Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
AARP urges Congress to stabilize Affordable Care Act marketplace
 The American Association of Retired Persons submitted written testimony Tuesday to the U.S. Senate Committees on Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions urging Congress to focus in what it called "commonsense" solutions to stabilize the Affordable Care Act's marketplace, increase enrollment and competition, and lower costs for consumers.

AARP has long been a supporter of accessible and affordable healthcare for older Americans, and in its letter expressed support for strengthening Medicaid, protecting coverage for those with preexisting conditions and bolstering Medicare.

[Also: Navigator organizations wait in limbo for reduced funding to enroll consumers in the ACA exchanges]

The group said Congress can help fortify the ACA markets and reduce premiums by making a commitment to pay for cost-sharing reductions, which provide financial assistance for people with modest incomes. Another way to help stabilize the individual insurance market, said AARP, is through reinsurance programs for states to help cover high-cost patients.

[Also: ACA co-op Evergreen Health in Baltimore to liquidate]

For Medicaid, the group suggested states to more easily use Medicaid dollars for home and community-based services for seniors who wish to avoid nursing home care, which it said would save states money. On the prescription drug prices front, AARP supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, allowing safe importation of lower-priced drugs, reducing the amount of market exclusivity for biologic drugs, prohibiting pay-for-delay deals between brand and generic drug manufacturers, and demanding greater transparency in prescription drug pricing.

[Also: Anthem leaves ACA markets in Missouri and Kentucky]

In its testimony, AARP urged Congress to return to the 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income threshold for the medical expense deduction to help seniors and others with long-term care costs.

Twitter: @JELagasse

Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com

Output: The American Association of Retired Persons submitted written testimonyTuesday to the U.S. Senate Committees on Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions urging Congress to focus in what it called "commonsense" solutions to stabilize the Affordable Care Act's marketplace, increase enrollment and competition, and lower costs for consumers.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Asia's ageing population: A golden opportunity for businessv
 One in five people on this planet will be aged 60 and over by mid-century, rising from 900 million in 2015 to 2.1 billion in 2050. Those 60 and older will soon outnumber children younger than five; in developed markets, the 65-and-over cohort already surpasses those under 15.

No region will be more impacted by population ageing than Asia. At 83.9 years, life expectancy at birth in Japan is one of the longest in the world. A quarter of Japanese people are over 65 today; by 2060 the proportion is projected to rise to 40 per cent. China is already struggling to address the needs of its massive, and often rural, ageing population. In South Korea and Singapore, the effects of the age wave are already obvious.

This unprecedented demographic shift raises important questions about the prospects for gross domestic product growth, the risks of spiralling health costs, and the adequacy of public and private pension programmes. But population ageing presents a golden opportunity as well.

Increasing longevity has spurred economic growth and opportunities for personal fulfilment. Older individuals are generally healthier than those in generations past, and they seek to remain engaged and relevant. Advances in bioscience offer the prospect of even longer and healthier lives. With their growing numbers, older adults represent a dynamic consumer and human capital resource. As markets evolve to meet their needs and aspirations, opportunities abound.

Charles Darwin recognised that survival is about adaptation to changing environments, a quality that is as imperative for companies as it is for species. Businesses have been at the forefront of industrialisation and innovation, developing markets and opening pathways for diverse stakeholders. Ageing is their next frontier.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch projects that the global spending power of those aged 60-plus will reach US$15 trillion (S$20 trillion) annually by 2020. In the United States, adults over 50 already account for US$7.6 trillion in direct spending and related economic activity annually, according to the American Association of Retired Persons. With its size and scale, Asia is central to the future of this global longevity economy.

Companies are developing age-friendly products and services in housing, transportation, entertainment and leisure. A stream of new offerings in biotechnology, devices, pharmaceuticals and care services focus on older consumers. In Japan, robot caregivers - "carebots" - have made headlines. A golden age for financial services is ahead, driven by an enormous increase in household financial assets.

But ageing adults are not only consumers - they are our only increasing natural resource - but also a talent pool that can power the businesses of the future. More and more are ready, willing and able to be deployed.

The emerging profile of older adults defies outmoded stereotypes of geriatric citizens weighing down economies. In fact, when older people actively participate, the benefits flow in all directions. They contribute experience to their workplaces and civic endeavours; financial security helps them bolster economies as taxpayers and consumers; engagement enhances their own health and wellness.

Older workers provide stability, nuanced thinking and institutional know-how. They serve as mentors and role models to younger counterparts. Age-diverse teams are more productive and often better problem-solvers than same-age groups.

For ageing individuals, the benefits of work are well documented. Research reveals that purpose enhances well-being and helps to stave off cognitive decline. A Yale study found that people who held positive views of their own ageing, such as might be fostered if their contributions were sought and valued in the workplace, lived on average 7.5 years longer than those with less positive outlooks.

Countries such as Japan and Singapore are re-thinking retirement norms and implementing policies to enable longer work lives. The private sector can do more as well. Businesses are uniquely positioned to change practices and attitudes - to champion the needs and wants, as well as the potential, of older adults.

The ageing megatrend will test the leadership of the private sector in Asia and across the world. Every business should prioritise a "longevity strategy" to capitalise on the demographic shift. Awareness should spread to every corner of every company. The issues and the potential are too big to ignore.

Now is the time for forward-thinking businesses to act - to realise a golden opportunity with benefits both to the bottom line and the broader society.

•The writer is chairman of the Centre for the Future of Ageing at the Milken Institute and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology. He will be in Singapore this week for the institute's Asia Summit which discusses ageing, among other issues.

Output: One in five people on this planet will be aged 60 and over by mid-century, rising from 900 million in 2015 to 2.1 billion in 2050. Those 60 and older will soon outnumber children younger than five; in developed markets, the 65-and-over cohort already surpasses those under 15.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Type 2 diabetes linked to artificial sweeteners
 Artificial sweeteners, which many people with weight issues use as a substitute for sugar, may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to research.

The study was small and the detailed results have not yet been published, but experts said its findings fitted with previous research showing an association between artificial sweeteners and weight gain.

Type 2 diabetes is linked to obesity and rates of the disease are soaring around the world. Its complications, if it is not controlled, can include blindness, heart attacks and strokes.

The study was carried out by researchers at the University of Adelaide, in Australia, who wanted to investigate whether large amounts of no-calorie artificial sweeteners altered the ability of the body to control the levels of glucose in the blood.

Some of the 27 healthy volunteers who were recruited for the study were given the equivalent of 1.5 litres of diet drink a day, in the form of capsules of two different sweeteners, sucralose and acesulfame K. They took the capsules three times a day for two weeks, before meals. The others in the study were given a placebo.

Tests at the end of the two weeks showed that the body’s response to glucose was impaired. “This study supports the concept that artificial sweeteners could reduce the body’s control of blood sugar levels and highlights the potential for exaggerated post-meal glucose levels in high habitual NAS [non-caloric artificial sweeteners] users, which could predispose them to develop type 2 diabetes,” said the authors.

They presented their findings at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Lisbon, Portugal.

Some experts said the findings were in line with previous research, while others said they did not support the conclusion that sweeteners could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

“This study addresses a very important global human health issue, as artificial sweeteners are food additives commonly used not only by patients with diabetes but also by healthy individuals aiming to manage their sugar intake,” said Dr Inês Cebola, from Imperial College London, who is a member of the Society for Endocrinology.

“Although generally thought as safe and even beneficial, artificial sweetener consumption has actually been previously associated with weight gain and development of glucose intolerance, which can lead to development of type 2 diabetes.”

She said studies had previously only been done on mice. “Even if it is proven in the future that artificial sweeteners are detrimental for the general population, this might not be true in all cases. Type 2 diabetes arises from an interaction between environmental and genetic factors, many of which we do not fully understand yet. It is thus premature to point the finger at artificial sweeteners as isolated elements of risk. The full story will probably prove itself a lot more complex.

“At the moment, I would not advise against artificial sweeteners per se, but instead I would stress the importance of a balanced diet and regular exercise.”

Victor Zammit, professor of metabolic biochemistry at the University of Warwick, said it was not possible from the data available to conclude that the body’s changed response to glucose would necessarily result in diabetes. Proper clinical trials were needed. “Increased sweetener intake may be associated with other lifestyle elements that may be more direct causes of type 2 diabetes,” he said.

Diabetes UK was sceptical. “This is a small study with interesting results, but it doesn’t provide strong evidence that artificial sweeteners increase the risk of type 2 diabetes,” said Emma Elvin, a clinical adviser. “We need to see the results of larger trials testing in settings more true to real life before we’ll know more.

“Consuming lots of sugary foods and drinks is very damaging to overall health and can increase risk of type 2 diabetes. We would advise people to reduce their intakes of sugar, and artificial sweeteners could be an option to help some people achieve this.”

Output: Artificial sweeteners may raise the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to research from Australia’s University of Adelaide. The study of 27 healthy volunteers showed that after two weeks of taking sweeteners, equivalent to those in 1.5 litres of diet drink a day, the body’s response to glucose was impaired. Despite the small scale of the study, the researchers claim that its findings support previous research indicating a link between the use of artificial sweeteners and weight gain. Global rates of type 2 diabetes, linked to obesity, are rising rapidly. Complications of the disease include blindness, heart attacks and strokes.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
European broadcasters take on tech firms with video ad exchange
 European broadcasters continue to square off with the Facebook-Google duopoly.

German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, France’s TF1 and Italy’s Mediaset took to Dmexco this week to unveil a combined programmatic video marketplace that they believe has the scale to counter the creeping threat of Facebook and Google’s attempts to get at TV ad budgets.

The seeds for the alliance were sown 18 months ago, with each partner agreeing to stump up the cash to create the exchange and pool a sizable portion of their video inventory. The partners will neither disclose the size of their investment nor the amount of inventory they’re pushing into the exchange, only stating that there is a minimum (uncapped) buy-in for each founding partner. They claim a combined 100 million monthly unique video users across their programming, including in Spain, where Mediaset has a presence.

The aim is to now court other European publishers in the biggest markets, like the U.K., to join. In fact, the headquarters for the new venture will be in London.

Speaking to Digiday at Dmexco in Cologne, Germany, Christof Wahl, chief operating officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Group, said the timing for broadcasters to bring to market a controlled, premium video marketplace for buyers to book pan-Europe campaigns programmatically has never been better. Tensions around longstanding issues like brand safety have been magnified in the wake of the YouTube ad boycott and other uncertainties around transparency and viewability that have been growing. By coming together, the broadcasters hope to become an alternative for buyers looking to run pan-European programmatic video campaigns at scale.

“We all face the same issues, opportunities and challenges, which in this technology and platform-orientated world means scale. Now we can say to buyers that if they want a pan-European programmatic campaign, this is the only place they can buy the inventory [of each of the founding partners],” said Wahl.

From now until December, a series of text campaigns will run with a select number of clients, the names of which Wahl wouldn’t disclose. Currently, pre-roll inventory is available against each of the broadcaster’s programs, but in time, more formats and products will roll out, particularly around viewer-targeting capabilities like interests and demographics. In time, it could expand to include other digital video inventory on connected TVs and set-top boxes via addressable TV, said Wahl.

The programmatic exchange is being run independently from the partners, an approach that’s emerged as vital ingredient for the longevity of such an alliance — without any internal bureaucracies within the shareholders slowing progress. They’re in the final stages of hiring a CEO and sales team to run the exchange. That team will sell the proposition to markets in a way that the partners can’t individually, according to Wahl.

Traditionally, in-market broadcaster rivalries have prevented the forming of longstanding alliances, particularly in the broadcast space. But in this case, working with pan-Europeean partners that aren’t direct competitors in their own local markets is of benefit. “We’re not in the same territories, so we’re finding ourselves in neutral territory, which certainly helps. It isn’t about controlling everything yourself; it’s about building an ecosystem in which you jointly do more than just sell your own products,” he added.

Output: An alliance of European broadcasters has collaborated to create a video marketplace aimed at countering the threat to TV advertising revenues posed by Facebook and Google. German broadcaster ProSiebenSat 1, France's TF1 and Italy's Mediaset have co-funded the venture, which pools a large part of the broadcasters' video inventory, and they are now seeking new members from large markets including the UK, where they have set up their headquarters. The programmatic ad exchange is being run separately from the partner companies in order to increase efficiency by reducing bureaucracy and corporate rivalry.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Siam Commercial Bank gets behind AI technology
 Siam Commercial spins off AI subsidiary

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) wants to gain first mover advantage by adopting artificial intelligence (AI) technology to analyse consumer behaviours to develop financial products and services that better serve demand.

SCB Abacus, the bank's data unit that has been spun off into a wholly owned subsidiary, is responsible for using AI to analyse consumer behaviour.

With the bank's big database, SCB Abacus plans to leverage AI technology to keep up with customers' requirements.

As lifestyles become more digital, SCB Abacus aims to help the bank launch innovative products and services over the next three to six months, said SCB chief executive Arthid Nanthawithaya.

SCB Abacus is the bank's second unit under the SCB Transformation project, designed to sharpen its competitiveness in the face of rapid changes in the global business environment. Digital Venture (DV) was set up to prepare the bank for financial technology (fintech) disruption.

SCB Transformation started in the middle of last year and runs through 2020.

Sutapa Amornvivat, chief executive of SCB Abacus, said several financial projects are in the pipeline.

"We're testing several new innovative services, and some of them have high potential to be launched in the near future while others require more time for development," she said.

For instance, the company has adopted Internet of Things (IoT) and AI technology to design personalised insurance products that will promote healthy lifestyles by motivating customers to engage in physical and healthy activities. The company is also working on integrating AI into SCB call centres to enable the system to analyse customers' issues to better route them to the right contact point to improve service quality and customer satisfaction.

In the global banking industry, AI has been used for credit card fraud protection. SCB has used the technology for credit card security, but it needs further development.

The company wants to continue to develop AI technology for robo-adviser service, as well as facial recognition biometric technology for payment service.

SCB Abacus, in collaboration with the bank and DV, is creating the latest version of its mobile banking app, SCB Easy.

Registered capital for SCB Abacus is 10 million baht and it has 19 employees.

SCB shares closed yesterday on the SET at 151.50 baht, up 1.50 baht, in trade worth 1.43 billion baht.

Output: Thai-based Siam Commercial Bank has launched an artificial intelligence-focused subsidiary, SCB Abacus. The goal of establishing the subsidiary is to use AI to assess consumer behaviour, determining how to develop financial products meeting the demands of the bank's customer base. The bank has previously used AI to develop insurance products based on customer data, as well as in credit card security functions.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
BBC creates interactive audio drama for voice-activated devices
 Media companies have mostly used voice-activated devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home to deliver news headlines. The BBC’s research and development lab is trying to make stories people can interact with. One result of this is “The Inspection Chamber,” a Kafkaesque audio drama developed over the last nine months with production company Rosina Sound.

“Hello, my name is Dave,” says a female voice as the story begins. “I hope life has been comfortable in the containment room?”

As “The Inspection Chamber” continues, the listener hears from three separate characters: Dave, the female robot, and two scientists, Kay and Joseph. The two scientists, who may be aliens, have to correctly identify a new life form, the listener, before they can go home. (The story doesn’t clarify where it takes place or where “home” is.) The listener undergoes a scientific examination, answering questions like, “Do you feel special?” and “Are you in a happy mood or a gloomy mood?”

“The scientists have different approaches to solving the riddle, so there’s tension between them and tension between them and Dave, who appears less reliable than a computer,” said Henry Cooke, senior producer at BBC’s R&D team.

The story runs about 20 minutes. While the overall narrative doesn’t change, the details do depending on how people respond to questions. Cooke didn’t want to provide too much detail before the story is ready for public use, but he said there are three variations on the ending depending on listeners’ answers.

Voice-activated devices are designed for more simple commands like ordering a pizza or booking a train ticket, so the BBC has devised workarounds for creating fiction. Here’s what it has learned from working on “The Inspection Chamber.”

Encourage regular, unforced interaction

Alexa skills require people to talk at least every 90 seconds; for Google Home, it’s two minutes. The story must include reasons for the listener to reply without seeming forced. “Interactions with Dave became like scene breaks,” said Cooke. “It was a creative decision based on the tech limitations that turned out really nicely.”

Voice-activated devices can only understand a preselected set of words; developers indicate the vocabulary they expect listeners to use. Applying this to fiction means listeners must receive a list of acceptable answers, which can sound clunky. Because of these constraints, not all story scenarios are suitable. A fictional world driven by a procedure, like a scientific examination following protocol, allows the story to be structured without seeming out of place with the narrative.

Limit the number of characters

Starting the story by speaking to one character, Dave, who is similar to Alexa, connects the world of voice assistance to fiction before the rest of the narrative develops.

The BBC’s earlier prototypes, which read like TV show scripts, had too many interactions and were confusing. Another test, in which the user spoke to only one character, limited the story’s scope. Three characters are enough to ensure the listener understands their place in the story, can regularly interact with the device and doesn’t lose interest.

“We didn’t want to make the mental model and where people sit within it too confusing,” said Cooke, adding that to make it even clearer, a ding sound directs listeners when to speak.

The BBC is still testing “The Inspection Chamber” and will release it later this year to Taster, where the BBC releases its experiments for audience feedback. The story works on Amazon Alexa and Google Home and will operate on other devices as they come out.

Most of the time was dedicated to creating the script, with the final two months spent on recording and developing the story. “When building a skill, the work isn’t in the coding time but the modeling of it,” said Cooke. “That’s doubly so if you’re making a complicated fiction [story].”

Output: The BBC's research and development lab is developing interactive audio content for voice-activated devices such as Amazon's Echo and Google Home. The dramas were shaped by technological restrictions, including the requirement for regular, unforced interaction, a limited preselected vocabulary and the need for a user to initiate, said Henry Cooke, a senior producer at BBC’s R&D team. The first offering, The Inspection Chamber, will be sent out for testing later this year.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
P&G lifts ROI from digital ad spend via ecommerce-led ad targeting
 Procter and Gamble’s (P&G) chief brand officer Marc Pritchard has been working with the likes of Amazon and Alibaba as part of its “relentless” pursuit to clean up the digital supply chain and solve the problem of ad overload.

Speaking at Dmexco on Wednesday (13 September) the top marketer at the world’s biggest advertiser said that e-commerce players were helping it overcome the obstacle of excess frequency, an issue P&G vowed to resolve at the start of the year as part of its mammoth efficiency drive.

Speaking specifically on Alibaba and Amazon he said: “We’re able to use their unique consumer ID data and to [target] consumers precisely when they're ready to buy.”

Pritchard claimed this is accelerating P&G’s e-commerce business, which is already worth $3bn dollars and enjoying a growth rate of 30% year-on-year. He said the improved targeting is also contributing to its goal of cutting waste by 20% and improve ROI by up to four-times as much, but more importantly “it’s creating a better experience for users."

Tie-ups with platforms like Amazon give P&G the ability to understand more about consumer behaviour and deliver ads in the right context, according to Pritchard, who said that in turn this information allows the brand to put ads in front of eyeballs where they are more likely to deliver sales. This revelation comes at the same time as the e-commerce behemoth's role in the ad ecosystem is coming under the spotlight.

Bloom came off the rose

Meanwhile, Pritchard’s latest comments, come amid cuts to marketing budgets at P&G – which have resulted in a clampdown on ad spend to the estimated tune of $140m per-quarter, as well as a complete review of its agency roster to bring transparency to the digital supply chain.

So far, the move to exert greater control over its media strategy has come at no cost to the company’s bottom line. During the brand’s most recent earnings call, it noted that organic sales rose by 2% over the past three months, with chief marketing officer Jon Moeller noting that “almost all” of the marketing budget reductions his firm had enforced in the past three months were in the digital space.

Pritchard has previously been outspoken about the need for the industry to pull together to tackle what he believes is a “murky at best, fraudulent at worst” digital ecosystem.

The firm is now 60% of the way through its agency review, but Pritchard admitted that 2017 was the "bloom came off the rose" for digital media.

"As little as 25% of the money we spend in media actually makes it to the consumer, with $200bn in spending it was frankly time to stop giving digital media a pass, and insist that it grow up," he added.

Pointing to an average digital ad viewing time of 1.7 seconds, Pritchard said this is the reason he believes the ad industry is delivering collective and consistent low single-digit sales growth despite its mammoth spend on advertising.

Turning point

While he noted that the brand’s work around media transparency was yielding “encouraging” results and he used his Dmexco keynote to issue a further two “wake up calls” for the industry – imploring marketers to step up to the challenge of refining their mass one-to-one marketing strategies and to use advertising as a force for good.

"We are at a very important turning point, we are completing the first wave of transformation for digital media and we are at the starting line for the next big brand innovation," he said.

"Lets unleash our tremendous innovate power to create better experiences for the communities we serve, usher in greater good for the communities in which we live, and drive growth for the markets in which we compete."

Output: Working with ecommerce giants like Alibaba and Amazon to hone its ad targeting has helped Proctor & Gamble (P&G) to grow its ecommerce business and gain up to four times more return on investment (ROI), according to chief brand officer Marc Pritchard. It has also helped to improve the user experience, through better understanding of consumer behaviour and being able to deliver ads in the right context. Pritchard urged the industry to refine its "mass, one-to-one marketing strategies", which he blamed for weak sales growth relative to ad spend, particularly in the digital space.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
JP Morgan is in a bubble: Max Keiser
 The CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon has called bitcoin a fraud that will blow up. Max Keiser of RT’s Keiser Report has explained why the real bubble may be in banking, and not in the cryptocurrency.

“JP Morgan, along with the entire finance sector, has been subsidized by the Federal Reserve's corrupt practice of 'financial repression' that moves hundreds of billions from savers and pensioners, and workers, into JP Morgan and Jamie Dimon's pocket. Jamie's compensation is tied directly to manipulating JP Morgan's stock and option prices, thanks to the Fed's conflicted, corrupt, cozy malfeasance,” he told RT.

Financial repression is a term describing measures used by governments to channel funds to themselves as a form of debt reduction. These actions include the deliberate attempt to hold down interest rates to below inflation. In this system, benefits are transferred from lenders to borrowers. JPMorgan Chase stock has surged about 260 percent since June 2012.

According to Keiser, it is wrong to say bitcoin is a bubble or a fraud.

“The US dollar, bond markets, and many property markets are in bubbles. Bitcoin and gold are the only financial assets not in bubbles. To say bitcoin is fraudulent would be like saying gold is fraudulent. Some might say this, but no rational person would agree,” he said.

“As the bubbles in fiat money, bonds and stocks pop, capital will flow into bitcoin, gold, and silver. At some point, when his customers start leaving JPMorgan and move to more bitcoin-focused options, Jamie will be forced to capitulate, or get replaced,” Keiser added.

McAfee to JPMorgan CEO Dimon: it costs $1000 to mine 1 bitcoin. What does it cost to print US dollar? which one is the fraud?#bitcoinpic.twitter.com/SyWzaEOzhS — Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) 14 сентября 2017 г.

Keiser also explained why traditional bankers dislike cryptocurrencies.

“Bitcoin makes banks, essentially price gouging intermediaries and socially unacceptable leeches, obsolete. Bankers rightfully fear for their jobs as bitcoin replaces them,” he said.

JPMorgan Chase has a long history of paying high fines for violations of banking regulations. Since 2010, the bank has paid $28.7 billion for financial misconduct.

My memory is failing, was it Bitcoin or was it JP Morgan that was bailed out by the government? https://t.co/DHqFzr5UJN — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) 12 сентября 2017 г.

The list includes $13 billion paid for toxic securities abuses in 2013, as the bank overstated the quality of mortgages it was selling to investors in the run-up to the financial crisis.

Output: Financial broadcaster Max Keiser has responded to JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's recent criticism of bitcoin by saying that the real financial bubble is in traditional banking. Keiser told Russia Today that the US dollar, bond and property markets are in bubbles, and that bitcoin and gold are the only assets that are not. He also criticised JP Morgan for its involvement in what he called the corrupt practice of financial repression by the US Federal Reserve. He added that bankers dislike cryptocurrencies because they make banks obsolete, endangering their jobs.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
US watchdog mulls fraud rule extension to protect elderly clients
 Finra is weighing an expansion of a rule to protect seniors from fraudulent disbursements from brokerage accounts to include fraudulent transactions as well, according to an executive at the regulatory organization.

The Finra rule in question is Rule 2165, which allows broker-dealers to place a temporary hold on disbursements from brokerage accounts if there’s reasonable belief of elder financial exploitation. The rule, proposed in last fall, goes into effect in February 2018.

“It’s about disbursements” of funds or securities, said James Wrona, vice president and associate general counsel at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., the self-regulatory organization overseeing broker-dealers and their registered representatives. “It doesn’t apply to transactions. That is something we’re still considering.”

(More: Finra: Who’s watching the watchdog?)

Disbursements caused by elder financial abuse are a bigger problem for firms than transaction-related abuse, Mr. Wrona said at a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association event in New York on Wednesday. Therefore, Finra wanted to tackle rules for disbursements first.

But if fraudulent brokerage transactions emerge as a problem after the first tranche of rulemaking, “we’ll consider broadening the rule to cover those,” Mr. Wrona told InvestmentNews.

He alluded to some of the potential challenges involved in such a process, such as placing a hold on a transaction when an investor wants to take advantage of the price of a security at a given time.

Finra’s rule is coming into effect at a time when regulators are beefing up investor protections around elder financial abuse.

Last year, the North American Securities Administrators Association issued a model rule requiring financial advisers to report suspected abuse to state and other authorities, allowing them to stop disbursements from seniors’ accounts and giving them protection from liability. Several states, including Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana and Vermont, passed laws in 2016 that followed or replicated the NASAA rule.

NASAA executives expect more states to follow suit.

A recent InvestmentNews investigation found instances of elder financial abuse stemming from the U.S. opioid epidemic are increasing.

Output: US financial watchdog the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is considering extending an incoming rule that's designed to protect elderly clients from fraudulent disbursements from brokerage accounts. If adopted, the extension would also allow the suspension of suspected fraudulent transactions. As it stands, Rule 2165, which comes into effect in February, will allow broker-dealers to freeze disbursements from accounts of elderly clients if fraud is suspected.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Canada's Stack joins with Mastercard for mobile payment system
 STACK, Mastercard Get Together on New Digital Money System

September 13, 2017 By: Steven Anderson

STACK’s plans to get in on the mobile banking industry have been pretty substantial so far. With a planned beta release in a couple weeks, and over 20,000 users registered so far, this Canadian mobile banking system is looking to take the market by storm. Now, it’s got one more reason to get users interested thanks to a new partnership with Mastercard.

The partnership effort will bring a kind of mobile payments component to the mobile banking app, giving users access to a chip-and-pin driven prepaid card from Mastercard that connects directly to STACK. That will give users access to a slate of retailers worldwide, as well as ATM networks and even measures of purchase protection.

This actually represents the first time in North America that a digital money account has offered users a tap-to-pay option, which makes it something of an achievement in its own right. Additionally, STACK users get access to a line of financial services—automated savings, social sharing and more—available without fees, giving it an edge over many brick-and-mortar institutions.

Users will have access to several different currencies, including cryptocurrency options, all from the same platform, which is noteworthy in and of itself given the growing interest in cryptocurrency as an investment platform.

Co-founder and current CEO of STACK Miro Pavletic commented “Partnering with Mastercard supports our mission to provide a better alternative to traditional financial services, without compromising convenience or reliability. Mastercard is a trusted technology expert in the payments industry, and we’re committed to working with the best of the best.”

A first-of-its-kind service is certainly worth paying attention to, and in this case, STACK is delivering plenty of value for its user base. It’s incorporating a growing new investment property, it’s effectively providing access to user’s money at any time of the day or night, and it’s doing all this without a lot of customer-facing fees. That might put some pressure on some banks, particularly with the millennial user who enjoys going mobile as much as possible.

This may not catch on like STACK would hope, but it’s got a noteworthy proposition going for it. It’s certainly got the millennial appeal to take some significant new ground, but it may need to open up its geographic area and its marketing to reach critical mass.

Output: Canadian mobile banking system Stack is taking on traditional banks with an innovative partnership with Mastercard. The deal represents the first time that a digital money account will offer a tap-to-pay option in North America. It gives Stack's more than 20,000 registered users access to a chip-and-pin-enabled card that links directly to their digital money account. Customers can also access to several currencies, including cryptocurrencies, as well as free, value-added services including automated savings. Stack's system is currently in beta, with a release due in the coming weeks.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Chinese caviar and steak match imported equivalents
 Home » Feature » iDEAL

ENJOYING caviar with a mother of pearl spoon is almost a showcase of status and wealth in China.

Together with truffle and premium steak, it’s among the staples of a luxury lifestyle.

But now, these Western foods are being produced in China and they symbolize quality and sustainability.

Some of the price tags have even beaten the expensive imported foods, while some have made the luxury food cheaper to reach more people.

Otto Goh, executive chef at Kerry Hotel, Pudong, has created a new menu for The MEAT grill featuring caviar and steaks that are all grown and produced in China.

In the past, these items were often perceived as imported luxury goods.

“I favor these local Chinese ingredients because not only is the quality fantastic, it’s also safe and sustainable,” said the Malaysian chef who has a passion for ingredients and vast knowledge of Chinese-sourced ingredients.

The various businesses have been developing for several decades, and recently the results have started to show in the market.

China’s vast transportation network has also helped boost these industries.

The cold chain and logistics guarantee the freshest foods can be delivered promptly every day.

Cheaper caviar

Caviar is the processed and salted fish roe using the eggs of sturgeon, a prehistoric fish dating back to the Triassic period more than 2 million years ago. The “living fossil” can live to 100 years and weigh up to a ton.

It takes seven to 25 years for a sturgeon to mature and produce eggs. The fish roe itself has no taste and needs to be cured with salt.

Russian fishermen started to fish sturgeon along River Volga by the Caspian Sea in the 11th century, but the food didn’t become popular in Europe until the 19th century.

Traditionally, the best caviar comes from the Caspian, bordered by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. It’s the optimal habitat of sturgeon and the majority of the wild catch came from here.

But overfishing, habitat loss and pollution has made most of the 27 species of sturgeons highly threatened or vulnerable to extinction. In 2011, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora banned the wild caviar trade to protect the sturgeon.

To supply the world’s growing taste for caviar and saving the wild sturgeons, caviar aquaculture has been developed in many countries as a sustainable solution over the past decades.

China is amongst the largest sturgeon farming regions in the world. Breeding farms in Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang provinces have been operating for more than two decades, where the 100 percent freshwater habitats in unpolluted areas are similar to the sturgeon’s natural habitat.

W3 Caviar, a company that supplies Chinese caviar to hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, says no chemicals or growth hormones are used.

Regular and premium caviar is produced in China, including the Baerii caviar from Siberian sturgeon, the Amur Oscietra from Amur sturgeon, Royal Oscietra from the Russian sturgeon, Amur beluga, royal beluga and the rare golden caviar selected from albino sturgeon.

Yunnan Amur Caviar is one of the largest sturgeon breeders in China which produces sturgeon caviar, hybrid sturgeon caviar, Siberian sturgeon caviar and kaluga caviar. Its online shop retails the fish roes priced from 405-1800 yuan (US$62-277) for 30 grams.

Large scale caviar farming has made the world’s most expensive food accessible not just for the rich and wealthy.

“In the past, I didn’t quite agree with the use of caviar because it didn’t feel right, but now I encourage the use of farmed products because I want to help the industry, if we are not buying, the vicious circle might go back to catching the wild sturgeon and they will eventually die out,” said Goh.

His caviar and crispy duck (298 yuan) is the classic Peking roast duck with a twist. He layers a soft steamed bun, cucumber and a piece of crispy roast duck with caviar garnished on top. It comes in six servings, making a caviar dish affordable for more people.

The quality is now quite close to the wild caviar as the craftsmanship is improving year by year, said the chef, especially in the past three years when companies have started to make a profit. He uses W3 Caviar.

“The price is getting cheaper and cheaper, and there is more than one company doing it and the quality is all good,” he said. “It’s definitely getting better because the fish needs time to grow.

“I think Chinese caviar will be world famous.”

The signature imperial caviar and king crab refreshed with crustacean jelly, cauliflower cream dish (358 yuan) from the two Michelin-starred restaurant L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon is also using the Chinese caviar which has shown consistent quality.

Pricier beef

China is the world’s second largest beef importing country, bringing in beef from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and recently the United States.

The Chinese’s appetite for premium steaks was cultivated after Australian beef became a prominent player in the market.

The public is accustomed to thinking steaks made of Australian Wagyu beef are good quality and expensive.

But Goh has discovered a Chinese beef that can rival with the Japanese Kobe beef, and it’s much more expensive than Australian Wagyu.

“One time a friend who’s very rich invited me to dinner at his home and said he bought a piece of steak in Jilin that costed over 1,000 yuan. I didn’t believe him at first and the beef didn’t look like it’s from a domestic breed, so I started to do research online.”

Tianyigangshan black is a premium domestic cattle breed in the Changbai Mountain region in Jilin Province that is filling the gap for the lack of high-grade domestic beef.

Jilin Black Cattle Industry Co Ltd was founded in 2003 with the goal of developing China’s high-grade beef.

It’s identified by China’s Ministry of Agriculture as a standardized demonstration farm and the research, development and experiment base for key technology for a quality beef industry in state scientific and technical support projects.

The breed is a hybrid of introduced foreign cattle and Chinese yellow cattle, using F1 generation of mother cattle to reproduce F2 generation of embryonic bovine. The company works with local farmers to ensure the calves are taken good care of when they are born.

The cattle drink mineral water from the Heavenly Pool of Changbai Mountain and feed on fine fodder of corn, barley and bean cakes. The colder climate is also ideal for raising cattle.

According to the company, the Tianyigangshan black cattle live a good life — eating good feed, sleeping on soft beds, listening to music and even getting massages in an air-conditioned environment.

Energy-saving and environmental protection is also a key in developing China’s own high-grade beef.

The company introduced an automatic processing line of biomass pellet fuel in 2010, which is clean and pollution free.

The beef is graded on its color and fat distribution. Tianyigangshan black cattle can reach a marbling score of 10 to 12, the meat is very soft and the flavor is so rich that not everyone can finish a whole steak.

Other foods

Yunnan is a key area for producing foods of Western origin domestically.

The unique climate and geographical conditions can accommodate the farming of many products — from coffee to truffles. The land of mushroom grows one of the world’s most expensive funguses: truffles. Wild truffles are mainly found in Sichuan and Yunnan. The Chinese black truffle is related to the French black truffle.

Because the wild truffles have become increasingly rare due to over-harvesting, many plantations have been established to supply the high demand.

Yunnan is famous for its Pu’er tea, but the province also supplies coffee for China and abroad, mostly Arabica.

Output: Luxury foods such as caviar and steak are being produced in China at lower prices than imports, as the perception and quality of home-grown food improve. The appeal of sustainability and China's huge transport network have helped bolster the market. China is now one of the largest sturgeon farming areas in the world, offering caviar of high quality and helping to make the luxury food more accessible. China's own breed of luxury beef, Jiln, is now considered as being on a par with Australian Kobe beef, and is feeding China's huge appetite for high-quality steak.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Redrow Liverpool 'nature gem' flattened before inquiry can decide on saving it
 There was outrage after a piece of land was FLATTENED just weeks before a public inquiry could determine if it should be saved for wildlife.

A planning inspector will visit an area of green space at Allerton Priory at the start of October to determine whether developer Redrow can build 160 new homes there - a plan that is opposed by Liverpool City Council as well as local residents and campaign groups.

But just weeks before the start of that inquiry, the land has been flattened and mown - much to the outrage of local people and environmentalists.

This is because one of the key arguments against developing on the 33-acre site is that campaigners believe the site forms part of a potential designated Local Wildlife Site.

Recent images sent to the ECHO before the work was carried out show the area covered in thick greenery - which activists believe could provide ideal habitats for certain species.

Steve Hopley is chair of the Save Allerton Priory campaign group, he said: “Both Save Allerton Priory and Liverpool City Council are defending their case on the grounds of heritage, greenspace, ecology and planning matters.

“The proof of evidence deadline was Tuesday/Wednesday last week, where each of the three main parties exchanged evidence with the other two parties.”

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

He said that on ecology matters, different environmental groups and the council have “detailed the extensive ecological significance of the site.”

He pointed out that one contributor, Rachael Rhodes of the Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service said that ecological information provided by local people during the planning process has “confirmed that the appeal site on its own qualifies as a Local Wildlife Site for its butterfly and breeding bird assemblage” - and that this could be seriously affected by the recent treatment of the site.

It is unclear who has carried out the work to mow and flatten the land - but it has been described as “despicable” by environmental campaigner Carlee Graham.

She said: “I surveyed the species last year and know the site is truly a gem of nature. I’m disgusted by the tactics being played out.”

It is not the first time that controversial incidents have taken place on the land - the land was also flattened and mowed in April, shortly after a suspected arson attack left the whole area badly burnt.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

At the end of last year, the council’s planning committee unanimously voted against the proposals for the development next to Allerton Priory Home Farm.

But Redrow has appealed against that decision and the public inquiry is due to begin on October 3.

The ECHO has contacted both Redrow and Maghull Developments - which is believed to own the land - for a response.

Output: Campaigners have expressed their disapproval after an area of green space at Allerton Priory, Liverpool was flattened before a public inquiry could decide if it should be preserved as a wildlife habitat. A planning inspector was due to visit the area of green space on 3 October after Redrow Homes appealed against Liverpool City Council's unanimous vote rejecting a 160-home development on the land last year. Environmentalists and the council had identified the site as ecologically significant, said Steve Hopley, the chairman of the Save Allerton Priory campaign group.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Alibaba tie-up to bring New York Fashion Week to Chinese audience
 New York Fashion Week and China are cozying up to each other, thanks to a new partnership between NYFW: The Shows, which is the part of NYFW managed by entertainment giant IMG, and China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba. The deal will introduce New York labels to a giant new Chinese audience, while also increasing the already-strong presence of Chinese talent at the internationally watched New York shows.

As part of the arrangement, Alibaba will feature some NYFW regulars, including Opening Ceremony and Robert Geller, in a shoppable, “see-now buy-now” fashion show hosted on Tmall, Alibaba’s business-to-consumer platform. The show will be part of the run up to China’s incredibly massive online shopping holiday, Single’s Day, which takes place on Nov. 11. Alibaba says it live streamed its debut Single’s Day fashion show last year to 7 million viewers, and that the New York designers “will gain first-time exposure to the more than half a billion consumers visiting Alibaba’s platforms.”

Advertisement

Then, in September 2018, New York Fashion Week will introduce “NYFW: China Day” to highlight Chinese designers selected from Tmall’s 2017 “see-now buy-now” show. Alibaba hasn’t yet announced which designers might be included, and additional details on exactly what “NYFW: China Day” will entail weren’t available.

In any case, the event should bolster China’s growing presence in the New York fashion world. While the major European fashion weeks are still light on Chinese names, New York has become an important international platform for many Chinese designers, as the publication Jing Daily recently pointed out. Shanghai-based Taoray Wang, for instance, has become a fixture on the NYFW schedule, developing a US following that includes Tiffany Trump, daughter of US president Donald Trump and a prominent fan of Wang’s. In February, the Council of Fashion Designers of America even signed an agreement with Chinese entertainment firm Suntchi—also involved in the new Alibaba deal—to help along the exchange of fashion business between the two countries.

Chinese design students have also become common in New York, at colleges such as Parsons School of Design, one of the world’s top fashion schools. Often these students will graduate and get jobs in the New York fashion industry on an Optional Practical Training visa, something they can’t always do in the UK, making New York an attractive place to study and creating a pipeline for Chinese talent into the industry. For instance, Calvin Luo, who moved to New York from China to attend Parsons and subsequently launched his own label, showed his latest women’s collection at NYFW yesterday (Sep. 12). The trend could grow in the near future, as the Council of Fashion Designers of America has called for more visas allowing immigrants to enter the US fashion industry.

At the same time, US fashion brands are looking increasingly to China, where many in the rapidly expanding middle class are seeking out their first tastes of international fashion. The new Alibaba deal aims to satisfy them, and gives Jack Ma, the company’s founder and CEO, something else to dance about.

Advertisement

An earlier version of this story listed the date of Single’s Day as Oct. 11 instead of Nov. 11.

Output: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is partnering with New York Fashion Week to host a series of events that will introduce US designers to a potentially huge Chinese audience. NYFW: The Shows will include a 'see-now buy-now' presentation, set to air on Alibaba’s business-to-consumer platform Tmall in the run-up to China's Single’s Day shopping holiday on 11 November. Alibaba's inaugural Single's Day show last year reached seven million viewers. In return, Chinese designers selected from this year's Tmall event will be spotlighted in next year's New York Fashion Week, as part of NYFW: China Day.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Burger-flipping robots to arrive at Californian restaurants
 Scholars have warned that demand for low-skilled jobs will drop sharply following automation and flipping burgers is definitely on the robo-overlord menu, as CaliBurger can attest. The fast-food restaurant chain present all over the United States, but also in countries like China, Sweden, Qatar or Taiwan, said it will introduce a burger robot in fifty of its locations.

The kitchen assistant, known as ‘Flippy’, was designed by a startup called Miso Robotics which specializes in “technology that assists and empowers chefs to make food consistently and perfectly, at prices everyone can afford.”

It looks like a cart on wheels with only one arm and no legs. With six axes though, the arm has plenty of freedom of motion so the robot can perform a variety of tasks. In fact, Miso claims this robot is more akin to a self-driving car than an assembly line machine.

What they mean is that Flippy uses feedback-loops that reinforce its good behavior so it gets better with each flip of the burger. Unlike an assembly line robot that needs to have everything positioned in an exact ordered pattern, Flippy’s machine learning algorithms allow it to pick uncooked burgers from a stack or flip those already on the grill. Hardware like cameras helps Flippy see and navigate its surroundings while sensors inform the robot when a burger is ready or still raw. Meanwhile, an integrated system that sends orders from the counter back to the kitchen informs Flippy just how many raw burgers it should be prepping.

Miso engineers working on Flippy’s algorithms had to flip burgers to get in the right mindset. The video below gives you an idea how Flippy sees the grill from its point of view.

‘Flippy cooks burgers perfectly — every time’

Flippy is supposed to be a kitchen assistant and can’t replace human workers entirely — not yet, at least. A human still has to prepare the cooked burger, place cheese on the grill or add toppings like sauce. Momentum Machines, a company that has been working on its own burger bots for some years, is allegedly introducing these additional steps into its machines’ routine. It might not take too long before human presence in the burger grilling kitchen is superseded.

Moving on beyond burgers, it’s quite reasonable seeing Flippy preparing other dishes like fish, chicken, vegetables and such. Moreover, its compact size and adaptability mean that the machine can be installed in any restaurant’s kitchen as it is, with no additional hassle. Flexibility is the keyword here.

Over the next two years, Flippy bots will be installed in 50 CaliBurger restaurants around the world. One Pasadena restaurant is already enjoying the fruits of its labor. However, we can’t speak in the name of the 2.3 million likely underpaid cooks currently employed in the United States. At least, Miso’s CEO admits their product will put people out of jobs.

“Tasting food and creating recipes will always be the purview of a chef. And restaurants are gathering places where we go to interact with each other. Humans will always play a very critical role in the hospitality side of the business given the social aspects of food. We just don’t know what the new roles will be yet in the industry,” the company’s CEO and co-founder David Zito said.

Just take a look at the following promo video and tell me that human worker’s face doesn’t spell ‘show-off!’.

On a more serious note, it’s clear nobody has any idea what will happen to all these displaced jobs. Tech startups are in a competition to be as disruptive as possible with not much regard for what happens next to the industry they’re affecting. Quite frankly, that might not be their responsibility. Nobody had any beef with Henry Ford when he flooded the market with millions of Model-Ts, pulling horse and buggies out of the streets. This time, however, it looks like a whole different ball game. Artificial intelligence and robotics are disrupting multiple industries at the same time. Vehicles, health, law, food. You name it.

Output: Fast food chain CaliBurger will introduce a burger-flipping robot to 50 of its locations. Called "Flippy", the robot was designed by start-up Miso Robotics. Unlike an assembly line robot which must operate in fixed locations, a combination of machine learning and sensors enable the robot to navigate its surroundings and learn when a burger is cooked. However, a human must still prepare the cooked burger, place cheese on the grill and add toppings.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Furhat Robotics raises $2.5m in seed round
 Stockholm-based Furhat Robotics has raised $2.5 million in a seed round from Balderton Capital and LocalGlobe.

Founded by researchers from Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology, Furhat is building machines with “social intelligence” that resemble human personality, gesture, and intonation. The human-like robot face, which is a 3D projection, mimics human expression and is built on a software platform, or its “brain”.

The long-term goal of the technology is to create a new interface between humans and tech.

“We believe social robotics will be as disruptive as the smart phone or the PC, and we are at the very early days of a technology that will allow us to interact with machines in a more human like manner,” said Samer Al Moubayed, CEO of Furhat.

“Furhat can potentially be used in thousands of different ways. To enable Furhat as a platform, we are building an operating system for conversational robots, and we expect people will come up with amazing ideas and ways to use it that have the potential to disrupt many markets.”

The new funds will be invested in building out the technology and exploring use cases in education, therapy, and customer service as well as entertainment. The company is currently working with Swedish public services as well as companies like Honda, Intel, Merck, Toyota, and KPMG to develop apps on the platform.

The Swedish employment agency is using the conversational robot to prepare people for job interviews and to train teachers.

Honda is using Furhat to develop a conversational tool for the elderly in a smart home setting while KPMG is designing a Furhat-enabled financial advisor interface.

Furhat also plans to double in size by recruiting more engineers and PhDs to boost the development of the platform as well as hiring for the business side of things.

“As humans are beginning to get comfortable with one-step non-emotive voice communications with machines, we are excited to be supporting Furhat who are at the centre of the next jump in interaction,” said Daniel Waterhouse, partner at Balderton.

Output: Swedish start-up Furhat Robotics raised $2.5m in seed funding from investors LocalGlobe and Balderton Capital. The Stockholm-based firm, created by researchers from the city's Royal Institute of Technology, is developing machines which mimic human personalities, gestures and intonation. Furhat is already working with firms including Honda, Intel and Toyota to develop apps, as well as the Swedish employment agency, which uses the conversational robot as a training tool. The new funds will be used to build out the technology and explore use cases.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Lionsgate uses augmented reality to advertise movie on Facebook Live
 by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 13, 2017

In a first, Lionsgate presented a multi-character animated streaming event on Facebook Live to debut the theatrical release of "My Little Pony: The Movie."

This event featured two characters from the movie -- Pinkie Pie voiced by Andrea Libman, and Twilight Sparkle voiced by Tara Strong -- animated in real-time by responding to the voices and human movement of their real-life actors. The movie is scheduled for release October 6.

Jason Steinberg, director of client services at digital marketing agency Avatarlabs, believes this is the first time two animated characters have interacted live with each other.

The key performance indicators were the typical engagement -- views and reach -- but Steinberg said when doing something new like this campaign it's best not to have KPIs.

Innovating using new technology typically has its challenges. "The technology isn't designed to work together and you need to build unique bridges," he said. "As with posting any video online, there's latency and delays."

advertisement advertisement

For example, one challenge was eliminating the delay between a posted comment and the live video feed. Steinberg said Avatarlabs had to determine from which server Facebook would stream the content. The content was routed through a server in Atlanta, which was affected by the hurricane.

Adobe Character Animator tracks the human face and animates the character as the person talks, said James Safechuck, head of innovation and emerging technology at Avatarlabs.

AvatarLabs' integration of the Adobe Character Animator and Unity software brought the event to life.

The Ponies mentioned the Apple presentation featuring the new iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV, which took place earlier in the day and responded to fans, calling out the names of those who left comments in real-time.

The actors were live in studio, while fans worldwide tuned in via Facebook and submitted questions and comments. Animation technology and facial recognition captured the actors’ responses and displayed them in real-time on the Facebook platform.

The technology is easily combined with other media such as search.

Apple integrated a similar technology into a new augmented reality application called Animoji that was unveiled Tuesday, along with the latest versions of the iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV. The technology allows users to create animated emoji messages that reflect their facial expressions and voices. The Animoji program uses the iPhone X’s True Depth camera to track more than 50 facial motions and process them in real time.

Output: Entertainment company Lionsgate broke new ground in a Facebook live event, promoting its new My Little Pony film using augmented reality to animate two characters in real time. Thanks to California-based AvatarLabs, the event saw two characters from the movie brought to life, using animation and facial recognition technology to capture the human actors' movements and responses, which were then displayed on the social media site. Similar technology has been integrated into Apple's recently launched iPhone, as well as Apple Watch and Apple TV.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Chinese demand for plastic set to grow after waste import ban
 China's plastic demand to rise as foreign garbage ban to curb recycled supply

SINGAPORE (Reuters) — China's already soaring plastic demand may rise even further as the government plans to ban waste-plastic imports by the end of this year, which will curb domestic plastic recycling.

The expected increase in plastic demand highlights the consequences of China's pollution fight and its efforts to modernize its industry. As part of this drive, the world's top importer of rubbish said in July that it would stop importing garbage by the end of this year.

To make up for the loss of recycled plastic, petrochemical producers and exporters to China from the Middle East, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore are expected to receive more orders for products including polyethylene, a thermoplastic found in almost everything from grocery bags to bubble wraps, pipes, medical devices and even bulletproof vests.

"From next year, demand for polyethylene would get even better as the impact of the ban would be felt," said a source from a Chinese firm that produces and markets petroleum and petrochemical products.

China imported 7.3 MMt of waste plastics last year, taking in over half the world's leftover plastic.

Of the 7.3 MMt, polyethylene made up about 2.53 MMt in 2016, and this is expected to fall to between 1.7 MMt and 1.8 MMt this year, data from IHS Markit Chemical showed.

IHS Markit expects China's polyethylene demand to grow by 6.6% from 2017 to 2018, outpacing Asia's overall growth of 5.5%.

"The ban of scrap/waste plastics is definitely positive for polyethylene producers as there will be a shift of consumption from recycled polyethylene to prime virgins polyethylene," said J.P. Nah, director of polyolefins at IHS Markit Chemical.

Nah said Asia's 2017 total polyethylene demand would be around 41.5 MMt, with China accounting for some two-thirds of total demand.

China's position as a key Asian producer of disposable medical devices will add to the country's demand for polyethylene, said Nikhil Vallabhan, a senior consultant at Frost & Sullivan for Asia Pacific.

Polyethylene makes up only about 9% of the total plastics used in medical devices because of its higher cost over competing plastic polyvinyl chloride. However, polyethylene demand for the devices is expected to increase in absolute terms, said Vallabhan.

"With countries and regions such as India and Southeast Asia being labelled as destinations for medical tourism, we could expect the demand for high quality medical devices to grow at a robust pace in the region," he said. "The usage of (polyethylene) in containers, syringe plungers and tubes will continue to grow."

Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Henning Gloystein and Christian Schmollinger

Related News

From the Archive

Output: Chinese demand for plastic is expected to increase as the country plans to implement a ban on waste-plastic imports by the end of the year. The move is part of a wider restriction on imports of waste products and is expected to lead to a surge in Chinese orders for new plastics from overseas. China imported 7.3 million metric tons of waste plastics last year, taking over half the world's leftover supplies of the material. As a result of the ban, China's demand for the thermoplastic polyethylene is predicted to grow by 6.6% in 2018.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Electronic artificial skin could give robots a sense of touch
 Rubber electronics and sensors that operate normally even when stretched to up to 50 percent of their length could work as artificial skin on robots, according to a new study. They could also give flexible sensing capabilities to a range of electronic devices, the researchers said.

Like human skin, the material is able to sense strain, pressure and temperature, according to the researchers.

"It's a piece of rubber, but it has the function of a circuit and sensors," said Cunjiang Yu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston. Yu and his team describedtheir innovation in a study published online Sept. 8 in the journal Science Advances. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]

Yusaid the rubber electronics and sensors have a wide range of applications, from biomedical implants to wearable electronics to digitized clothing to "smart" surgical gloves.

Because the rubbery semiconductor starts in a liquid form, it could be poured into molds and scaled up to large sizes or even used like a kind of rubber-based ink and 3D printed into a variety of different objects, Yu told Live Science.

One of the more interesting applications could be for robots themselves, Yu said. Humans want to be able to work near robots and to coexist with them, he said. But for that to happen safely, the robot itself needs to be able to fully sense its surroundings. A robot — perhaps even a soft, flexible one, with skin that's able to feel its surroundings—could work side by side with humans without endangering them, Yu said.

In experiments, Yu and his colleagues used the electronic skin to accurately sense the temperature of hot and cold water in a cup and also translate computer signals sent to the robotic hand into finger gestures representing the alphabet from American Sign Language.

Electronics and robots are typically limited by the stiff and rigid semiconductor materials that make up their computer circuits. As such, most electronic devices lack the ability to stretch, the authors said in the study.

In research labs around the world, scientists are working on various solutions to produce flexible electronics. Some innovations include tiny, embedded, rigid transistors that are "islands"in a flexible matrix. Others involve using stretchy, polymer semiconductors. The main challenges with many of these ideas are that they're too difficult or expensive to allow for mass production, or the transmission of electrons through the material is not very efficient, Yu said.

This latest solution addresses both of those issues, the researchers said. Instead of inventing sophisticated polymers from scratch, the scientists turned to low-cost, commercially available alternatives to create a stretchy material that works as a stable semiconductor and can be scaled up for manufacturing, the researchers wrote in the study.

Yu and his colleagues made the stretchable material by mixing tiny, semiconducting nanofibrils — nanowires 1,000 times thinner than a human hair — into a solution of a widely used, silicon-based organic polymer, called polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS for short.

When dried at 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius), the solution hardened into a stretchable material embedded with millions of tiny nanowires that carry electric current.

The researchers applied strips of the material to the fingers of a robotic hand. The electronic skin worked as a sensor that produced different electrical signals when the fingers bent. Bending a finger joint puts strain on the material, and that reduces electric current flow in a way that can be measured.

For example, to express the sign-language letter "Y," the index, middle and ring fingers were completely folded, which created a higher electrical resistance. The thumb and pinky fingers were kept straight, which produced lower electrical resistance.

Using the electrical signals, the researchers were able spell out "YU LAB" in American Sign Language.

Yu said he and his colleagues are already working to improve the material's electronic performance and stretchiness well beyond the 50 percent mark that was tested in the new study.

"This will change the field of stretchable electronics," he said.

Original article on Live Science.

Output: Stretchable rubber sensors could be used as an artificial skin for robots, the University of Houston has found. A soft, flexible robot that's able to feel its surroundings could work alongside humans without endangering them, said Cunjiang Yu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston. Yu adds that the rubber sensors could also be used for wearable electronics, digitised clothing, and smart surgical gloves.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Britain's maize boom brings biofuel future closer
 IN A field on the outskirts of Norwich, Innes McEwan, head of farming at Future Biogas, explains the benefits of maize. It is full of starchy energy, responds well to organic fertilisers, has a short growing season and can be cultivated in a range of soil types, including the sandy stuff found in parts of East Anglia. It is also, he notes wryly, “a physically domineering crop”—something that is made clear as he plunges through a densely packed plot.

Although little of the British countryside could be confused with Iowa or Mato Grosso, where maize has long been big business, the plant’s tall green shoots are an increasingly common sight. In 1985 less than 25,000 hectares were devoted to the crop. By 2016 nearly 200,000 were. It is especially common in the south-west, where cattle farming is concentrated.

The growth came in two spurts. First, in the 1990s dairy farmers began to use maize as a high-energy feed for cows, says Richard King of Andersons, an agricultural consultancy. As herds were moved into barns, and thus away from grass, more and more munched maize. Then, beginning a decade or so ago, the plant began to be used as a form of green energy. When Mr McEwan’s crop is harvested next week, it will be transported to a nearby anaerobic-digestion facility, whose methane belches will power a generator that feeds electricity into the national grid.

A quarter of maize grown in Britain now goes into such digesters, up from a hundredth just seven or eight years ago, says John Morgan of the Maize Growers Association. The result is that maize is increasingly sprouting in parts of the country with few dairy herds. Future Biogas has anaerobic-digestion plants along the east coast, for instance, so that the energy produced can run straight into the grid coming from the North Sea.

The spread of maize bothers some. The Soil Association, a charity, frets that the tall crops leave the earth exposed. Maize is often harvested late in the year when the soil is wet, allowing pesticides to run off the ground and increasing the risk of floods. Some farmers have taken steps to tackle this. New varieties of maize, tailored for the British climate, can be harvested earlier. Planting another crop beneath the maize may help stop soil erosion.

A more damaging criticism is that maize makes an inefficient fuel. Anaerobic digesters do most to reduce carbon emissions when they convert waste products to energy. The growth of maize, by contrast, requires considerable energy inputs, from petrol for tractors to fertiliser. It also means that food crops have to be grown elsewhere, increasing farm emissions, notes Rob Bailey, an energy analyst at Chatham House, a think-tank.

Such displacement will be less common in future, though. The trend in dairy farming “is to go back to what everyone assumes happens already,” says Peter Melchett of the Soil Association: “that cows graze grass.” Meanwhile, at the end of last year the government announced that new biogas facilities would receive subsidies only if they generated at least 50% of their gas from waste. More stringent conditions mean the outlook for maize is no longer so sunny.

Output: The increased farming of maize in Britain may contribute to a faster adoption of biofuel. Hectares dedicated to growing the crop rose from fewer than 25,000 to almost 200,000 between 1985 and 2016. A quarter of all maize grown is transformed through anaerobic digestion to create methane for electricity generation. However, there are concerns that the crop could cause environmental damage, and that the fuel may be inefficient. The UK government has said that new biogas facilities will only gain subsidies if at least 50% of the gas generated was made from waste materials.