Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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London affordable homes to be put on fast-track through planning
 The mayor of London spelled out his vision to boost the number of affordable homes ‘from the low of just 13 per cent given permission’ under his predecessor Boris Johnson in a new Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).

The new document sets a higher bar for publicly backed developments in London – half the new homes built on public land in London will have to be affordable to benefit from faster planning permission.

The move goes some way towards meeting a pledge made in Khan’s manifesto last year, which said he wanted to ‘set a target for 50 per cent of all new homes in London to be genuinely affordable’.

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Published yesterday (16 August), the latest GLA guidance also demands that construction on all new housing should begin ’within two years of planning permission being granted’ or else developers face detailed scrutiny of the scheme’s financial modelling.

Khan also said that any developments under construction that did not meet the minimum affordability thresholds would also face further scrutiny, with financial details in the application being published online and ‘a share of any unexpected profits being reinvested in more affordable housing’.

City Hall officials have now written to all London councils urging them to make use of the mayor’s expert viability team if developers try to reduce affordable housing levels after planning permission has been granted.

While the mayor has no formal powers to overturn a local council’s decision, Khan added that he was pushing for more powers to intervene after the issue came to a head in June, when developers put forward ‘wholly unacceptable’ plans to nearly halve the amount of affordable housing at Battersea Power Station (see AJ 23.06.17).

New guidance at a glance fast-track planning for private developers providing more than 35 per cent affordable homes on schemes

fast-track planning for schemes on publicly owned land when 50 per cent affordable homes is provided

all new housing to start on site within two years of planning permission or face detailed financial scrutiny

Khan, said: ‘The housing crisis is the biggest challenge facing Londoners today with too many people – particularly the younger generation – being priced out of our city, unable to afford a home.

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’I’ve been honest with Londoners from the start – we can’t turn things round overnight. But we’re working hard to tackle the issue every day and we’ve already agreed to put £1.7 billion of the investment that I secured from Government into 50,000 new and genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy. This investment will work hand-in-hand with the new approach for developers that I’m introducing today, which will allow them to benefit from a fast track through the planning system if they offer more affordable housing and get building quickly.

I’m determined we don’t have a repeat of what happened at Battersea Power Station

He added: ’I’m determined to ensure we don’t have a repeat of what happened at Battersea Power Station, with developers unacceptably reducing the number of affordable homes on site after planning permission was granted. That’s why I’ve written to all councils offering City Hall’s expertise in robustly scrutinising applications to ensure we see the new and genuinely affordable homes built that Londoners desperately need.’

Responding to the new guidance, Simon Child, director at Child Graddon Lewis, said: ‘The Mayor’s continued proactive approach to providing more affordable housing is very welcome, particularly as a realistic way to work with the private sector.

’The criteria set out in this proposal should not only encourage the private sector to deliver this housing more quickly, but create greater certainty in the whole process. In turn, this should result in less speculation around, and in the creation of, unrealistic land values; which have been the source of so many failed viability studies, delaying the construction of – and reducing the number of – affordable homes.’

Comments:

Anthony Thistleton from Waugh Thistleton Architects

’It is encouraging to see the Mayor taking a positive step towards unlocking social housing. Currently developers are incentivised to game the system, using specialist consultants to construct viability studies that force down their provision of affordable housing. We welcome extra help for local authorities in challenging these studies and the aim for a standardised approach. Moreover, offering incentives to provide a decent minimum threshold should start to change the current culture of avoidance.

’Offering incentives to provide a decent minimum threshold should start to change the current culture of avoidance’

’Maintaining a balance of affordable housing is essential, not only for the families that are in need of housing but for the vibrancy, diversity and sustainability of our city. We would encourage the development community to get behind this change in culture, committing to these minimum thresholds as a standard.’

Simon Henley, director Henley Halebrown

‘Incentives to create affordable housing are welcome and should include a vision for affordable housing that breeds a sense of solidarity among its inhabitants.

’Affordable housing needs to be integrated as an essential part of the working city and something that has a civic identity and quality of its very own; rather than just a lesser version of the top end developments that fuel the property market.’

Sarah Bevan, director, Turley

‘It is encouraging that the GLA has listened to the development industry and sought to make the threshold approach genuinely faster and easier if a scheme achieves the minimum 35 per cent affordable housing provision. The fact they have abandoned the previously proposed “light touch” approach and replaced it with the fast track route whereby no viability information is required at application stage should provide greater incentivisation for developers to hit the 35 per cent threshold. On the face of it, this will appeal to a lot more applicants and it should genuinely speed up the planning process, but obviously this is dependent upon the boroughs signing up to the threshold approach and, while the GLA assert that most of them have, clearly there are some that will likely ignore it, particularly where their local plan policies may be in conflict and on schemes below 150 units that are not referable to the mayor.

On the face of it, this will appeal to a lot more applicants

‘Another positive outcome of the GLA’s consultation with the development industry is that the draft SPG previously made an explicit statement that a scheme would have to deliver at least 35 per cent affordable housing and also meet all other policy requirements in order to follow the threshold approach, whereas the wording in the adopted SPG is more pragmatic to reflect the fact that complex schemes in London rarely meet all policy requirements, and instead are a careful balance of planning issues to the satisfaction of all negotiating parties.

’The greatest area of concern, that the development industry will be watching with interest, is the increased use of review mechanisms in S106 legal agreements. It is clear that the mayor is very keen on using this tool with the aim of augmenting affordable housing delivery in line with any uplift in developer profit. To incentivise delivery, the SPG states that both fast track and viability tested schemes should be subject to an early review if an agreed level of progress on implementing the permission has not been reached after two years of the permission being granted. In addition, Viability tested schemes will be subject to a late review, generally when 75 per cent of homes are sold, and also on larger developments that will be built out over a number of phases the SPG encourages mid-term reviews which are triggered prior to the implementation of phases.

‘While the aspiration of maximising delivery is fully understood, this aspect of the SPG risks increasing the cost of finance on any projects which will be subject to a review mechanism, so this could have negative effects on delivery as well as positives.’

Heinz Richardson, board Director at Jestico + Whiles

’Speeding up development and increasing the supply of truly affordable homes is a pressing issue. Sadiq Khan’s SPG is therefore very welcome. As always, the devil is in the detail and the speed at which this can be rolled out. The two year time limit on starting development following planning approval is a good target but naming and shaming may not have the desired effect.

The two year time limit is a good target, but naming and shaming may not have the desired effect

‘It will be interesting to see how the local councils respond to this challenge. Achieving at least 50 per cent affordable homes for schemes built on public land should not even be questionable and perhaps a maximum of only 35 per cent private homes may be a more equitable target.’

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive, London First, the business group behind the Fifty Thousand Homes campaign

’The shortage of homes at all levels is a critical issue for London and the mayor is right to focus on public land and making the planning process faster. The mayor, local boroughs and developers must now work together to understand why so many planning permissions fall by the wayside – almost one in three in 2016 – and start to unblock the hold-up. Otherwise, we risk shutting the door on our house-building ambition.’

James Greenaway, associate director at BuckleyGrayYeoman

’The planning system has come under increasing pressure over the last ten years to deliver more housing but with fewer resources which has led to delays in decision making. We often see S106/viability negotiations taking longer than the actual planning design approval process.

’Any intervention which speeds up the planning process and allows the focus to return to addressing the housing crisis is greatly welcomed.’

Craig Casci, senior partner and founder GRID Architects

’If affordable is not affordable what does it matter what the percentage is? Firstly we need true affordability. There should never be back tracking once the percentage is agreed.’

Output: London mayor Sadiq Khan has taken a step toward fulfilling his manifesto pledge of creating more affordable housing in London by promising to fast-track private development schemes that have more than 35% affordable housing. The move was part of Khan's new Supplementary Planning Guidance, which also said developments that did not meet minimum affordability limits would face increased scrutiny, while construction on new housing should begin "within two years of planning permission being granted".


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Leasehold ground rents are good source of funds for improvements
 I write in support of Stephen Hill’s letter (It’s not leaseholds that are the problem, 4 August). Leasehold tenure is the choice of many utopian communities, from the garden cities of the early 20th century to the cohousing schemes now emerging in Britain.

At Cannock Mill Cohousing Colchester, we have taken matters into our own hands to get the retirement lifestyle we want – because there isn’t enough choice in today’s property market for people retiring. We are developing a spacious site so that we can downsize to something appealing for our later years, which we intend to manage ourselves.

We have decided that 999-year leases (for both flats and houses) with ground rents of £30-£100 (linked to inflation) is the best approach. We have a lease clause providing that money unspent from the ground rents will, long-term, be recycled into site improvements.

If leasehold houses were banned, we would not have any ground rent income – even though such income would provide an equitably accrued emergency fund to meet unexpected legal or similar costs. Responsible property management is being effectively disallowed – the unintended consequence of well-meant but under-informed legislation.

Jane Blackburn

Chair, Cannock Mill Cohousing Colchester

Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Output: Responsibly managed leaseholds can provide communities with emergency funds that would otherwise not be available if leaseholds were banned, according to Jane Blackburn, the chair of Cannock Mill Cohousing Colchester. In a letter to the Guardian, Blackburn explained how Cannock Mill Cohousing had opted for 999-year leases with inflation-linked ground rents of £30 to £100 ($38-$128). She added any unspent funds were ploughed back into improvements at the retirement living development.


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Made in Space demonstrates 3D printing in a thermal vacuum
 Space is indifferent to your suffering. It doesn’t care that it’ll freeze you to death unless you’re wearing a fancy suit, or that even before freezing you’ll suffocate in its vacuum. And it certainly doesn’t care how difficult it is for humans to get stuff done in the void: practical things like screwing in bolts and drinking water and 3-D printing replacement parts.

But a company called Made in Space is indifferent to space’s indifference. In a first, it’s showed that it can 3-D print in a thermal vacuum chamber, which simulates the nastiness of space. It’s a milestone in the outfit’s ambitious Archinaut program, which hopes to launch a 3-D printer with robot arms into orbit. You know, to build things like satellites and telescopes and stuff.

This 3-D printer works like one you'd buy for yourself, extruding layer upon layer of polymer to build a structure. The difference being, this (deep breath...) Extended Structure Additive Manufacturing Machine is encased for thermal control, just like the components of a communications satellite would be to protect the electronics. “Our tactic has been, let's control the environment that's inside the printer, because we can't do anything about what's outside,” says Eric Joyce, project manager of Archinaut.

The challenge is that Archinaut will have to print out tubes far larger than itself—which means the machine needs an aperture to spit out its creations. But that would expose its insides to the freezing vacuum as it's printing. So Joyce and the team selected components that are low outgassing, meaning they don't lose material in a vacuum. "There's nothing proprietary in our selection process," Joyce says. "Just good engineering." If all goes according to plan, one day Archinaut's robotic arms will use machine vision to grab printed parts as they leave the machine, then piece them together into satellites or dishes.

There's one thing space does to make this job easier: Up there, Archinaut's printed structures would be able to grow to incredible size without collapsing into a cloud of space junk. That and individual rods can be extra long without snapping. On Thursday, Made in Space showed off a 100-foot, 20-pound beam the team had printed (though not in a vacuum), strung from the ceiling at its NASA Ames Research Center office. That’s the kind of scale we’re talking about here.

Why go to all this trouble for an orbital 3-D printer? Right now, the stuff we put into space is limited by the rockets we use to launch them. If you want to put a satellite in orbit, it has to be small enough to cram into the nose of a rocket. It also has to withstand the insane forces of the launch. And then there's the problem of weight: If your object is too massive, it'll never get into orbit. That and it'll cost you $10,000 or more a pound to get your goods on a rocket in the first place.

But if engineers could build satellites in orbit, they’d be free of size limitations. They could construct not only bigger satellites, but bigger telescopes as well. And the bigger your telescope, the more power you have to peer ever further into the cosmos.

Output: Made in Space, the 3D-printing company that has a two-year, $20m contract with NASA, has demonstrated the ability of its Archinaut technology to print objects in a thermal vacuum chamber that simulates the conditions of printing beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Made in Space envisages sending a 3D printer with robot arms into space that can be used to print and assemble satellites, telescopes and habitat modules in orbit, removing the need to build them on Earth and launch them on a rocket. Made in Space has already been 3D printing on the International Space Station using a different device.


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A Start-Up Suggests a Fix to the Health Care Morass
 Yet even though Aledade thinks of itself as a technology company, its doctors said its software is the least interesting thing it does. Independent primary care doctors tend to be cautious about technology, especially if it seeks to thoroughly alter how they work. So the real battle Aledade faces is to integrate technology into doctors’ practices — and to do so in an nonintrusive and pleasing way. The software’s instructions must also prove financially rewarding for clinics, while still somehow saving money for the overall health care system.

To do all this, Aledade — which now operates in 15 states and has relationships with more than 1,200 doctors — has had to become more than a software company. It has hired a battalion of field coordinators who visit practices and offer in-depth training and advice.

The company has also taken advantage of several health care ideas that were introduced or accelerated by the Affordable Care Act. One of these is known as the accountable care organization, or A.C.O., which lets groups of health care providers unite to coordinate care for a patient. Studies have shown that such a structure lowers overall medical costs; under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare encouraged the formation of these organizations by promising to share any savings it realizes with doctors. Aledade took the accountable care organization idea and made it its primary business model. (The structure was reaffirmed by a 2015 law passed overwhelmingly by Congress, so a repeal of the Affordable Care Act would not have affected its structure.)

For Aledade, the upshot is that it will only make a lot of money if it actually succeeds in reducing health care costs.

“Say Medicare thinks that it’s going to spend $100 million next year on our patients in Kansas,” Dr. Mostashari said. “A lot of this is from bad stuff — hospitalization, complications, you know, bad stuff. So we come in and say, if we can work with the primary care doctors to reduce bad things from happening while increasing quality, then we can save money for Medicare. Medicare says we thought we were going to spend $100 million on those patients, and we only spent $90 million. So, Medicare keeps half of the savings, and the other half of it goes to Aledade — which we split with the doctors.”

Output: If you watched the drama in Washington last month, you may have come away with the impression that the American health care system is a hopeless mess.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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UK company develops drone that plants 60 trees a minute
 To read this article and start a full year of unlimited online access, subscribe now! Already a subscriber? Login Need to register for your premium online access,which is included with your paid subscription? Register Now

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Help us further the reach of innovative ideas. Donate today.

The world’s forests lose an area equivalent to 48 football fields every minute, according to the World Wildlife Fund. And in the last two years, the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has increased by more than 20 percent—the highest rate in a decade. That means our planet’s ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change is constantly decreasing, and so are resources for people and animals who live in or near forests. Meanwhile, reforestation has lagged, partly because it is…

Read more stories by Kristine Wong.

Output: UK start-up BioCarbon Engineering has built a drone that can fire pods of biodegradable plastic containing seeds into the ground from a height of 10 feet at a rate of up to 60 seeds a minute. The film's founder, Lauren Fletcher, claims that a swarm of six to 10 of the drones could plant 100,000 trees a day and help local communities nurture the resulting saplings by doing weeding and delivering nutrients and pesticides. The company hopes that its technology will support the UN sustainable development goal of halting deforestation and is conducting trials in the Amazon region.


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You can get quality elder care but be prepared to pay for it
 Study shows that even states with excellence in care rank in the bottom 20 on cost.

If you live in a state with high-quality care for older Americans, chances are the cost of it isn't so great. Data in a new report by Caring.com shows that seven of the top 10 states for quality elderly care also rank in the bottom 20 for the cost of those services. "There's a trade-off," said Tim Sullivan, Caring.com vice president. "In some states, the quality of care is high, but so are the costs." Coming in first for quality of care is Washington, yet it ranks 38th for cost. Alaska, which ranks right behind the Evergreen State, comes in last place in the expense column. Rounding out the top three for quality is Oregon, which ranks 39th when it comes to price.

The best and the worst Top Five Bottom Five 1. Utah 46. Wyoming 2. Iowa 47. North Dakota 3. South Carolina 48. New York 4. Washington 49. Indiana 5. Nebraska 50. West Virginia

Source: Source: Caring.com

Conversely, some states have low costs but their quality is lacking. For example, Alabama has the least-expensive care but ranks 44th for quality. Additionally, the Northeast showed generally higher costs and lower quality scores in the report. The study used various statistics including nursing home costs, in-home care prices and elderly well-being assessments to arrive at its rankings. First overall is Utah, followed by Iowa, South Carolina, Washington and Nebraska. The bottom five include Wyoming, North Dakota, New York, Indiana and West Virginia. The differences in cost for various services can be stark. For instance, the average annual cost of nursing home care in Alaska is $281,415 compared with $63,875 in Utah, according to a 2015 study by Genworth Financial. Sullivan said that given the varying levels of quality and care offered across the country, it's important to start giving thought to options long before elder care services are needed.

Quality at a cost State Quality Ranking Cost Ranking Overall Ranking Washington 1 38 4 Alaska 2 50 16 Oregon 3 (tie) 39 10 Californa 3 (tie) 36 7 Hawaii 5 46 (tie) 14 Minnesota 6 35 11 Utah 7 14 1 Iowa 8 (tie) 17 2 Colorado 8 (tie) 32 (tie) 9 Montana 10 30 12

Source: Source: Caring.com

On average, an American turning 65 today will spend $138,000 in future long-term care costs, according to the Health and Human Services Department. Such services include help with daily activities like bathing and eating, which about 50 percent of people will eventually need. In general, Medicare, which most people register for at age 65, does not cover long-term care. For retirees who do end up needing such services, the costs can be eye-popping. The average yearly cost of a nursing home is $82,000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Home-based care, depending on the level of services needed, can hit more than $3,000 a month. So can the cost of an assisted-living facility.

Tomas Rodriguez | Picture Press | Getty Images

Output: If you live in a state with high-quality care for older Americans, chances are the cost of it isn't so great. Data in a new report by Caring.com shows that seven of the top 10 states for quality elderly care also rank in the bottom 20 for the cost of those services.


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Primary care clinician shortage expected in California by 2030
 Dive Brief:

A new report from the Healthforce Center at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) posits California won’t have enough primary care physicians by 2030.

The report said physician supply will decrease between now and 2030 “in nearly every supply scenario estimated.” The Healthcare Center at UCSF predicted nearly half of the state’s full-time equivalent primary care clinicians will be nurse practitioners and physician assistants by 2030.

These kinds of reports are often an inexact science. For instance, The New York Times recently reported on a study that said an expected physician shortage didn’t happen with the Affordable Care Act.

Dive Insight:

The study said California will be short about 4,700 primary care clinicians in 2025 and about 4,100 primary care clinicians in 2030.

Healthforce Research faculty member Janet Coffman said the result of a primary care clinician shortage is that more Californians will visit emergency rooms for basic care, such asthma, ear infections and flu because there won’t be enough primary care clinicians.

An alternative to emergency rooms could be convenient care, retail clinics and urgent care centers. There are more than 2,300 convenient care centers in the U.S. and that number is expected to grow. American Development Partners, a private equity and real estate firm, recently invested $1 billion in American Family Care. The deal will allow the largest urgent care center operator in the country to grow from more than 180 clinics to close to 500 locations. Also, CVS Health is expanding its MinuteClinic programs to help people with chronic diseases.

Predicting the future is never an exact science, especially when it comes to healthcare. However, studies show new doctors are heading into specialties rather than primary care.

According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, the number of actively licensed physicians at the end of 2016 increased 12% since 2010. The U.S. physician-to-population ratio increased in that time from 277 physicians per 100,000 people to 295 per 100,000. However, even that increase may not keep up as the country ages.

Plus, some specialties have skyrocketed over the past 10 years, which hasn’t been the case for primary care physicians. For instance, doctors of osteopathic medicine have increased 65% since 2006.

How do can the issue be resolved? The report suggested some possible ways to bridge that potential gap, including actively recruiting primary care physicians in California; expanding primary care residency programs; improving physician retention, especially younger doctors; expanding team-based primary care models; and ensuring “scope-of-practice regulations” for nurse practitioners and physician assistants to “maximize their capacity to provide primary care.”

Output: The study said California will be short about 4,700 primary care clinicians in 2025 and about 4,100 primary care clinicians in 2030. Healthforce Research faculty member Janet Coffman said the result of a primary care clinician shortage is that more Californians will visit emergency rooms for basic care, such asthma, ear infections and flu because there won’t be enough primary care clinicians.


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Functions in old age influenced by previous lifestyle
 Credit: Uppsala University

"Which factors increase the chance of aging with well-maintained functions?" Older men who never smoked, avoided obesity and had held a healthy Mediterranean-inspired diet have good chances of maintaining their independence at a very high age.

These findings were shown in a study conducted at the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences at Uppsala University.

The study started in 1970, when all men in Uppsala County, born 1920 to 1924, were invited to participate and 2,322 men (82 percent) participated in the first investigation of the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (ULSAM). The aim was to investigate the relationship between aging with preserved independence and lifestyle factors, including dietary patterns and cardiovascular risk factors.

The participants have so far been followed up on six occasions. At the age of approximately 71, 1,104 of the men answered a questionnaire about lifestyle including education, living conditions and physical activity. Adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet was assessed according to a modified Mediterranean Diet Score derived from a seven-day food record, and blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors were measured.

Sixteen years later, 369 participants, with a mean age of 87, were eligible for evaluation of 'independent aging.' This was defined as high cognitive function in terms of testing and lack of dementia diagnosis, not institutionalized, and being independent in personal daily activities including being able to walk outdoors on their own.

"Previous studies have shown that very old subjects appraise a preserved function higher than absence of disease," says Kristin Franzon, who is a geriatrician and a PhD student at the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences.

At the age of 85, 57 percent of the men were alive and 75 percent of the 369 participants at a mean age of 87 displayed independent aging. Men who never smoked doubled the chance of achieving this independency compared to smokers. Independent aging was also associated with normal weight or overweight (BMI <30 kg / m2) and a waist circumference ≤102 cm, as well as high adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet. Similar observations were observed with survival.

Smoking, obesity and an unhealthy diet are risk factors who may affect health, such as COPD, osteoarthritis, brain and cardiovascular disease and cancer.

"As far as we know, this is the only study so far done in men, which shows an association between high adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet and independent aging," says Kristin Franzon.

The Mediterranean-like diet consists of high intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, fish, fruits, vegetables, cereals and potatoes and less meat and dairy products.

More information: Predictors of Independent Aging and Survival: A 16-Year Follow-Up Report in Octogenarian Men. J Am Geriatr Soc 2017. doi: 10.1111 / jgs.14971

Output: "Which factors increase the chance of aging with well-maintained functions?" Older men who never smoked, avoided obesity and had held a healthy Mediterranean-inspired diet have good chances of maintaining their independence at a very high age.


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Smartphone app may help older adults manage serious mental illness and chronic health conditions
 The use of new technologies in geriatric psychiatry shows promise for advancing personalized medicine and improving patient care. A new study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry describes the successful adaptation of an integrated medical and psychiatric self-management intervention to a smartphone application for middle-aged and older adults with serious mental illness.

Care of middle-aged and older patients with serious mental illness is complicated. Often these patients suffer from other medical conditions and are at increased risk of premature death. They have two to three times higher health costs than individuals in the general population. In order to help patients cope with their illness, researchers from Dartmouth developed a smartphone-based intervention using an adaptive systems engineering framework and principles of user-centered design. They found that even patients with limited technical abilities could use this App successfully. The App and intervention protocol were developed using commercially available products from Wellframe.

"The use of mobile health interventions by adults with serious mental illness is a promising approach that has been shown to be highly feasible and acceptable," explained lead investigator Karen L. Fortuna, PhD, of the Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. "These technologies are associated with many advantages compared with traditional psychosocial interventions, including the potential for individually tailored, just-in-time delivery along with wide dissemination and high population impact. Nevertheless, the process of adapting an existing psychosocial intervention to a smartphone intervention requires adaptation for a high-risk group with limited health and technology literacy."

Following multiple design iterations, investigators tested the App's usability. Ten participants (mean age of 55.3 years) with serious mental illness and other chronic health conditions reported a high level of usability and satisfaction with the smartphone application.

The App takes patients through 10 sessions over a period of approximately three months, covering topics such as stress vulnerability and illness, medication adherence and strategies, and substance and medication abuse. Physicians can remotely monitor App use, and intervene when problems are detected, facilitating telemedicine for less accessible populations.

According to Dr. Fortuna, "Smartphone applications also potentially facilitate patient engagement in participatory, personalized, and preventative care. As the healthcare industry increasingly embraces prevention and illness self-management, it is important for physicians and patients to be actively involved in designing and developing new technologies supporting these approaches."

The use of smart devices is poised to revolutionize how we think about clinical information and facilitate personalized interventions in a way that could not have been conceptualized before these technologies came into existence. This study is part of a special issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry that captures an important moment in the evolving relationship between technology and the clinical care of older adults.

"It has often been noted that with the pace of technology development being so rapid, research may not be able to keep up. While this may be true in the most literal sense, this set of nine papers represents a major step in developing a body of research to guide how technologies can interface with clinical care," noted guest editor Ipsit V. Vahia, MD, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, and the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

These papers highlight the potential of technology based-approaches, provide direction on how this area of work needs to develop, and put a spotlight on the major pitfalls that the field must consider in order for technologies realize their full potential. They also address the relative lack of evidence to date supporting use of these technologies and the lack of clarity on data security and privacy related to use of these devices.

Dr. Vahia continued, "While the potential of technology to impact geriatric psychiatry care in this manner has long been recognized, this issue provides substantial evidence to demonstrate that this potential is translating into reality. Simultaneously, it also makes clear that the work is just getting started."

More information: Karen L. Whiteman et al, Adapting a Psychosocial Intervention for Smartphone Delivery to Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Serious Mental Illness, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.12.007 Journal information: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Output: The use of new technologies in geriatric psychiatry shows promise for advancing personalized medicine and improving patient care. A new study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry describes the successful adaptation of an integrated medical and psychiatric self-management intervention to a smartphone application for middle-aged and older adults with serious mental illness.


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The real health care fight is coming, and it’s about seniors’ access
 Editor’s Note: Journalist Philip Moeller is here to provide the answers you need on aging and retirement. His weekly column, “Ask Phil,” aims to help older Americans and their families by answering their health care and financial questions. Phil is the author of the new book, “Get What’s Yours for Medicare,” and co-author of “Get What’s Yours: The Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security.” Send your questions to Phil.

Many older Americans will need some type of extended care as they age. It may come in a nursing center or at home. Some individuals, through excellent lifestyle choices, inherited genetic traits and not a little bit of luck, may be able to minimize or even avoid such episodes. But there are so many aging people in the country today that no amount of healthful living will prevent enormous increases in demand for older-age caregiving.

As things presently stand, we cannot afford to pay for all the care that older Americans will need.

This inevitability has been known for decades, ever since the size of the baby boom generation became clear. Such are the long-term implications of demographics. Yet here we are, faced with another aging “crisis” – an elephant that is not only in the room today but took up residence decades ago.

Medicare and Medicaid are the two safety-net programs we now have to provide the care we will need. Unless you’ve been living in an unwired biosphere, you might have noticed that these programs are the subject of many Republican proposals that would dramatically change them. The common theme of these proposals is a big cut in funding, and thus care, in comparison with current program rules and government spending commitments.

READ MORE: The fight over Obamacare is over — for now. What does that mean for seniors?

If you scratch the surface, you will not find much knowledge in many of these proposals about the realities of an aging population’s future health care needs.

But to be fair, Republicans are admitting one very compelling point that many Democrats have been politically hampered from acknowledging: As things presently stand, we cannot afford to pay for all the care that older Americans will need. Budgets at the federal and state levels will not be able to foot this health care bill, and Lord knows that nearly all of us can’t afford to pay for it out of our own pockets.

The Republicans’ message has been lost in the meanness of many of their proposals. They have forfeited any claim to the fiscal high ground with plans that would package steep health care cuts for most Americans with tax cuts for people who are already rich by nearly anyone’s standards.

Faced with this stand-off, one can only applaud nascent efforts by some brave Republicans and Democrats to actually begin working together. Health care reforms cannot survive without bipartisanship, and for bipartisanship to work, the parties must be willing to compromise. We are nowhere near this point today, but we need to get there, and soon.

Older citizens and their families need to be vigilant about efforts to raise the price of their health care, restrict their access to care or deny it to them altogether.

In the meantime, older citizens and their families need to be vigilant about efforts to raise the price of their health care, restrict their access to care or deny it to them altogether. Today, I would like to draw your attention to three such efforts: the use by hospitals of so-called observational stays, the desire by the nursing home industry to deny patients and their families the right to sue nursing homes over disputes and the growing shortage of federal funding for at-home care, coupled with rising problems in finding enough qualified caregivers to do this often low-paying work.

Observational stays

If Medicare enrollees are admitted to a hospital, stay there for a few days, and then require care in a skilled nursing facility, Medicare will cover that subsequent nursing care. This is a big benefit. Both the hospital and skilled nursing facility care are covered under Part A of Medicare.

However, if hospitals instead classify such visits as observational, as opposed to a formal admission, the person will not be covered by Medicare if they later need skilled nursing facility care. Further, their stay in the hospital will not be covered under Part A of Medicare but under Part B. These different parts of Medicare do not pay the same amounts for covered services.

For those wishing to receive extra credit from Ask Phil, I have written about observational stays here and here. The reasons hospitals admit people on an observational basis are discussed in those pieces. Some past patients, it turns out, never even knew their hospital visit was treated as an observational stay. A recent law requires hospitals to at least tell them on a timely basis if this is so. Still, horror stories about observational stays still crop up. The good news here is that the Center for Medicare Advocacy, which filed a lawsuit to help people avoid observational stay expenses, says its suit has been certified by a Connecticut court as a class action.

Nursing home lawsuits

Last year, the Obama administration issued a rule that prevented nursing homes from requiring patients to agree, as a condition of admittance, to submit disputes to binding arbitration and thus waive their rights to sue the home over allegations of poor care or excessive billing. Many if not nearly all nursing homes would prefer arbitration; it usually results in more favorable and less costly outcomes for the homes.

The nursing home industry sued to stop the rule, and its implementation was placed on hold while the litigation was pending. Now, there are Trump appointees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Secretary Tom Price) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Administrator Seema Verma). They have reversed last year’s rule and dropped legal efforts to defeat the nursing operators’ challenge. Not surprisingly, consumer groups are alarmed, and three dozen of them have protested. Further, 31 Senate Democrats also have protested. Accuse me of being cynical here, but I am not holding my breath waiting for Price to change his mind because Sen. Al Franken, among others, has asked him to do so.

Home care funding

Many Medicare beneficiaries incorrectly believe Medicare covers long-term custodial care in their homes. Such care is commonly needed by frail seniors, helping them with domestic and personal care needs. However, Medicare does not cover this care.

It does cover medically proscribed home care for people who qualify as homebound, meaning they can’t leave their homes easily. The rules for at-home care are complicated, and as a past Ask Phil column explained, it can be very hard to find an agency to provide such care, even when it is covered.

Under terms of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare was charged with reducing charges for at-home care, which had been identified as too generous for at-home care providers.

Maybe that was true for shoddy providers. But it is hard to accept that Medicare’s rates are too high for those agencies that provide trained and caring home aids. These people are hard to find, and the task is made much harder when agencies are unable to pay them more than $12 to $15 an hour for what can be very demanding work.

After trimming relatively small amounts from Medicare’s at-home reimbursement formulas in recent years, program administrators have announced reimbursement changes that would lead to an estimated $1 billion cut in at-home benefits for 2019. Given that Medicare spending on these benefits was $18 billion in the 2015 program year, this is nearly a 6 percent nominal cut, at a time when health care costs are rising.

These reductions are not so clearly a case of Republican appointees reducing Medicare benefits. There are solid reasons to change how home health agencies are reimbursed. Logical or not, however, this shift would further hurt an already weakened industry.

Families already face growing problems finding affordable and reliable caregivers for their aging parents. Where will future caregivers come from? As some experts have noted, President Trump’s efforts to sharply restrict unskilled immigrants could have a dramatic impact on the supply of old-age caregivers.

There are many times more people on Medicare and Medicaid than are covered on state Obamacare exchanges. This is where the real fight is now taking place.

This difficult situation would be made untenable under the sharp funding cuts to Medicare and Medicaid contained in any number of Republican proposals. Health care advocates have devoted most of their energy to recent GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare. That’s understandable. But there are many times more people on Medicare and Medicaid than are covered on state Obamacare exchanges. This is where the real fight is now taking place.

Our regular reader questions will resume next week.

Output: Many older Americans will need some type of extended care as they age. It may come in a nursing center or at home. Some individuals, through excellent lifestyle choices, inherited genetic traits and not a little bit of luck, may be able to minimize or even avoid such episodes. But there are so many aging people in the country today that no amount of healthful living will prevent enormous increases in demand for older-age caregiving.


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Google Home matches Amazon Echo with free calls
 Google has refused to be left behind by Amazon in the voice-controlled smart speaker market and has introduced free calls from Home devices, just months after its rival did the same.

Google first announced it would be adding calling capabilities at its I/O Developer Conference in May, the same month that Amazon introduced its Echo calling function alongside the unveiling of its Echo Show device.

The hands-free calling feature on Google Home works by simply asking Assistant to call businesses or Google contacts. This is done by using the traditional “OK Google” or “Hey Google” followed by “call (recipient)”. Interestingly, the feature doesn’t support calls to the emergency services.

For the time being, the call recipient will see the caller’s ID as ‘unknown’ or ‘no caller ID’ but Google says it will be possible to display the caller’s mobile number by the end of the year. For Google Voice or Project Fi users, the option to display their phone number is already an option through the Assistant settings in the Google Home app.

The feature is being rolled out to Home users in the US and Canada, and there is no word on when we can expect it to be introduced elsewhere.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. We've extended the final deadline to 18 August, but time's running out. More details here.

Output: Google has introduced free calling on Google Home devices to US and Canadian customers. The move follows Amazon's introduction of the same feature on its Amazon Echo in May. Although hands-free calling does not yet show the caller's ID, Google will display the caller's mobile number by the end of the year, it said. However, Google Home's calling feature doesn't support calls to emergency services.


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AMD releases GPU driver update dedicated to cryptocurrency mining
 We took a preliminary look at mining performance from AMD's new Radeon RX Vega 56 and 64 cards and found they performed a little better than Polaris parts, though nowhere near the 70-100 MH/s claims (in Ethereum) that were rumored prior to launch. That's the good news. The bad news is that mining performance may improve over time, perhaps even significantly, as AMD tunes its drivers for blockchain compute.

This is something that is already happening. After making an effort to help Radeon RX Vega cards land in the hands of gamers by bundling them with special "Packs" at higher price tags, AMD has gone and quietly released a beta Crimson ReLive driver update that is optimized for blockchain compute workloads.

Fortunately for gamers, the driver update still does not push mining performance to crazy high levels. However, it does improve things by addressing a lingering problem—decreasing hashrate performance with Ethereum mining as the DAG file size slowly increases. This is something that affects both Polaris and Vega.

Nathan Kirsch at LegitReviews tested the new driver on a handful of graphics cards and saw decent gains in some cases. You can view them here.

This beta driver release essentially fixes a problem that affects AMD GPUs more than Nvidia GPUs. It is not a game changer, though the writing on the wall is that miners are not going to be ignored by AMD and Nvidia. Neither side indicated plans to do so in the first place, but with optimized drivers now starting to show up, the volatile cryptocurrency market is further validated.

Output: AMD has released a beta Crimson ReLive driver update that has been optimised for blockchain workloads, signalling further validation for the digital currency sector. The update also fixes the issue of decreasing hashrate performance with ethereum mining as the DAG file size slowly increases, a problem that has affected Polaris and Vega. The move comes amid calls for companies to release dedicated mining GPUs.


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Shadow Brokers' dump blamed for five million cyber attacks
 More than five million cyber attacks originated from a series of exploit archives dumped onto the internet between April and June this year, according to Kaspersky Lab.

Its software blocked more than five million attacks based on hacking group Shadow Brokers' exploit dumps, but the rate of attacks using these tools is growing; more than 80% were detected during the last 30 days of the quarter.

"The threat landscape of Q2 provides yet another reminder that a lack of vigilance is one of the most significant cyber dangers," said Kaspersky Lab security expert Alexander Liskin.

"While vendors patch vulnerabilities on a regular basis, many users don't pay attention to this, which results in massive-scale attacks once the vulnerabilities are exposed to the broad cyber criminal community."

Shadow Brokers has already had a huge impact of the security landscape. The mysterious group began releasing huge troves of offensive malware and cyber weapons last year, many of which were allegedly created and used by US intelligence agencies such as the NSA.

The latest dump, which occurred in April this year, included a number of highly sophisticated tools. It was considered by many experts to be one of the most dangerous and damaging leaks in cyber security history.

Alongside codenamed exploits including DarkPulsar, OddJob and FuzzBunch, the dump included the EternalBlue exploit targeting elements of the Windows OS. This malware in particular was an instrumental part of the WannaCry ransomware that nearly crippled organisations including the NHS, before it was stopped by security researcher Marcus Hutchins.

Output: More than five million attacks based on exploit dumps by hacking group Shadow Brokers were thwarted by Kaspersky Lab software during Q2 2017, according the firm's security expert Alexander Liskin. Kaspersky Lab also revealed that more than 80% of the attacks were picked up in the last 30 days of the quarter. Liskin warned about the lack of attention paid to exploit dumps, with the one that took place in April being one of the most dangerous and damaging leaks ever. It included the EternalBlue malware, which was part of the WannaCry ransomware.


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Video a growing revenue stream for Heart, Classic FM owner
 Global, home to radio stations like Capital, Heart and Classic FM, has tuned into the revenue opportunities of video, and it’s paying off.

The video team has grown from six to 25 staffers, bringing on board former producers from the BBC and YouTube. In the past, each radio station’s website would mostly feature music videos. Now, each month, across brands, Global’s video team creates up to 600 original videos. Music features heavily: Recent videos on Capital FM, the company’s most popular brand covering chart music, include former One Direction member Liam Payne’s debut live solo performance at Capital FM’s summer ball and the band Rudimental discussing an upcoming V Festival performance. Elsewhere, Classic FM features a youth classical ensemble playing the “Game of Thrones” soundtrack, while rock station Radio X features a 40-minute interview with former Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher.

Videos are also edited for platforms. Videos from current-affairs talk station LBC have particularly taken off on Facebook in the last year. LBC’s videos had 18.3 million video views on Facebook in May (which has since dropped to just over 7 million in July), according to Tubular Labs. The video team sifts through 160 hours of talk radio a week and turns less than 1 percent of it into two-minute videos of a presenter talking to a guest or caller. For example, presenter James O’Brien’s monologue last October comparing British Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s Tory conference speech to Adolf Hitler’s autobiography “Mein Kampf” was viewed over 3.9 million times on LBC’s Facebook page and got over 60,000 shares.

Growing reach on platforms only goes so far, though. “I wouldn’t be building my commercial strategy around revenue delivered by other platforms,” said Oliver Deane, Global’s commercial digital director. “It’s about defining what social plays in your business; large amounts of views on social platforms, while there’s no direct significant monetization opportunity as there is on your own platform, [are] still growing the brand.”

On-platform, these videos generate around 40 million monthly, 30-second non-skippable pre-roll impressions on Global’s sites, via Ooyala’s video player, said Deane.

Growing enough scale to deliver an advertiser millions of impressions per campaign is one part; the other is maintaining above industry averages in metrics. Eighty percent of Global’s ad impressions are viewed to the end, said Deane, adding that most agencies on average are looking for a 70 percent minimum view-through rate.

Listeners are likelier in the radio medium to have the sound on, too, ultimately adding to the quality of the message during a time when plenty of campaigns are viewed in social feeds with the sound off.

“If someone is loading the Capital FM app, they are going to be listening to music, so [they will] have the sound on,” said Deane. “That pre-roll delivers a sound-on experience, so we’re seeing a big uptake in advertisers buying that inventory.” (Capital FM’s in-app pre-roll ads are skippable after five seconds.)

The other side of the coin is the video content brands pay for. In 2014, Global ran about 30 video campaigns that brands paid for; last year, this increased to 200. A campaign for Barclays educating millennials on online safety and fraud had 1 million views on Capital FM’s site, according to Deane.

Image courtesy of Global.

Output: Media and entertainment group Global, which owns radio stations Heart, Capital, Classic FM and LBC, has hit a rich revenue stream with video, creating about 600 original videos per month and attracting 200 brands to the publisher – compared to about 30 in 2014. Oliver Deane, Global’s commercial digital director, said 80% of Global’s ad impressions are viewed to the end, while videos generate 40 million monthly, 30-second, non-skippable pre-roll impressions on the company's sites.


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AI-based energy trader Energi Mine managing £100m after six months
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A new Oldham business is making waves in the energy sector after being oversubscribed for its first round of funding.

With a background in global energy markets Omar Rahim and Momin Hashmee have joined forces to launch Energi Mine.

The business utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to procure and trade energy for some of the UK’s biggest companies.

Launched six months ago, Energi Mine’s clients include a global law firm, the largest independent construction materials group in the UK and a large privately-owned forecourt operator. A sales pipeline of over £1m will also be realised within the next 12 months.

Energi Mine’s offices in Oldham include a trading desk where more than £100m is already under management.

The trading desk monitors wholesale energy prices and analyses a range of data from power station capacity and gas flows, to international bond prices and weather patterns.

Algorithms and AI enables Energi Mine to process information much faster, ultimately leading to better quality decisions when buying energy and protecting clients from price spikes.

CEO Omar Rahim has traded energy for some of the largest trading houses in Europe, having managed over $3billion in energy assets worldwide. He also has a track record in growing businesses from inception.

COO Momin Hashmee has worked at tech giants such as Intel, Samsung and Microsoft and is constantly working with leading data scientists to develop new alternatives to traditional energy procurement solutions.

Commenting on the launch Omar Rahim said: “Energi Mine is a business with the potential to revolutionise the whole sector.

“We recognise that certain tasks can be done more efficiently by machines. Developed by data scientists from across the tech industry, we use cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence to procure energy and manage companies' data.

"We use AI to trawl market data looking for the optimum time to buy or sell energy. The technology also processes companies' consumption data, so our algorithms can suggest when and how to use energy smarter.”

Momin Hashmee added: "Our innovation comes from our extensive background in the technology industry. Bringing that experience into the energy space means that we have been able to create a whole new paradigm for energy procurement.

"The resulting impact means eradicating old-fashioned, manual approaches and creating new ways to capture, view and analyse energy data.

"Automating as many processes as possible means human errors are minimised. Lengthy processes that normally take up to two weeks to complete can be done within an hour.

"The energy procurement industry is heavily manualised, with a huge reliance on a series of spreadsheets compiled by analysts – this takes time and can be expensive. Our AI uses machine learning which means that our computer programs get smarter and smarter the more times they carry out a request. This results in more insightful analysis from data – ultimately leading to greater cost saving opportunities.”

Energi Mine’s progress has not gone unnoticed. The company has reached the final of Venture Fest Manchester 2017 while it has now started a second round of funding months ahead of schedule.

The company is working with professional advisors from Gateley plc and RSM Tenon.

Output: Oldham firm Energi Mine, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to buy and trade energy, is starting its second round of funding months ahead of schedule, after its first round was oversubscribed. The start-up has over £100m ($129m) under management after six months of trading. Energi Mine's algos monitor factors including wholesale energy prices, power station capacity data, gas flows and weather patterns to quickly identify optimum times to trade energy. They also have the capacity to improve energy usage, as they process consumption data, said co-founder Omar Rahim.


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WHO requests help with measles outbreak in Somalia
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WHO calls for urgent support to combat Somalian measles outbreak

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WHO and its health partners urgently need support in response to a measles outbreak in Somalia, according to a press release. They are currently working with Somalian health authorities to offer essential health services.

To improve outbreak response activities and conduct a measles immunization campaign in November, WHO requires $6.8 million.

“Somalia is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Millions of people, already on the brink of famine, are now at risk of rapidly spreading infectious diseases like cholera and measles,” said Ghulam Popal, PhD, WHO representative in Somalia. “Normally, these diseases are easy to treat and prevent, but they can turn deadly when people are living in overcrowded spaces and are too weak to fight off infection.”

According to WHO, the current measles outbreak included 14,823 suspected cases as of July 31. Insufficient rainfall and poor harvest have left millions in Somalia vulnerable to malnutrition and mass displacement and unable to access clean water and sanitation, creating a perfect climate for infectious disease outbreaks, the organization said. Although WHO and its partners have vaccinated roughly 600,000 children aged 6 months to 5 years for measles across the country, transmission continues, facilitated by the humanitarian crisis, according to the release. Millions of children are still under-vaccinated, with those aged younger than 10 years accounting for more than 80% of cases, WHO said.

To contain the outbreak, WHO is planning a nationwide campaign for November 2017 to stop transmission of the disease that will target 4.2 million children and strengthen routine immunization, according to the press release. WHO is requesting $14.4 million to conduct the vaccination campaign — with a cost of $3.36 per child — of which $6.8 million is still needed.

“WHO has repurposed 800,000 USD internally to start training and microplanning for the measles campaign and exploring,” Gregory Härtl, WHO spokesman, told Infectious Disease News. “We are approaching donors for additional funding.”

Concurrently in Somalia, the oral cholera vaccination campaign conducted by WHO has successfully reached almost half a million vulnerable people, and the number of cases has declined by more than 2,000 between May and June, according to the release. Health authorities said they believe that similar success may be achieved in controlling the measles outbreak with the correct interventions.

Disclosures: Popal reports no relevant financial disclosures.

Output: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked for $6.8m to help fight a measles outbreak in famine-stricken Somalia, which has so far infected almost 15,000 people. 80% of the infected are children aged under 10, according to a statement from the organisation. It warned that high levels of malnutrition, combined with little access to clean water and sanitation could lead to outbreaks of other infectious diseases. The WHO is set to launch a vaccination campaign in November, with the requested funds to be used as part of the immunisation drive.


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Cargo works with Uber to offer convenience products on the move
 Forget the complimentary mints and iPhone charger. Starting today, passengers can grab a full-sized sheet mask as part of a partnership between Uber and Cargo to offer convenience items including snacks, gum, electronics, and now beauty products.

Cargo is a service within a service that allows drivers working for Uber, Lyft, Juno, and Via to offer products for sale. Riders can now snag a Labotica Green Tea Soft Skin Mask to calm breakouts and reduce inflammation when they're in the back seat of an Uber or sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic during their morning commute.

"It's the ultimate convenience to have everything from phone chargers and gum to beauty products at your fingertips, on-demand," said Sabrina Rahaman, Cargo's Director of Brand Partnerships and Merchandising. "Discovering your next beauty obsession makes the experience even better!"

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Riders in Cargo-equipped cars can visit the Cargo site, type in the code on the driver's Cargo box, select the mask from the menu, and check out. The best part? While the items offered by Cargo are $5 or less, the sheet masks are completely free of charge. The word's still out on what beauty products we can expect in the future but Rahaman says there's even more to come.

Output: Cargo, a company that partners with ride-hailing companies to provide passengers with conveniences like snacks and electronics, has begun offering cosmetics on Uber journeys. By visiting Cargo's website and typing in a code, riders can access beauty products costing $5 or less and are also offered a skin mask free of charge.


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MedAware deploying AI to tackle prescription mistakes
 Raannana, Israel-based MedAware, which leverages machine learning algorithms to find and eliminate dangerous prescription errors, has raised $8 million. BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Gefen Capital, OurCrowd and Yingcheng City Fubon Technology Company all participated in the Series A round. In addition to the $8 million in venture funds, MedAware has picked up $4 million in grants from Israel’s Innovation Authority, the BIRD Foundation, and the European Commission.

Prescription errors, where a patient is prescribed the wrong medication, are unfortunately common. According to AHRQ, 5 percent of patients will encounter an adverse drug event, and roughly half of these are preventable ADEs that stem from prescription error. MedAware continuously monitors electronic health records to spot these errors, which show up as outliers in the patterns of prescribing behavior.

“MedAware was purpose built around our commitment to patient safety,” CEO Gidi Stein said in a statement. “Every catastrophic error we identify is a patient saved. Through this round of Series A funding we will be able to build on the successes we’ve achieved to date and scale our approach to protect physicians and their patients all over the world.”

The company compares its approach to the algorithms banks use to detect and prevent credit card fraud and identity theft. In both cases, quickly spotting an aberration in a pattern can safeguard against bad outcomes before they happen.

The technology has already produced some encouraging efficacy data. In a study published in January in the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association, researchers looked at five years of EHR-provided clinical data for 747,985 lives at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Center for Patient Safety and Practice, plus retrospective data from Partners HealthCare BWH and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Using MedAware, researchers got alerts for over 15,000 charts, and they then looked at a sample of 300 charts and found that 75 percent of alerts were valid in identifying potentially fatal medication errors.

With the new funding, MedAware will develop additional AI-powered clinical decision support offerings. The company also plans to improve its existing algorithms to catch more kinds of errors. Other priorities include growth in the North American market and integration with more EHRs.

Output: Israel-based healthtech start-up MedAware has raised $8m in series A funding, which will be used to develop additional AI-powered clinical decision support offerings. MedAware uses machine learning algorithms to highlight and prevent dangerous prescription errors using a similar system to those used by banks to spot erroneous behaviour to detect and prevent credit card fraud and identity theft. In a study published in the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association, researchers found 75% of MedAware's alerts were valid.


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UN plan sets out how Sri Lanka could move to 100% renewables
 The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) just released a joint report called Assessment of Sri Lanka’s Power Sector—100 percent Electricity Generation through Renewable Energy by 2050.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) just released a joint report called Assessment of Sri Lanka’s Power Sector—100 percent Electricity Generation through Renewable Energy by 2050.

Priyantha Wijayatunga, Director, South Asia Energy Division, said: “ADB has expressed its continuous support to low-carbon development of Sri Lanka. Recent proposals including a rooftop solar program and a large-scale wind power project demonstrate ADB’s commitment in this regard. This assessment report can serve as a comprehensive example for future utilities globally on how decentralized clean energy services can be governed.”

According to the report, Sri Lanka’s installed electricity generation capacity needs will increase from 3,700MW to 34,000MW by 2050.

The study projects that most of the electricity generation capacity should be wind and solar energy – with 15,000 MW of wind and 16,000 MW of solar capacity – and the rest will be hydro and biomass energy.

In order to ensure the stability of the country’s electricity grid, UNDP and ADB also note that it will be crucial to increase electricity storage capacity.

Such a shift to renewable sources would allow the country to dramatically decrease its fossil fuel imports and reduce Sri Lanka’s fuel bill by $18 billion cumulatively.

$50 billion of investment will be needed for the country to operate its transition to renewable energy.

Sri Lanka is one of 43 members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum who committed to produce 100 per cent of their electricity through renewables by 2050 last year at the Marrakesh COP negotiations.

Alexandra Soezer, Climate Change Technical Advisor of UNDP added: “UNDP continues to be a pioneering ‘development’ institute. Knowledge products like these are giving valuable inputs to attaining Sustainable Development Goal 7 on ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’. We will continue to expand our activities in this field and pave the way for a better tomorrow.”

Output: Sri Lanka’s electricity generation capacity needs will increase from 3,700 MW to 34,000 MW by 2050, according to a report by the UN Development Programme and Asian Development Bank. The study looked at how the country could produce 100% of its electricity using renewable methods, adding that it was "crucial to increase electricity storage capacity". The move to 100% renewable energy would reduce the country's cumulative fuel bill by $18bn, with $50bn of investment needed for the country to make the transition to renewable energy. Sri Lanka is a member of Climate Vulnerable Forum whose members are committed to adopting renewables-only energy production.


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Three Ukrainian lawmakers hold a combined $47m in bitcoin
 Three Ukrainian lawmakers have declared holding a combined $47 million in bitcoin following mandatory disclosures requiring members of parliament to reveal their finances. According to ...

Three Ukrainian lawmakers have declared holding a combined $47 million in bitcoin following mandatory disclosures requiring members of parliament to reveal their finances.

According to a report from RIA Novosti, the Russian state’s foreign news service, three Ukrainian lawmakers belonging to Ukraine’s ruling party have revealed they hold bitcoin worth a near $50 million combined.

The three lawmakers are notably members of the “Petro Poroshenko Block”, the report reveals, the majority group of legislators within the Ukrainian Parliament.

Dmitry Golubov holds the most bitcoins of the three revealed in the report, with 8,752 bitcoins declared in an online submission. Golubov’s holdings represents approximately $36 million in today’s prices. Alexander Urbansky declared 2,494 bitcoins, over $10 million in value, while Dmitry Belotserkovets indicated a possession of 398 bitcoins (approx. $1.6 million).

Bitcoin Legislation

The disclosures are part of a sweeping anti-corruption reform requiring the country’s senior politicians and lawmakers to declare their wealth publicly. The trio’s disclosures of holding bitcoin comes at a time when Ukraine is making moves toward regulating bitcoin and other digital currencies.

The National Bank of Ukraine, the nation’s central bank, revealed it would “develop a common position on the legal status of Bitcoin and its regulation’ in an announcement this month.

As reported by CCN.com earlier, the central bank will discuss the legality of bitcoin with a number of authorities including the Ministry of Finance and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission during the next meeting of the Financial Stability Board, scheduled during the end of August.

Adding to the flurry of bitcoin-related news in the country, Ukraine’s National Police arrested a number of bitcoin miners alleged to have used the premises of an unused swimming pool at a state-owned institution. Some 200 bitcoin mining machines were reportedly confiscated by authorities. Ukraine is also expected to see up to 150 bitcoin ATM machines installed this year as adoption and awareness of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency grows among politicians and citizens alike.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Output: Three Ukranian lawmakers declared they hold a combined $47m in bitcoin after the Ukranian parliament demanded senior politicians and legislators publicly reveal their wealth as part of anti-corruption reforms. The lawmakers are members of Poroshenko Block, Ukranian parliament's majority group of legislators. Ukraine's central bank is due to discuss the legality of bitcoin with the Ministry of Finance, and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, at the end of August.


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Solid lubricant reduces friction on steel surfaces
 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Researchers have created a new type of non-liquid lubricant that has been shown to reduce friction and wear significantly under the extreme conditions found in various applications, from air compressors to missile systems.

The new liquid-free composite is made from a slurry of a material called graphene, zinc oxide, and the polymer polyvinylidene difluoride. Graphene is an extremely thin layer of carbon that has many potential technological applications, including lubrication.

“It has superior thermal conductivity, high strength and provides ultralow friction,” said Vilas Pol, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University.

The nanosize zinc-oxide particles the team developed allow the lubricant to stick to the metal surface, and the polymer binds the whole mixture together, said chemical engineering graduate student Arthur Dysart.

Solid lubricants are needed for applications such as air compressors, equipment used in the food industry, space vehicles, gear-and-chain mechanisms, fasteners found in high-temperature environments, missile systems, high-speed printers, hydraulic motors in winches, cranes and military vehicles, high-performance shredders and drilling rigs.

“The fundamental causes of mechanical failure are friction and wear, so reducing these factors improves the performance and lifetime of many mechanical systems,” said Farshid Sadeghi, Purdue’s Cummins Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “Despite recent advances, liquid lubricants cannot be used in situations of high temperature or low pressure such as a vacuum environment, so dry solid-state lubricants are a viable alternative to their liquid counterparts in extreme operating environments.”

Researchers tested stainless-steel surfaces coated with the new lubricant.

“We tested it under worst-case scenarios,” said mechanical engineering graduate student Abdullah A. Alazemi.

Findings were detailed in a research paper published on July 11 in the in the journal Carbon.

“The durability and resilience of this adhesive coating suggest exceptional potential as a dry lubricant for high load-bearing applications,” Pol said.

The researchers found that the composite lubricant sets up a film that significantly improves friction and wear reduction. Raman spectroscopic analysis of wear scars revealed this persistent protective film on contact surfaces.

A complete list of the paper’s co-authors is available in the abstract.

The research is ongoing, and future work is planned with industrial partners. The researchers applied for a patent through the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization.

Writer: Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

Sources: Vilas G. Pol, 765-494-0044, vpol@purdue.edu

Farshid Sadeghi, 765-494-5719, sadeghi@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: The research paper is available from Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

ABSTRACT

Output: Engineers at Purdue University have developed a solid lubricant which demonstrates "exceptional potential as a dry lubricant for high load-bearing applications", according to a report in the scientific journal Carbon. The team created the lubricant from graphene, widely hailed as the world's first two-dimensional substance, mixed with other elements. "It has superior thermal conductivity, high strength and provides ultra-low friction”, said Vilas Pol, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Apple pledges $2m to anti-hate campaign groups
 Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would donate $2 million to anti-hate groups, releasing a staff memo that rebuked President Trump and others who claim a "moral equivalence" between white supremacists and the protesters who countered them in last week's deadly Virginia rally.

Cook sent a memo to employees Wednesday pledging the donations to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. The Montgomery, Alabama based SPLC is one of the leading groups that track the rise of hate groups. Cook is an Alabama native.

Apple is also encouraging employees to contribute as well, and is matching their payments by two to one through Sept. 30. Additionally, Apple is setting up a system in Apple's iTunes software to let consumers directly donate to the SPLC, which Cook said would be operational within the next few days.

“Like so many of you, equality is at the core of my beliefs and values,” Cook wrote. “The events of the past several days have been deeply troubling for me, and I’ve heard from many people at Apple who are saddened, outraged or confused,” Cook said in the memo, which was shared with USA TODAY.

“What occurred in Charlottesville has no place in our country. Hate is a cancer, and left unchecked it destroys everything in its path. Its scars last generations. History has taught us this time and time again, both in the United States and countries around the world.”

Cook has met with Trump twice since he was elected, in New York and at the White House, which kicked off Trump's American Technology Council.

In the email, he followed other CEOs who earlier Wednesday directly criticized President Trump's latest remarks on the deadly protests in Charlottesville, Va. In a heated press conference Tuesday, Trump said "both sides" — referring to white nationalists that had gathered in a torch-lit rally, and the counter-protesters that demonstrated against them — were to blame.

"I disagree with the president and others who believe that there is a moral equivalence between white supremacists and Nazis, and those who oppose them by standing up for human rights. Equating the two runs counter to our ideals as Americans," wrote Cook.

More:Trump economic councils disbanded after Charlottesville response

More:Analysis: Combative Trump returns to form with defense of alt-right

More:Trump's assertion left wing protesters just as violent as white supremacists in Charlottesville sets off firestorm

Tech companies have been responding in a variety of ways to the firestorm of controversy that followed the rally, which resulted in the death of one counterprotester, and Trump's remarks, which emboldened white nationalists and other far-right groups.

Facebook vowed to crack down on hate group postings, Spotify said it would take down music tracks from groups with hate lyrics, Airbnb yanked reservations from hate groups, and Google and GoDaddy both revoked website credentials for the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website. Apple said its Apple Pay was removing hate sites from using the service.

Output: Apple will donate $2m to anti-hate groups the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League in response to the recent violent white supremacist rally in Virginia. The company will also match donations by employees two-to-one until the end of September, and enable people to donate directly to the SPLC through its iTunes software. In response to the violence, Facebook pledged to combat postings by hate groups, while Spotify vowed to remove music with hate lyrics. Airbnb cancelled reservations by hate groups and Google and GoDaddy revoked website credentials for the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer site.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK’s geology may make it unsuitable for fracking
 Fracking for oil and gas in the UK may produce much less fuel – and profits – than has been mooted, according to research based on seismic imaging of the country’s underlying geology.

Most of the areas in which deposits of onshore “unconventional” gas and oil are likely to be found were affected by tectonic activity along the Atlantic plate about 55m years ago.

Owing to the tilt of the UK and the folding of underground geological layers, the fossil fuel deposits have been dispersed into small pockets and subjected to other forces that make them less suitable for shale gas and oil production, according to Prof John Underhill, of Heriot-Watt University.

“These areas have been lifted up, buckled and depressurised, which has rendered them cooler than the optimal temperatures for oil and gas production,” he told the Guardian. “The resultant complexity means these are not good places for hydrocarbons.”

Underhill said that in optimistic assessments of the UK’s shale gas capability, “the geology has been forgotten, but the geology is fundamental.”

The British Geological Survey found in 2013 that there were likely to be 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas buried beneath the ground, but said nothing about how much of it might be accessible. Underhill argues the amount in suitable areas may be much less. “My challenge is: does the geology stack up?”

The UK’s geology is very different to that of the large and easily accessible shale gas deposits in the US. Those resemble large underground lakes and are found in the undisturbed continental interior. Their location and relatively high temperature make them suitable for oil and gas generation.

The body representing the UK’s shale gas industry, UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG), said more exploration was needed. Ken Cronin, the chief executive, said: “The industry is currently in the process of seismic surveying, core drilling and flow testing in various parts of the country to determine a number of questions including the extent of the geology and whether gas will flow commercially.

“This process is an industry standard around the world. It is too early to make any firm predictions, but with imported gas predicted to rise to 80% [of UK gas consumption] by 2035, it is important that we get on and complete this work.”

UKOOG would not say when the work was likely to be completed, or how Underhill’s work might influence the industry.

Quentin Fisher, a professor of petroleum geoengineering at the University of Leeds, said more work was needed as the disadvantages pointed out in the seismic imaging could be balanced by other factors with an advantage for shale extraction.

“Prof Underhill is quite correct to highlight the great uncertainties that exist regarding the likely productivity of shale in the UK and is correct that the geology in the UK tends to be structurally more complex than in the US. Many of us involved in this debate have regularly highlighted the large uncertainties that exist,” Fisher said.

“Although geological complexity and late tilting may be detrimental to shale gas prospects in the UK, there are other factors that may be more favourable, such as having thicker shale sequences.”

He said the only way to find out was through testing. “The bottom line is that the only way to truly assess the viability is to drill wells, and we need to get on with that.”

Stuart Haszeldine, a professor of sedimentary geology at Edinburgh University, said the geology combined with the higher costs of operating in the UK would make it hard for a UK shale gas industry to compete against lower-cost imports.

Only a few small onshore conventional oil fields have been found in the UK, as the other oil and gas has mostly leaked away. “The only places where oil or gas may still be retained are within regions where the organic mudrocks remain very deeply buried, such as the deepest parts of Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Dorset,” he explained.

As these rocks are so deeply buried, accessing them for shale production would mean drilling 3km or more, which is expensive. Coupled with the environmental safeguards required, this would mean “it will be extremely difficult to match the low price of shipping imports of shale oil and gas from the US,” Haszeldine said. “So even if the geology does not sink your economics, the extra UK costs will.”

Output: Fracking in the UK may generate less fuel and fewer profits than previously thought, according to research from Heriot-Watt University based on seismic imaging of the country’s geology. In contrast to the US where large and easily accessible shale gas deposits exist, the UK’s complex geology may make it unsuitable for the fracking process, said Professor John Underhill. In 2013, The British Geological Survey estimated there was likely to be 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas beneath the UK. Underhill argues the amount suitable for extraction may be far less.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Wattwatchers secures $1.6m for home energy use monitoring device
 Sydney-based startup Wattwatchers has secured a $2 million funding injection to add to the $2 million it raised earlier this year, as part of a Series A funding round to expand its energy monitoring technology and save consumers more on their power bills.

The latest funding was led by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which manages the Australian government’s Clean Energy Innovation Fund, and adds to the $2 million in funding Wattwatchers secured in April this year from the Southern Cross Renewable Energy Venture Capital Fund (REVC). REVC is a venture capital fund established under the Renewable Energy Venture Capital Fund Program spearheaded by ARENA, the government’s renewable energy agency.

Wattwatchers produces a compact, retrofittable energy management device that runs off Wi-Fi or 3G technology to deliver energy data from a user’s house to the cloud in real-time. This allows consumers to see what is driving power consumption in their households, and they can then switch off power-hungry devices and save on their electricity bills.

While this raise comes at a time when debate around rising energy prices and renewable energy has become a hot political topic, such a keen government interest in the space wasn’t always the norm.

Wattwatchers was founded in 2007, and for 10 years was self-funded through “sweat equity” and sales, after founders Chris Bean and Jon Keeble encountered difficulty when trying to secure external investment, according to managing director Gavin Dietz.

Dietz says the key to completing this Series A funding round after so long was the team’s determination “not to give up” on the startup’s vision.

“The founders before I came on board [a year ago] had tried to raise capital unsuccessfully. You can’t give up,” he says.

Dietz also attributes the success of this raise to the startup winning the Australian Technologies Competition New Energy Award last year, an experience he said he was “skeptical about going in to” but which turned out to be “really useful in giving us a lot of contacts and exposure”.

The funds will be used to grow Wattwatchers’ sales and engineering team, to add to their current team of eight, and to “scale up” production runs to lower the cost of the product, which Dietz says is currently available in 10,000 – 15,000 homes across Australia.

The startup is also looking to consolidate its foothold in Australia, which Dietz says is “one of the best markets in the world” for the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, before launching its offerings internationally in the UK and US markets in coming years.

“Australia is leading the world in my opinion in this [energy efficiency technology]. There are 1.7 million houses in Australia with solar; I think there’s only 1 million houses in the US with solar power,” Dietz says.

“Consumers have Stockholm syndrome” in relation to energy prices

While new startups, such as Symbiot Technology, are increasingly attempting to disrupt the energy sector, the space has been historically dominated by the big industry players. This means energy consumers have had limited access to data.

“The energy space is one of the hardest areas for startups to work,” says Dietz.

“I think one of the reasons we [Wattwatchers] are really important is because the one thing that the energy space lacks is data.

“We produce data [with our device]. To produce data with electricity you need to install a device — there’s no [other] magical way to do that” he says.

Dietz says innovation in the energy sector is stifled because “the data isn’t free flowing” like it is in the fintech sector. It’s a gap that Wattwatchers aims to fill with its energy-monitoring, data-driven technology.

“I truly believe in the energy space we haven’t seen half the innovation we should [because] the data isn’t free flowing. Fintech does amazing things because that [financial] data has filtered to the top and become real time — energy still has a long way to go,” he says.

Dietz says there is “no doubt” that startups are still looking to “completely try to disrupt and innovate how energy is done” in Australia, but points to fundamental structural challenges that currently exist in the energy sector that are inhibiting startups from entering the space.

These challenges include the fact that the “big players don’t want to be disrupted” and so will try to edge out startup competition from the market; the lack of data infrastructure available for startups to leverage; and because “consumers have Stockholm syndrome” in their relationships with energy providers, which Dietz says leads them to believe a quarterly bill that estimates the cost of their next electricity is “the best [deal] they can get”.

In spite of these challenges, Dietz maintains that the future remains bright for budding startups in the sector.

“When all those three things start breaking down massively, there will be a huge change in the energy space,” he says.

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Output: Energy monitoring tech provider Wattwatchers has gained AUD$2m ($1.6m) in funding, building on the AUD$2m it raised earlier in 2017, with the series A round led by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The Australian company offers a retrofittable energy management device that can record energy data from homes and send it to the cloud in real-time. Consumers can monitor the devices that use high levels of energy and save on their bills. The money will be used to expand the engineering and sales teams, and to increase production of the device, which is in use in up to 15,000 homes.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Hyundai to build 300-mile luxury EV Genesis
 On Thursday, Hyundai said that it intends to produce a long-range electric vehicle by 2021 that will be capable of traveling 310 miles on a charge. That vehicle, a luxury Genesis sedan, will follow an electric version of the Kona sport utility vehicle that the Korean automaker hopes to release in the first half of next year. The electric Kona should have a range of 243 miles, Reuters noted.

Along with affiliate company Kia, Hyundai announced eight electric cars and two fuel-cell vehicles coming to market in the near future—a significant jump in the number of electric vehicles (EVs) that the company has planned to bring to market in years prior. Hyundai, like Toyota, has boosted the fuel cell vehicle for years. Fuel cell vehicles use hydrogen as fuel and emit water as a byproduct. But the compressed hydrogen that runs fuel cell vehicles is hard to store and hard to transport, so it has been slow reaching the market, although fuel cell vehicles do have the advantage of being fast to refuel, unlike electric vehicle batteries.

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Toyota has also recently shown signs that it’s pouring more resources into mass-producing a long-range electric car as well. In July, an article in The Wall Street Journal noted that the Japanese automaker was working on building a battery with a solid electrolyte that would go into production in 2022. With Tesla and Chevrolet rolling out moderately priced EVs with long-range capabilities, other automakers known for moderately priced cars seem to be ready to get in the ring as well.

Hyundai also told Reuters that it’s developing its first electric vehicle platform—a step toward quickly building multiple electric models in the future.

The automaker also showed off a “near-production” version of a new fuel cell SUV that can travel 360 miles on a full tank. Still, lack of infrastructure is a major problem for fuel cell vehicles that aren’t use-specific (like forklifts in Amazon warehouses). “Hyundai will achieve economies of scale for fuel cell cars by 2035 at the earliest,” Lee Hang-koo, a senior research fellow at Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, told Reuters.

Electric vehicles, on the other hand, are quickly gaining critical infrastructure around the world, although they’re hardly well-served. In June, the International Energy Agency reported that a record two million electric vehicles are on roads around the world.

Output: South Korean car maker Hyundai is to produce a luxury saloon under its Genesis brand, with a range of 310 miles by 2021, following an electric version of the Kona sport utility vehicle that is set to hit forecourts in 2018. Executives at the company predict that electric vehicles will make up 10% of Hyundai’s sales by 2025 and are "making electric plug-ins until hydrogen fuel cell vehicles take hold". The company also revealed that it is developing its first electric vehicle platform.