at an exclusive event in los angeles
globally launching on september 29, as soon as the NIKE jerseys go on sale, fans will be able to instantly unlock content via the NIKEconnect app. when the smartphone is tapped on the tag at the bottom of the NBA jersey it recognizes the special NFC chip located under the NIKEconnect logo. wearers are then able to ‘tap in’ around the clock, unlocking a wealth of team and player content such as pre-game arrival footage and highlight packages. game day brings even more access to exclusive offers.
each of the fan jerseys features a unique NFC chip built into its jock tag
based on the jersey’s allegiance, the app navigates the central ‘team’ tab. here, a status bar has either a pre-game countdown to tip-off, an in-game score, or a post-game final score. other information provided includes where and when the team is playing next, as well as stats about the wearer’s player of choice. below, the ‘team’ feed combines performance and off-court highlights, including related recap videos and gifs. fans can ‘tap in’ to this content for greater detail or share externally with friends online.
using a smartphone, fans will be able to access real-time, personalized experiences
in addition, the left side of the experience has an ‘offers’ tab that reveals both game day deals and ‘upcoming rewards’ for future games. offers include exclusively licensed products, NBA 2K18 boosts, tickets to games, and spotify playlists from athletes. meanwhile, the right side of the app has a ‘jersey’ tab, which shows a history of tap-ins and rewards with that particular NIKE NBA connected jersey.
the NIKEconnect app provides access to a wealth of team and player content
designboom (DB): can you start by introducing the NIKE NBA connected jersey?
michael hailey (MH): first off, its way more than a jersey, way more than a uniform. it’s actually your gateway to being connected to your favorite team, your favorite athlete, and the game you love. it lets you engage with your favorite athletes and teams. it rewards you everyday that you connect with the game, and that reward is customized content for you. there are also exclusive experiences that are delivered for you. the jersey is powered by NIKEconnect, a new technology platform that NIKE is building that enables our products to draw fans, who are wearing this jersey, closer to the athletes and the team that they love.
the new jersey is the league’s slimmest yet, while the shorts are more fitted than past silhouettes
DB: how does the technology work?
MH: all our fan jerseys have the NIKEconnect jock tag on them. on this jock tag is the NIKEconnect logo and behind that logo is an NFC (near field communications) tag. it’s the same general technology that you use for apple pay or for metrocards. it’s a very simple technology but we’ve applied it in a very powerful way. each tag has a unique ID. when you wear the jersey and you tap on it with your phone, we know what the team is, what the player is, and we even know the style of the jersey. that allows us to create really customized experiences for anybody around the world.
kevin durant wearing the golden state warriors’ new ‘statement’ edition uniform
DB: what do you need in order to use this interactive element?
MH: you need three things in order to use this: a jersey with NIKEconnect that has the chip technology inside; a phone that can scan NFC, so most modern android devices, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X; and the NIKEconnect app. if you have a NIKEplus account you just sign in, otherwise you can create one, it’s very simple. we also ask for your location so we give you more offers that are even more tailored to you. the idea is that we want you to wear your jersey, and ‘tap in’ anytime. if you tap in, even if your team aren’t playing, you’re going to get NBA highlights. if you tap in on game days, you can unlock additional exclusive offers.
lebron james in the new cleveland cavaliers ‘icon’ edition uniform
DB: what kind of content will fans have access to?
MH: it’s a nice mix of performance but also off court, so you get a nice sense of the culture of the game. if your athlete is kevin durant, you’ll see a lot of nice KD content, but you’ll also see a lot of content from the rest of the team. there are gifs, which you can save and share, and at the end of the game, you actually get a focused game re-cap video — a 1 to 2 minute movie that has all of the best plays from the night. the other cool thing is that you can see what offers are available, based on games that are upcoming. for example, if you tap in on game day, you can get KD’s spotify playlist. you can see that if you tap in you have a chance to get tickets for an upcoming game. the core of this experience is customized content.
NIKE adjusted the cut of the jerseys’ armholes around the back of the shoulders
although the jerseys that the players will wear on-court do not include the NFC chip, they are near identical to the fan versions. in order to develop the uniforms for the 2017-2018 season, NIKE engineers and designers focused their efforts on three key areas: movement, thermoregulation, and fit. importantly, the team used ‘atlas maps’ — a process that involves taking a digital body scan to evaluate sweat zones, contact zones, and where basketball players need full range of motion. designers then overlaid the maps to understand how to design a uniform in three dimensions.
uniquely, the charlotte hornets’ new uniforms and apparel feature the famous ‘jumpman’ logo
image © designboom
designers also modified the fit of the uniform based on range of information taken from the atlas maps, including scalloping the back of the jersey around the shoulder and shifting the motion vent on the shorts toward the front. ‘typically, players would size up to get more range of motion from their uniforms,’ says kurt parker, NIKE VP of apparel design. ‘but thanks to these maps we were able to streamline the fit by tailoring the uniforms to their need, resulting in the lightest uniform in NBA history.’
the NBA ‘association’ edition and ‘icon’ edition uniforms launch september 29, 2017 via NIKE’s website, while the ‘statement’ edition uniform will be available november 20, 2017.
designers shifted the motion vent toward the front of the shorts to facilitate more range of motion
image © designboom
a wide range of new apparel was unveiled at the launch
a presentation showcased the NBA’s ‘association’ edition uniforms for the upcoming season
a host of star names were in attendance, including paul george of the oklahoma city thunder
backstage, 30 NBA athletes wear NIKE’s new ‘statement’ edition uniforms
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Porsche's Mission E could challenge Tesla on price | Porsche has announced an all-electric production version of its 2015 Mission E concept car that could rival Tesla on price. The model is scheduled to go on sale at the end of 2019, with prices expected to start between $80,000 and $90,000. Speaking at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said that the Mission E will be “very close” in appearance to the concept presented two years ago at the event. The car won’t be offered with any internal combustion engine assistance, unlike Porsche’s current range of hybrids.
| https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/18/16330630/porsche-mission-e-tesla-model-s-competitor-electric-price | 2017-09-19 10:47:21.707000 | While automakers have been not-so-quietly making promises to catch up to the likes of Tesla when it comes to electric vehicle range, a sports car maker may be the first to beat the startup at its own game. A production version of the 2015 Porsche Mission E electric concept is scheduled to go on sale at the end of 2019, with a price expected to start in the $80,000 - $90,000 range, according to CAR Magazine.
Speaking last week at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says the Mission E will look “very close” to the concept presented two years ago at the show. Smaller than Porsche’s other four-door car, the Panamera, the company says it is intended to bridge the gap between that vehicle and the 911 sports car.
The Mission E won’t be offered with any internal combustion engine
That apparently means in performance terms, too. Unlike Porsche’s current range of hybrids the Mission E won’t be offered with any internal combustion engine assistance. And yet the concept promised a 0–60 time of less than 3.5 seconds and a top speed of around 155 mph through a dual-motor setup that also allows for all-wheel drive. While a Tesla Model S P100D may beat it off the the line in its most ludicrous of modes, the Porsche would ultimately keep up on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn. Yet like Tesla, Blume says Porsche will offer the Mission E with different power levels, so your “basic” $90,000 version may not be quite as powerful.
Blume also didn’t rule out expanding the Mission E range to include other styles, which may include a coupe or wagon or SUV. Porsche may be known for sports cars, but its Cayenne SUV has been pretty successful over the years. And being part of the vast Volkswagen Group that has promised to electrify everything by 2030, a slew of electric-only Porsches by then wouldn’t be so surprising. |
Brokers under threat by blockchain developments: DAC Beachcroft | Brokers could be eliminated if the insurance industry adopts blockchain technology on a grand scale, according to a research report from DAC Beachcroft. Making use of smart contracts via blockchain, which can pay out claims automatically, may eliminate the need for brokers in certain parts of the insurance distribution chain. For more complex claims, however, human involvement may still be needed. | https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insurer/3142746/blockchain-could-eliminate-the-need-for-brokers | 2017-09-19 10:12:57.043000 | DAC Beachcroft report predicts blockchain impact, another IPT rise and increased focus on corporate governance for brokers.
Brokers could be eliminated from some parts of the insurance distribution chain if blockchain is used to implement what is known as smart contracts.
According to a report by DAC Beachcroft blockchain/smart contracts can be used to automate digital claims.
The report, Insurance Market Conditions & Trends 17/18, stated: “They can automate the claims process, enabling digital claim submission (via sensors or internet-connected data sources) and processing (eliminating the need for brokers and |
Synthetic muscle advances development of lifelike robots | Researchers have developed a synthetic soft muscle they believe will enable robots to perform delicate tasks. The team, from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, 3D printed a silicone rubber matrix filled with microbubbles of ethanol, which was then actuated by a low-power charge. The new substance is far more malleable and practical than hydraulic and pneumatic solutions, and could represent a huge stride forward in the creation of robotic bodies. | https://futurism.com/new-synthetic-muscle-puts-us-one-step-closer-to-lifelike-robots/ | 2017-09-19 10:02:17.580000 | Making Muscle
A group of researchers from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a new type of synthetic soft muscle that can be manufactured using a 3D printer. The material is capable of lifting up to 1,000 times its own weight and boasts fifteen times the strain density (expansion per gram) of natural muscle.
The material doesn't require an external compressor or equipment to regulate pressure, which are common facets of existing solutions that rely on pneumatic or hydraulic inflation. These components take up a lot of space, which makes it difficult to use them to create machines that are both small and able to operate independently.
The synthetic muscle consists of a silicone rubber matrix, which is peppered with microbubbles of ethanol. It's electrically actuated using a low-power charge administered via a thin resistive wire.
The synthetic muscle before and after actuation. Image Credit: Aslan Miriyev/Columbia Engineering
“We’ve been making great strides toward making robots minds, but robot bodies are still primitive,” said Hod Lipson, a professor of mechanical engineering who led the research group, in a press release. “This is a big piece of the puzzle and, like biology, the new actuator can be shaped and reshaped a thousand ways. We’ve overcome one of the final barriers to making lifelike robots.”
Soft Touch
This new synthetic muscle could be a great benefit to the field of soft material robotics. In recent years, there have been great advances made in creating robots that can move and perform actions an ever-expanding variety of actions. However, there are still plenty of movements which are still too difficult for rigid robots to perform.
Actions related to grasping and manipulation require a certain level of finesse and dexterity that current technologies struggle to attain. This new material could help to create a robot that can grip a soft object without causing damage, for instance.
Machines built using this technology could provide assistance to human workers in situations where delicate movements are required, like in a medical context. We might even see the material integrated into next-generation prosthetics to provide improvements to the control that users have over their digits.
The next step for these researchers is to replace the resistive wire currently used with conductive materials, which should improve the muscle's response time and longevity. Looking further forward, they plan to use artificial intelligence to control motion with the material, an advance that could bring with it more humanoid movement to the robots of tomorrow. |
SPR Therapeutics funds wearable for pain management | US health tech company SPR Therapeutics has secured $25m in a funding round led by Frontcourt ventures. The investment will support the development and marketing of the company's wearable pain management device, called the Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation System. The device, which has been approved for use by federal authorities, works by running a current through a wire, placed next to the patient's skin, to trigger nerve fibres. It has been developed as a non-narcotic alternative for pain relief, and tests in 2014 recorded a 72% reduction in post-amputation pain.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/spr-therapeutics-gets-25m-pain-management-wearable?utm_source=The+Medical+Futurist+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a71a198466-Newsletter_2014_07_177_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_efd6a3cd08-a71a198466-420576665 | 2017-09-19 09:54:00.747000 | SPR Therapeutics, the Cleveland, Ohio-based developer of a wearable pain management device, announced yesterday the completion of $25 million in Series C financing. The company’s new funding — primarily secured from Frontcourt Ventures and an unnamed family office — will support commercialization of the Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation System, and investigate its applicability across indications.
SPR bills the FDA-cleared Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) System as a non-narcotic alternative for chronic and acute pain relief. By connecting a wearable stimulater to a 0.2mm wire placed through the skin, the system activates target nerve fibers to relieve patients’ pain. The therapy requires no permanent implants, invasive surgery, tissue destruction, or opioid prescription.
“Sprint was developed to address a wide spectrum of chronic and post-surgical pain conditions affecting millions worldwide,” Maria Bennett, CEO, president, and founder of SPR, told MobiHealthNews. “It was specifically designed for use in the periphery to preferentially activate target nerve fibers, delivering sustained, significant pain relief without opioids, permanent implants, or tissue destruction. Our patients have found the therapy to be convenient, effective, and in many cases they’ve told us Sprint has given them back their quality of life.”
In a statement released when the Sprint PNS System received FDA clearance in 2016, the company described the system as ideal for short outpatient procedures, and completely reversible if necessary. Notably, a 2014 clinical study found that use of the system was associated with a 72 percent reduction in average pain among patients presenting with moderate-to-severe post-amputation pain.
According to the company, SPR has received nearly $23 million to date in non-dilutive funding from the US Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and others. The company also used today’s statement to announce the appointment of Nick Valeriani, former CEO of West Health and Johnson & Johnson veteran, to the company’s board of directors.
The primary wearable pain management device available commercially is Neurometrix’s Quell. Its newest iteration uses a smartphone app to allow users direct control of their pain management, and was approved by the FDA last November. Both the Quell and the Sprint PNS System rely on nerve stimulation technology, but unlike SPR’s subcutaneous system, Quell is worn above the skin. |
Total buys 23% stake in renewable energy company Eren | French energy company Total is set to enter the wind power market and expand into the renewables sector by taking a 23%, €237.5m ($284.9m) stake in EREN Renewable Energy. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is part of EREN RE's push to achieve up to 5 GW of installed capacity in five years and will also allow Total to enter the wind power market. In a joint statement, the firms said EREN's solar farm business will be mainly focused on emerging countries. Upon completion, the company will be renamed Total Eren. | https://renewablesnow.com/news/total-to-take-23-stake-in-eren-re-583870/ | 2017-09-19 09:43:17.207000 | French oil and gas group Total SA (EPA:FP) has agreed to acquire a 23% indirect stake in compatriot company EREN Renewable Energy (EREN RE) as it steps up its push into renewables.
Total will take the stake by subscribing to a EUR-237.5-million (USD 284.9m) capital increase that will help EREN RE speed up its business in the coming years. The renewables firm currently has 650 MW of wind, solar and hydro capacity in operation or under construction globally and aims to reach more than 3 GW within five years. It is developing a number of projects in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.
The deal includes an option for Total to take over control of EREN RE after five years. Following completion, which is subject to approval from competition regulators, EREN RE will be renamed Total Eren.
Philippe Sauquet, President Gas, Renewables and Power, said the EREN RE investment will allow Total to accelerate its growth in solar energy and enter the wind power market, as well as help it reach its goal of achieving 5 GW of installed capacity in five years.
Total is the majority owner of US solar company SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) and this year set up Total Solar to develop solar power plants in developed countries and distributed solar systems for industrial and commercial customers. Development of EREN RE's solar farm business will be mainly focused on emerging countries where electricity demand is growing, according to today's joint statement from the companies.
"In line with the Group's integrated strategy along the oil and gas value chains, we are rebalancing our portfolio in renewables between the upstream manufacturing with SunPower and the downstream power production with EREN RE," said Sauquet.
(EUR 1 = USD 1.199)
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Direct-debit payments start-up GoCardless taps backers for $22.5m | Fintech company GoCardless has raised $22.5m from existing investors to further develop its global direct-debit payments service. The London-based firm's backers include Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, Notion Capital and Passion Capital. GoCardless is seeking to link banks in a global network to enable smooth direct-debit payments, especially in the subscriptions and other recurring payments space. The company claims to handle $4bn of transactions for organisations across Europe, including the UK government and the Guardian newspaper.
| https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/19/gocardless-raises-22-5-million/ | 2017-09-19 09:37:10.680000 | Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.
GoCardless, a fintech startup that’s setting out to make it easier for companies to collect recurring payments from customers, has raised $22.5 million in a round of funding from existing investors, including Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, Notion Capital, and Passion Capital.
Founded out of London in 2011, Y Combinator alum GoCardless wants to create a global bank-to-bank network that makes collecting money via direct debit as frictionless and automated as possible.
Subscriptions have emerged as a popular monetization model in the internet era, with consumer-focused services such as Spotify and enterprise-focused SaaS companies such as Salesforce proving popular with millions. Some estimates suggest that 35 percent of Fortune 2000 companies generate revenues via subscriptions, and managing these payments is where companies such as GoCardless come into play.
Others operating in the recurring payments realm include San Francisco-based Recurly, which has significant venture capital backing, and heavily funded Stripe, which also caters to subscription-based businesses.
One issue many of these companies are striving to fix relates to cross-border transactions. With anyone now able to carry out business globally through the web, the need for a “global” solution to collect money from customers is greater than ever. But many existing direct debit providers weren’t built with global commerce in mind, which is why GoCardless is working to create what it calls a “new international payments network,” one that works irrespective of country or currency.
GoCardless is currently limited to businesses in a handful of countries in Europe, with support for euros, U.K. pounds, and Swedish krona. But it is actively seeking to broaden its horizons. The company claims that it currently processes £3 billion ($4 billion) worth of transactions for 30,000 organizations in Europe, including in the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden, and Spain. And it is currently accepting registrations of interest for companies based in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand. Australia is expected to be GoCardless’s first non-European launch.
“As more and more businesses become international, they face endless frustrations in managing payments across multiple territories,” explained GoCardless CEO and cofounder Hiroki Takeuchi. “What we have engineered is a way to simply plug recurring payments into their existing systems, across the world, so they can focus on the challenges that really matter.”
GoCardless customers include Box, the U.K. government, and the Guardian newspaper, and the company also claims a number of third-party software integrations via its API, including Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks. |
Brighton and Hove council looks at buying back ex public housing | Brighton and Hove city councillors are considering a proposal to buy back former council homes bought under right-to-buy in an attempt to offer additional affordable rented housing. If the trial goes ahead, the council will be able to buy up to four homes, costing a maximum of £250,000, with the trial reviewed a year after the purchases. The home purchase policy would enable the council to buy back homes sold under right-to-buy if they come on to the market.
| http://www.governmentbusiness.co.uk/news/18092017/scheme-buy-back-former-council-homes | 2017-09-19 09:29:52.793000 | Scheme to buy back former council homes
A proposal for a trial scheme to enable Brighton & Hove City Council to buy back former council homes is to be considered by councillors.
The idea is aimed at providing more affordable rented housing for people on the housing register by bringing homes sold under Right to Buy back into council ownership.
Members of the council’s Housing and New Homes Committee will consider the proposal at a meeting soon.
If the proposed one year trial goes ahead, the council could buy back four homes, each costing up to a maximum of £250,000. Properties would be independently valued and people selling would benefit from a quick sale with no chain. The scheme would be reviewed the following year.
Money for purchasing homes would come from the council’s Housing Revenue Account and the properties could be used to provide temporary accommodation or permanent homes.
The proposed Home Purchase Policy provides the council with the formal policy and budget framework to be able to buy back council properties sold within the last 10 years, and longer, if they come onto the market.
Anne Meadows, chair of the Housing and New Homes Committee, said: “We are already building new council homes in the city, and this proposal is another way in which we could provide more homes to rent.
“Anything that brings us more social housing is fantastic for the city. Even if only a small number of properties is involved, it all adds up, and for four families on our housing register it could mean a new home.” |
California Drug Price Bill Sweeping In Scope, Lacking In Muscle | A California bill headed to the governor’s desk may be the most sweeping effort in the nation to shine a light on drug pricing, but it lacks the muscle being applied in other states to directly hold those prices down.
| http://californiahealthline.org/news/california-drug-price-bill-sweeping-in-scope-lacking-in-muscle/ | 2017-09-19 09:15:27.133000 | 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.
A California bill headed to the governor’s desk may be the most sweeping effort in the nation to shine a light on drug pricing, but it lacks the muscle being applied in other states to directly hold those prices down.
The idea behind the law is that if everyone knows when and why prices are rising, political leaders eventually will be more empowered to challenge those increases.
“Transparency is a longer-term play. It’s about building political will, getting more information and helping build the case for the changes that we need” in order to have more sustainable drug prices, said Ted Lee, a senior fellow at Yale University’s Global Health Justice Partnership, which recently released a report on steps states can take to reduce drug prices.
Some experts have said transparency alone is not enough to bring down drug prices, and more extensive changes are needed.
“We need really far-reaching reforms that say ‘sorry, pharma, we’ve had enough. We’re not going to do it your way. We’re going to do it our way,’” said Peter Maybarduk, director of the Global Access to Medicines Program at Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group. The group wants sweeping changes at the federal level that would reduce spending on drugs, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies and limiting market exclusivity on certain pharmaceuticals.
The California measure would put a spotlight on drug prices from different angles, imposing reporting obligations on both insurers and drug manufacturers.
The campaign for the bill brought together some unlikely political allies in the California State Capitol this year: Consumer advocates, insurers, employer groups, labor unions and even a prominent billionaire environmentalist shared the same platforms at press conferences, urging legislators to force drug manufacturers to disclose and justify their high prices.
Gov. Jerry Brown has about a month to decide whether to sign the bill. Brown rarely comments publicly about legislation before he takes action, but a spokesman, Brian Ferguson, said the governor’s office had worked closely with legislative staff on the bill.
The pharmaceutical industry remains fiercely opposed to the legislation and has vowed to lobby the governor against it.
The measure “will not improve the accessibility or affordability of medicines for patients,” Priscilla VanderVeer, deputy vice president of public affairs for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said in an email.
Under the proposed law, pharmaceutical companies would be required to give state agencies and insurers 60 days’ notice if they planned a price increase of more than 16 percent over two years on drugs with a wholesale cost of $40 or higher. And they would have to explain the reasons for the increase.
Manufacturers would also have to report the introduction of certain high-priced drugs to market, explain their marketing plans for the product and say if it is an improvement on drugs that are already available.
Health plans would be obliged to report to state regulators on the drugs with the highest annual cost increases and document how much drug spending factored into their premiums.
Yale’s Lee said both price control and transparency laws play important roles in regulating prescription drug costs. Ellen Albritton, a senior policy analyst at Families USA, said transparency measures such as California’s bill are a “key part” of what is needed for the U.S. to get drug prices under control. She said various actions by states, taken together, build the case for federal action.
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This year, at least two states have passed laws that tackle high drug prices head-on and may have a more immediate effect on consumer costs than the California measure, Lee said.
Maryland and New York, for example, passed laws this year that use a variety of legal levers to impose financial penalties or require discounts if prices are too high.
Maryland’s law empowers the state’s attorney general to take legal action if it determines drugmakers are “price gouging” on generic drugs. A violation by the company could trigger refunds to consumers and a fine for the manufacturer.
The New York law introduces a drug price cap in the state’s Medicaid program and would require rebates on drugs that exceed their limits, according to a Yale University analysis.
The California bill’s author, Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Covina), said he didn’t believe price controls were the right approach. “I still believe in the basic tenet of free enterprise,” he said. “The market should play itself out.”
But California’s bill is more comprehensive in some ways than other states’ laws. It requires new reporting in the private and public insurance markets and encompasses generic, brand-name and specialty pharmaceuticals. Other state laws affect only one payer, as in New York, or one subset of drugs, as in Maryland.
Vermont has a transparency measure, passed last year, that mandates reporting on a narrower subset of drugs than California’s proposal. Nevada’s recently passed drug price law requires disclosures from insulin makers.
Hernandez, who chairs the state Senate’s health committee, said the California bill could be a national model for drug price policy because transparency works to bring costs down. Consumers across state lines will benefit from California’s law, he said.
“I encourage the federal government, especially California’s representatives in the U.S. House and Senate, to consider similar legislation as we continue this discussion at a national level,” Hernandez said.
He said industry opposition to his bill has been fierce, with “legions” of lobbyists clogging Capitol hallways and full-page ads in local newspapers during the final days of the legislative session, which ended Friday.
Despite the industry’s resistance, Hernandez said, the effort to address high drug costs had bipartisan support and rallied players who are usually at odds on other matters.
“It has become a huge coalition because it’s impacting everybody,” he said. |
State Lawmakers Tackle Public Smoking And Lead Poisoning, But Punt On Single-Payer | California lawmakers approved several key health care proposals — and stalled on others — in their mad dash toward last Friday’s do-or-die legislative deadline. They adopted a bill that would require drugmakers to give 60 days’ notice on big price hikes, but pushed off a decision on single-payer health care.
| http://californiahealthline.org/news/state-lawmakers-tackle-public-smoking-and-lead-poisoning-but-punt-on-single-payer/ | 2017-09-19 09:14:46.350000 | 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.
California lawmakers approved several key health care proposals — and stalled on others — in their mad dash toward last Friday’s do-or-die legislative deadline.
They adopted a bill that would require drugmakers to give 60 days’ notice on big price hikes, but pushed off a decision on single-payer health care. They banned smoking at state parks and beaches, but delayed a proposal that would have established staffing requirements for dialysis clinics.
Some state legislators faced dual health care challenges this year: They lobbied to get their own bills passed while pushing back against attempts in Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
State Sen. Ed Hernandez, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said his priority was “to make sure we secured what we have … and that no consumer was going to be left without insurance.”
As a result, the focus of his legislative work this year became “mostly consumer protection and a lot of defense,” the West Covina Democrat said. He cited the example of his bill to protect access to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health clinics, which passed last week.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has until Oct. 15 to sign or veto the bills adopted by the Legislature. Other health policy proposals were shelved for now, and may be resurrected next year.
HEADED TO THE GOVERNOR’S DESK
Keeping Your Doctors
In response to the impending departures of Anthem Blue Cross and Cigna from portions of California’s individual insurance market next year, lawmakers agreed to a measure that would allow some seriously ill patients to continue seeing their current providers for a limited time if their insurer discontinued their plan. Under SB 133, introduced by Hernandez, an eligible patient’s coverage would continue even if her doctors didn’t contract with the new health plan, so long as they were willing to accept the new plan’s reimbursement rates.
Reproductive Bias
The Legislature gave the green light to a measure by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) to prohibit institutions with religious affiliations from firing workers because of their reproductive choices, such as becoming pregnant out of wedlock or having abortions. AB 569 would bar a religion-based employer such as a Christian school from requiring workers to sign a code of conduct that waived their reproductive health rights.
Prescription Drug Costs
After a similar proposal fizzled last year, lawmakers last week supported a hotly contested bill by Hernandez that would require drugmakers to report and explain big price hikes. SB 17 directs pharmaceutical companies to notify state agencies and insurers 60 days in advance if they plan to raise prices more than 16 percent over two years on drugs with a wholesale cost of at least $40.
Lawmakers also approved AB 265 by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), which would ban drugmakers from giving consumers coupons for brand-name drugs when a generic equivalent was available, with some exceptions.
Open Enrollment
Legislators agreed that Californians who buy insurance for themselves should continue to have a three-month open enrollment period, during which they can choose or switch health plans. By adopting AB 156, also authored by Wood, lawmakers are exempting the Golden State from a Trump administration rule that shortens the sign-up period to 45 days. If endorsed by the governor, the law would apply to people who purchase plans from Covered California and in the open market for coverage in 2019 and beyond. These Californians already are assured a three-month open enrollment period for next year, which will run from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31.
Smoking At State Parks And Beaches
Lawmakers approved AB 725 by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) to ban smoking at state beaches and parks. Violators would face fines of up to $50 per incident. Gov. Brown vetoed a similar effort last year, calling it “too broad.” A similar bill by Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), which proposes a fine of up to $100, also awaits the governor’s decision.
Childhood Lead Poisoning
Legislators adopted AB 1316 by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), which would strengthen the state’s screening for lead poisoning in children. The bill calls for all California kids to be evaluated by their doctor during regular checkups, and for those deemed “at risk” to undergo a blood screening. Currently, children who receive government assistance such as Medi-Cal must be screened for lead, but that requirement doesn’t extend to other children.
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Regulating Dialysis Clinics
A proposal by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) would have required minimum staff-to-patient ratios at dialysis centers, such as one nurse for every eight patients or one technician for every three. The stalled bill, SB 349, also would have mandated more time for staff to prepare between patient appointments. A bill by Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) would have required dialysis centers to spend at least 85 percent of their revenue primarily on direct patient care.
Both measures were backed by a large labor union, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), which has threatened to take the issue directly to voters if the Legislature does not act.
Single-Payer Health Care
The ambitious attempt to create one government-administered or “single-payer” health care system in California has been tabled until next year. SB 562 by Lara and Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) would provide comprehensive health coverage to all Californians, regardless of immigration status. Private insurance companies would be barred from the system, and enrollees would not be charged copayments or premiums. A legislative committee estimated that the program would require $200 billion annually in additional tax revenue.
Supporters of universal health care hope to put a measure on the statewide ballot that would make it easier to fund a single-payer system.
Pediatric Dental Anesthesia
A bill that would have required oral surgeons to have a specially trained staff member with them to monitor a child under anesthesia stalled in committee. Current law allows an oral surgeon to perform surgery and monitor the unconscious child at the same time. AB 224 , by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), would have built on last year’s “Caleb’s Law,” named after Caleb Sears, a 6-year-old boy who died in 2015 after oral surgery under anesthesia.
Containing Drug Costs
A measure by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) would have brought together administrators from 17 state agencies to devise ways to reduce state drug costs. AB 587 would have expanded an existing state purchasing collaborative that buys drugs for a handful of public health programs, and directed the new group to develop cost controls, such as creating a uniform drug formulary for state agencies.
SB 790 by Sen. Mike McGuire (D-North Coast/North Bay) sought to restrict the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing to doctors, limiting their spending to mostly educational or scientific purposes, which McGuire said could reduce unnecessary prescriptions of pricey drugs. |
Reinventing Utilization Management (UM) to Bring Value to the Point of Care | How can health systems deliver the right care, at the right cost, in the right setting, without overwhelming delivery and reimbursement systems with administrative burden? The shift from volume to value-based care requires the deft combination of value-based delivery (enabled through actionable intelligence and new care delivery models) and value-based payment (enabled through select provider networks and new reimbursement models).
| http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/reinventing-utilization-management-um-bring-value-point-care | 2017-09-19 09:13:43.177000 | How can health systems deliver the right care, at the right cost, in the right setting, without overwhelming delivery and reimbursement systems with administrative burden?
The shift from volume to value-based care requires the deft combination of value-based delivery (enabled through actionable intelligence and new care delivery models) and value-based payment (enabled through select provider networks and new reimbursement models).
Providers and payers must operate across a transparent, administratively simple, shared ecosystem. This giant leap from today’s world might appear impossible; however, as providers take on greater accountability for cost, and share more risk with payers, there is a real urgency for change.
The good news: the technological capabilities needed to affect change are available today. What’s missing: an effective bridge between the current volume-based systems, where communication between providers and payers happens after the care decision (with the limited exception of pre-authorization), and a value-based system, where rich data and enhanced intelligence are automatically shared in real-time to inform decision making.
Such a bridge can be built by starting with the current, albeit flawed, pre-authorization model as a foundation, enhancing current core systems and investments rather than trying to completely rebuild healthcare. The result is a new form of utilization management (UM) that shifts the balance of interactions from post-care decision with claims to pre-care decisions.
This can be done through multiple layers of seamless automation that use existing medical information systems (i.e., electronic health records (EHRs), care management portals, etc.) to minimize or even eliminate routine administrative tasks, and empower providers and payers to focus manual medical necessity and authorization review efforts only on cases that require their clinical expertise.
This exception-based approach increases the value of review and authorization processes by adding evidence-based decision support to their roles. By driving communication around evidence-based practices and appropriate care at the point of decision, the industry starts to bring value-based care delivery and, ultimately, value-based payment together.
Solving this practical challenge will foster genuine collaboration between payers and providers based on a shared priority to ensure that quality care for value is delivered, while significantly reducing their administrative burdens.
The limits of traditional utilization management
The shift to value-based care would seem so logical and promising that nearly all stakeholders would want to support it. The reality is that current payer-provider relationships, their technological systems, and their organizational infrastructures are only now becoming ready to accommodate the transition.
In the new world of value, payers and providers should be able to collaborate effortlessly at the point of care. A patient entered into the system by the provider should automatically trigger the relevant data, processes and tools needed to deliver cost-effective, evidence-based quality care.
Providers and payers should know the patient’s relevant care history, which approaches and treatments are supported by the evidence, and whether those are included in the patient’s insurance benefits package and provider network. The payment of care should be administered under the appropriate reimbursement model, and providers should have shared access to the data and actionable intelligence needed to deliver the right care in the right setting.
This is decidedly not the case in the traditional volume-based healthcare system. Pre-authorization and admission review are limited and often flawed examples of opportunities for payers and providers to interact and determine the clinical and financial impacts of care.
Under the current approach to UM, providers must seek approval from payers for care through a cumbersome, manual and often retrospective process. This puts payers in the position of serving as guardians of cost, medical necessity, network utilization and reimbursement rules.
Traditional utilization management also fails to deliver rich data on provider utilization patterns and network performance that can be shared between payer and provider. This hinders the development of improved policies, high performing networks and effective, targeted provider interventions.
Not surprisingly, payers and providers view this relationship as adversarial and the traditional utilization management function as a burdensome but necessary evil, fraught with the potential for conflict.
According to a study from the American Medical Association1:
About 64 percent of physicians reported difficulty determining which tests, procedures and drugs require authorizations.
About 63 percent of physicians reported waiting several days for authorization responses on tests and procedures, while 13 percent waited more than a week.
Nearly all of physicians reported that eliminating authorization hassles was “very important” (78 percent) or “important” (17 percent).
The percentage of medical claims reporting prior authorization increased on average by 2.3 percent from 2011 to 2013, with some payers doubling and tripling the number of care events that require authorization.5 Additional studies found each preauthorization costs payers and providers between $50 and $100, adding to the $74 billion annually2 in administrative costs to payers, and increasing the estimated $31 billion in annual administrative costs burdening providers (roughly $68,274 per physician).3
While the complexity and uncertainty created by the shift from volume to value-based care is significant, the opportunities created by reform are promising. It is estimated, for example, that enhanced collaboration can lead to a significant reduction in the $800 billion lost to administrative inefficiencies, provider inefficiencies and error, medically unnecessary and duplicative care, unwarranted use, and overutilization and fraud and abuse.4
Shifting to a collaborative exception-based model
Although traditional utilization management tends to be universally disliked, if transformed into a new collaborative model, it could serve as a bridge to the future.
Utilization management already drives the collection and aggregation of clinical and financial performance data, although it is generally not available for analyses until long afterward when claims and care management data has been retrieved and reported. That said, it is precisely this aggregation of clinical data that provides an opening for collaboration and for enhancing decision support in advance of care.
While the administrative burden of conducting a manual review is high, it is possible to automate the authorization process by integrating it into both the payer’s and provider’s workflows. This would lead to a significant reduction of the manual work involved in following up on authorization requests as well as helping to eliminate redundant medical reviews.
This process could be further streamlined by programmatically extracting data directly from the electronic health record (EHR) to automatically populate the medical review. Querying the clinical record directly in this way brings obvious advantages to the UM process, reducing the administrative work required for the medical review, and reducing human errors introduced when clinicians manually copy information between multiple systems.
Significantly, from the payer’s perspective, automating this process increases the trustworthiness of the review because the clinical data came directly from the EHR—the source of truth—without human intervention. And when the automated process transfers the clinical values into the medical review, that additional transparency further enhances trust.
In this scenario, immediate approval could be generated based on medical review results coupled with the payer’s business rules. Automated decisions could also take into account data on provider utilization patterns and network performance.
The ability to configure options based on the utilization patterns of a provider or care event is important to developing a collaborative win-win relationship between a payer and its providers. The more the provider’s practices are in line with evidence and policy, the lower the administrative burden.
Both the payer and provider can see this practice data—the provider can demonstrate proficiency, and the payer can monitor and incentivize provider participation without the burden of a manual discussion. In the process, the provider will know automatically if care events are covered, what the appropriate medical and network polices are, and whether they require a deep manual review or simply a notification as they are making their decisions and before the care is delivered.
To drive optimal provider adoption, this must be done across care events—diagnostics, procedures, specialty drugs, DME, etc.—and across their various payers, bringing a familiar, common workflow to the user, which is much more attractive than having to go to multiple systems for multiple payers.
Optimizing utilization processes with analytics
How does a payer continue to manage authorizations that are approved the majority of the time, without intervening in the care delivery process excessively? The data generated by automation must be gathered in a cloud-based shared ecosystem, measured and smartly managed by exception.
In this way, the payer intervenes only to the degree necessary. If the provider is delivering appropriate, evidence-based care, then the burden of scrutiny should be minimized and it should be easier for the provider to deliver and be reimbursed for care. That is the formula for a collaborative payer-provider relationship and one needed for value-based care.
To understand when interventions can be minimized, payers must measure and manage utilization patterns, while refining policies and processes.
Measure Measuring utilization data requires examining it in aggregate as part of an overall trend, rather than in terms of individual authorizations. Doing so makes apparent which requests are being automatically approved and which are automatically reviewed or canceled, and how frequently such interventions happen. This can be done based on the plan, product, provider, patient or care event. Manage Drilling down, payers can compare utilization patterns of different networks and providers, and observe variations in care events and procedures. Accordingly, the health plan can identify outliers where requests are higher volume compared to the peer-set norm, in or out of network, or not in line with evidence-based approaches. In addition, it can also see when requests are routine and do not warrant additional scrutiny that would waste administrative resources. Based on this data analysis, the health plan can build a nuanced exception-based approach by refining and optimizing its rules of authorization to facilitate the approval of requests that are aligned with quality and cost objectives while triggering notification in the system to scrutinize requests that are outside of their set parameters. Refine Once a system is in place to automate routine requests and signal alerts about outliers, the health plan and the provider can work together to understand the root causes of the outliers and intervene as appropriate. Ultimately, this collaboration can result in improved performance for the system from both administrative and medical cost perspectives that benefit the provider and the payer alike. This can also serve as key performance data for value-based relationships between them.
The more providers can align their care practices with the benefits and policies of the payer, the more providers will avoid the administrative burden of utilization management and be better able to demonstrate their value to a payer’s narrow network.
Performance-driven collaboration
In a value-based system, we are striving toward collaboration. How can exception-based utilization management be implemented, and what are the benefits of this model for both parties?
In this system, payers and providers communicate about care delivery in near real-time and learn to develop a more nuanced understanding of utilization patterns and variations in care. Over time, payer rules and actionable content can be infused into the many points of decision that are being made by the provider. This will help determine the appropriateness of medical care while also reducing administrative burdens. Most significantly, it creates a traversable pathway to a value-based care system.
This approach engages providers and payers with a common language. They are using a shared technology to measure, manage and refine quality care delivery in line with coverage policy. It reduces barriers internally, and between payers and providers, so that the various functions can communicate across traditional silos. Eventually, this also opens the door to integrate shared rules into the provider’s workflow.
This is an essential bridge from volume to value. When utilization patterns and the benefits of improved performance are shared openly, the provider can organize its care delivery to drive value, and the health plan can incent or support such efforts by paying for value. Over time, payers will direct more care to the best performing providers, as defined by their ability to meet quality and cost goals in accordance with evidence. The best providers will work to increasingly align their practices to meet the payer’s definition of value.
Making the vision real
A transformative system is well within reach. It starts with the technology tools and platforms being developed today, and the collaborative ecosystem forming among the network of payers, providers and vendors across the healthcare space.
By fully automating the authorization process, redundancy—where both payers and providers perform the same medical reviews—can be eliminated, and authorizations can be provided without needing to manually handle the request. This helps reduce administrative costs, speed authorizations, and helps ensure appropriate care.
Exception-based UM is now a reality, and the elimination of the adversarial relationship heralds better days ahead for payers, providers and patients.
About the Author:
Nilo Mehrabian: Vice President, Product Management, Decision Support, Change Healthcare
Nilo Mehrabian has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare market, serving the last 20 years in healthcare IT. She is responsible for the Decision Support products at Change Healthcare.
Footnotes
1American Medical Association, AMA Survey of Physicians on Preauthorization Requirements (May 2010)
2Medical Economics, Curing the prior authorization headache (October, 2013)
3McKinsey & Company, Preauthorization sizing, McKesson report (2008)
4Health Affairs, What Does it Cost Physician Practices to Interact with Health Plans? (July/August 2009)
5Thomson Reuters report, http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-healthcare-waste-idUSN2516799520091026 (October, 2009)
6American Hospital Association, Study: 75% of hospitals have at least a basic EHR (November, 2015) |
The Latest Health Care Repeal Plan Would Give States Sweeping Discretion | In a new Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have released a plan that would essentially allow states to come up with their own health care plans using a federal block grant.
| https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/us/cassidy-graham-health-plan-aca-repeal.html | 2017-09-19 09:11:41.117000 | In a new Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have released a plan that would essentially allow states to come up with their own health care plans using a federal block grant.
The grant money would replace federal dollars currently being spent on Medicaid expansion and on subsidies to help people afford insurance under the health law, also known as Obamacare. All of this funding would expire in 2027.
Like earlier Republican health care overhaul bills, the new bill would also make permanent, structural changes to the Medicaid program for beneficiaries who qualified before the expansion, converting it from an open-ended federal health care program to one that caps federal spending on each beneficiary.
How the bill would alter major parts of Obamacare
Repeal Change Keep Medicaid expansion Taxes created under Obamacare Dependent coverage until 26 Subsidies for out-of-pocket costs Essential health benefits Tax credits for premiums Prohibitions on annual and lifetime limits Individual mandate Pre-existing conditions policy Employer mandate Restrictions on charging more for older Americans Health savings account
Repeal Medicaid expansion Subsidies for out-of-pocket costs Tax credits for premiums Individual mandate Employer mandate Change Taxes created under Obamacare Essential health benefits Prohibitions on annual and lifetime limits Pre-existing conditions policy Restrictions on charging more for older Americans Health savings account Keep Dependent coverage until 26
Repeal
Medicaid expansion
OBAMACARE Changed Medicaid’s eligibility requirements to allow more people to enroll if a state chose to expand the program. The federal government pays at least 90 percent of the costs for newly eligible beneficiaries.
SENATE BILL The Cassidy-Graham bill would repeal Medicaid expansion. And instead it would create a big block of money for health coverage that states could use as they saw fit. The money would be used for residents who are currently eligible for the Medicaid expansion or the Affordable Care Act markets.
Money would be redistributed among states, using a complex formula, and the funding would expire entirely in 2027. Over all, states that expanded Medicaid would receive less money than they would under the Affordable Care Act.
Repeal
Subsidies for out-of-pocket costs
OBAMACARE Provides subsidies to help people with lower incomes pay for out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and co-payments.
SENATE BILL Would repeal the subsidies in 2020. States could use money from their block grants to lower cost-sharing for low-income beneficiaries, but they would not be required to do so.
Repeal
Tax credits for premiums
OBAMACARE Gives tax credits to middle-income Americans to offset the cost of premiums, based on their income and the cost of insurance in their area.
SENATE BILL Would repeal premium tax credits in 2020. But states could use the new block grant money to create their own subsidy programs.
Change
Taxes created under the Affordable Care Act
OBAMACARE Imposed new taxes to help pay for expanding coverage to more people. They include taxes on investment income, wages above $200,000, medical devices, prescription drugs and indoor tanning.
SENATE BILL The measure would repeal the tax on medical devices but leave most other Obamacare taxes in place.
Change
Essential health benefits
OBAMACARE Requires all insurers to offer 10 categories of essential health benefits, like maternity treatment and hospital care.
SENATE BILL States would be allowed to obtain waivers to eliminate the essential health benefits.
Change
Prohibitions on annual
and lifetime limits
OBAMACARE Bars insurers from setting a limit on how much they have to pay to cover someone.
SENATE BILLThe provision would not technically be repealed. But the caps would be less meaningful in states that pursued waivers and did not choose to guarantee coverage for essential health benefits. That’s because the annual and lifetime limits and essential health benefits are interrelated.
Change
Pre-existing conditions
OBAMACARE Requires insurers to cover people regardless of pre-existing medical conditions and bars them from setting prices based on a person’s health history.
SENATE BILL The requirement that insurers must cover people with pre-existing conditions would not be eliminated everywhere, but states would be able to obtain waivers to charge different premiums based on health status. Such waivers would effectively eliminate Obamacare’s protections, since people with prior health problems could be priced out of the market.
Change
Restrictions on charging more for older Americans
OBAMACARE Bans insurers that sell policies directly to individuals from charging their oldest customers more than three times what they charge their youngest ones.
SENATE BILL While it would not eliminate the restriction, the bill would allow states to obtain waivers that let insurers charge different premiums based on age.
Repeal
Individual mandate
OBAMACARE Requires all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty, with exceptions for people who have experienced hardships.
SENATE BILL Would eliminate the penalties retroactive to 2016.
Repeal
Employer mandate
OBAMACARE Requires larger companies to provide affordable insurance to their employees, or face financial penalties.
SENATE BILL Eliminates the penalties retroactive to 2016.
Change
Health savings account
OBAMACARE In 2017, allows an individual to put $3,400 and a family to put $6,750 into a tax-free health savings account.
SENATE BILL The bill would increase the amounts people could put into their health savings accounts. It would also allow people to use health savings account money to pay insurance premiums, a change from current law.
Keep
Dependent coverage until 26
OBAMACARE Allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance policies until age 26. |
How this 72-year-old weightlifter is lifting expectations | A 60-year-old grandmother from Fairfax, Virginia, developed a love for weightlifting and garnered up to 12 world records in her age and weight categories. Now 72, Linda Leightley can deadlift 273 pounds and is breaking preconceptions about the limitations of age and gender.
| http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/72-year-old-weightlifter-lifting-expectations/ | 2017-09-19 09:05:06.040000 | WILLIAM BRANGHAM:
Finally, to our NewsHour Shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you as well.
Staying in shape is difficult for many people, no matter their age. But one Virginia grandmother is raising the bar, literally.
The NewsHour's Julia Griffin has this profile. |
Analyst values Google's travel business at around $100bn | Google's travel business is worth $100bn, according to Skift Research. Skift arrived at this conclusion by assessing financial disclosures from the first half of the year and projecting client's estimated spends: it guessed that Kayak and Trivago will up their spend by 25%, letting Google's travel business take $14 billion in 2017. Hotels are factored into the analysis, with Airbnb accounting for $1 billion, and other travel agencies amounting to around $5 billion in ad spend in 2016.
| https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/307456/ | 2017-09-19 09:05:05.733000 | by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 18, 2017
Google's plan to dominate the travel business with search, referrals, recommendations and online advertising buys through AdWords seems to be working. One analyst firm suggests Google's travel business worth is about $100 billion.
Google's U.S.-booked air volume rose 13.6% year-over-year to $159 million, according to one report.
At $100 billion, Google’s travel business contributes about 15% to Google’s $650 billion market cap, according to Skift Research.
Here's how analysis from Skift Research comes to this conclusion by analyzing financial disclosures for the first half of 2017 and full-year 2016, and estimating how much these companies spent on Google.
The research group estimates that metasearch engines like Kayak and Trivago will spend 25% more, helping Google's travel business to generate about $14 billion in revenue in 2017.
advertisement advertisement
Priceline spent 23.5% more on advertising during the six months of 2017 compared with the prior year, which puts digital ad spend on pace to reach $4.3 billion in 2017, according to the research. And while Expedia does not disclose quarterly ad spend, the research note mentions it does disclose direct marketing costs -- which rose 28%, putting Expedia's digital ad spend at about $2.9 billion.
Priceline, which broke down its online and offline advertising in 2016 filings, recently changed to performance advertising from brand advertising such as TV. The research firm uses performance metrics as a proxy for online spend. Figures suggest that Priceline spent 92% of its ad budget online.
And with a few numbers on hand within Expedia's footnotes in its financial statement, Skift analysts estimates Expedia spent 85%. Factored into that number, research from Skift analyzed Expedia's exposure to Trivago’s television push.
Combined, Priceline and Expedia likely spent $5.8 billion on digital advertising in 2016.
The analysis also factors in hotels -- with Airbnb specifically at about $1 billion, and other travel agencies amounting to about $5 billion in Google ad spend in 2016, which includes AdWords. |
Rich American seniors are getting healthier, not poor ones | The U.S. has seen substantial improvements in life expectancy over the past century, particularly for those who are better-educated and more affluent. Our study, out today, looks at the health of older Americans in recent years, using data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on more than 50,000 seniors age 65 and older. Seniors in 2014 were 14 percent more likely to report that they were in very good or excellent health, compared to seniors in 2000.
| http://www.salon.com/2017/09/18/rich-american-seniors-are-getting-healthier-leaving-the-poor-behind_partner/ | 2017-09-19 09:04:01.160000 | The U.S. has seen substantial improvements in life expectancy over the past century, particularly for those who are better-educated and more affluent.
Our study, out today, looks at the health of older Americans in recent years, using data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on more than 50,000 seniors age 65 and older. Seniors in 2014 were 14 percent more likely to report that they were in very good or excellent health, compared to seniors in 2000.
However, a closer look tells a worrisome story: The health divide is widening across socioeconomic groups. Gains in good health primarily went to more advantaged groups.
Our work reveals a health disparity echoed in reports by others. In 1980, a wealthy 50-year-old man could expect to live an additional 5.1 years longer than a poor man of the same age. Thirty years later, the life expectancy of two similar men differs by more than a dozen years.
Measuring older Americans’ health
Health can be measured in many different ways. While physical measures such as weight, blood pressure and cholesterol level are excellent markers, it simply isn’t practical to obtain such information in studies that include many thousands of subjects.
Most research to date looks at trends in older adults who are frail or in otherwise poor health. These studies show that disability rates among older adults have declined by 1 to 3 percent every year since the 1980s.
Since seniors have such complex health needs, it may seem to make intuitive sense to track poor health. But this provides only one perspective. In our opinion, examining only those in poor health neglects to consider how good health — the goal of public health initiatives — is distributed in the population. Using disability trends to evaluate the health of older Americans is analogous to making conclusions about the U.S. economy based solely on the poverty rate.
In fact, when disability is used to examine health disparities, it leads to mixed conclusions. For instance, in comparing whites to blacks, one report showed a decline in the disability gap throughout the 1990s, while another showed an increase starting in the 1990s and extending to 2006.
Our work
It turns out that a single question about health is actually very accurate at estimating an individual’s likelihood of dying: “In general, would you say that your health is excellent, very good, good, fair or poor?”
By focusing on good health rather than poor health, we can think of health as an asset much like wealth, where the goal is to be at higher levels. We found that, by taking this new approach, health disparities among seniors became strikingly clear.
We identified seniors who reported “excellent” or “very good” health from 2000 to 2014. Our results show that seniors are more likely to report being healthy in recent years. In 2014, there were 8.4 million more healthy seniors in the U.S. than in 2000.
However, the gains in health were primarily among non-Hispanic whites and those of higher educational backgrounds or high family income. For instance, between 2000 to 2014, the number of seniors reporting good health increased by 21 percent among non-Hispanic whites. Meanwhile, during the same period, good health decreased 17 percent among non-Hispanic blacks.
Likewise, good health increased by 10 percent among seniors who possess a graduate degree. It also increased by 23 percent among seniors of high family income — that is, whose income was greater than or equal to four times the federal poverty level. Less advantaged counterparts — including those of high school education or less and with family income near or below the federal poverty level — were not so fortunate.
What explains these growing disparities? Given that the individuals in our study were all eligible to participate in Medicare, our results suggest that the influence of social, economic and environmental factors extends beyond access to health insurance.
This suggests that public health initiatives may miss some intended audiences. For instance, the U.S. government’s Healthy People 2020 initiative aims to manage risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of mortality. However, a recent report shows that public health gains have benefited the wealthy more than the poor.
The idea that higher education may affect an individual’s personal “investment” in themselves by partaking in healthy behaviors can be traced back to the concept of human capital described by Nobel laureate Gary Becker. Income and education are closely related, and their effect on health can last for a lifetime.
Why these disparities matter
By 2050, the population of older adults is expected to nearly double. Older adults’ health will have a significant impact on the national economy, as they will use more health care resources and may stay in the workforce longer.
Furthermore, the growing divide in health suggests that there are at least two different Americas. Depending on where an individual sits on the socioeconomic spectrum, he might expect a different length and quality of life.
Differences in life expectancy are particularly important as policymakers consider potentially raising retirement age for Social Security or the eligibility age for Medicare. In light of this disparity, such efforts to make federal programs financially sustainable would pay out less in the long run to lower income groups.
Indicators point to greater improvements in the length and quality of life among the most privileged groups in the U.S. This raises important questions regarding how we might design better health systems so that all members of society can benefit.
Matthew A. Davis, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan and Kenneth Langa, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, University of Michigan |
Apple users turn to Siri for emotional support | Users are increasingly asking Apple's voice-activated assistant Siri questions about their mental well-being, according to the company. In response, Apple is seeking a software engineer with a background in psychology and peer counselling. "People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they’re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life", the ad reads.
| https://qz.com/1078857/apples-siri-job-posting-seeks-engineers-with-psychology-skills-to-improve-its-counseling-abilities/ | 2017-09-19 08:57:10.770000 | Perhaps you’ve stumped Siri before, asking Apple’s automated assistant things like, “What is the meaning of life?” or “How can I be healthier and happier?”
If so, you’re not alone in turning to your phone for existential guidance and serious, practical life advice. According to an Apple job posting, lots of people do it. That’s why the company is seeking software engineers with feeling—and a background in psychology and peer counseling—to help improve Siri’s responses to the toughest questions.
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“People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they’re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life,” states the April ad for a “Siri Software Engineer, Health and Wellness” in Santa Clara, California. The job posting was unearthed by CNBC reporter Christina Farr, who shared it on Twitter on Sept. 14.
The position requires a unique skill set. Basically, the company is looking for a computer scientist who knows algorithms and can write complex code, but also understands human interaction, has compassion, and communicates ably, preferably in more than one language. The role also promises a singular thrill: to “play a part in the next revolution in human-computer interaction.”
The post doesn’t note this, but it’s obvious from the job description that it also offers lots of fodder for a science fiction writer with a Ballardian bent. If this talented, compassionate, emotionally intelligent computer scientist also happens to be literary, we can look forward to a great but creepy tale someday, too, apart from a more intelligent assistant.
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Computer scientists developing artificial intelligence have long debated what it means to be human and how to make machines more compassionate. Apart from the technical difficulties, the endeavor raises ethical dilemmas, as noted in the 2012 MIT Press book Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics.
Even if machines could be made to feel for people, it’s not clear what feelings are the right ones to make a great and kind advisor and in what combinations. A sad machine is no good, perhaps, but a real happy machine is problematic, too. In a chapter on creating compassionate artificial intelligence (pdf), sociologist, bioethicist, and Buddhist monk James Hughes writes:
Programming too high a level of positive emotion in an artificial mind, locking it into a heavenly state of self-gratification, would also deny it the capacity for empathy with other beings’ suffering, and the nagging awareness that there is a better state of mind.
The job at Apple has been up since April, so maybe it’s turned out to be a tall order to fill. Still, it shouldn’t be impossible to find people who are interested in making machines more understanding. If it is, we should probably stop asking Siri such serious questions. |
Swedish mobile payment start-up iZettle raises $36m to explore AI | European mobile payments processor iZettle has completed a $36m debt round to fund research and development into areas including artificial intelligence (AI). The Swedish start-up's technology makes it easier for smaller businesses in Europe to accept card payments through mobile devices. It has also expanded into Latin America, but is understood to have no plans at present to take on Square in the US. The company intends to use the funding from the European Investment Bank to develop next-generation payments infrastructure.
| https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/19/mobile-payments-company-izettle-raises-36-million-in-debt-for-rd-into-ai-machine-learning-and-more/ | 2017-09-19 08:41:31.467000 | Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.
European mobile payments processor iZettle has raised a €30 million ($36 million) debt round to fund a host of research and development (R&D) initiatives covering areas including machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The latest financing, which arrives via the E.U.’s European Investment Bank (EIB), comes just nine months after the Swedish startup raised $63 million in funding, which constituted a mix of debt and equity. The company has some big-name backers already too, including Intel’s investment arm Intel Capital, American Express, and Mastercard.
“It’s the type of offer [EIB funding] you can’t refuse, and it will allow us to further accelerate our growth and continue to level the playing field for small businesses, giving them access to tools to take on the big corporations,” noted iZettle CEO and cofounder Jacob de Geer.
The story so far
Founded out of Sweden in 2010, iZettle is similar to Square, insofar as it targets small to medium-sized businesses with hardware and software that makes it easier to accept card payments from customers through mobile devices.
Image Credit: iZettle
iZettle has so far mainly been focused on Europe, including Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, and the U.K., but it has also expanded into Latin America via Brazil and Mexico. While iZettle recently intimated that it has no intentions to encroach on Square’s home turf in the U.S., Square recently launched its service in the U.K., with plans to roll out in further European markets in the future.
However the mobile payments battle plays out between these two companies, iZettle clearly hopes that investing in its R&D efforts can give it a competitive advantage in the long term. The four main areas of investment will cover: developing next-gen payments infrastructure; harnessing machine learning and artificial intelligence; scaling legislative and compliance systems; and digitalization of commerce processes. |
Bots may replace humans in four million UK roles | A survey by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) has suggested that, in the next decade, robots could replace up to four million British private sector jobs. The RSA also posits that its findings point, for the large part, to improved roles for workers, having their roles altered rather than eradicated. However, trade unions have warned against the "shredding (of) good jobs", illustrating a widespread fear that bots will leave many humans unemployed. | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/19/robots-could-take-4m-private-sector-jobs-within-10-years | 2017-09-19 08:27:46.450000 | Four million jobs in the British private sector could be replaced by robots in the next decade, according to business leaders asked about the future of automation and artificial intelligence.
The potential impact amounts to 15% of the current workforce in the sector and emerged in a poll conducted by YouGov for the Royal Society of Arts, whose chief executive, Matthew Taylor, has been advising Downing Street on the future of modern work.
Jobs in finance and accounting, transport and distribution and in media, marketing and advertising are most likely to be automated in the next decade, the research says.
The RSA’s prediction of the impact of robotics on working lives is lower than some other estimates. Four years ago, academics at the University of Oxford predicted 35% of jobs could be rendered obsolete by new technology, while the Bank of England predicted in 2015 that up to 15m jobs in Britain were at risk from robots “hollowing out” the workforce.
The RSA is also more optimistic about the potential of robots and artificial intelligence than US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has said AI was “the scariest problem” and “our biggest existential threat” because, he predicts, they will be able to do everything better than humans.
Research by the University of Oxford and Deloitte last year predicted more than 850,000 public sector jobs could be lost by 2030 through automation.
Asda operates a fully automated distribution warehouse in west London; white-collar tasks are being automated by PwC, the accountancy firm, and Linklaters, the law firm, which have been developing software robots that use artificial intelligence to learn to do research tasks usually undertaken by junior accountants and lawyers.
The RSA warns that artificial intelligence and robotics will “undoubtedly cause the loss of some jobs, whether it is autonomous vehicles pushing taxi drivers out of business or picking and packing robots usurping warehouse workers”. But it argues that new technologies could phase out mundane jobs, raise productivity levels and so deliver higher wages and “allow workers to concentrate on more human-centric roles that are beyond the reach of machines”.
It found that business leaders largely believed that new technologies were more likely to alter jobs rather than eliminate them and that this, combined with the creation of new types of jobs, would lead to greater prosperity in the long run.
Care homes are also trialling robots. One in Lincoln plans to use one to help residents remember daily necessities such as taking medication. The robot will also monitor their movements and habits as a nurse would. A care company in London, Three Sisters Home Care, will soon trial the use of robots for lifting people so only one care worker will be needed rather than two.
Three Sisters’ chief executive, Jobeda Ali, told the researchers: “If I don’t have to send a person to do a transfer job [lifting], I can send them to have a cup of tea and a chat. This is a much better use of their time than carrying patients or cooking meals.”
The prediction that millions of jobs will be lost to robots led the Trades Union Congress to warn against “shredding good jobs”.
“The UK must make the most of the economic opportunities that new technologies offer,” said Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC. “Robots and AI could let us produce more for less, boosting national prosperity. But we need to talk about who benefits – and how workers get a fair share. The productivity gains must be used to improve pay and conditions for workers.”
Benedict Dellot, the author of the report, said the technical limitations on robots, evidenced so far by driverless cars crashing and the difficulty of getting robots to read at an adult level, would restrict the speed with which jobs will be automated.
The RSA has also warned that Britain needs to invest more in robots or risk falling further behind countries including the US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy where companies are buying more robots than in the UK.
“AI and robotics could solve some of the gaps and problems in the labour market with low-paid, dull, dirty, dangerous jobs that nobody really wants to fill,” Dellot said. “The technology has the potential to fundamentally improve productivity levels in the UK.”
The report also warns that increasing automation could deepen economic inequality and “demographic biases could become further entrenched”. It argues that to avoid this policymakers should take control of the development of the technology by creating an ethical framework to guide the behaviour of AI and to encourage investment in “benevolent technology that enriches the worker experience”. |
Singaporean commercial cybersecurity R&D receives $16m funding | Singaporean Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has announced more than $16m in funding to boost Singapore's cybersecurity research and development. The investment will go to nine individual projects, each aiming to bolster national cybersecurity and reinforce critical infrastructure. The funds may also help new developments to reach the market faster. "Should our cybersecurity researchers arrive at new findings, industry leads... will stand ready to develop them into game-changing solutions," said Heng.
| http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/16m-funding-for-projects-to-boost-singapores-cyber-security-rd | 2017-09-19 08:25:17.127000 | More than $16 million will be invested to strengthen Singapore's cyber-security research and development, under two separate programmes that aim to produce more commercial cyber-security solutions.
Speaking at the opening of the second Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (Switch) yesterday, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the move, and said it would further public- private partnerships in areas of advanced cyber security.
Nine research projects were granted funding of $15.6 million under a grant call by the National Cybersecurity R&D Programme, which was set up in November last year to develop capabilities to meet Singapore's cyber-security needs.
Each project is a collaboration between a cyber-security company and academic researchers, and falls under one of the nation's three key cyber-security priorities: national security, critical infrastructure and Smart Nation.
For example, local cyber-security start-up Attila Cybertech is working with researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design to use machine learning in the software for critical infrastructure in order to detect strange, out-of-the-ordinary behaviour that might indicate a cyber attack.
Such partnerships mean that new research findings can be brought to market faster as there is already a company available to market the research.
"Should our cyber-security researchers arrive at new findings, industry leads... will stand ready to develop them into game-changing solutions," said Mr Heng. |
Access to devices biggest barrier to digital learning | Education professionals believe that a shortage of devices and a lack of time are restricting the educational potential of digital systems, according to a study by edtech Schoology. Roughly 95% of teachers believe digital learning has improved education, according to the report, which warned that given 90% of respondents were using non-interactive resources, this could mean traditional teaching methods are being digitised rather than overhauled. The study also revealed that blended learning, flipped classrooms and gamification were not practised as much as might be thought. | https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/09/18/biggest-barriers-to-digital-learning.aspx | 2017-09-19 08:07:27.663000 | Research
Biggest Barriers to Digital Learning: Lack of Time, Lack of Devices
The biggest barrier to digital learning for teachers is gaining student access to technology. That's followed by a lack of time during the school day. For administrators, the top concern is providing relevant and effective professional development to their staff, followed by limitations and problems with the technological infrastructure, such as WiFi and security. Overall, across both roles, the main obstacle to integrating technology into the classroom was lack of time and an insufficient number of devices to do so.
Those findings surfaced in a survey undertaken for the first time by education technology company Schoology.
Schoology produces a web-based learning management system with tools for creating content, designing lessons and assessing student learning, primarily used in K-12 environments, but also adopted by higher ed. A free version is available for classroom use; a subscription version is intended for school, district or institutional adoption.
The survey went beyond getting input from Schoology customers. Responses came from 2,846 education professionals specifically in K-12, a quarter of whom were users of the company's online service. Although the response was worldwide, a high volume came from the United States.
Perhaps unsurprisingly (for a survey undertaken by a tech company), almost everybody said digital learning had a positive impact on student achievement (95 percent) and teaching effectiveness (92 percent). However, most of the time, the resources they said they use tend to be "static" — PDFs and Word documents (cited by 90 percent of respondents) and videos (cited by 70 percent). This suggests, the report noted, that institutions "may be digitizing traditional learning instead of enhancing it." Online games came in third, referenced by 42 percent of participants, and publisher content and open educational resources ranked lower (39 percent and 37 percent, respectively).
Teachers and administrators specify their major obstacles to integrating technology into teaching and learning. Source: "The Global State of Digital Learning in K-12 Education," Schoology
Among other results:
Six in 10 respondents (61 percent) work in institutions that have dedicated instructional technologists.
The most common hardware set-up is the shared cart of devices. Those are in place at 33 percent of respondent schools. A quarter of respondents run 1-to-1 programs where students can't take devices home; a similar number have 1-to-1s where they can take them home.
Not quite half of participating schools (46 percent) have an LMS in place; 20 percent don't; and a solid third (34 percent) don't know. Among those with LMSes, the larger the institution, the less likely they are to mandate LMS use in the classroom. Whereas 39 percent of education entities with 50,000 or more students required LMS use, the share rose to 54 percent in organizations with fewer than 2,000 students.
The survey found that frequency of LMS use also corresponded to level of student engagement. The highest proportion of "very engaged" students were found in schools where the LMS was used daily.
The survey also examined instructional approaches that integrate technology. The ones used most by respondents were differentiated instruction (75 percent), blended learning (54 percent), and individualized learning (45 percent). The report pointed out that three biggies that "command the most press" aren't being "practiced as much as one might think." For example, flipped learning was mentioned by 35 percent of participants; personalized learning by 32 percent and gamification by 16 percent. Schoology's thinking: that "these approaches require more time and resources than many of the others."
The complete results, which also cover professional development and the use and types of educator collaboration, are available with registration on the Schoology website. |
JPMorgan advertises for blockchain project manager | JPMorgan is recruiting a specialist to undertake research and development work on blockchain technology. The bank is advertising for a technical project manager to work in its Blockchain Centre of Excellence (BCOE), a unit that it said is exploring uses of blockchain and distributed ledger technology across its business. The bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, recently called the pioneer blockchain currency bitcoin a "fraud", but many traditional banks are known to be investing in developing uses for the technology.
| http://bitcoinist.com/mixed-messages-fly-as-jp-morgan-posts-job-ad-for-blockchain-technician/ | 2017-09-19 08:07:22.767000 | JP Morgan reveals they are looking for a “Technical Project Execution Manager – (Blockchain) Distributed Ledger Technology” despite a very recent vehement attack on Bitcoin, which originated the very blockchain technology the financial services giant seeks to adopt.
In a move that many are finding ironic, if not downright hypocritical, JP Morgan is on the hunt for an experienced blockchain technician. The job posting comes just days after CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin “a fraud” – the same fraud whose core open source technology the company has appropriated.
The job listing on JP Morgan’s website reads:
The Blockchain Center of Excellence (BCOE) leads efforts for applications of distributed ledger technology (DLT) within J.P. Morgan. We are exploring Blockchain use cases and piloting solutions across business lines. We are active in the Blockchain ecosystem: developing technology, investing in strategic partnerships, and participating in industry consortia.
Bitcoin to the Rescue
It is no secret that big banks are heavily investing in blockchain technology, however, part of Bitcoin’s success is in how it has rewarded miners for building and maintaining a decentralized blockchain infrastructure which is essential to security, while also making the system accountable to everyone.
Bitcoin was born as a response to poor financial management after the largest banks, including JP Morgan, contributed to the 2008 world financial crash, leaving a pressing need for a better system. It is no coincidence that Bitcoin came to fruition in the same year when the world was looking for alternatives, Bitcoin was presented.
Jamie Dimon’s Blockchain History
Dimon’s recent anti-Bitcoin diatribe is hardly a new position for the JP Morgan CEO. During an appearance on CNBC’s coverage of the World Economic Forum meetings in February 2016, he made his feelings about Bitcoin quite clear:
Bitcoin the currency, I think, is going to go nowhere […] There is nothing behind a Bitcoin, and I think if it was big, the governments would stop it…
At the time of Dimon’s pronouncement, the price of Bitcoin was somewhere in the neighborhood of $400. Four short months later the cryptocurrency nearly doubled in value to $780 and by December 2016 had reached the then-unprecedented value of $1200. Since then, the value of Bitcoin has continued to climb, reaching its all-time high in August of this year at just under $4980. From this perspective, it is easy to see why one former JP Morgan executive told Dimon to STFU about Bitcoin.
Do you think that JP Morgan is sending mixed messages? Is it hypocritical to reject Bitcoin while embracing the core technology that it is built upon? Let us know in the comments below?
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Reuters/Mike Segar |
Dublin-based team creates 3D medical devices for disaster zones | Researchers at Trinity College Dublin are using 3D printing to create a range of medical devices for disaster relief situations. The team has established the Med3DP project to pursue the research and has already developed a number of device templates including a stethoscope, a breast pump, an umbilical cord clamp and a neck brace. The devices are intended to assist in providing fast access to vital medical equipment in disaster-affected countries where traditional supplies can be difficult to obtain.
| https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/med3dp-tcd-3d-printing | 2017-09-19 07:58:52.743000 | In developing nations during a disaster, quick access to medical equipment can often be left wanting, but 3D printing is trying to bridge the gap.
For more than a decade now, 3D printing as a concept has promised a revolution in everything from construction to food production but, on the surface, you might think things haven’t changed much.
This couldn’t be further from the case, however, particularly in medicine where 3D printers have set in motion a future where many of us are already cyborgs – humans with replacement body parts specifically printed to suit our individual needs.
Perhaps one of the most striking examples of its potential was recently seen at Inspirefest 2017 when NUI Galway research fellow Dr Ellen Roche showed her ingenious solution to print a soft robotic silicone sleeve to keep a heart pumping inside the body.
But not everything needs to be as complex as this, as the team from Med3DP at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has shown time and again.
Founded by Dr Michael Monaghan and Dr Conor Buckley, the centre was set up to develop on-demand medical devices for humanitarian healthcare using 3D-printing technology.
Since it began, the group has built a wide range of projects complete with ready-to-print files, documentation and other helpful information for anyone else in an affected disaster zone, so that they can jump right in and start printing devices.
Anyone who visited Inspirefest this summer may have seen some of their creations first-hand, including a working stethoscope to let people listen to their own heartbeat.
One of those from Med3DP was Pooja Mandal from India, who is undertaking an MSc in bioengineering at TCD with a specialisation in tissue engineering and stem cells.
Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com, Mandal said that the device templates they are creating can be vital when second-hand medical devices get broken during transit or are lost.
In many cases, medical devices sent to countries in dire need of equipment are often obsolete or left with no instructions on how to operate them – but not so with 3D-printed devices.
One of the projects Mandal and her team in Med3DP worked on that she is particularly proud of is a 3D-printed breast pump, but she admits it’s still at a starting point, with design improvements needed to make it ideal for women in developing countries.
“What I would like is to be able to make it into a single component that is easily accessible, so that not much printing time goes into it,” she said.
This is just one of dozens of other devices the Med3DP team has already designed and built, including an umbilical cord clamp, pocket mask and valve, finger splint kit, and even a neck brace.
It shows, Mandal said, that 3D printing is certainly not simply a pursuit of makers and designers, but also for scientists like her who see it as making a substantial difference in the field of medicine.
“It has really revolutionised science as people are trying to get donor-matching organs, but now people can get a proper treatment without any immunogenic response [using 3D printing] … by building them with their own cells,” she explained.
So, aside from the impressive output of the group, what would she say is one of its greatest qualities?
The answer: a diverse team of 14 men and women from multiple nations, not your typical image of a group of exclusively Irish students who might not really understand the complexities of the problems they are trying to solve.
“We can all talk to each other, hear each other’s ideas, with everyone able to bring in their own scenarios from their countries,” Mandal said.
“Everything played a bigger role into the programme and helped us achieve our ultimate goal of getting into designing proper medical devices, especially from me as someone from a developing country.
“It was really good for me to see that and I felt that maybe someday I could revolutionise [3D-printing technology] in India.”
3D printing in action. Image: OlegDoroshin/Shutterstock |
Decentralised exchange Kyber Network raises $60m in ICO | Cryptocurrency exchange Kyber Network has raised $60m in its initial coin offering. The platform is a decentralised exchange service which allows users to send and receive payments in different currencies, without having to go through a centralised exchange. The company plans to introduce a smart contract interface to allow existing electronic wallets to accept new types of cryptocurrency without requiring a modification of the contract code.
| https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/kyber-network-ico-raises-60-million-little-day/ | 2017-09-19 07:56:46.427000 | The token sale by Kyber Network has reached its full funding cap of 200,000 ETH, worth about $60 million at an Ethereum Ethereum Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Read this Term price level of $300. The service is a decentralized and trustless exchange for instant conversions between crypto-assets.
Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!
Through KyberNetwork, a user can send one token to a recipient who wishes to receive the payment in another token in a single transaction. It will also introduce a new Smart Contract Smart Contract A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist Read this Term interface that would allow existing wallets, which only accepts certain specific tokens, to receive any existing or future token without having to modify the token contract code.
Prior to the ICO, Kyber Network CEO and co-founder Loi Luu sat down to talk with Finance Magnates about the project ahead of its token sale. Listen to the interview on SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube:
Following the completion of the token sale Luu commented: "I would like to thank the Kyber Network team members and advisors for getting the company to successfully raise a good round. Not forgetting the community moderators and volunteers who have been extremely diligent in keeping the community safe and secure for all members, and in keeping the communication from Kyber Network to fellow members succinct. Lastly, this token sale wouldn’t have been possible if not for the enthusiastic support from all of you.
This marks the end of one phase and the beginning of another. Moving forward, we will channel our energy and resources to product and business development. We promise that we will continue our effort in creating a world-class and highly usable platform that everyone has access to." |
Mobile devices lower hospitalisations in rural India | Patients in rural India fitted with wireless mobile health devices have lower incidences of hospitalisation and death, according to a study. Led by Dr. Partho Sengupta of the West Virginia University School of Medicine in the US, the study enrolled patients in remote parts of India diagnosed with rheumatic and structural heart disease. Those who were given mobile health devices were found to have better outcomes, although the researchers noted the small and unequal sample sizes used in the trial.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/study-resource-poor-areas-connected-devices-reduce-hospitalizations-deaths?utm_source=The+Medical+Futurist+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a71a198466-Newsletter_2014_07_177_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_efd6a3cd08-a71a198466-420576665 | 2017-09-19 07:56:27.023000 | Update: This story has been updated to include additional quotes from the study's researchers.
Heart disease patients visiting mobile health clinics outfitted with pocket-sized, smartphone-connected ECGs and other point-of-care medical devices are more quickly referred for therapy, and less frequently experience hospitalization or death.
According to a recent study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the benefits of these portable devices could be especially key in transforming healthcare delivery in regions strapped for resources.
“Such areas have the highest rates of chronic diseases, [yet] have the lowest availability of diagnostic tests,” lead author Dr. Sanjeev Bhavnani, of the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, told MobiHealthNews. “By way of their portability, new mobile health devices such as pocket ultrasound and the smartphone-iECG maybe uniquely poised to improve healthcare access and lead to earlier treatment decisions, especially for high risk patients.”
In the study, researchers enrolled Indian outpatients with new or established diagnoses of rheumatic and structural heart disease. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either standard care (n=114), or were referred to a clinic equipped with a suite of wireless point-of-care devices (n=139), including pocket-echocardiography (General Electric’s VScan); smartphone-connected oximetry and blood pressure monitors (iHealth); activity monitors (Ozeri); a smartphone-connected ECG (AliveCor); and fingerstick B-type natriuretic peptide tests (Alere Triage).
Over a 12-month observational period, the researchers found that patients who initially visited a mobile health clinic were significantly more likely to be referred for a valvuloplasty, valve replacement, or both procedures and, to a less significant extent, undergo the therapies. Furthermore, those assessed with the mobile health devices were also at significantly less risk of hospitalization or death, which the researchers attributed to the mobile health clinic’s improved characterization of structural heart disease and more prompt referral to care.
The researchers lamented the smaller and unequal sample sizes of the treatment groups, but noted in their study that the use of readily available technologies, hard clinical outcome measurements, and real-world implementation add validity to their results.
"To our knowledge this is the first randomized study that shows how modern cardiology clinics can be organized for triaging symptomatic patients efficiently and how decision making can be accelerated using a combination of mHealth technologies that look at different dimensions of a disease,” principal investigator Dr. Partho Sengupta, of the West Virginia University School of Medicine, told MobiHealthNews. “The outcomes suggest potential substantial cost-savings and cost-efficacy studies are needed to evaluate the impact on health-economics using such strategies."
The opportunities and need for more data regarding mobile phone-connected health devices outside of resource-rich settings was previously explored in a 2015 review, in which the authors argued that “priorities should be set for investments and guidance in evaluation disseminated by the scientific community to practitioners and policymakers.” |
Use of virtual reality growing in nurses' training in the US | The use of virtual reality (VR) and other new technology in educating nurses in the US is increasing, according to a study by health tech firm Wolters Kluwer and the National League for Nursing's Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology. The survey found 65% of nursing education programmes use virtual simulation to train students, and 75% use online and distance learning. The use of full VR is predicted to grow from 10% to 45% over the next five years, while the use of mobile apps will jump from 41% to 59%.
| https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/09/18/nursing-ed-using-more-virtual-simulation-other-new-tech.aspx?admgarea=news | 2017-09-19 07:53:20.650000 | Research
Nursing Ed Using More Virtual Simulation, Other New Tech
A recent survey of thought leaders in the nursing field revealed that nursing education programs are accelerating adoption of virtual simulation and other cutting-edge technologies.
The study, conducted by Wolters Kluwer Health and the National League for Nursing Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology, found that 65 percent of nursing education programs currently use virtual simulation to train students, 84 percent use instructional video for skill development and 75 percent employ online/distance learning. Rounding out the technology landscape:
Adaptive quizzing and testing (used by 64 percent of nursing programs);
Electronic health record applications (60 percent);
Integrated digital curriculum (49 percent);
Mobile apps (41 percent);
Social media (37 percent);
Facetime/videoconferencing (35 percent); and
E-portfolios of student work (31 percent).
The survey also identified technologies where adoption is expected to increase significantly in the near future. Use of virtual reality will jump from 10 percent to 45 percent over the next five years; mobile apps will go from 41 percent to 59 percent; and data analytics tools and predictive analytics will go from 14 percent to 34 percent, the researchers predicted.
The top three reasons for all that change, according to the study:
Changes in technology being used in practice; Nursing schools are adapting to meet the way incoming students learn; and Reduction in the number of available clinical sites.
"This survey confirms the important role nurse educators play in advancing the use of technology in the classroom through their willingness to act as early adopters and trailblazers," commented Julie Stegman, vice president and publisher, Nursing Education, Wolters Kluwer Health Learning, Research & Practice, in a statement. "By seeking out innovative technologies like adaptive quizzing and virtual simulation, nurse educators are helping to overcome resource challenges and pave the way for their peers in other areas of higher education to also benefit from these advances."
For more information on the survey, visit the Wolters Kluwer Health site. |
US launches drive to compose standards for offshore wind industry | A three-year project to develop a set of standards for the offshore wind sector has been launched by US government and energy organisations. The Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Business Network for Offshore Wind and the American Wind Energy Association are collaborating on the initiative. Technical sub-working groups overseen by a panel of industry stakeholders are to draw up the guidelines -- which should reflect industry best practices -- ready for recognition by the American National Standards Institute.
| http://www.windpowerengineering.com/uncategorized/u-s-launches-initiative-offshore-wind-standards/ | 2017-09-19 07:46:14.387000 | The U.S. has launched a new initiative to develop a set of standards for the offshore wind sector.
The three-year project is a collaboration between the the Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Business Network for Offshore Wind and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
An Offshore Wind Technical Advisory Panel comprising industry stakeholders has been formed and will guide the scope of activities for a group of new technical sub-working groups, which will develop the standards.
According to a release from the Governors’ Wind & Solar Energy Coalition, the proposed sub-groups cover the updating of the AWEA’s 2012 offshore compliance recommended practices, floating offshore turbines, geotechnical data requirements and met-ocean requirements for US waters.
The standards, which will be recognized by the American National Standards Institute, will allow BOEM to “adopt better requirements that reflect the latest industry best practices.”
“These standards and guidelines will form the basis for BOEM to establish transparent compliance requirements that will help industry in turn provide safe and reliable offshore wind facilities that serve the US electric supply,” said Walt Musial, NREL principal engineer and chairman of the Offshore Wind Standards working group.
NREL will host a webinar on September 26 to provide information on the work to stakeholders and potential working group participants. |
Milrem Robotics partners with QinetiQ on battlefield robot system | Milrem Robotics has partnered with security technology firm QinetiQ for its TITAN SENTRY battlefield robot system. The setup features Milrem's THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) fitted with QinetiQ sensors that the company said will feed soldiers in-the-field data to help them identify and fix enemy locations while reducing the risk of casualties. Milrem is also seeking to link THeMIS with aerial drones for use in higher-risk or remote areas. The TITAN SENTRY system was exhibited at the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London.
| http://www.auvsi.org/industry-news/milrem-robotics-developing-new-robotic-systems-defense-applications | 2017-09-19 07:38:44.667000 | In an effort to give soldiers new robotic systems for defense applications, Milrem Robotics, which is a provider of defense technologies, will expand the capabilities of its THeMIS UGV.
One of Milrem Robotics’ goals is to enhance the situational awareness of warfighters, so several systems are being developed, including the TITAN SENTRY concept, which was developed in collaboration with QinetiQ.
The TITAN SENTRY concept, which includes the Milrem Robotics-designed THeMIS UGV, along with a suite of sensor systems integrated by QinetiQ, is an “exploration of manned/unmanned teaming where the cognitive burden on the warfighter is vastly reduced through the fusion of sensor data and advanced battlespace management systems.” It is meant to operate in high threat areas, as it can identify and fix enemy locations while reducing the risk of casualties.
Milrem Robotics has also started developing an unmanned system that combines the THeMIS UGV with UAS. The company is also working with Eli, which is an Estonian UAV manufacturer, to develop a UAS nest, and they have also begun a tethered multirotor UAS integration project with Threod Systems.
These systems can be used during high risk situations or in remote areas where a larger area needs oversight, without the need of a human operator to be present.
Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO of Milrem Robotics, says that robotic systems are very important for keeping soldiers as safe as possible.
“Remotely controlled robotic systems that keep our soldiers in a safe distance are crucial to the next generation of battlefield effects that will give asymmetric advantage to the warfighter,” Väärsi says. |
Chinese robot performs first autonomous dental surgery | The world’s first fully autonomous dental implant robot has successfully completed a surgery in under an hour. The robot, developed in China, must perform a CT scan of the patient's mouth before proceeding, allowing it to calculate the exact motions required to perform the operation. The machine is capable of fitting 3D-printed cavity fillings, tailored to patient's individual needs. | https://news.cgtn.com/news/35516a4e35557a6333566d54/share_p.html | 2017-09-19 07:28:19.563000 | World first autonomous dental implant robot put into use in China
Tech & Sci CGTN |
Commonwealth Bank of Australia to add Android Pay, Garmin watches | The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has announced it is teaming up with Google to allow the bank's customers to complete transactions via Android Pay and make on-the-go payments with Garmin smartwatches. Michael Baumann, the general manager of everyday banking and payments, said the partnership will give app users "more ways than ever to pay", with transactions up to AUD100 ($80) available via contactless payments using the bank's PayTag system. Android Pay will be available to the bank's users before the end of the year. | http://www.4-traders.com/COMMONWEALTH-BANK-OF-AUST-6492243/news/Commonwealth-Bank-of-Australia-announces-new-ways-to-pay-with-Android-Pay-and-Garmin-Pay-25137437/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=20170918 | 2017-09-19 07:22:44.473000 | Commonwealth Bank has teamed with Google to offer Android Pay and will also enable payments on the go with Garmin smartwatches.
Android Pay allows customers to make convenient and secure payments on their Android compatible devices. Android Pay is available at almost 800,000 stores across Australia, wherever contactless payments are accepted.
Garmin has recently launched a smartwatch and CommBank customers will be able to make payments with a tap of their smartwatch. These smartwatch payments will be available across Android and iOS phones.
Michael Baumann, General Manager Everyday Banking & Payments, Commonwealth Bank said CommBank's 4.4 million app users now have more ways than ever to pay.
'In June this year we saw weekly transactions across the CommBank app hit $6.1 billion so we know customers love using their phones to make payments and do their banking. Since 2013 our customers have been able to use their smartphones to make payments. By offering customers the ability to pay with Android Pay and with their Garmin smartwatches we are combining choice and convenience.'
Android Pay complements the CommBank app's Tap & Pay functionality allowing customers to make contactless payments using an Android smartphone of their choice. The CommBank app digital wallet also allows customers to store and use their favourite store loyalty cards and simply and easily transfer money to family and friends.
For customers who use an iOS device, CommBank has offered contactless payments via an optional PayTag sticker for more than three years. Customers can use the PayTag sticker to make contactless payments up to $100 by simply tapping their phone.
Recent changes to CommBank's Tap & Pay will allow customers to choose their preferred way of making payments with their mobile phone. Customers can set up Tap & Pay in the CommBank mobile app, and select between the convenience of simply powering up the phone to tap at the POS, using the smartphones device security such as Touch ID to tap, or opening up the CommBank app to tap.
Android Pay will be available to Commonwealth Bank customers before the end of the year.
Garmin smartwatches have been launched globally and CommBank customers will be able to use these when they hit the market in early October. |
Drone services provider Measure opens franchise in Illinois | US drone services provider Measure is opening its first franchise location at a store in Illinois. The Springfield store will allow Measure to provide a face-to-face service aimed at customers who need aerial data collection. Capabilities of the drones range from inspecting wind and solar farms to surveying construction sites to supporting telecoms firms. Dan Rothfeld, Measure's senior vice-president of franchising, said: "Our franchising programme is designed to build a nationwide drone services network that can provide efficient, quality aerial data collection to clients anywhere in the country."
| http://www.windpowerengineering.com/slider/measure-drone-service-provider-expands-services-opens-new-illinois-location/ | 2017-09-19 07:19:48.630000 | Measure, a U.S. provider of drone services for enterprise customers, announced its first franchise location with the grand opening of Measure Springfield in Illinois. The new office provides local, face-to-face service for businesses in Central Illinois that are interested in using aerial data collection to improve productivity, control costs, and increase workplace safety.
Measure Springfield offers turnkey, industry-specific solutions that combine best-in-class drone technology with professional drone pilots, data collection, data processing and easy-to-understand reporting
The franchise’s primary focus is on the construction, energy, and telecommunications sectors. Capabilities range from include inspecting wind and solar farm infrastructure, as well as surveying construction sites.
All services enable customers to take advantage of the efficiencies and insights of drone technology without the time, expense, and experienced personnel required to manage their own drone programs.
“Our franchising program is designed to build a nationwide drone services network that can provide efficient, quality aerial data collection to clients anywhere in the country while also ensuring adherence to strict operations, maintenance and safety criteria,” said Dan Rothfeld, Measure Senior VP of Franchising. “With the Reisers’ aviation and business backgrounds as well as Bryan’s commercial drone credentials, Measure Springfield will be a strong link in the chain we’re building to advance the use of drone technology in the business world.” |
Dubai concentrated solar project goes to Chinese-Arabian group | The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has awarded the contract for the fourth phase of its 700 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Dubai to a Chinese-Arabian consortium. The project is thought to be the largest CSP project in the world and was awarded to Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and China’s Shanghai Electric after a bid of 7.3 US cents per KWh. The project will feature the world’s tallest solar tower at 260 metres and the power plant will cover 14.5 square miles. The project will cost $3.9bn and will be commissioned in stages, with the first scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020. | http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/700mw-concentrated-solar-power-project-in-dubai-hits-a-new-record-bid-with | 2017-09-19 07:08:41.703000 | Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) awarded the 700MW parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in a Saudi Arabia- China consortium with a record bid of $7.3 cents per KWh.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) awarded the 700MW parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in a Saudi Arabia- China consortium with a record bid of $7.3 cents per KWh.
The project is considered the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) project in the world, and was awarded to a consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and China’s Shanghai Electric.
The mega project will cost $3.9 billion, and is expected to be commissioned in stages, with the first one scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020.
Financial closure has not been achieved yet, although it is known that $850 million will come from ACWA equity.
The project will comprise the world’s tallest solar tower of 260 meters, and is said to be as tall as Emirates Towers in Dubai.
The solar power plant will cover 3,750 hectares- i.e. equivalent to 4,500 football fields.
It will feature a combination of a tower and a field of troughs, which will all collect heat and store that heat in molten salt medium to supply electricity on demand at all hours.
Paddy Padmanathan, President & CEO of ACWA Power, said: “This project is a game changer in our quest to decarbonize electricity generation by making available renewable energy at a price that competes with fossil fuel generated electricity without subsidy not just when the sun is shining but at any time of the day and night”.
“This project at this scale and cost level is a cause celebration not just for the renewable energy industry but for each and every person in the world who is concerned about preserving the planet for future generations”.
Dubai has long expressed its intentions to promote sustainability and become a global centre for clean energy, as it is declared in Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050.
According to the 2050 plan, Dubai aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the city’s total power output to 7 percent by 2020, 25 percent by 2030 and 75 percent by 2050.
HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director &CEO of DEWA said: “Our focus on renewable energy generation has led to a drop in prices worldwide and has lowered the price of solar power bids in Europe and the Middle East”.
“This was evident today when we received the lowest CSP project cost in the world”.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is one of Dubai’s energy diversification initiatives to increase the share of renewable resources and aims to have a total capacity of 5GW.
The first phase was a 13MW Solar PV power plant which was commissioned in 2013; the second phase will add 200MW of Solar PV started construction in March 2017 and the 800MW third phase will add 800MW of Solar PV and is set to be operational by 2020.
Future phases have not been announced yet. |
Tesla files patent for 'Battery Swapping System and Techniques' | Tesla has filed a patent with the title Battery Swapping System and Techniques, which relates to creating a rig that is able to swap electric vehicles' battery packs quickly. The patent suggests that the technology could be installed in service stations, or alternatively a mobile rig, where the vehicle would be lifted and the battery packs removed by technicians. The technology would be particularly useful for electric lorries in the future, which would have larger battery packs that require longer charging, as it would reduce downtime caused by recharging.
| https://techxplore.com/news/2017-09-tesla-patent-battery-swapping.html | 2017-09-19 07:00:45.197000 | Credit: US Patent 20170259675
(Tech Xplore)—Tesla has filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office, titled "Battery Swapping System and Techniques."
The patent describes a mobile battery-swapping rig.
Stories about the patent were posted in TechCrunch and a number of other sites. They have been talking about what was filed and what it could mean in the bigger scheme of all-things-Tesla.
Business Insider said the patent application "shows how the machine could elevate a vehicle and then replace its battery pack with a new one."
CleanTechnica described the technology as a "quick-swap Electric Energy Storage System (EESS)." It said figure details included a "2 pillar vehicle lift system" and battery lift Gas2 said the patent discussed a system raising a vehicle in the air "with one set of hydraulic lifts while another inboard lift would drop the battery pack and replace it with a fully charged unit."
The machine proposed could make it quick to replace a battery in an electric vehicle. Matt Burns, managing editor, TechCrunch, explained a scenario for the system, as described in the patent, where the system "could be installed in a service station or integrated into a mobile rig. A Model S or X would either drive onto ramps or a lift where technicians would then assist the machine in swapping the packs."
The patent discussion suggested either the EESS operating autonomously, or operated by technicians.
The patent document discussed both systems and techniques for swapping an EESS. "In some implementations, a system can be used to exchange the battery pack of a Model S or Model X vehicle from Tesla Motors, Inc., for another (e.g., fully charged) battery pack. For example, this can provide a more rapid way of replenishing the electric energy for the electric vehicle and can enable electric vehicles to travel essentially nonstop on long road trips."
Also from the patent discussion: "In some implementations, the battery swap system is configured for use by one or more technicians, who will monitor certain aspects of the system's operation and make necessary inputs when appropriate. For example, the battery-swapping system can be installed at a remote location (e.g., along a highway between two cities) and one or more technicians can be stationed at the location for operating the system."
Brett Williams in Mashable: "The system described in the filing, which was first spotted by Electrek, would make it possible for technicians to swap out Tesla vehicle battery packs in less that 15 minutes—making it feasible for Tesla owners to use a battery exchange rather than constantly having to charge up."
"Tesla writes in the patent that at least one technician could monitor the lift," said Business Insider, " which could be installed in remote locations, such as a highway between cities."
Why is the patent drawing interest? That is not hard to figure out, since there is general range anxiety and concern over just how convenient or inconvenient electric cars might turn out to be vis a vis charging points.
"One of the biggest drawbacks for electric car drivers is the time it takes to charge their vehicles," said Rob Stumpf, The Drive.
A battery swap solution could come in handy, as Tesla continues its effort to play its part in the transition to electric mobility.
A number of reports linked this patent topic to Tesla's entry into the truck space some time in the future.
The system being used for trucks could make sense as a truck driver would especially be mindful of cutting down on charging times—and getting back on the road quickly.
Yoni Heisler, BGR: "Elon Musk has been pretty blunt about Tesla's plans to further expand its vehicular lineup." When might Tesla unveil a pickup truck? Heisler said, "Musk this past April put a two year timeline on the project." Heisler added that "if Musk's initial projection pans out, we should see a Tesla pickup truck event by April of 2019 at the absolute latest. Suffice it to say, it's certainly on Tesla's radar."
More information: Battery Swapping System And Techniques, United States Patent Application, 20170259675. Abstract
A system for exchanging an electrical energy storage system (EESS) of an electric vehicle includes. An EESS station is configured to position an electric vehicle in x and y directions. A vehicle lift raises the electric vehicle to a predetermined height. An EESS lift supports and lowers the EESS and replaces the EESS with a differing EESS. The vehicle lift may be an inboard lift and the EESS lift may be an outboard lift. The system may also include one or more rollers configured to guide the electric vehicle. The system may include a horizontal door having at least one tube positioned thereon for guiding the electric vehicle and/or at least one vehicle chock for positioning the electric vehicle in at least one of the x and y directions. The vehicle lift may include lifting arms to engage jack pads of the electric vehicle.
© 2017 Tech Xplore |
Redrow Redrow prepares to launch new homes near Huddersfield | UK housebuilder Redrow Homes will open the sales centre at its development in Springfields in Highburton, near Huddersfield towards the end of October, which will begin taking off-plan reservations. The plot includes 60 three and four-bedroom houses, as well as 13 affordable properties. Redrow said the development will include at least £350,000 of spending on improving local amenities, with £233,000 going on education provision and off-site public open space and a new bus stop also planned.
| http://www.easier.com/137278-highburton-homes-set-to-launch-soon.html | 2017-09-19 06:42:58.370000 | Highburton homes set to launch soon
Redrow is preparing to launch its latest new homes at Springfields, off Burton Acres Lane, in Highburton, near Huddersfield.
An on-site sales centre is due to open by the end of October to take off-plan reservations, with a fully furnished show home set to open early next year.
Redrow’s development will feature 60 three and four-bedroom family homes for private sale, mostly detached, and there will also be 13 affordable properties.
Designs will be from Redrow’s popular Arts & Crafts inspired Heritage Collection, with traditional looking exteriors and bright, modern interiors with convivial open plan living spaces.
Alongside the affordable housing – designed to help people who live and work in the area to ‘stay local’ - there are a number of other community benefits attached to the 6.5 acre development, including contributions totalling more than £350,000 towards improving local amenities.
The lion’s share of £233,115 is earmarked for local education provision, with a further £89,000 towards off-site public open space, £10,000 for a new bus stop and £23,820 towards public transport in the area.
Building the homes will also provide work for Yorkshire trades and encourage spending in local shops and businesses.
Redrow Homes (Yorkshire) sales director Patsy Aicken, said: “We’ve had lots of interest in Springfields already, not least because it enjoys a village location, 10 miles from the Peak District National Park and only five miles from the amenities of Huddersfield.”
Redrow’s new development is adjacent to Gregory Playing Fields, which includes grassed sports pitches, a children’s play area and the local tennis club. There’s a village stores in Highburton, a small selection of local shops in nearby Kirkburton and the development is within walking distance of local schools.
Would-be home owners can register their interest by visiting redrow.co.uk/springfields. |
Hedge fund buys taxi medallions in search for distressed assets | Hedge fund MGPE is said to have purchased 46 New York City taxi medallions at a price of $186,000 per medallion. In 2013, New York City taxi medallions sold for as much as $1m, however, prices have been cheapened by the onset of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. Hedge funds searching for distressed assets have shown an interest in the medallions, which can be leased to fleet operators for roughly $1,000 per month. | http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20170918/TRANSPORTATION/170919875/hedge-fund-buys-taxi-moguls-foreclosed-medallions-at-1990s-prices | 2017-09-19 06:36:12.270000 | An auction at a Queens hotel on Monday gave a stark indication of how beaten-up the once mighty taxi industry is, as 46 medallions sold for $186,000 apiece, according to two people familiar with the matter. A 6% premium that's owed to the auction house pushed the price to around $198,000 per medallion, or $9.1 million in total.
Taxi medallion prices topped $1 million in 2013 and reached $965,000 at an auction held by the city in early 2014. They have been falling at an escalating rate ever since Uber and other ride-hail companies began taking business away from yellow cabs in late 2014.
Medallions auctioned for under $200,000 in the mid 1990s. Among the most prolific buyers in the 2000s was Evgeny "Gene" Freidman, who owned the 46 auctioned medallions until they were foreclosed upon by Citibank.
The winning bidder was MGPE, Inc., which had been identified in court papers last week as the stalking-horse bidder for the sale. MGPE, an out-of-state hedge fund, according to one person familiar with the matter, had set a floor for Monday's auction of $167,000 per medallion.
Hedge funds and private equity firms have been circling the medallion market for months, on the hunt for a distressed asset. Monday's sale marks the first time a hedge fund has taken a position in the industry.
A spokeswoman for Maltz Auctions, which conducted the sale, declined to comment.
Freidman, who once managed 800 medallions and has been accused of bidding up prices on medallions to increase the value of his own assets, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 to keep Citibank from foreclosing on his holdings. He was ordered to turn over the 46 medallions in 2016 to pay off creditors.
The auction was closed to the press, but one observer described the bidding as proceeding in small increments between two parties. The $186,000-per medallion bid was for all 46 of the placards, which prevented the auction house from accepting one-off bids that would have priced a single medallion north of $200,000, according to two sources.
The winning bidder is expected to lease the medallions to a fleet operator.
Andrew Murstein, president of taxi lender Medallion Financial, said this sale "could be the tip of the iceberg." For much of the past year he has been advising hedge funds and private equity firms on how to approach the taxi industry, though he did not take part in Monday's auction.
Murstein said he knew of fleets that would pay anywhere from $1,200 to $1,400 a month per medallion, providing investors with as much as an 8% annual return on a $200,000 purchase. He said some operators would pay around $2,000 a month if a cab were furnished along with the medallion.
Some long-time medallion owners are still being paid $1,500 a month, which until recently was a fairly typical rate. Two fleet managers who asked not to be identified said the going rate these days is around $1,000 a month. |
Berkeley Lab produces ethanol fuels directly from CO2 | Scientists in the US have developed a new way to produce fuels from carbon dioxide (CO2). The Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab replicated the solar-driven photosynthesis process used by plants to produce energy, but much more efficiently. The researchers say it's the first time CO2 has been turned directly into target materials, such as ethanol and ethylene, rather than fuel precursor materials. Their method reduced by half the energy required to drive the process, and it is hoped the work could open the way to generating fuel directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide. | http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2017/09/18/solar-fuel-system-recycles-co2-for-ethanol-ethylene/ | 2017-09-19 06:35:34.957000 | Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the power of photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into fuels and alcohols at efficiencies far greater than plants. The achievement marks a significant milestone in the effort to move toward sustainable sources of fuel.
Many systems have successfully reduced carbon dioxide to chemical and fuel precursors, such as carbon monoxide or a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen known as syngas. This new work, described in a study published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, is the first to successfully demonstrate the approach of going from carbon dioxide directly to target products, namely ethanol and ethylene, at energy conversion efficiencies rivaling natural counterparts.
The researchers did this by optimizing each component of a photovoltaic-electrochemical system to reduce voltage loss, and creating new materials when existing ones did not suffice.
“This is an exciting development,” said study principal investigator Joel Ager, a Berkeley Lab scientist with joint appointments in the Materials Sciences and the Chemical Sciences divisions. “As rising atmospheric CO2 levels change Earth’s climate, the need to develop sustainable sources of power has become increasingly urgent. Our work here shows that we have a plausible path to making fuels directly from sunlight.”
That sun-to-fuel path is among the key goals of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in 2010 to advance solar fuel research. The study was conducted at JCAP’s Berkeley Lab campus.
The initial focus of JCAP research was tackling the efficient splitting of water in the photosynthesis process. Having largely achieved that task using several types of devices, JCAP scientists doing solar-driven carbon dioxide reduction began setting their sights on achieving efficiencies similar to those demonstrated for water splitting, considered by many to be the next big challenge in artificial photosynthesis.
Another research group at Berkeley Lab is tackling this challenge by focusing on a specific component in a photovoltaic-electrochemical system. In a study published today, they describe a new catalyst that can achieve carbon dioxide to multicarbon conversion using record-low inputs of energy.
Not just for noon
For this JCAP study, researchers engineered a complete system to work at different times of day, not just at a light energy level of 1-sun illumination, which is equivalent to the peak of brightness at high noon on a sunny day. They varied the brightness of the light source to show that the system remained efficient even in low light conditions.
When the researchers coupled the electrodes to silicon photovoltaic cells, they achieved solar conversion efficiencies of 3 to 4 percent for 0.35 to 1-sun illumination. Changing the configuration to a high-performance, tandem solar cell connected in tandem yielded a conversion efficiency to hydrocarbons and oxygenates exceeding 5 percent at 1-sun illumination.
“We did a little dance in the lab when we reached 5 percent,” said Ager, who also holds an appointment as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley’s Materials Science and Engineering Department.
Among the new components developed by the researchers are a copper-silver nanocoral cathode, which reduces the carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons and oxygenates, and an iridium oxide nanotube anode, which oxidizes the water and creates oxygen.
“The nice feature of the nanocoral is that, like plants, it can make the target products over a wide range of conditions, and it is very stable,” said Ager.
The researchers characterized the materials at the National Center for Electron Microscopy at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Berkeley Lab. The results helped them understand how the metals functioned in the bimetallic cathode. Specifically, they learned that silver aids in the reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, while the copper picks up from there to reduce carbon monoxide further to hydrocarbons and alcohols.
Seeking better, low-energy breakups
Because carbon dioxide is a stubbornly stable molecule, breaking it up typically involves a significant input of energy.
“Reducing CO2 to a hydrocarbon end product like ethanol or ethylene can take up to 5 volts, start to finish,” said study lead author Gurudayal, postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley Lab. “Our system reduced that by half while maintaining the selectivity of products.”
Notably, the electrodes operated well in water, a neutral pH environment.
“Research groups working on anodes mostly do so using alkaline conditions since anodes typically require a high pH environment, which is not ideal for the solubility of CO2,” said Gurudayal. “It is very difficult to find an anode that works in neutral conditions.”
The researchers customized the anode by growing the iridium oxide nanotubes on a zinc oxide surface to create a more uniform surface area to better support chemical reactions.
“By working through each step so carefully, these researchers demonstrated a level of performance and efficiency that people did not think was possible at this point,” said Berkeley Lab chemist Frances Houle, JCAP deputy director for Science and Research Integration, who was not part of the study. “This is a big step forward in the design of devices for efficient CO2 reduction and testing of new materials, and it provides a clear framework for the future advancement of fully integrated solar-driven CO2-reduction devices.”
Other co-authors on the study include James Bullock, a Berkeley Lab postdoctoral researcher in materials sciences, who was instrumental in engineering the system’s photovoltaic and electrolysis cell pairing. Bullock works in the lab of study co-author Ali Javey, Berkeley Lab senior faculty scientist and a UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences.
This work is supported by the DOE Office of Science.
###
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. |
USAT deal with Premier Food Service adds mobile payment to kiosks | Kansas-based vending machines provider Premier Food Service has partnered with payment technology company USA Technologies to offer cashless payments at its self-service kiosks. The move enables Premier Food to offer the ePort Connect cashless payment system, allowing the company to monitor cash and credit and debit card usage and accept contactless payments, including via Apple Pay and Android Pay. The two companies previously worked together to link more than 300 Vendors Exchange snack and drink kiosks with a consumer engagement and loyalty initiative.
| http://www.cardsinternational.com/news/company-news/premier-food-service-taps-usa-technologies-cashless-payments/ | 2017-09-19 06:32:25.503000 | USA Technologies (USAT), a payment technology firm, has entered into a strategic partnership with Kansas-based food service provider Premier Food Service for cashless payments.
The partnership enables Premier Food Service to improve its machines to ePort Connect cashless payment system which allows the company to track the acceptance of cash, credit/debit cards, and contactless payments, including mobile wallet payments such as Android Pay and Apple Pay.
Furthermore, Premier Food Service has also worked with USAT to connect more than 300 Vendors Exchange (VE) Kiosks with a consumer engagement and loyalty programme.
Premier Food Service COO Gary Kurth said: “As personalization becomes more common in the marketplace, we wanted to be one step ahead of the trend with customer loyalty and reward programs being at the center of our go to market strategy.
“By partnering with best-in-class providers like USA Technologies and Vendors Exchange, we are able to utilize innovative hardware like the VE Kiosk and ePort G-10S and layer on the consumer services that allow us to delight our customers, whether it be by simply allowing them to pay the way they want (via cash, swipe or tap) or by rewarding them at the point of sale for their patronage.
“We are a service industry that relies on technology to deliver on our commitment to excellence and we understand the importance of having the right partners to help execute our vision. USAT has made it easy for companies like ours to quickly deploy innovative cashless payment technologies across our business so that we can better engage consumers at the point-of-sale and build in customer loyalty programs.” |
Propy raises $15m in ICO to bring real estate onto a blockchain | US firm Propy, which operates a decentralised title registry and property store, has raised $15m from its initial coin offering from investors including RenGen and CrunchFund. Prior to the PRO token sale, the company had already raised $2m, as it plans to put the international real estate market on the blockchain. Propy recently partnered with the government of Ukraine to enable online purchases of the country's real estate by foreign investors. | https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/ico-blockchain-real-estate-startup-propy-raises-15-million/ | 2017-09-19 05:51:40.693000 | Propy, a property store and decentralized title registry, announced today that it raised $15 million from 6,597 participants in its PRO Token Sale to put the international real estate market on the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term.
Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!
Prior to the start of the public sale, Propy had already secured $2 million in pre-sale commitments. “By recording real estate transactions in the blockchain, Propy brings the transparency and accountability buyers and sellers of real estate need,” said Scott D. Hughes, one of the pre-sale participants in Propy, a lawyer and an avid real estate investor.
“It was an easy decision to invest,” said Debbie Chiu, another pre-sale participant in Propy. “Prospective homeowners and sellers need a simple, secure way to transact without middlemen, and Propy’s solution offers that.”
The public sale got a large investment in the first hour from RenGen, an investment company, and CrunchFund, an early stage investment firm based in San Francisco.
Additional developments
Propy also announced the appointment of Vasilious Vutsadaskis Ph.D., an MIT graduate, scientist, and patent author with experience in computational physics, programming, and legislative research. Vasilios has experience in dealing with real estate transactions in both the EU and Russia.
Propy has partnered with Leju Holdings Limited, the leading online-to-offline real estate services provider in China, to facilitate online real estate purchases by foreign investors.
As we previously reported, Propy partnered with the government of Ukraine to allow online purchases of Ukrainian real estate by foreign investors. It now reports that the first real estate transaction is underway by Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch. Pilot programs will be led by Propy in coordination with Ukraine’s Agency for E-Governance throughout next year. |
Redrow Redrow opens show apartment at Summerhill Park in Liverpool | UK housebuilder Redrow Homes will unveil a show apartment at Kings Court, part of its Summerhill Park development in Liverpool, on 23 September. The flats, which Redrow said are "ideal for first time buyers, downsizers and buy-to-let investors" can be purchased using the government-backed help to buy equity loan. Prices at the development are expected to start at about £125,000. Summerhill Park is in the borough of Knowsley, near the end of the M62.
| http://www.easier.com/137244-new-show-apartment-opening-at-summerhill-park-liverpool.html | 2017-09-19 05:46:11.113000 | New show apartment opening at Summerhill Park, Liverpool
Buyers looking for apartment living outside the city centre – yet within reach of everything Liverpool offers - will be able to view Redrow’s latest designs at Summerhill Park later this month.
The award winning homebuilder is set to unveil a chic new show apartment at Kings Court on Saturday, September 23, so it’s definitely a date to put in the diary.
The Kings Court apartments are the newest phase of Summerhill Park, a development of two, three and four-bedroom homes, which boasts something for everyone and enjoys a great location within walking distance of Broadgreen station and close to the end of the M62.
Kings Court comprises two three-storey apartment buildings, each containing 15 two-bedroom apartments and offering a choice of three different layouts.
“Summerhill Park is proving to be a very popular development and one we are really proud of,” says Claire Jarvis, sales director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire).
“A double award winner - it was highly commended in the UK Property Awards, which held it up as a prime residential development, and has previously been given the title of Housing Development of the Year by Knowsley Business and Regeneration Awards - it has clearly been given the seal of approval by buyers too, with sales soaring.
“And we are delighted to mark the start of this new phase with the show apartment opening, which gives people a chance to see inside one of the latest properties, which are ideal for first time buyers, downsizers and buy-to-let investors.”
And Claire added: “These light and airy, modern apartments make the most of every bit of space, offering contemporary open-plan living at its very best.”
The new show apartment is a C-type, which offers a spacious kitchen, lounge and dining area (20’9” x 11’2”), two double bedrooms and a bathroom with a separate bath and shower cubicle. All the rooms are accessed from a central hallway and there’s a handy storage cupboard and laundry area.
Whichever apartment style home owners choose, all boast fully-fitted kitchens with integrated appliances including a ceramic hob, single oven and microwave, as well as a fridge and freezer, with prices expected to start in the region of £125,000.
Each apartment has a dedicated parking space, with further visitor places provided, and there’s a bike store to encourage greener travel.
Already competitively priced, the apartments will also be available with the government-backed Help to Buy equity loan, which can reduce the initial outlay by up to 20% and means purchasers may only need a 5% deposit.
While situated in a quiet neighbourhood within the borough of Knowsley, Summerhill Park, off Thomas Lane, is close enough to Liverpool city centre so residents can take advantage of all that it has to offer. Broadgreen train station is a short walk away – with a footpath leading to the station from Kings Court – and offers frequent journeys to Liverpool Lime Street in less than 15 minutes.
The end of the M62 is also within easy reach, linking to the heart of Manchester in around 40 minutes and the M6 in under half an hour.
For more information about the Kings Court apartment, as well as three and four-bedroom family homes from Redrow’s hugely popular Heritage Collection at Summerhill Park, go along to the show apartment opening on Saturday, September 23 between 10am and 5.30pm, visit redrow.co.uk/summerhill. |
Hair transplant robot firm Restoration Robotics seek $25m in IPO | Restoration Robotics, whose robots carry our hair transplant procedures, aims to raise about $25m during an initial public offering (IPO). The sale is expected to price during the week of 9 October, and if plans to sell more than 3.1 million shares at between $7 and $9 are successful, it would give the firm a market value of about $225m. Restoration Robotics will use the proceeds to develop its ARTAS System, a doctor-assisted hair restoration robotic system that carries out follicular unit extraction surgery. The firm aims to expand its customer base of physicians to include dermatology and plastic surgery specialists.
| https://www.therobotreport.com/restoration-robotics-sets-range-25m-ipo/ | 2017-09-19 05:27:58.557000 | Restoration Robotics filed for an initial public offering that would raise $25 million at the median to fund the development of its ARTAS System, robot-assisted hair restoration system.
The medical technology company plans to sell more than 3.1 million shares at a range of $7 to $9 a piece; at the high end of the range the flotation would fetch more than $28.1 million.
The IPO is expected to price during the week of October 9, 2017. If successful, it would establish a market value of $225 million for the company.
The ARTAS System is a physician-assisted robotic system that carries out follicular unit extraction surgery by identifying and dissecting the hair follicular units at the scalp and creating implant sites. It also comes with the ARTAS Hair Studio application, a 3D consultant tool for creating hair transplant models with patients.
The system includes a patient chair and a cart that supports the robotic arm, vision system and a series of sensors and devices.
“We believe the ARTAS System addresses many of the shortcomings of other hair restoration procedures,” Restoration Robotics said in an SEC filing. “The ARTAS System is capable of robotically assisting a physician through many of the most challenging steps of the hair restoration process, including the dissection of hair follicles, site planning and recipient site making.”
To continue growing the business, the company hopes to expand its physician customer base to dermatology and plastic surgery specialists, increase international sales with more distributors and sales staff, develop new features and capabilities and encourage greater use of the system for hair restoration surgeries.
Restoration Robotics posted losses of -$21.8 million, or -$13.54 per share, on sales of $15.6 million last year, paring its losses by -4.9% despite a -9.5% top-line slide. |
University Cribs raises £450k for student rental platform | Cardiff-based start-up University Cribs, an online platform for student rentals, has received £450,000 in seed funding from a range of angel investors, at a valuation of £2m. The company will use the funds to expand its geographic reach and invest in its proprietary technology platform. Tom Paine, investor and co-founder of TeamLove, said that the student property market was ripe for disruption and that the founders of University Cribs have “taken a smart approach to thinking about what value-added services they can bring to the student market. They have built a nifty technology platform, and have built a trusted brand.” | https://www.uktech.news/tech-hubs/wales/cardiff/cardiff-based-university-cribs-raises-450000-seed-at-2m-valuation-20170918 | 2017-09-19 05:27:52.180000 | Cardiff-based University Cribs has received £450,000 in Seed funding, hitting a £2m valuation.
The startup, an online platform for student property rentals, received the funds from a range of angel investors including Raffaelle Russo, director of Loc8Me; Dave Harvey and Tom Paine, co-founders of TeamLove; and the co-founders of Thor Companies.
University Cribs will use the funds to expand its geographic reach, while continuing to invest in its proprietary technology platform.
Jack Jenkins, co-founder of University Cribs, said: “Dan, Christian and I are thrilled to have the backing of established entrepreneurs and business leaders within relevant industries – ranging from UK property to student leisure. As the university term starts across the UK, we want to offer students the easiest and most hassle-free route to rental.
“Today’s investment allows us to push ahead with our plans, and make the most of the forthcoming academic year when over 2million students will be considering their accommodation options for the years ahead.”
Tom Paine, investor and co-founder of TeamLove, commented on how the student property market was ripe for disruption.
“University Cribs is bringing much-needed transparency to the market, and the three founders have taken a smart approach to thinking about what value-added services they can bring to the student market. They have built a nifty technology platform, and have built a trusted brand for the marketplace to allow them to offer more services in the future. I’m thrilled to be on board as an investor – it’s going to be an exciting journey from here,” he added.
Chris Singleton, co-founder of Thor Companies, added: “As three co-founders who started up a business several years ago, we encountered similar challenges and opportunities to the ones facing Christian, Jack and Dan. Having a solid management team will see them achieve great successes as they expand, innovate and grow University Cribs.
“We’ve invested in them as much as the business – they’ve engaged the student population in their brand and their product, and we see potential to support that loyal user base in a few years as they look beyond university towards full-time employment. The obvious synergies with our business, and others in the graduate market, make University Cribs a compelling investment.” |
Surging Chinese sharing economy employs 5.5% of workforce | More than 50 million people are employed in China's sharing economy, about 5.5% of the country's workforce, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The growth of enterprises such as bike-sharing platforms Mobike and Ofo pushed the market value of China's internet-based sharing economy beyond CNY2tn ($303.7bn) last year. | http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-19/274108.shtml | 2017-09-19 04:28:22.073000 | Around 5.5 percent of China's labor force work in the rapidly expanding sharing economy, according to a report from the top economic planner Monday.
The market value of the Internet-based sharing economy exceeded 2 trillion yuan (about 305.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, with more than 50 million people working in the sector, said a report released by the National Development and Reform Commission.
The success of business models such as bike-sharing platforms, including Mobike and ofo, has inspired an increasing number of sharing enterprises eager to ride the wave.
Meanwhile, on the back of strong government support for innovation and entrepreneurship, industries such as car-sharing, education, entertainment and healthcare have prospered, seeing double-digit growth in demand for labor force last year, the report said.
"Mass Innovation and entrepreneurship have played an important role in increasing employment," the report said, citing rapid expansion in emerging industries such as cloud computing, industrial robots and new energy vehicles.
With the traditional industries losing steam, China is seeking to foster new growth from innovative business models, which have proved to be key forces underpinning economic growth.
The latest Global Innovation Index showed China rose three places to 22nd on the list of the world's most innovative nations in 2017, the only middle-income country to join the top 25 innovative economies. |
Redrow Redrow graduates complete project with Help Bristol's Homeless | A dozen Redrow Homes graduate trainees have transformed an old shipping container into a fully furnished living space, using the skills they acquired during their first year with the UK housebuilder. In five days, the team located and sourced materials and fitted out the container, which will be sent to the South Downs Festival at the end of September to raise awareness of homelessness, and funds for charity, before being used as temporary accommodation.
| http://www.bdcmagazine.com/redrow-trainees-use-new-skills-help-bristols-homeless/ | 2017-09-19 01:38:53.380000 | A group of 12 Redrow graduate trainees has completed a project in partnership with Help Bristol’s Homeless to convert an empty shipping container into a habitable space. This is part of the local charity’s wider goal to help members of the city’s homeless population by providing a roof over their heads whilst they receive help finding permanent accommodation.
The graduates received no funding, resources or help from seniors and instead relied on the skills acquired during their first year with Redrow. This meant they had to utilise contacts and relationships they had built up within the industry to source essential materials, deploy their project management and problem-solving skills and work closely together as a team. They acquired and fitted a kitchen and sanitaryware that was unable to be sold, but still worked perfectly, and ensured the whole container was finished to an exceptionally high standard.
The end result is a shipping container that has been transformed into a well-furnished living quarters complete with a kitchen and wet room bathroom as well as fitting windows and skylights. Most importantly it will provide the perfect fresh start to those in the local community that need it most.
Clare Horton, New Entrants Programmes Manager at Redrow, comments: “A career in housebuilding can be both rewarding and challenging, requiring a broad range of skills from strong communication, problem-solving, negotiation and excellent time management. These graduates had to demonstrate these qualities in bucket-loads to get the job done and we hope this project captures the imagination of young people considering their career options.
“These graduates come from a variety of areas within the business and had to work together to make a success of this task in a very short space of time. As well as the practical element of fitting out the container, they deployed the skills they have been building over the last year to gather materials and solve problems along the way. It’s great to see how much progress they have made during their first year with Redrow and even better that it’s helping such a brilliant cause.”
Manjeeta Pathak, now an Assistant Site Manager, who helped lead the project, said: “It was incredibly challenging, but so enjoyable, to work as a team to complete the project and empowering to be trusted to make sure we finished on time and to a high standard. I still can’t believe we managed to get it all finished in only five days and that included sourcing all the materials we used. It feels really special knowing that our handiwork will now be used to make a difference to people’s lives.”
Every year Redrow’s newest batch of graduates take part in a community challenge which aims to support a good cause whilst putting them through their paces.
Before the container becomes a temporary home for a homeless person, it will be transported to the South Downs Festival at the end of September to raise awareness of, and additional funds for, the charity. |
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